Cedar Rock Railroad

06/07/2026

Sat 06/06

Sorry kiddos but the train won’t be ready tomorrow. I will need to cut the frame to fit some of the bearing mods we did during this repair and that takes quite a bit of time and makes a huge mess - it’s lots of fun.

Sunday and Monday will give us enough time to wrap everything up without rushing to avoid injury or assembly mistakes that could delay the train even more so while this may be disappointing, it’s really a better way to do this.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone. We should be back on the rails on Tuesday.

Thanks for your patience and support. We miss you!

06/05/2026

Fri 06/05 UPDATE

New parts are IN the house! There was a lot of surface damage to the wheels getting everything pressed back together properly so they had to be repainted today and will need to dry overnight.

Saturday will be spent reassembling and reprogramming and test-running to verify the whole train is ready to go, and then…

SUNDAY looks like a good day to ReOPEN if everything checks out in Saturday’s tests.

Now that’s not yet official but it looks very promising.

I will be posting an official Reopen notice when we are certain so you can’t miss it.

Everybody cross your fingers and toes on Saturday!

06/05/2026

Fri 06/05

Alllmost there….
The shop says parts “should” be ready for pickup today so if all goes well we should be able to get Juniper reassembled today. However, we will still need time to do testing and adjustments before we reopen for passengers and since the forecast is calling for rain on Saturday it is looking like best case reopening would be this Sunday.

It’s also possible the parts are not ready today which would push our reopening into next week so all of this is speculation right now.

When all goes well and we have full confidence that we’re ready, I will post our reopening in full caps with fireworks here so you won’t miss it!

06/01/2026

Mon 6/01

Still closed…. We are still waiting on parts to be fabricated this week and are hopeful they will be done in time to get the train running again by Saturday but that is unknown as of now.

Once we have new parts completed and have the locomotive reassembled and tested, THEN we can post when the train will reopen so we’re in the home stretch but we don’t know yet if the game will have extra innings.

Will keep you all updated as new info comes in. I want you all to know exactly when we’re back so we can all party together!

Hang in there!!

05/22/2026

Fri 5/22

CLOSED through May

Just got the repair timing estimate from the fabricator and the repairs may not be ready until at least two more weeks from now so expect this closure to continue through the first week of June. Let’s all hope for faster timelines or at least a full bucket of patience.

05/20/2026

Wed 05/20

Still closed… reopen date: unknown.

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since Juniper had a wheel pin detachment requiring the train be taken out of service and disassembled for repair. As of today, we are still waiting on a potential cost and turnaround quote to get parts made and assemblies rebuilt. I am hopeful we will know something by Friday but it is clear that we will not be open for Memorial Day weekend.

To answer a question posted to my previous post on 5/15 about why we’re in this situation, here are the details:

The drive wheels on our locomotive Juniper failed due to a gross mis-processing by Babeco Fabrication and Machining in Taylor that we hired to make critical parts to detailed specifications. We’ve used them for about the last 5 years with mixed results to fabricate trains we built for other customers as well as our new train for Cedar Rock.

Unfortunately due to Babeco's failure to fabricate multiple critical wheel parts to specification and their subsequent refusal to own the error and make it right (causing even more delay to this repair), we've had to search for an alternate shop that can do the job properly while all of you wait for weeks for a train repair that should have never had to happen in the first place! And for that I apologize to all of you that you’re having to pay the price.

Fortunately, the parts needing repaired are now waiting in another shop who, UNfortunately like apparently every other machine shop in the area right now, is two weeks out from taking on any new work. So we wait… like a caged animal, hoping all will turn out well soon and we can get y’all riding again.

It bears mentioning that we are a long-term concessionaire with Williamson County and that the WilCo Parks and Recreation Department bears no responsibility for any design, construction, or maintenance of the Cedar Rock Railroad train.

If you want my professional recommendation about machining and fabrication provider options in the area, feel free to ask me..., if it isn't already abundantly clear.

I’ll post more once we get a possible date for parts to be made but for now, everyone have a great Memorial Day and stay safe.

05/15/2026

Fri 5/15
Operating Update:

The railroad is still closed for repairs. The machine shop we originally used to manufacture parts for Juniper took 3 days to tell us they can't do anything for 2 weeks and want to charge 5 times what the repair should cost for a mistake they originally made on these parts when the train was built. 🤬So I minimized my 4-letter words (out loud), packed everything up yesterday and took it to another shop. I am still waiting on their update on when parts can be made and what it will cost so we are in status quo for the moment.

Clearly we won't be operating the train this weekend but I am hopeful we will have all back together and operating for the weekend of May 23rd. Will keep you posted here.

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05/10/2026

Sunday 05/10

The railroad is currently CLOSED for repairs. We will be waiting on parts and machine shop replacements so expect at least a week or more for all to be completed. We will know more on Monday but at this point we cannot be certain when we can reopen the train.

Be sure to check back here on FB or our website News and Info page for updates.

05/07/2026

Thu 05/07

CLOSED
Sorry folks but Juniper needs repair so we will be closed for possibly a few days. We’ll work as fast as we can and let you know when it looks like we will be rolling again.

04/30/2026

Thu 04/30

The Rain is Plain so today there’s no Train (or tomorrow either).

BUT…! This weekend will be fanTAStic so get your plans together to come out and ride this Saturday or Sunday!