Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad
1963
60th Anniversary Edition

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a great family ride! Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a family train ride that takes passengers around the back half of the park.

The early 1950's was a bad time for Cedar Point. In the 1950's Cedar Point was a decaying place. The park was still trying to recover from the depression. In 1956 Cedar Point was bought by George Roose and Emile Legros brought Cedar Point and planned on turning the park into a housing development. Due to public outcry, the new investors decided to turn Cedar Point into " The Disneyland of the Midwest:". As a result, rides started getting bigger and better. Caddallic Cars were added in 1958 and were so successful that Turnpike Cars were built in 1959. In 1961 Western Cruise used the old lagoon to take guests on a trip thru the past. In 1962 Cedar Point added Sky Ride to the Main Midway. With all of these changes, Cedar Point finally would have a bright future.

George Roose had always been a fan of trains. George had wanted a train at Cedar Point. In 1960 he started searching for trains around the country. In 1961, the first train engine named Maud L. arrived at cedar Point. After proposing the idea of a train ride to Cedar Point's board of directors the board rejected the idea of a train ride because they didn't think it would be as successful as it needed to be for the growing park. Not happy with the results, George Roose decided he was going to build the ride with his own money.

In late 1962 construction began on Cedar Point's new ride. Crews laid tracks in the woods of Cedar Point for what would become the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad. The crews laid around 2 miles of track.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad opened on Saturday, May 25, 1963. When the ride opened it featured 2 train engines. The first two engines were Maud L. and Albert. Over the years Cedar Point added: Jack Foster ( Judy K.), Myron H., George R., G.A. Boeckling, Albert was retired in 1991 and is on display today on Frontier Trail.

When Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad opened, it was a full lap. Frontier Town had not been built at that time so there was no need to stop there. The ride was originally about a 15 minute ride. There was no rides in the back of the park when the train opened. It was a ride thru the woods and featured animation to keep guest entertained.

In 1967, Cedar Point opened Frontier Town. As a result, a stop on the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad was created. The original station in Frontier Town was just like the main station. In 1977, Cedar Point had a tornado move across the back section of the park and the train station was destroyed. The new station that is seen today was built for 1978.

When Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad opened in 1963, the Main Midway Station was on the Main Midway next to Sky Ride's station on land now occupied by Valravn's last loop.

In 1970, the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad's Funway station was moved to its present day location to make way for Million Dollar Midway. As a result, the track length was shortened a bit.

Since 1970 the train has kept its same layout basically the same. Over the years the tracks have received minor tweaks. the tracks have been moved a few feet to the left or right to fit in some attractions over the years, but nothing major. At some point, the train station on Frontier Trail was relocated and the extra tracks were removed since they weren't needed anymore.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a great family relaxing ride. Today, the ride takes riders around Frontier Town and beside many of the parks big thrilling rides!

Over the years many rides have been built around and over the train tracks including: Frontier Town, Shoot-the-Rapids, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Frontier Trail, Giant Wheel, White Water Landing, Thunder Canyon, Snake River Expedition, Snake River Falls, Mantis, Millennium Force, Maverick, Shoot the Rapids, Rougarou, Professor Delbert's Frontier Fling and Steel Vengeance.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad: The Ride Today

After 60 years of operation, Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad has been a very successful ride for the park.

The train is often a family favorite. Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is one of the most ridden rides in the park.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a great ride the entire family can enjoy together!

Ride Experience

Riders ride on simple bench seats on the train. The ride is a slower ride and gives guest the opportunity to relax and be entertained.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad has 3 different experience. Riders can either ride from the Main station to Frontier Town or Frontier Town to Main Station. Riders can also stay on the train to do full laps on the ride. Each ride on the train is about 5 minutes each with station stops taking 5 minutes. A round trip takes 15 minutes. Most of the time the ride runs 2 trains, but when the park is less busy they run 1 train.

Main Station to Frontier Town

The main station is located near Rougarou and Millennium Force. Riders enter the train by walking thru the train station.

The ride to Frontier Town is very relaxing. On the way to Frontier Town the train goes past Millennium Force, Thunder Canyon and Maverick.

The adventure ends with the train arriving in Frontier Town.

Frontier Town to Main Station

The trip from Frontier Town to the Main Midway beings with riders entering the train from the boarding room.

The ride to the Main Station is very exciting. The train goes past many different rides as well as different animated scenes featuring skeletons.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad takes riders thru Boneville, Cedar Point's western style skeleton city. Boneville makes noise and plays music to entertain the passengers on the train.

The train crosses over the midway at several points. The train does have train crossings that warn guest as the gates go down. There are 4 train crossings.

The train goes past skeletons doing different things like making moon shine and chasing their daughters boy friend off a ladder.

The last scene before returning the Main Stations is some skeletons trying to put out a fire in McCoy Dry goods. It is really cool because the fire looks so real!

After a 5 minute journey, the train finally returns to the Main Station.

A Very Unique Ride

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a very unique ride. Not many amusement parks have a real train ride. Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad takes its passengers on a journey thru the land of thrills. The train goes past many of the parks record breaking thrill rides. Riders get great views of the park when they ride the train.

Withstanding the Test of Time

Over the last 60 years a lot of rides have come and gone at Cedar Point. The train has been a family favorite and has remained to entertain guest.

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad is a great ride for the entire family to enjoy together. There are not many rides like the Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad.

After adding Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad in 1963, Cedar Point would go on to add:Blue Streak (1964), Calypso (1964-1969), Broadway Trip (1964-1964), Western Cruise (1964-1986), Space Spiral (1965-2012), Earthquake (1965-1984), Pirate Ride (1966-1996), Trabant (1966-1990), Fun House (1966-1981), Frontier Town (1967), Shoot-the-rapids (1967-1981), Sealand (1967-1998), Rotor (1967-1984), Cedar Downs Racing Derby (1967), Frontier Lift (1968-1985), Sky Slide (1968-1991), Antique Cars (1969-2021), Cedar Creek Mine Ride (1969), Cedar Point’s 100th Anniversary Celebration (1970), Frontier Trail (1971), Jumbo Jet (1972-1978), Matterhorn (1972), Giant Wheel (1972), Cedar Point Cinema (1975-2001), Corkscrew (1976), Troika (1976), Witches’ Wheel (1977-2018), Gemini (1978), Gemini Chilrden’s Area (1979-2013), Wave Swinger (1979), WildCat (1979-2011), Oceana (1980), Ocean Motion (1981), Kid Arthur’s Court (1982-2005), White Water Landing (1982-2005), Demon Drop (1983-2009), Avalanche Run (1985-1989), Berenstain Bear Country (1985-1998), Thunder Canyon (1986), Iron Dragon (1987), Soak City Water Park (1988-2016), Magnum XL-200 (1989), Disaster Transport (1990-2012), Mean Streak (1991-2016), Challenge Park (1992-2016), Snake River Falls (1993-2024), Kiddy Kingdom (1993), Raptor (1994), Cedar Point’s 125th Anniversary Celebration (1995), RipCord (1996-2016), Mantis (1996-2014), Chaos (1997-2011), Swan Boats (1997-2003), Power Tower (1998), Camp Snoopy (1999), Millennium Force (2000), Lighthouse Point (2001), Wicked Twister (2002-2021), Good Time Theatre (2002-2014), Top Thrill Dragster (2003-2021), Castaway Bay Resort (2004), maXair (2005), Skyhawk (2006), Maverick (2007), Planet Snoopy (2008), Shoot the Rapids (2010-2015), WindSeeker (2011), Dinosaurs Alive! On Adventure Island (2012-2018), GateKeeper (2013), New Gemini Midway (2014), Rougarou (2015), Valravn (2016), Cedar Point Shores Waterpark (2017), Steel Vengeance (2018), Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island (2019-2022), Cedar Point’s 150th Anniversary Celebration (2021), Snake River Expedition (2021-2023), The Boardwalk (2023), Top Thrill 2 (2024), and Siren’s Curse (2025).
Since 1963, the park has changed so much. It is really a fun place to be!

Cedar Point and Lake Erie Railroad gave Cedar Point a really cool ride as well as a way to get to the back of the park without walking It was very popular for the park guest and helped pave the way to what Cedar Point would become in the future!