My husband and I took the railroad trip in the 2nd week of october. The colors were out in full force. The music as one reviewer put it is bad :-) but at least it is not loud. The coaches are comfy, you can walk around. There are closed coaches and open ones. the open ones are basically 2 long rows of seats facing open windows. yes.. the roof is still there. It can be a little cold. We preferred the closed coach.It is a 45 minute trip from lake placid to saranac lake.
While i could never say that the scenery was bad, (it is adirondacks in the fall season. the foliage is always beautiful) i strongly felt that when we drove from lake placid to saranac lake we saw a whole lot more and were also able to stop and take pictures. You zip by a lot of scenery and it is not a very long trip. There is a 45 minute stop -over at saranac station. those with kids can enjoy a large merry go round near the station. The village was certainly interesting to look at. It makes for a nice 30 minute stroll.
Overall , if you want to quickly take a little scenery in , check the village out for a few minutes and return it is not bad. But i would drive around lake placid and to saranac next time instead of taking the train.

We went on the wine tasting/adult Halloween train ride tonight. The ride and wine were great; however the music and singing was quite the opposite. We were never told that it was going to turn into a karaoke train ride. The music was loud, and you couldn't hear when the conductor was speaking. While its a great concept, they should have been more upfront about all the details.

The ride was pleasant. There was a long line for tickets, even though we had purchased online. Because they didn't open up the ticket booth until 15 minutes prior to the train departure, the train left 30 minutes late. There were not enough seats for everyone in the enclosed cars, so families with children had to sit in the unheated car. Also the car windows in one of the cars were obscured so you had to stand to see the foliage.

Lovely hour and a half ride from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid and back. Interesting things on display at train stations at both ends. Option of heated cars or open car. Help support the historic railroad. They are trying to get the lines linked up to go from Placid all the way to Utica. What a nice trip that would be!