ice cream cones (Choo Choos Frozen Custard)
D&K from Blue Springs, MO on 08/09/2006 09:19 AM:
Two very nice young men served us cones and took our picture. A nice cool stop on a hot day.
Brian from Troy on 03/19/2011 09:02 AM:
Hey! That might have been me! Lol You see My family used to own this restaurant. It is reopened/ reopening soon from what I'm told. Under new ownership/management. I cant wait to see how its changed.
Choo Choo's
CSCman from Chapin, IL on 09/26/2005 10:20 AM:
A friend and myself had planned a ride on the Katy which included a stay at Choo Choo's campground. We had called ahead and made reservations. On our arrival we found the place closed. And needless to say the camp area less than inviting. We were very disappointed in everything. We ended up going to Scenic Cycles and camping there for the evening.
brad wilson from st louis on 09/26/2005 10:31 AM:
Thanks for the info.
Last year I stayed at the Marthasville rec center camping area, and was planning on doing so this year. Is there some reason you didn't stay there?
Also, is Scenic Cycles offering camping now, or was that just a one-time deal? Did it have showers, bathroom etc? Price?
Thanks for the info.
CSCman from Chapin, IL on 09/26/2005 12:40 PM:
Yes Scenic Cycles is now offering camping. They are a little over a mile east of Marthasville. I am sure that if you email Terry or Kathy at SC they can give you the details.
Ray (webmaster) on 09/26/2005 12:46 PM:
Thanks for the information - I have removed ChooChoo's from the list, and added camping to the
Scenic Cycles listing. I appreciate you passing this along and helping to keep the website info up-to-date.
CSCman from Chapin, IL on 09/27/2005 12:59 PM:
Ray, not sure they are out of business. But they were not open on the day that we there during their regular business hours. However a couple weeks we had called and made arrangements.
Anonymous on 09/28/2005 09:43 AM:
If I understand the Marthasville Chamber of Commerce website, ChooChoos is closed on Wednesday's in season and isn't open at this time of year:
Our facility allows guests to camp, snack and/or bike.Enjoy Your Day! Hours: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m./daily
May 21st - Labor Day weekend-seasonal Closed on Wednesdays
Of course there are several possible interpretations of that message!
CSCman from Chapin, IL on 09/30/2005 11:41 AM:
Well our trip was Labor Day weekend, we called a couple weeks before and set up our stay, and we were there at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and not a sole in site and the place was closed. Don't care how you want to interpret their listing on the Chamber's site, we called ahead and they should have 1. known we were coming and been there and open or 2. known they would not have been open and informed us of that when we called and we would have made other arrangements.
Ray (webmaster) on 10/08/2005 10:10 PM:
I rode through Marthasville today (Oct 8), and believe it or not Choo Choos was open. There is a sign stating that they're open weekends until Oct 30. My guess is that the high school kid working the day you got there probably decided to cut out of work early, or never showed up in the first place. There's no excuse; I'm just speculating.
Ray (webmaster) on 10/10/2005 11:58 AM:
By the way, the ice cream was tasty and they have a horse-tire swing that kept my kids entertained for nearly an hour. But the water in the restroom has a bad smell - if you're looking to fill your water bottles, you may want to hold out for bottled water from the convenience store. The S&R convenience store, which is visible looking south from the trail, is easily reached by heading south on the road that crosses the trail right by the trailhead (One St) for just over a quarter mile. It's right by One St at Hwy 47 - see the map on the
Marthasville page.
Robert Dean from Washington on 06/24/2006 05:53 PM:
Choo-choos is a great place to go, if you have kids it is also very recomended in my book. There is a variety of things to get and you have the chance to meet a lot of nice people. the camping has bathrooms and a shower and is cheaper at 5 dollars per person rather than Scenic cycles which charges 20 per person.Choo-choos is a great place and i love the caboose.
Daniel Eugene from Trealor on 06/24/2006 05:56 PM:
Choo-choos is a great place love it, and it's owner Barb is a very nice a pretty lady she will get along with pretty much everybody
George Post from Dutzow on 06/24/2006 06:06 PM:
me and my wife were riding down the katy trail one day and running low on water so we ride farther and see a cute cozy little place called choo choos so we stopped to get water. turnes out that they have many more foods than i exspected. so we asked for water and she filled our water bottles. the water tasted like city water but i was perfectlt happy with this little caboose and i hope i can go back sometime.......... the oner barb is a very nice lady and the custard is tasty
Debra from Marthasville on 06/30/2006 06:42 AM:
I planned a field trip for 18 preschoolers a while back with Choo Choo's being part of our itinerary. I called ahead and was told they would be open. I informed the owner that we would be bringing f18 children and that this was part of a field trip, we had been learning about trains and transportation. The kids were excited about this and were counting the days. We arrived as planned to find Choo choo's closed and looking somewhat abandoned. The children were devastated and I had to try to come up with refreshments for them and then try to keep them from running around the caboose where the weeds were almost taller than them. This place has potential, but needs an owner that really cares about it's customers. I would not recommend this place to anyone. I know of 18 children that feel the same way.
Anonymous on 07/04/2006 07:13 PM:
choo choos was a great place to camp and enjoy a snowcone! everyone was very friendly and the friday night movie was delightful. we will definately be back soon!
Jenifer on 07/12/2008 12:38 PM:
It appears to me that you had a great idea, and I had a sense of that...could you e-mail me....I'd like to ask some questions about it and is it for sale now....what's it's status????Thanks Jenifer
Choo Choos Frozen Custard & Camping (Marthasville)
cleeland from St. Louis on 06/18/2007 12:43 PM:
I tried to book with Choo-Choos for a mid-June trek, and couldn't get any of the numbers to
connect. When we rode past Marthasville, Choo-Choos looked very closed with a "For Sale"
sign on it.
Choo Choos Frozen Custard & Camping (Marthasville)
T. Ake from Conway, AR on 04/20/2007 12:09 PM:
Phone numbers are out of service.
DougK from Troy on 04/20/2007 12:27 PM:
Did anyone buy the place yet?
Ray (webmaster) on 04/24/2007 05:36 AM:
Just heard back from the real estate agent yesterday - Choo Choos is still for sale, and they have reduced the price to $69,900. If you've always wanted to run a business along the Katy Trail in a nice little town (Marthasville), here's the opportunity!
No word as to whether Choo Choos will even open this summer, until after it's in the hands of the next owner.
The realtor is http://www.realtorvanessa.com/. I could not find the listing on her website, so I sent her another message asking where to find the listing - will post when I get the info.
DougK from Troy on 04/24/2007 01:11 PM:
Hmmmmmmm. Doug K's Katy Trail Custard. Has a nice ring to it.
steve from saint louis on 04/24/2007 04:56 PM:
Out of curiousity, it does not appear there is much difference between Choo's Choo's railcar and Cruce's Cabooses in Calhoun. I have been by Choo's Choo's many times, but only went past Cruce's once and really did not notice them.
Would it be possible to turn Choo's Choo's into camping/"lodging" similar to Cruce's rather than a custard stand/fast food? I would like to see something there(instead of weeds and an old railcar), and was wondering if the camping/"lodging" option is workable there.
DougK from Troy on 04/24/2007 09:26 PM:
It's set-up like a fast food/custard stand on the inside. I'm not sure if you would have to "gut" it or not. But hey, It'd make a nice place in Marthasville.
Marthasville, Choo Choo's
Ted B. from Kansas City, KS. on 07/09/2005 10:54 AM:
We were looking for Food and Camping. We did not find a diner
But they had good Ice Cream at Choo Choo's on the West end of town.
The town constable stopped to chat with us. He is an Amatuer Radio Operator and gave us the Freq. of the local 2M repeater. (Washington)
147.240 and told us to holler if we needed anything. The young lady running Choo Choo's was fantastic to deal with. Camping was very primative but very reasonable. We would have loved a meal. Maybe Choo Choo's could sell sandwiches too. We will be stopping here on our next trip. A note: Like many of the stops on our trip Choo Choo's doesn't take credit cards and ATM's are few and far between so take cash. Read a full account of our Illinois to Kansas Ride at http://www.techkc.com/TrainingTimes/July%202005/tttjuly1.htm including pictures of Choo Choo's