Take a ride on a real historic steam engine locomotive in the heart of the Nevada State Capitol at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

Just about every child is enthralled with trains. When I was a teenager, I encountered my first train obsessed toddler. He loved Thomas the Train. Nearly all his toys were train-related and he even had videos of trains (Yes, VHS. Remember those?). I thought he was so cute and remember myself loving the experience of going to Carson City as a child and getting to ride the train. Now that my children, especially my son, are intrigued with trains and have Chugginton to watch and enjoy regularly, we knew it was time to take a trip to Carson City, Nevada to visit The Railroad Museum.

The Railroad Museum in Carson City is part of the State of Nevada Division of Museums and History. It’s a beautiful facility. It is immaculately clean and well cared for. The trains are maintained so well that one of the trains, the McKeen Motor Car #70, was recently named a National Historic Landmark.

Every weekend a different train is on the tracks for visitors to ride the rails. Check out their schedule.

While I feel like I practically grew up at this museum, this experience was especially meaningful for me to take my own children and share part of my own childhood. We also took their cousin, J, who was so thrilled to be there. It was great to see the childrens’ excitement as the train started up the tracks. We had a chance to climb into the engine car and feel the heat of the steam engine. We also spent the rest of our trip walking around the parked trains and racing on the handcar up and down the tracks. Our children, A and N, rode on that several times. The museum volunteer was so pleasant to our kids and very patient with the two of them as well.

When we visited the Carson City Train Museum in May 2012 on Memorial Day weekend it was extra special occasion because with the purchase of admission tickets, we got to ride the train as many times as we wanted that day.

The museum staff had most of their rail cars out on display and we got to go inside just about all of them. The McKeen Motor Car was the most luxurious to see.

We saw the old railway state line marker as well. It had an old picture with it that showed how the trains passing by would sometimes stop there on the way to California or on the way into Nevada.

We finished the day off with purchasing our very own wooden train whistles to take home, the kids still pull them out and play conductor regularly.

Overall, our experience was a fantastic one at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City.

With the new I-580 freeway open from Reno, a trip to Carson City is a piece of cake. Take a drive to Carson and ride the rails!

Where: North Carson Street, Carson City, NV.

What: One of Nevada’s three railroad museums and it is the largest in Northern Nevada.

Need to know: The Railroad Museum is only open Friday through Monday from Spring until Fall.

Extra Extra: Check out special events on Holiday Weekends.

Website/Contact Information: museums.nevadaculture.org | 2180 South Carson Street, Carson City, Nevada 89701 | Phone: 775-687-6953