Colorado Railroad Museum

I enjoyed a beautiful December Sunday afternoon at the Colorado Railroad Museum. The model train in the basement is incredible. The exterior of the trains are in great shape. The outdoor train garden is amazing and decorated for the Christmas season.

Possibly because it's the off season, we couldn't go inside many trains. That's really what kept this from a 5-star review. I think we were able to enter four or five trains. I could see that there were stairs to enter others trains, but the doors were locked. I'm guessing during warmer months, more stuff is open.

I would definitely like to come back another time to see if I can't get this review up to 5 stars.

We had a great experience. Beautiful show. I cannot wait to take my children on more train rides!

We did the polar express for the 1st time this year and it was the most stunning and beautiful show I have ever seen. It was amazing. My husband and I had many discussions after, over the last few days, and we are making this a tradition.

Growing up my parents took me to the nutcracker, which I found boring. The polar express was just an absolute stunner. The costumes were beautiful and the play was so so so cute and fun.

This was a fantastic museum to visit as I've always loved trains and railroads. I'm surprised I've been in Colorado for a decade of more and never been there. This museum is about 80 percent outdoors so pick a nice day to attend. They have all kinds of trains from more modern diesel electric engines all the way back to steam engines from the 1800's. They have an incredible scale train set up in the basement this must have taken years to build. You simply have to see it to believe it. This would be an incredible place to take children for a picnic and spend a warm afternoon. The staff was pleasant and easy going. The price to get in was very inexpensive and worth every cent.

Took some Girl scouts and went to the Polar Express train ride. Was not sure what to expect as it was everyones first time.

When you arrive you check in and they take you back to where a pre-show cabaret style show is happening. At the show time they start up with some of the songs from Polar Express and also bring you hot cocoa and cookies. If you are gluten free, you get a granola bar. They have papers and crayons out to fill out the letter to santa if you are coming with younger children. And also a box to put the letters into.

After that you get escorted out towards the train. The paper inside your lanyard will indicate which car you will go on to. They continue the show on the train. You get a ride to the "north pole" You dont get out there however, you just watch from the window santa and some elves doing some singing and dancing. And then you ride back to "golden" where you get off.

As you are exiting you have the option of going to another car to see santa and get pictures with him and also get your present.

We did not really get to see any of the trains that are normally in the yard as it was dark out when we got there. The show was enjoyable. If you have young kids especially. They do encourage you to show up in your PJs. We did not do that. I have teenagers. Too cool for that ;)

4 stars only because it seems it may have been a little bit overpriced. But it is a big fundraiser for them so if you look at it that way then its not bad. Its like a donation (kind of). However if you have little kids it would probably be 5 stars for sure.

The museum is dilapidated. Creaky stairs and steps. Must be extremely careful with kids. It does not give me the impression of a railroad museum, but rather a hobby shop turned into a museum at best. Getting into some of the rail car exhibits is a chore. Slippery surfaces in the junk yard . Yes, the place looks like a rail junkyard. One of the Union Pacific cars smells like mould. Signboard shows a simulation for Coors switcher - we make our way all the way to it through the snow and mud puddles only to realize it doesn't work .

They also get a one star for attitude towards American Express customers . If they don't take AMEX - they should say so clearly outside on the DOOR AND THE WEBSITE .

If they got funding and support to display their museum prominently on the highway exits , it means they must be considerate to all customers . What's more irritating is the cashier at the counter telling me that "nobody accepts American Express ". That kind of statement by is hyperbolic and a total lie. American Express is one of the most widely accepted credit cards and its clientele tend to be those who spend way more than the average customer . How do I know ? I run several businesses as well. Blocking Amex customers just because their merchant fees are 0.25 % high is nothing but a "penny wise pound foolish decision ". So that they are aware : the Denver Aquarium accepts AMEX, the Denver Zoo accepts AMEX - and I can go on an on . I am glad their coin machines accepts American currency in quarters. Furthermore- there is nothing more irritating to show up at a place and realize nothing can be bought from their store because of this . So, I didn't even bother checking their store out . Took my kid to the Lego store after visiting the museum and got a lot of fun train stuff - oh, they accept American Express. funding/ donation is an important aspect of running this particular business- there are donation boxes everywhere. So now that is not going to come from me either . I am a model railroad enthusiast and own an extensive collection of models from LGB, Marklin, Aster, OS Live steam ( when they used to be in business ) and have supported many clubs over the years for live steam. This unfortunately did not make the cut.



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Bottom Line: Many acres of land with a variety of locomotives and rolling stock.

I love trains and train museums but after reading so many bad reviews about the Colorado Railroad Museum I was really on the fence if I wanted to to rent a car and make the drive from downtown Denver to Golden just for this museum. After seeing the museum's content on YouTube I decided that I did want to visit, provided it was good weather since most things to see are outside. With my husband on board we headed out to the Colorado Railroad Museum on a sunny day in early October.

Something that I really enjoyed about this museum is that I got to see very different stuff than what I am accustomed to seeing at East Coast train museums. I was excited to see the Galloping Goose since I hadn't seen one before and I also enjoyed seeing the cog railway locomotive and the Shay locomotive. (Although we do have Shays on the east coast in operation and at a museum.) I always love a Railroad Post Office car and the RPO at the Colorado Railroad Museum was no exception. I also enjoyed checking out the little kitchen car and the Pullman exhibit inside and on the lower level. As a long time G-scale (LGB) model railroader I did take a few moments to check out the G-scale train garden.

A highlight of the museum was talking to volunteer Ed at the turntable. Whether it be at a train show, on a scenic train ride or at a railroad museum I often get a very condescending vibe from older gentlemen but that certainly wasn't the case with Ed. He was very engaging and we had a lovely and natural conversation about steam locos, diesel switchers, bobber cabooses (or is it cabeese? - just kidding), round houses, turntables and such. Without the fun discussion with Ed this would probably just be a four star museum.

We did not get to go for a train ride but that was fine with us. We had just done two scenic train rides earlier in the week so we enjoyed just strolling along the variety of locomotives and rolling stocks. We made a quick pass through the gift shop before departing.

Because much of the museum is outside I definitely recommend going when the weather is more favorable if possible.

Great time touring this museum with my parents this summer. Great open yard and lots to see. I like the circular layout and many locomotives scattered. They have a nice indoors with a lot to see as well, like a history walk through and model train area. Nice gift shop and air conditioning which was nice on hot days.

Enthusiasts will see many different types of locomotive and train bits. They have a large round table, really neat to see one up close! Great work and not very expensive. I think just $3 for a train ride too. Very nice staff and learned a lot!

This place is a must for train enthusiasts - lots of old trains here that you can climb into and explore. Train themed gift shop.
My only disappointment was the train ride. We climbed aboard and circled the grounds of the museum 3 times. Not exactly what I was expecting. This train trip would be exciting and fun for a child under 3 or 4. Older kids probably not so much.

Well done museum with some inside exhibits including a huge HO scale model. Most of the museum is outside, so many engines, train cars, caboose and especially a couple Galloping Goose. Turntable was cool to see in action... My favorite was seeing the Midland Terminal Passenger Car being restored in the shop

I came on a slow day so there wasn't much activity. The garden railway wasn't operating and there weren't any train rides available. It was nice for about a 1 hour visit.