My son is understandably very into trains right now. By default, my husband is too (which is very adorable). I have to admit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the Colorado Railroad Museum but this *far* exceeded my expectations. I’d recommend a visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum for any family in the area.
Why the Colorado Railroad Museum is so Cool
Located in Golden, the Colorado Railroad Museum is basically a 15 acre “train yard” you can tour. This isn’t a dusty museum where you’re not allowed to touch anything. The entire “museum” offers a very hands on experience consisting of a train ride, multiple trains you can go inside/tour, a model mini train, and much more. Coming in at $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 2-12, it comes in as a pretty affordable Colorado Adventure for littles! If you’re local to Colorado, you can get passes for free through your local library culture pass.
The Railroad Loop Train Ride
The museum offers a small, short (maybe 15-20min) train ride option that loops around the lot a couple of times. Unlike the Georgetown Loop Railroad, this train ride is NOT the main attraction. This is just a little appetizer to get you hyped to see and learn all about trains. Short and sweet. No Snacks necessary. While the price of admission does not include the train ride, train rides are an affordable $4 per adult and $2 per child age 2 and up.
Tour, touch, walk on all the Trains
The site itself offers a wide variety of trains that you can walk onto explore. Our favorite train allows you to blow the train whistle! Personally, we found this to be much more engaging for our three year old compared to the Georgetown Loop – he’s a hands on kinda kid (plus it wasn’t as cold). In addition to the various train bidding options, there’s a very cute model train area you can watch from behind a little picket fence.
Railroad Gift Shop
If your kiddo gets into the trains as much as ours, the gift shop offers a lot of educational books/adorable conductor hats. Its never a bad idea to hype up a visit beforehand. Our favorite train books:
- Thomas the Train Book: Trains, Cranes, and Trucks. What more could a kid want?
- The Little Engine that Could: A classic. My heart melts when my son says “I think I can. I think I can.”
- Thomas and The Dinosaur: what toddler doesn’t like TRAINS + DINOSAURS
- Ultimate Spotlight: Trains: We’ve been learning lots of different types of trains which I LOVE.
Events to Come Back For
This household is very into Thomas the train. We CANNOT wait to come back to the railroad museum for a Day out With Thomas. We’re also very intrigued by the Polar Express experience. Genuinely, the whole experience could not be beat even without a special event. We will come back when any family/friends visit us.
We’re so excited to come back! Let me know in the comments what you want to know more about and/or what you love about the museum.