Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Address 300 Gap Road (Route 741) Strasburg, PA 17579

Over 100 Historic Locomotives Across 18 Acres in the Heart of Strasburg

The Premier Railroad Heritage Museum in Pennsylvania, Directly Across the Street from America’s Oldest Operating Railroad

If the Strasburg Rail Road shows you what it looks like when steam railroading is still alive, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, directly across Route 741, shows you the full sweep of what American railroading built, how it evolved, and why it matters. Together the two institutions — one a working heritage railroad, the other a world-class static collection — form the most complete railroad experience accessible anywhere in the mid-Atlantic, in a small Pennsylvania Dutch Country town where trains have defined the landscape for nearly 200 years.

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (last entry at 3:30 p.m.), and Sunday, 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. (last entry at 3:30 p.m.).

The museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.

The museum is also closed on major holidays, including Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Always confirm current hours and closures at rrmuseumpa.org before visiting.

Admission: Adults (ages 12–64): $10 | Seniors (65+): $9 | Youth (ages 3–11): $8 | Children 2 and under: Free. Group rates (10+ adults) are available; call for pricing. Pennsylvania state employees receive free admission. The museum participates in Museums for All and other access programs.

Free on-site parking is available, including bus parking.

The History: From the World’s Fair to Strasburg

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s origins trace to the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair, where the Pennsylvania Railroad — then one of the most powerful corporations in America — displayed a remarkable collection of historically significant locomotives and rolling stock it had accumulated over decades. When the fair ended, the PRR made a consequential decision: rather than scrapping or dispersing the collection, they would preserve it.

The equipment was stored in a roundhouse in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, watched over by railroad employees, for decades, while the question of a permanent home remained unresolved. When the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission decided to create a state railroad museum in the late 1960s and the PRR’s successor, Penn Central, was eager to divest the collection, the pieces fell into place. The collection was moved to Strasburg for storage at the Strasburg Rail Road — where several of the historic locomotives actually returned to operating service before being retired — and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania opened to the public on April 1, 1975.

Today the museum covers 18 acres and 100,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space, with additional equipment displayed in an outdoor yard. A new roundhouse for larger locomotives broke ground in July 2025 and is expected to be completed in the coming years, bringing outdoor-stored equipment under cover for the first time.

The museum is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission with support from the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

Trivia: The Pennsylvania Railroad was once the largest corporation in the United States by market capitalization — larger than U.S. Steel and any other industrial company of its era. It called itself “The Standard Railroad of the World.” The museum’s collection is the material legacy of that empire.

The Collection: 100+ Locomotives and Rail Cars

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania holds one of the largest and most significant collections of historic railroad equipment in North America, with more than 100 locomotives and railroad cars spanning the full arc of American railroad history from early 19th-century wood-burning to mid-20th-century diesel-electric workhorses.

Rolling Stock Hall

The museum’s centerpiece is Rolling Stock Hall — a vast, purpose-built exhibition space housing the majority of the collection under roof. Visitors walk among locomotives and cars of extraordinary scale and historical significance, many of which can be boarded or examined at close range in ways that would be impossible outdoors.

Notable pieces in the collection include:

• PRR 1223 — the steam locomotive that starred in the 1969 film Hello, Dolly! alongside Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau, subsequently operated on the Strasburg Rail Road before permanent retirement here
• PRR 7002 — a recreation of the original Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive that set an unofficial world land speed record of 127.1 miles per hour in 1905, making it briefly the fastest vehicle on Earth
• GG1 Electric Locomotives — the iconic twin-unit electric locomotives that defined PRR passenger service on the Northeast Corridor for decades; their Art Deco styling, designed with input from industrial designer Raymond Loewy, remains among the most beautiful industrial objects ever produced in America
• Steam locomotives from multiple eras and manufacturers, representing the full technological evolution of the steam age
• Early wooden passenger cars, early steel cars, diners, sleepers, and freight equipment spanning over a century of American railcar development

The Observation Bridge

An observation walkway crossing Rolling Stock Hall at height, giving visitors a panoramic view of the collection from above — the most effective way to understand both the scale of the individual pieces and the sweep of the collection as a whole.

The 62-Ton Locomotive Undercarriage Inspection Pit

One of the most memorable experiences in the museum: an inspection pit beneath a 62-ton locomotive that allows visitors to walk under the machinery and examine the running gear, wheels, and mechanical components of a full-size steam locomotive from below. The scale is startling from this vantage point.

Stewart Junction

The museum’s hands-on education center for families and younger visitors — featuring interactive activities, simulations, and educational experiences focused on railroad science and history.

Throttle Up! Locomotive Cab Simulator

A realistic simulation of operating a freight locomotive cab, open for visitors to take the throttle and experience the controls of a real locomotive.

Model Railroad Layouts

Multiple operating model railroad layouts throughout the museum provide an additional layer of detail and visual storytelling for the collection’s themes.

The Restoration and Paint Shop

Restoration work on the collection is ongoing, with closed-circuit television feeds allowing visitors to observe active conservation and restoration activities as they happen.

The Library and Archives

An extensive research library and archives documenting the history of Pennsylvania railroading — available to researchers and open to serious rail history inquiry.

The Outdoor Yard

The museum’s outdoor display yard holds larger and more modern equipment that can’t be accommodated indoors — including diesel-electric locomotives, heavyweight passenger cars, and freight equipment from the post-steam era. The yard is subject to closure in poor weather conditions.

Annual Events

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania maintains an active programming calendar:

• Trains & Troops — annual event honoring military service through the lens of railroading’s role in American military history
• Home for the Holidays — winter season programming
• Family programming and school field trips year-round

Strasburg’s Railroad Row and the Museum’s Context

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is directly across Route 741 from the Strasburg Rail Road, less than a mile from the National Toy Train Museum, and within easy reach of the Choo Choo Barn and the broader Strasburg village. Combining the Railroad Museum with a Strasburg Rail Road excursion in a single day is the most natural and complete railroad experience available in the eastern United States — and a genuine pilgrimage destination for anyone with serious interest in American transportation history.