Reviews of Museum of American Railroad (Museum)

Adam Machell

A must see for railfans. Incredible amount of rare locomotives. Will only get better with time.

Elvis Trompetero

(Translated by Google) Interesting place, historical and representative of the frisco pioneers (Original) Interesante lugar,histórico y representativo de los pioneros de frisco

Paul Lillibridge

Went with my friend Bill, a train enthusiast. Tour was good and electric train exhibit was also good.

JR. Gutierrez

The scale trains display is unbelievable and amazing , young and old really enjoy the small details and all the lights when the sun go down is incredible, even the stop lights and street lights works included a drive in movie!

Avon Williams

Was a great little historic town. Only one locomotive and one carriage though. I'd hardly call it a rail museum.

JA Hennigar

Something to do on a Sunday afternoon. It was not too big but sent a couple hours looking at old things.

Robert Kennedy

New small steam lovomotive model on display at main museum entrance. More locomotives delivered to main museum location.

stephanie mcconnell

Great atmosphere

Vanessa Morales

Bought the combo tour and traintopia pass. The tour guide was wonderful. He didn’t rush through any information and allowed plenty of time for pictures. The train collection is amazing. Traintopia is so well done and there is so much to see. The staff is not just friendly but downright welcoming. The scavenger hunt is hard but fun.

Norbert Winkel

(Translated by Google) Unfortunately, we had a bit bad luck on our visit, the weather did not take part, and the moving could not see everything. Nevertheless, the visit was a success. There was a lot to see, Caboose Cars, Boxcars, Pullman and Streamliner Cars all there. Of course, enough of the many great locomotives were to see. Starting with many diesels, electric locomotives up to the great steam locomotive. Above all, of course, the legendary "Big Boy" a crazy locomotive. Just watching this part was worth the trip. We will definitely come back when the museum's move is over and you can see all the attractions up close. (Original) Leider hatten wir bei unserem besuch etwas Pech, das Wetter machte nicht mit, und durch die Umzugstätigkeit konnte man nicht alles sehen. Trotzdem war der besuch ein Erfolg. Es gab viel zu sehen, Caboose Cars, Boxcars, Pullman und Streamliner Cars alles da. Natürlich waren auch genug von den vielen tollen Lok's zu sehen. Angefangen von vielen Diesel, E-Lok's bis hin zu den tollen Steam Lok's. Allen voran natürlich der Legendäre " BigBoy " eine Wahnsinn's Lok. Allein dieses Teil zusehen war schon die ganze Reise wert. Wir werden auf jeden Fall wiederkommen wenn der Umzug des Museum's beendet ist und man alle Attraktionen aus nähe sehen kann.

Jody Banks

My 6 year old grandson and I loved this museum! He liked walking through the caboose and climbing on the steam engines. It will be really nice when the outside part is complete. There are a lot of trains we did not get to see up-close, like the electric trains. The inside display was a lot of fun, but he wished there were more trains running.

Ellen Dash

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the railroad museum. Our tour guide was informative, entertaining, and had knowledgeable answers to any and all questions. I didn't know the history of trains was so interesting before this! It wasn't any trouble for us, but I would like to note for future visitors that it is all outdoor and involves walking along tracks and uneven footing.

Bruce Arbo

Absolutely incredible experience!...This is the collection that sat, forever, at the Texas Fairgrounds, in a horrible display area, that gave visitors no ability to actually 'see' the pieces...Obviously the City of Frisco has been what the collection has needed all along: these pieces are of immense importance to the history of the American Railroad and the current plans are to house and display these pieces of American railroad history in a building and grounds that do them justice and showcase them accurately. We wanted to visit the museum grounds, but could only make it one day, and on a day that the museum was closed. Our host, Robert Willis, drove from his home, an hour away, to meet us and give us a walking tour, for as long as we wanted; answering EVERY question that he could, and enlisting the aid of others to answer those he could not!!! The staff is also committed to reaching out to the children of the greater community, INCLUDING under privileged and those with special needs, with an educational program already up and running! (As we toured, there were busloads of kids, on a field trip, being guided through the collection of passenger cars, learning about the history and experiences of train travel in America, by very knowledgeable staff, giving these kids a close up and hands on look that they just can't receive in the classroom. We arrived excited about viewing the collection, but left even MORE excited about the plans for the growth and future of this very important piece of American history!-Bruce Arbo & Denise Hutton

Mickey Meacham

I expect this will be first class when they finish their building. Tours of the rolling stock are mornings only, and only 2, at 10/1130. Your kids will love it. More trains to climb on vs anywhere. Get them out of the ticket office/store ASAP. Or let one parent do the ticketbuying work. It isn't terrible, but they're still working on it. 3 stars for work in progress. Call me in 2-5 years.

Joel H

Worthless, complete and utter let down!! I thought about giving it more than 1 star because of the staff, but the more I thought about it the more disappointed I got. Definitely not worth the time or money. We drove for an hour with three small children to get to it and when we got there during normal business hours no one was there and a pad lock was on the front gate. Several families were standing outside waiting for someone to open it up, but no one ever came. I tried calling the number, but it just went to answering machine. After we waited for nearly 30 minutes we left at 10:45 AM, 45 minutes after the museum was supposed to be open. We ended up going to a restaurant down the rode and tried the museum again just after 12:00 noon. They had opened the gate by that point. When I asked the woman inside why they weren’t there at 10 she said they had special hours today due to an Arts Festival at Fair Park. I told her the website did not reflect the hour changes and there was no sign out front and several families had been waiting to get in for almost an hour. She apologized and said it was free today for the arts festival. She told me she would talk to her “web guy” about making sure the site was updated next time. We had already purchased tickets online through a discount site, but she said to keep it and come back another time with it since today was free for everyone. I thought that was nice, but after walking through it I am just going to throw my voucher away. They tell you that you can walk through and inside the trains, which really isn’t true. There were only 2 engines and 1 car you could get inside. One of the engines was even blocked off so you couldn’t really get into it just peak inside a gate. They don’t even have signs or anything up to let you know about the cars or their history. You would see the same stuff if you walked down and toured a local train yard and they wouldn’t charge like this. Bottom line this place is not worth the $7 admission for adults and whatever they charge for kids. You can walk through the whole thing in just a few minutes. Even free this place is a complete waste of time.

Harris Newman

Very cool

Vernon Shimabukuro

3 hour drive to get there to find out outside exhibit is closed. Ensure that you verify that it is open before making a trip. However, went to the National Videogame Museum and (would give that 5 stars more it I could) would go again! Show the conception of it all! Yes it even has its stages including original gaming console, games and interactive games! Ends with arcade room with free 4 tokens of play (can purchase more) and it takes you back (took me way back) down memory lane!!

Judy Marriott

It wasn't worth the money.your going to kill someone in that heat. Should be much earlier. Way to hot to start at 11 AM.

Christi Davis

Museums

Eddie Melvin

Great community asset with significant train assortment and superb educational programs for kids.

Cam Musquiz

Quaint small museum giving Frisco's history

Chris Homko

Great collection of trains.

James B

Not open enough days for people to see the trains. They only have one tour per day.

Cynthia Shea

This place is a joke. My family and I drove 20 plus minutes to come see this museum and we arrived 10 minutes before they open (1pm). We stood in 95 degree weather with our two baby girls for over 30 minutes for them to open their doors. They never opened or came! Other families arrived closer to 1:30 and they said it was their second time trying to find the place open. Who ever owns this place should just shut down and retire. Your delusional if you think your going to stay in business running it the way you do. Thank god we didn’t make the trip for nothing. We saw this restaurant near by called babes chicken and the service was amazing. We told the waiter about our experience next door and he said yea, I get it all the time here. They have no respect for their business hours. So that was the third person that said the same thing. If you are driving to see this place turn around and go somewhere else. Don’t influence this business because the fact is that they do not want you to visit!

manic mechanic

Very interesting, grandkids loved it. Fun

Hannah Bartlett

We were impressed with this museum. At the moment they do guided tours at certain times. To find out about this you have to go into the Traintopia museum in the neighbouring Discovery Centre. We were not there for the tour time, but were taken round the museum anyway which was very kind. We were able to walk through a few of the trains and the tour guide explained different aspects of the carriages and engines on display. The "Big Boy" is especially noteable! Over the next while they plan to do some construction work to form a structure over all of the trains to protect them from the weather.

Steven Woytaszcyk

5th cct gch f nu ..

Gary Thomas

Very nicely done, both inside miniature setup and outdoor tour

D. Tunney

Had a great time. Good tour and nice gift shop.

Devesh Kumar

Not a railroad museum I was hoping for. Limited artifacts but priced well in accordance to artifacts on display.

Jerome Pearson

Great experience

cool Kenji

Historically of Santa Fe

Presleigh Bradford

I can get a really good story

Luigi Bortolini

(Translated by Google) Wow what a lovely train museum .. !!

Hi Mom

Good

Andrew Allison

We did the walking tour of the trains. Tickets are bought at Traintopia in the Frisco Discovery Center. The tour itself is pretty cool. The tour guide could have used a little more energy in presenting information but for the most part he was informative. There is a lot of walking and a handful of train cars and engines to explore. A few items that would make it better. 1. It would be nice if a few more engines were available to explore. There's really only one steam engine where you can climb into but numerous other cool engines that would be nice to see the inside of. 2. The tour did not include any of the more modern passenger cars and 3. While I have active boys (2 and 5) they should consider adding easier ways for them to get in the engine. Addressing the items above would raise the score to 5 stars.

Thomas Rutherford

So cool! Great for kids and big kids alike. Definitely worth a few hours of your time.

Mickey McGinty

traintopia! don't miss it!

Robin Clingerman

I have 3 kids and was really looking forward to this outing. We were not able to see everything because our guide was very impatient ( I have a 18 month , 4 yo and 7 yo so we walk a little slower. He would not let them enjoy/ meander the train cars. I told him I wish I knew it wasn't family friendly or I would not have come. He just talked about being understaffed and hoping for a covered area..... Vast difference from the sweet lady at the museum. Super disappointed....

Michael Bohanan

One of the coolest experiences i have ever had learning about the Great American Railroad! Really neat trains and restored railcara.

Chris Counts

Awesome place to visit itll leave the railroad buff in almost speechlessness at how big the equipment actually is the guids are nice and answer most questions that are asked if the big boy locomotive is a high light on your list of railroad locomotives to see this 1 you can climb up in and sit in the engineer's seat

Charles Baclawski

A nice well done traditional museum. Great static displays and some nice videos exhibits. I like the idea of the theatre on the second floor but it is very under utilized.

Davor Rubeša

Doživjeti povijest američke željeznice, sjajno.

Kyle Pike

This museum is a must see if one finds oneself in Frisco with some time off. There is a very detailed and intricate working railroad model complete with moving vehicles, towns and even a functional drive in movie theater. The only draw back is that the railyard out back isnt open every day.

Joseph Mathews

Not too impressed with this museum. Not complete yet railroad rolling stock is available to public yet.

David Rude

Tour guides do a great job and are very personable. Great experience with photo opps for families. This tour and museum will continue to get better as they get more funding. Think it's great that they actually try to restore and keep some engines running. Glad this collection moved away from Fair Park so it has room to grow.

Joseph Jones

Interesting history of Frisco

Ruda Bodrov

The collection of trains here used to be at the State Fair of Texas and include a Big Boy diesel steam engine. Call ahead for a professionally led tour. Right now the trains are outside, but plans are to build a large shelter to protect them from the elements. Another star in this Museum is a very large model train exhibit donated to the museum by the family of a Dallas oil man who built the whole exhibit. Altogether there are 7 trains that run through models of 1960 Dallas, East Texas, West Texas (including the Palo Duro Canyon), New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Best model train display my husband and I have ever seen! Wonderful details of the era! It’s really fun to watch the excitement and delight of children (especially 5-7 year old boys) as they they view the exhibit for the first time!

Chelsea Stallings

Fantastic museum! The rolling stock collection is great and the staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly!

Michal Ptáček

(Translated by Google) I imagined the American Railroad Museum with more than just one locomotive outdoors, a few small houses, even a nice and small museum. They are not worth a visit. (Original) Muzeum americké železnice jsem si představoval s více než jen jednou lokomotivou venku, pár baráky, ikdyz hezké a malým muzeum. Nestojí za návštěvu.

Bill Hsomething

The part we wanted to see, all the actual trains other than the one steam engine, was closed. This visit was a complete waste of time and money.

Veronica Bibi

Went here on a school field trip. I am impressed how preserved the trains are. They are definitely doing a great job maintaining the museum.

Jon Rhodes

Nice, small museum to learn about Frisco's past. Admission was very reasonable and the staff were really nice.

Michael Steinberg

Looking forward to when the museum grounds are completed and the entire collection can be viewed.

Prashant Dumbre

Nice museum!

Tina von der Heiden

Amazing museum

Douglas Munnell

Great. But it will be fantastic when it is finished.

Ivan Brandon

It was awesome i got to see big boy and staff was great will soon visit again

Melba Cook

I visited the museum with my 12 year old grandson. He wanted to share my enthusiasm because I was donating my Lionel train set I received in 1957. The director met with us and gave a personal overview of the train displays. Was amazed at the attention to detail. So many trains and lovely town settings. Was provided a listing of numerous objects to check off when we discovered them. Had to have some help on a few. Lovely time spent. Went back 10 days later with remaining grandchildren. Fantastic display.

Jim Bradbury

Tour was very interesting. Learn a lot of new railroad information.

Daniel Walton

Dallas's New Home of Union Pacific Big-boy #4019.

John McNair

Not a single model railroad in this museum. Apparently they had one donated, but can’t even put up a 4 foot loop of track. Not worth the money. Kids were dissapointed.

bora ulker

(Translated by Google) Very nice (Original) Çok güzel

Mike Brownstead, Broker Associate, Keller Williams

Such a neat place to visit, train enthusiasts of all ages will definitely appreciate the museum!

Wayne D

Highly suggest you call ahead. We drove 30 minutes to see the trains only to find out that you can't see them without a tour guide and they only have one tour a day and we missed it by 20 minutes. With every other train museum I've been to the trains are open to the public. I guess they don't trust people in Texas.

Todd Beck

I'm not a train buff, although over the years we've ridden almost every type and accommodation just out of novelty. Today--as a high school class assignment--for the first time we visited the Museum of the American Railroad here in Frisco. Some other activity sponsored by the City made it really hard to drive to the museum, but we eventually got onto the hour-long $8 outdoor tour. For adults and older kids I highly recommend it. The younger kids parents brought on our tour were unhappy within a few minutes. (This is not a "Let's go see Thomas" attraction.) Even not being a fan I would have happily listened for another hour because it was really well-narrated and varied. There are some really cool pieces there, with a significant history. Once the tour moved inside to $4 Traintopia, though, I was ready to come home. Model dioramas are just not my thing--and, surprisingly, the younger kids I saw in Traintopia weren't engaged for more than a couple of minutes, either. YMMV, but this didn't seem like a young child place even though I've always thought of it as such (and thus never went). Anyway, there's a photo of my high schooler on the famous Meteor locomotive. It pulled Harry Truman on his presidential campaign tour in 1948. Normally it pulled a regularly scheduled passenger train from Dallas to OKC to Saint Louis on the "Frisco" railroad (from which Frisco city was named back in 1904). Bonus for the docent who correctly pronounced "Lebanunn."

Dustin Willis

Great museum at a great price! We took kids ranging in age from 5 - 12 and they all enjoyed it. Will definitely be back.

Kimberly Kraft

Fun fun fun the tour guides know there stuff and so much history there!