Railroad Museum

Our Las Cruces Railroad Museum is located in an historic Santa Fe Railroad Depot in the Alameda-Depot Historic District of the city. It is staffed by knowledgeable and enthusiastic volunteers. 

When we visited during the 5th Annual Railroad Days a couple of months ago, we talked with model railroad enthusiasts, Harvey Girl reenactors from El Paso's Railroad and Transportation Museum, and lots and lots of train fans. 

Our little museum hosts other events, as well. We recently attended a talk about the Orphan Trains, which I'll tell you about in a later post. I see that the Museum's upcoming activities include brown bag lunches with talks about local history; a monthly toddler story time; and the Rail Readers Book Club, which discusses a different train-related novel every month.

Vintage railroad posters line the walls of the old railroad depot waiting room

Upstairs in the model railroad room you can operate parts of this exhibit yourself. It was built by students during summer programs held at the museum. From the exhibits page: This HO layout depicts railroading in the southwest in the 1940s and 1950s. It includes a switching yard, a vibrant downtown area featuring a few buildings from Las Cruces’ past, and outlying farms and mountains. You can find out about this summer's modeling classes here.

Admission to the museum is free. There is always something new to see, although it might just be the look on the face of a little boy (some of them quite grown-up), fascinated with the world of model trains.