A must for train fans. So much history and knowledge in a fun setting. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Took my 9 year old son and we both had a blast!

Very fun and safe activity to do with kids during the pandemic. You can spend a couple hours here, this is good for kids aged 5 or above.

An amazing collect of steam and Diesel engines. A great collection of rail cars. We be one of the best rail museums when they complete their main building.

Awesome doesnt cover it! On the surface the museum doesnt look like much. But add a knowledgeable tour guide with a love for trains, and the place comes alive. It felt less like a museum and more like the beloved collection of a railroad enthusiast. My family of four were the only ones on the walking tour, and it felt like they pulled out all the stops for us. My youngest and I were wearing our Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy shirts so they knew what we were there to see. I expected that we would be able to get close to the Big Boy they have in their collection. I didnt expect them to let us get on it!!!(My youngest is on a quest to see all eight of the surviving Big Boys. This one was number five!!!)Because were in Scouts, they pointed out a steam locomotive whose cab had been restored as an Eagle Scout Project. Both of our guides were very good at picking up on our interests, and catering to them.They told me that their gift shop was closed due to Covid. I said I wished I could buy a shirt from them, or something. They decided to let us in to do some shopping, and while we were there we got to see their huge G Scale train layout! It was like getting the back stage pass! In the end, I felt like my family got twice what we paid for. Definitely coming back to this one!

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. Theres 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.

My son is a train enthusiasts and has a goal to see all 8 the remaining Big Boys. We booked a 9am tour to get a look at the only Big Boy in Texas. Our family of 6 were the only people in the tour group with 2 knowledgeable tour guides. One guide was a historian and another a train enthusiasts. Both offered fun facts and information that made the displays come alive!We visit a lot of train museums across the country and while this museum lacks facilities (they are working on it), they have one of the best collections of train engines and cars we have ever seen! Not only do they house a Big Boy, the largest steam engine ever built, they also house the Union Pacific EMD DDA40X, the largest diesel engine ever built. We were allowed in/on a lot of their rolling stock. The guides were so patient and enthusiastic that our 45 min tour took 1.5hrs. Its not easy to walk through the outdoor facilities, but its like a treasure hunt of famous and interesting trains. If you enjoy trains, dont miss this hidden gem.

A must adventure for the family and kids. We had a great time

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 its 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.

Woooow!!! This museum was amazing!! I went here with my son and his class on a field trip. I can’t believe that a man had all of that in his home, he must have spent a ton of time and money creating all of those model towns, train tracks, scenery, ect. I mean the attention he had to detail is astounding! (I especially loved the little *almost* hidden Back to the Future area tucked between buildings). You can easily see that he poured his heart and soul into this project. And how WONDERFUL of his family to donate it to this museum so that many kids (and adults!) can enjoy his work for a very long time. The actual trains they have there are so very, very cool to tour & imagine being a passenger on so long ago. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and I got my son a very cute train-engraved pocket watch on the way out that he was begging for. Lol.

When you arrive, you have to buy tickets before you get a glimpse of the museum. Once you pay (in my case $30 for two adults and two children) you walk around the wall and see one room with a train display. The display is very good, but it can be viewed in 5-10 minutes. For a casual train fan, this felt like a huge ripoff. Suggestion: ask for donations instead of making people pay for this one room museum before they know it is one room.

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.

Its a museum you cant even get in. I love the trains in the yard. I just want to be able to walk around them, see them in close range, take pictures with them. I dont need the tour.Unfortunately you cant just buy tickets and get in, very disappointing.

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.

Amazing railroad collection!

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

We only saw the model train set but it was such an amazing time! My two boys loved it and the scavenger hunt is a genius way to make sure every detail is seen. Well be back to see the big trains outside.

Trainotopia was really enjoyable and the staff interaction with my kids was awesome. Really impressive layout and the attention to detail was second to none. The tour into the train sidings was very enjoyable. Bob and his colleague were both knowledgable but also friendly. Great experience.

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.

Play must on your bucket list for an outing in Frisco Texas

Great tour guides

Great place for train lovers!!!

The guided walking tour was great, I was unaware of the historical significance of the collection! TrainTopia inside was impressive!

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.

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!

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!

Im not a train buff, although over the years weve 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 Lets 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 werent engaged for more than a couple of minutes, either. YMMV, but this didnt seem like a young child place even though Ive always thought of it as such (and thus never went).Anyway, theres 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.

Highly suggest you call ahead. We drove 30 minutes to see the trains only to find out that you cant 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 Ive been to the trains are open to the public. I guess they dont trust people in Texas.

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

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 didnt know the history of trains was so interesting before this! It wasnt 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.

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!!

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.

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 engineers seat

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

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!

Very nicely done, both inside miniature setup and outdoor tour

It wasnt worth the money.your going to kill someone in that heat. Should be much earlier. Way to hot to start at 11 AM.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 isnt terrible, but theyre still working on it. 3 stars for work in progress. Call me in 2-5 years.

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 cant 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

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.

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

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

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

5th cct gch f nu..

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

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 wasnt 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....

Very interesting, grandkids loved it. Fun

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

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

I can get a really good story

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.

Just not what I was expecting

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.

Traintopia! dont miss it!

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

Quaint small museum giving Friscos history

Nice museum!

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

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

Amazing museum

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

Good

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

Big Boy!!!

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

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

Very cool

Great collection of trains.

Historically of Santa Fe

Great atmosphere

Great experience

Interesting history of Frisco

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.

Dallass New Home of Union Pacific Big-boy #4019.