1649 El Prado, San Diego, CA, 92101 (Physical Address of Museum)
Summer Hours: (May 26-September 4) Tuesday-Sunday (10 AM-4 PM) Monday (Closed)
Regular Hours: Tuesday-Sunday (11 AM-4 PM) Monday (Closed)
Admission prices are listed at the bottom of the page
Overview
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a massive, 27,000 square foot, model train heaven. It is by far the largest model train museum I have ever visited and the expansive museum is sure to wow train lovers, train novices and children alike. While I was unaware at the time of our visit, this model railroad museum is the largest indoor exhibit of its type in North America and one of the largest in the world. The museum is located in the heart of Balboa Park, on the main strip of El Prado, a short walk from the Natural History Museum. The railroad museum is housed on the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building. My suggestion is to arrive just before the museum opens and to sit in the train car outside the museum and watch the short movie that plays.
The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has been around since 1982 and does an incredible job of telling the history of railroading through its miniature recreations of Californias railroads. As visitors wander the museum halls they will encounter two enormous HO scale layouts, an N scale layout, an O scale layout and my personal favorite, an O scale “Lionel type” toy train gallery running on a 3 rail O gauge track.
Visitors will be amazed as they watch smoke come from the stacks of the trains and eye the intricate details of the toy train layout. The gift shop is a must visit as well, before heading out to other Balboa Park sites.
Museum Exhibits
Although the museum does have rotating exhibits, the majority of exhibits here are permanent. Below is a list of a few of the permanent exhibits you will see when visiting. For those wanting more information on them before visiting you may click here.
- THE CABRILLO SOUTHWESTERN (O Scale Layout) AND THE SAN DIEGO & ARIZONA EASTERN (HO Scale Layout)
- Southern Pacific-Santa Fe Tehachapi Pass (HO Scale Layout)
- PACIFIC DESERT LINES (N Scale Layout)
- The Toy Train Gallery (O Scale “Lionel Type” toy trains running on 3 rail O gauge track)
- FREIGHT AND FLORA: A GARDEN RAILROAD
More than Just a Train Museum
This is truly one of those museums that one must see with their own eyes to truly comprehend the scale and awesomeness of it. The added bonus of visiting the railroad museum, is all of the other nearby activities. Families will assuredly want to take their kids right across the street to the Balboa Park miniature train rides and check out the colorful Mexican village or choose to spend the afternoon at the incredible San Diego Natural History Museum. For those looking for a more leisurely day, simply walking the beautiful El Prado strip should suffice. It is impossible to take in all of the sites in Balboa Park in one day. However, The Model Railroad Museum is a great spot to visit while deciding what other museums and sites you may want to visit as well.
Scout’s Story
My wife and I, along with our daughter, Scout, had recently decided to take a short trip to San Diego to get away for a few days. Scout, who is now two months away from turning 2, has been battling stage 4 cancer for nearly the past year. A few weeks prior, Scout was admitted to the hospital to undergo a more extensive round (relapse) of chemotherapy than what she has undergone before. What was meant to be a one week stay, turned into multiple weeks of hospitalization for Scout due to neutropenic fevers, illnesses and low blood counts among other things.
Now that Scout’s blood counts have stabilized we decided it would be a good time to take her on a little trip. Being that San Diego is less than two hours from us and has a Kaiser hospital there, this seemed like the most logical and safest choice for a short trip. We were super excited to have Scout out of the hospital and wanted to make the most of these few days. Over the past year, Scout’s favorite thing has become trains. Through her treatments, trains have been a constant theme of what has kept Scout entertained. I discussed visiting the San Diego Railroad Museum with my wife and we both agreed that we would give it a try on our last morning in San Diego before heading home.
It had been some time since Scout had been in an indoor setting with other people. We decided to arrive at the railroad museum before it opened and hoped we could have Scout enjoy it before others arrived. This is something that we would not typically do but I really wanted Scout to see the trains and figured we could do it safely without compromising her health.
Visiting the Railroad Museum
We arrived at the museum about 20 minutes before it opened and waited in the little trolley outside of the museum. Once the museum opened we were the first to enter and there were only 2 other people with us. I was super happy to see how excited Scout was to see the trains.
As we made our way through the first set of displays I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A massive field trip of school kids had arrived. I was a bit upset and was pretty sure that we were gonna have to leave to keep Scout safe. Surprisingly, the school group went in the other direction and all stayed together. We continued in our direction and were able to limit Scout’s exposure to others for the duration of the morning.
The size of the museum and the amount of model trains displayed is unbelievable.
The museum was absolutely phenomenal and Scout had such a great time as we wandered from one display to the next.
Before heading out we stopped in the gift shop and let Scout pick out a few train souvenirs and a train lollipop.
We made our way towards the car planning to stop and see the ocean before heading home. Scout’s next steps will be a P.E.T Scan on her tumors to decide if she will require more chemo and what her next steps will be in this battle to rid her of this horrible disease.
March 17, 2023
Admission Prices
- $19 (18 Years and Over)
- $9 (Ages 13-18 or with a Valid Student I.D.)
- Free (12 and Under)
- $16.50 (Ages 65 and Over)
- $9.50 (Military – Active Duty, Veterans, Spouses of uniform service, with military I.D.)
- $2 (Museums for All – EBT/WIC/SNAP Cardholders. Good for up to 4 people)
Yearly Memberships:
- $50 (Individual Membership – Valid for 1 adult and 1 youth (ages 17 & under)
- $85 (Household Membership – Valid for 2 adults and up to 4 youths (ages 17 & under)
- $130 (Contributing Membership – Valid for 3 adults* & up to 4 youths (ages 17 & under)
- $25 (Student Membership – Valid for 1 person (ages 15+) with proof of student ID)
For more information on what each membership includes and policies, please click on the link provided here.
Getting to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum
1649 El Prado, San Diego, CA, 92101 (Physical Address)
1788 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101 (Parking Address)
I personally find the easiest place to park is in the parking lot in front of the San Diego Natural History Museum (although it often fills up), or in the adjacent lot across the street. This is free parking and the walk to the railroad museum is about 5 minutes from here.
