Western America Railroad Museum in Barstow Heights

Excellent place with a great static display

Really disappointing support from the staff / docents there, I tried visiting as part of a road trip, but was delayed along the way by road closures and rerouting; eventually I was there about 10 - 15 mins before the reported closure time. I saw the staff walking out and I asked if I could just have a quick glance in since I wont be able to come back again.. and just got a gruff "were closed" as they got into their cars. Not even a single bit of empathy or slowing down of pace.Was only able to take photos outside. Train cars are locked up and some have graffiti on the outside.Visit was in Dec 2021

Nice little museum and it is free. You can watch the trains go through this station. Grandkids loved that. They had a few trains on display outside. None that you can enter. The Galveston, Tx train museum lets you enter old passenger and locomotives. You do have to pay a fee for that one. But it is worth it.

Visited this establishment on accident while traveling in amtrak to LA. But Im so glad That I was able to stop and view l part of American history. If youre traveling and youve never been here and Happen to be passing it. Stop and take in the sights.

Nice place and good collection of vintage railroad related items and real locomotives.

Very interesting place to visit

Great Museum. Includes history of Railroads, Harvey House, NASA. Love the railroad cars too. Our family donated historic clocks to the Museum because we were so impressed. Its a place to visit, and support.

Old place buy plenty of pokemon go sites

A gem of a little museum. Lots of railroad items to please all ages.

The Western American Railroad Museum in Barstow is a cool place to visit. There are a few permanently parked historic rail cars outside of the museum which you are able to see 24/7. The indoor museum itself is only open a few days a week, primarily Friday to Sunday. A cool place to visit if you like trains and to see the large Barstow train station.

I love the locomotives that are on display

It is closed today. Only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Love the history!

Didnt need to go inside got great outside pics!!

Would of been nice if the museum was open but sadly when we arrived it was closed...Maybe due to covid or just closed early idk I would of loved to see the inside of the museum.....I planned my trip around coming to Calico Ghost town and This Museum...O well Ill be coming back,the trip wasnt a loss tho,the museum grounds is home to many trains retired and still rolling. From Union Pacific dpus to Santa fe Dpus and much more. The Harvey house is great for some photos and the old train bridge with trains running through constantly its a good place to railfan it up.

this place has this overpowering feeling of sentimentalism and nostalgia everytime i visit. i will always remember this place it feels like a setting for a conclusion of a movie. i visited this place twice in my life. once after a break up while i was living somewhere in california. and it felt like ive been there before but i dont think ive been there before that time. and then i stopped here again on my way back to california to visit my parents from wisconsin. everytime im here i feel something in my heart. its a beautiful area to visit. feels like something out of a dream to me.

Great engine selection, but having an SD40-2 on display doesn’t make sense as you watch a pair help a train over Cajon Pass.

Barstow, Calif.Nice train museum. Has many local stuff related to trains and highlights some marque individuals influential to the region.Site has maps galore, old magazines/catalogs, equipment, miniatures, signs, pins/lapels, and too much to list. Not a big place but has many things to check out.The best part was a mini train set. Very detailed. Amazing craftsmanship!Location: A10 min from I-15.Roads/Parking: APlenty and free.Cost: AFree.Overall: ANothing to travel thousands of miles for. Ideal if your commuting to/from vegas or to/from grand canyons to so cal.Notable nearbys:Located at the Harvey House.Rte 66 Museum, and planet exhibition is walking distance.Back way to Big Bear, Morongo/Palm Springs and Fort Irwin.Nearby up the same street is the Discovery/Geology Museum, Mojave Desert Museum and Historic DT Barstow where Roys cafe and bunch of Rte 66 signs are.Calico ghost town is a few mintues away.Barstow also has a huge outlets that is famous for Asian tourists.Safe traveling.

is small but I like it,i like to see the little train around the mountain.

My kids love this place. From models, displays and simulations, to real engines they can climb. Located in the beautiful Harvey house and train depot on a working train yard where they can also watch real trains at work.

Would like to seem em have a restaurant, and some more attractions or a hotel

Cute place. Took my family when they came to town.

Easy access, free parking, historic location, totally accessible train cars, wonderfully equipped, properly lit museum with amazing equipment and memorabilia. The home of the most jaw-dropping date nail collection, certainly world-class and very possibly one-of-a-kind. Cheerful, knowledgeable docents, clean lavatories, tricky hours of operation.

When you find yourself in Barstow, do the right thing and check out their triple threat museums. The renovated Harvey House (used for events and as local office spacehas docents and can give you a nice tour. The Route 66 museum is worth a stop. Theres also a fantastic NASA exhibit highlighting their (one of only 3 in the worldsatellite facility nearby. And of course the Western America Railroad Museum which has unique displays and historic materials reflecting the towns long history as a Santa Fe (now BNSFRailroad hub. Transportation, mining and the military have been the pilars of Barstow since it was founded. The WARM (and its neighborsare well worth an afternoon.

Awesome. A lot of vintage things to look at. Highly recommended

It’s a lovely, hidden museum full of railroad artifacts as well as train locomotives you can climb on. It’s a nice stopover on the way through Barstow.

Very nice place to take your kids

Really interesting and informative, friendly and helpful docents, and the setting is great

Nice museum for train enthusiasts. The locomotives on display are great! Museum is open only 3 days a week, but the locomotives are on display outside all the time.

Cool place to visit. Some more descriptions of the railroads history would be great. You can climb on some of the trains outside and see inside a couple of them 24/7. museum has open-close hours.

A good museum if youre into trains. Most of the large trains are outside of course. Did learn about the history and many items used to make there trains run. A free museum only open on the weekends.

Nice little railroad museum. Oh, and its free!

We just took pics here. Small. Lots of parking. Nothing to do nearby.

Nice museum. It has limited hours and days open. Staffed by friendly volunteers.

Nice historic station with historic railroad equipment. Nice place to watch trains

We were there last Friday, 19 April 2019, and the sign said it should have been open but it was not. One cannot provide a good review if the place is not open.

Great free museum open Friday Saturday and Sunday. But you can always swing by and see the rails and old steam engines on display 24/7

Awesome trainsSubs to look and take pictures

Great amarican history pieces. Good time with kids.

The official NASA Goldstone Visitors center with tons of information and extremely helpful staff that went above and beyond giving us a hands-on experience with aero gel. Id definitely visit again.

We came before the museum opened. My daughters loved the old engines and cars. My grandfather lived in Barstow and worked for SantaFe. My husband worked for UP. Now hes with a rail firm. We enjoyed looking at everything outside.

A gem of a train museum and a great family outing. The docents are very knowledgeable and the simulation is a real treat.

Great views, museum ONLY OPEN ON WEEKENDS😞

Very nice place to see old railroad stuff

Cool historical items and friendly staff. They even opened one of the trains outside to let my kids go in.

Lots of train memorabilia and pictures. All volunteer workforce prevents it from being open but 3 days a week.

Nice little railroad museum giving some history. Our kids enjoyed seeing the older engines and train cars outside. The architecture of the Harvey House was nice to explore as well as it is a historic building.

A fun view into the deep rooted Barstow railroad history. Surprisingly complete inside and out with museum worthy artifacts, locomotives, rail cars and a fun little gift shop. For those who enjoy rail history, you will definitely enjoy this detour on your trip.

Cool little place to see some old railway engines. The big engines are outside and free to walk around. The old train station is nice for some pics. Friendly staff that are excited to share the local history.Worth a quick detour if trains and history is your thing.

Playing a tourist, I decided to go and take a look at this place. From the outside, you can see some very interesting railroad equipment. All of the equipment is locked up and very hard to see the interiors of most the equipment. But you can see a couple of engines from the ATSF and BNSF railroads. And some of the other rail cars. The entrance to the museum is hard to find, and when you find it, you can walk thru and see some displays, and some great older items dedicated to many of the railroads. It seems to be a volunteer run facility. As my mom and I walked around, it was extremely quiet and not many visitors. I guess I was spoiled by the Colorado Railroad museum which was in the process of restoring cars and were very active in regards to showing the trains off, and very active in answering questions. So its a good place to stop in and see some artifacts from the days of when the passenger trains owned the rails, but other then that, you really wont get to see anything on the rail cars, and that is the shame to the museum.