National Railroad Museum

I have visited many times but this time I brought my nephews, age 7 and 4, along with my 18 year old daughter. We packed a lunch so we could spend time wandering. The boys especially loved going into real trains and riding on one. They played for a long time with the toy trains and found some treasures in the gift shop. I can’t wait for the new addition to be done.

What a great museum. Having been here last 20yrs ago it’s insane to see how much they have worked on improving the museum. Museum has a lot of world renowned railroad items such as a big boy… a war train from the UK and MULTIPLE steam engines just to name a few things! There is also a train ride on property and for an additional $5 I’d say it’s worth it!!

Huge fun! Whether you're a kid or an adult, you'll find this place amazing. The National Railroad Museum has preserved a large piece of American history: the Union Pacific Big Boy, the Eisenhower, the Hiawatha Express, and many other impressive specimens of the Industrial Era. The museum has also kept many interiors intact, so you feel like a passenger from back in the day when you step into one of the cars. Whenever I'm here, I'm reminded how much I wish these gigantic trains were still around.

We had a wonderful time visiting the National Railroad Museum. Our 6 y/o son loves trains so while visiting family in WI, they took us to the museum and it was a great experience. We loved learning more about trains and the importance that the railroad industry had in the growth of America. The "Big Boy" steam train is a real beauty to behold, the Pullman passenger train takes you back in time to the simple days. There's a playground and discovery center for the kiddos, so even my kids that aren't such big train enthusiasts had a ton of fun. The train ride was a fun experience as well, and the conductor was informative all while being entertaining. The lookout tower was quite a climb, but the views were well worth it. I highly recommend to anyone in the Green Bay area to go visit the railroad museum and the next time we Tennesseans are visiting Wisconsin again, we'll certainly come for another visit.

Great museum for all ages! Many trains that you’re able to walk through, enjoying inside and out. Make sure you take the train ride! Nice gift shop. A little expensive to get in, but well worth it.

Had a great visit and donated $1050 that I collected for reward money for a local railroad after a train theft. The RR recommended this museum for the donation. Kudos to the CEO for the awesome tour and pumping that pump car down the rail! 😆

Lots of stuff to look at indoors and out. The scale of these trains is incredible, to say the least. Train ride is a little short, but the conductor made it worth the ride with the history and jokes. Will definitely be back when construction on the new section is done.

Pretty great experience overall. We took the train ride within, and it was pretty neat. We got to see the new building area being built. Can't wait to come back when it's done! I knocked a star off for a few different reasons. When we arrived, it was raining and they had you stop to buy tickets. We waited for a minute and went up to the window. This younger lady scolded us, saying we should've waited in our car and how our car wasn't pulled up enough. Mind you, we could easily see her and her IPad. Secondly, I wish the process for members were easier. We had to go into the main building to get everything sorted. Hope this improves!

We took about an hour to visit. It was a fun experience. You can walk through many trains that are beautiful. They have trains inside and outside. You can ride a train for 25 minutes around the perimeter of the property. It cost $5 extra.

My family was looking for an indoor activity to do since the day was going to be rainy and cold. We happened upon this museum during their fall festival and stayed for 6 hours. They offered more to do than normal because of the festival but we still would have spent a couple of hours here regardless. Lots of cool examples of trains with many were open to us to walk through and explore. You could also take a train ride onsite. The museum is close to many shops and businesses off of Oneida Ave. so everything was close. Great gift store too if you are a train fanatic, lots of train-themed merchandise.

We went for a family outing and had a great time. The cashier at the front desk and for the store provided excellent customer service. She was happy to answer any questions I had. The store had a variety of toys, t-shirts, calendars, candy, and souvenirs. It was an exciting experience walking through the trains and learning about their history. This was my first time getting to see a train up close so I enjoyed it as much as my toddler. We had many photo opportunities to document our memories. We paid to ride the train but left before the train ride scheduled time due to bad weather. The children's discovery exhibit was closed for a private event but I'm sure we would have enjoyed it too.

This was an interesting an fun time killer for our group of four and I am glad we came across it. We went on a weekday (Monday) and there were very few people there to cruise the trains and exhibits. It was very festive, with all the Christmas trees and decorations. It was well worth the price of admission. I was captivated by the turn-of-the-century (20th century) train cars and how "luxurious" some of the travelers traveled. From the kitchens, dining cars and sleeping berths were all pretty amazing; especially for back then. All the levers, wheels and what have not in the engineer's compartment were mind boggling, especially with today's automated everything. The children's museum portion was closed the day we arrived, but we had no children so it was not that big of a deal I suppose. I would have liked to see what they were offering up the wee ones, but so be it. The employees, or volunteers, that were present in the gift shop (as well as where you pay your entrance fee) were not very amicable at all. So be it, I was not there to make friends anyhow. Overall I would recommend this museum, especially if you are into trains and train history.

Wonderful! Staff very knowledgeable and accessible. There's a short train ride that is very nice. Excellent for families! There's picnic tables for guests to use. Great for children of all ages.

A awesome little museum for lovers of the railroad history. Having the old cars are a real treat too. Happy to have been able to walk around and see the old locomotives too.

This is a great stop if you are near the Green Bay, Wisconsin area! Perfect for families. We were able to go aboard the locomotives and experience the beautiful history of trains. The train ride goes around the station twice while the guide explains the history of trains and the National Railroad Museum. Definitely a must needed stop in your travels!

We are museum members and visit often. Of late, since the holidays, the Education center has been disappointing. The elevated train no longer runs. How hard would it be to clean the tracks or lay new tracks to delight the children who visit. As well, the light bulbs in the loved train light poles are burning out, many no longer light and the fun of switching the lights on and off is dimming. Today we discovered the rheostat that dims and brightens the coal fire in the engine is also broken. These may go unnoticed but not by children and should not be by staff as these have been reported to them. Please, a little upkeep would go a long way! We pay our annual dues, visit often, attend $pecial events$ to support the museum. Please put our $$$dollar$$$ to work.

Been here a few different times now, each time for a special event going on. First time was near Halloween for their pumpkin patch picking event. It was a lot of fun and very well done. We did go very first thing in the morning for that one so it wasnt super crowded on the train ride or really that crowded inside. By the time we left a few hours later the parking lot was completely full. The pumpkins were all different sizes from huge to small enough for a toddler to carry. The entire staff was helpful and awesome from inside the actual museum to outside at the pumpkin patch and on the train. The second time I came was for their Festival of Trees. Very nice little set up, with lots of different trees sponsored by different companies and organizations around the area. All the trees were uniquely decorated with something to do with the organization sponsoring it. I think we went on a Friday/Saturday night an it really was not crowded at all. You could still look at all the trains and the museum still ran there were just a lot of really awesome trees at the same time. All in all even if there is not a special event going on, there are a lot of cool things to see and learn. I would say its a great place for kids or adults. Kids love the huge trains as as far as I am aware they were all used at some point and nothing is fake. You can go inside most of them and see how people used to travel cross country. Really awesome. There is lots of stuff to read and videos to watch as well for the older kids/adults. Bottom line, come visit this place if you need somewhere to take the kids. Its worth the drive from wherever you come from.

I don't have pics but have taken friends here from ohr of town. I will update my review with pics but they have a lot of history here and it is cool to check out. They have a cool movie they play before hand. Look. It is inexpensive and it is in GB. This is the countries biggest railroad museum. And it is cool. Until the next review, Yelp Steve-O out!

I love this place! I have actually done community service work at the museum and got to see a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, and it's a great experience to visit, a lot of history

My family of four plus a family friend visited the National Railroad Museum today. While we loved our train ride and thought the conductor tour guide was great with our kids (6 & 8) and was an enjoyable ride, we were taken aback by the very rude customer service in the ticket booth/gift shop. The man at the counter acted extremely disgruntled when we showed him a buy-one-get-one coupon. He went on-and-on how much the coupon company is dishonest yet honored the coupon--which we appreciated--but, completely forgot to give us our tickets. At the end of day as we made our way back to the gift shop for a last stop before departing at 5:00p (closing time), we were told by the ticket man that our two girls could not get their Girl Scout patches or any souvenirs because it was 5:02p and he had cashed out for the night. (We were the only people in the museum and there was no warning that the gift shop would close EXACTLY at 5:00pm.) We were literally locked into the museum and had to leave through an alternative door! The museum is a nonprofit and as a board member of a different nonprofit, I know that word-or-mouth and customer service make or break organizations. I hope, for the museum's sake, that they retrain the ticket man, so other children are not broken-hearted that they did not get a special trinket to remember their day at the National Train Museum.

What a great experience! We went to this museum for a Cub Scout outing. If you attend as an educational/scouting group like this, you can pay to participate in museum overnights. So we spent a "Night in the Hobo Jungle." Our Scouts were kept busy from the start of the event, which we checked into after the museum closed for the day. I do not want to ruin the surprise for those who are considering going here. However if you have a scouting group and are looking for activities for your year, definitely get this one on your list!

If you like trains and history then you've come to the best place! Lots to learn and see! This exhibit is on the Fox River and has a observatory tower for you to climb and see the sites. I highly recommend it when. you are in Green Bay. If I were to make on suggestion - it would be to had more authentic sounds to add to the experience.

This place is well worth your stock I spent three hours here I was totally immersed in history and incredible trains. Actually there's more trains and you probably have time to look at. Many of you will enjoy going inside the trains and inside the coaches. Definitely a place to see when in Green Bay.

A museum for EVERYONE! Although I might have been more excited then the kiddos, I grew up with a fascination for trains. The museum is packed full of information and facts. We loved that the trains were open and we were able to walk around them. The UP Big Boy will leave you speechless at the engineering marvel that it is.

Trains Trains and more trains. Hubby enjoyed it. It's a must for train and history buffs. Their in the process of restoring rail cars. The train ride was interesting lots of historical stories. The gal out ticket counter wasn't too friendly. Have to wear mask in building s so heads up

I was here last weekend and it was a beautiful place for a wedding. You can roam around in the old train cars from different eras. I was most interested in the Aerotrain---we couldn't go inside, but it just looks fantastic (old, but futuristic at the same time... like out of a vintage Superman movie). The layout is great for a small or medium sized group in the main hall, with room for a dance floor and a live band. I imagine if you got a smoke machine and cool lighting, it would honestly look like you're in a black and white film. Or at King's Cross? Anyway, it's incredible. We arrived in time to take advantage of the free ride on one of the trains around the grounds, which they did for about an hour or something as the reception was starting. The grounds are cool to see, but that train itself is SO SCREECHY. I'd recommend climbing up the much quieter wooden lookout instead of doing the train ride (I think it costs extra to book the train rides for your event anyway). Other notes: -Weird thing to say, but the bathroom facilities are nice. It's just a good thing to know for a big event. -From their website, it's hard to tell if they are the ones doing the catering service or if it's an outside thing. It was pretty blah wedding food. I was fairly intoxicated by the 3+ hours worth of "cocktail hour" prior to that, so I didn't really care. Oh, Wisconsin weddings...

When you think of Brown County you immediately think of Lambeau Field. It has a great tour, too, but Brown County is also home to the National Railroad Museum. I remember coming here as a little kid, when everything was outside. Somewhere, I have a photo of me, a young brat standing on the catwalk of the Union Pacific Big Boy, arguably the largest steam locomotive ever built. Today, that same Big Boy is inside a large building, it has been cosmetically restored, and it is still a most impressive piece of equipment. And I have a photo of me, as an old fart, behind the throttle. There's no going on the catwalk today, the lawyers have pretty well made sure of that. The museum has an interesting collection of unusual rolling stock, including a Railway Post Office, a caboose that looks suspiciously like it was built by the Milwaukee Road but sporting C&NW livery, a bi-level passenger car that was used in the Chicago market for commuter trains and by the C&NW on the Ashland Division run to Northern Wisconsin, a Pennsylvania GG-1 electric locomotive, several steam engines including a British steamer named for Ike (General Eisenhower) an unrestored Shay and a GM Aerotrain. The Aerotrain was an attempt by GM to use bus and automobile technology to bring a stylized, lightweight and economical train set to the railroads. It might have sounded like a good idea in 1956, but it turned out to be as bad an idea as you can imagine. The train was streamlined, the cab looked like a jet fighter and the cars were basically GM aluminum busses on flanged wheels. The end of the train resembled a Chevrolet Nomad wagon. As grand as it looked, it was terribly impractical. The lightweight cars didn't ride like a train, or even a bus, but more like a logging truck. They were noisy. The locomotive was underpowered. GM built two train sets. They were tested by both the Pennsylvania and the Union Pacific and both railroads were unimpressed. The locomotive was underpowered. The Union Pacific tested the Aerotrain between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but it needed a helper freight locomotive to pull it over Cajon Canyon. Both railroads took a pass and returned the test units to GM. The Rock Island bought them and used them in Chicago commuter service for about 10 years. One is in St. Louis and the other one is here. There is also a scale model on display in the museum. While the Aerotrain is a static display, you can take a train ride around the perimeter of the museum grounds. You can climb an observation tower for an overview of the museum, the region, and the tallest building in Green Bay: Lambeau Field. If you're a real train enthusiast, you can easily spend a day or two here. If you're a more casual rail fan, plan on at least half a day but it deserves a full day of your attention. Be sure to visit the gift shop!

Helpful staff and amazing exhibits! Lots of hands on opportunities. The kids area was a little sparse but the real trains more than made up for it. The gift shop was reasonably priced. Great place to visit!

An impressive museum, starting with the fact that they have several full-size trains inside. The main buildings trace railroad history and lead to a massive hall with four historically-significant trains. Many more are in huge sheds nearby. Everything is well designed, easy to get around, and fun to look at. You can walk through some of the trains, and there is a train-like playground for the kids. The train ride is fun, and is only a dollar more (I think entry is $9, $10 with the ride.) Well worth a visit, and worth a detour if you're anywhere nearby. For train buffs, worth a special trip on its own.

This is no IRM and it's small but still a cool place to go. I ran out of time to explore the nice building but the other buildings and the train ride was cool. It's a nice family outing and lots of people were there. Every one was enjoying them selfs. You can go into the equipment and after filming the train ride from the open car the guy tells me for $5.00 extra I could have filmed from the cab of the locomotive. I'm like why didn't you tell me that when you saw me set up the camera, oh well. Definitely plan to spend some time here and check out the whole place, I had a lot to taken in and couldn't spend the whole day here but it was worth going to. It's a nice family outing.

Not bad. I liked the Aerotrain because I like everything modern or futuristic. It has 15 cars in the main museum not bad, but the national museum of transportation has like 50 cars. I learned a lot about trains from a kid named sammy. He is a train enthusiast. But the most interesting part was the hobo signs.

This place is fun. The price for admission is a little steep $9 - but it's worth it for one time around. If you wanna ride their train it's an additional $2 for $11 total. The information was alright, they have a large aerotrain model that is cool to look at. They also have a neat graffiti section, which is good to at least think about. I enjoyed the signage they had, there's a name for them but I forgot - it was fun to see signage for tracks I've actually ridden on before (Amtrak's Empire builder!) The hands down best part was being able to walk in and around all the old trains. They have Union Pacific's "Big Boy" in there as well as the Eisenhower. Going through the old cabins is like a blast to the past, a lot of it has been restored. I liked the Pullman train too, because of it's history with the civil rights movement! Trains are such an integral part of our history, it's sad to go here and be reminded that cars took over. The train ride was okay. My husband and I regretted going on it. You only circle around the museum twice, and our cart was full of screaming and sneezing children. I guess if you have kids this will be great, but I advise childless people to save their money. If you want to support the museum spend at the gift shop :) My only qualm is the warehouse was all decorated for Halloween and gaudy decorations were everywhere. It really ruined the mood and just didn't seem to fit in at all with the rest of the museum. But it's definitely worth a stop if you live in the area, especially if you're a train freak!

One, the quantity of china exhibited is beyond impressive. The rolling stock exhibited in the main building displays quality, not quantity. In a separate shed called the McCormick pavilion, are the steam engines, the earth moving Aerotrain , the open to visitors UP City of Los Angeles dome diner and the Burlington Route sleeping car used on the Empire Builder. In addition, a number of rolling stock sit outside without protection from the elements; there is a section where the visiting public is not allowed to enter. Again, another must see.

If you love trains, there you go I enjoyed visiting this place as it reminded me of the old stories and movies I read and watched. The feeling that you're traveling in the past makes you feel good.

Great place for kids! Lots of room to run around. A little hard for the younger kids that can't understand they aren't allowed to touch some things, but the Museum does a good job making sure there are some hands-on exhibits. The pure awe and joy of my two-year-old was awesome to see!

Nice little museum if you are into trains. Not as big as the train museum in Union, IL. It would take half a day to see all the attractions. I heard they have a cute haunted house around halloween.

This museum is fun for the whole family!! If you love trains, then this is the place to be. Because there was so much snow around, the train rides were not operating and so, the admission price for my wife and I was only $10. Very reasonable for $5 per person. Great history and fun.

I would ask for stars back, but that's not how this works. Holy cow. Double booked their own event on my sister in law's wedding day. Completely blew their own schedule then failed to call her to boot. They made absolutely no effort to make it right other than offering a ridiculously insulting discount. If you are looking to plan an event here stay far, far away.

This is by far the best train museum I have ever visited and I have been to ones in 5 states. The artifacts that kids can actually walk through and touch was great. They have a special building for kids to do train activities. It is very clean and reasonably priced.

Excellent! If you have ever wondered just how big a machine can get, you need to stop in here. Yes there are bigger, but these machines were built a long time ago. I was impressed! If you have not been you need to go. I drove by many times and regret that I did not stop in before.

What a wonderful railway museum. The kids enjoys seeing the trains on display as well as playing in the children's discovery museum. It made the Day Out with Thomas even better.

If you like trains, check this place out! They have steam and diesel trains as well as cars, cabooses, and other railroad equipment. You can go inside most of the trains and cars. Cost is 10 bucks. Bring a flashlight for exploring the train cars. The original 100 year old lighting is poor in some of the cars.

What a wonderful place for children and adults to learn about our amazing American railroad history.

A large museum that will interest any train fan. It includes several remodeled trains in a beautiful indoor setting. You can go inside these trains and see what was luxury transportation at the time. A separate museum area includes artifacts from rail travel, including an extensive collection of fine china from luxury trains. There is a kids train-themed play area. Outside is large grounds with a shed that has many old trains (lots of them run down and wasp infested). A ride in a train lasts about 20 min and goes around the museum grounds (costs a few dollars extra).

I think of this place as TWO attractions: There are the restored trains with all sorts of technical info, which are of great interest to....well...guys who like all things mechanical in general, and trains in particular. (aka my dad) But there is also a lot of American history to be found here, like the outstanding Pullman Porter exhibit. You walk through a restored Pullman sleeper car - an experience in itself - and learn about the history and lives of the porters, unsugar-coated. I think especially for anyone interested in Black History, that exhibit is worth the price of admission. TIP: Go to the Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitor's Bureau website and find their COUPON link. You can download a pdf with BOGOs for many area attractions, including the RR museum. Then spend the extra money in the gift shop!

Lots of rolling stock inside & outside. Excellent exhibit on Pullman Porters. Very nicely done. Very diverse gift shop. Nicely done. I am so glad I got to see it. Excellent layout.

This is a great attraction if you have any interest in railroads and their history. The historic trains are well worth the visit and the steam engines are fantastic. My primary interest was in seeing the display on Pullman Sleeping Car porters. The sleeping car was very impressive and the first one I had ever been inside. It was great to see how these operated and actually be able to see up close how they were used. It brings a lot of focus to how we travel today and how things have changed over time. Highly recommended.

The National railroad Museum is by far the best place in the Green Bay area to spoend a summer afternoon either by yourself or with others. I have been going to see the trains there for 37 years now. I live in Green Bay so I can stop in anytime I want to. I even Volunteered for a year & became an engineer, got trained to drive the big locomotive & yes you can too...If your getting married their is no other place that can compare to the classy, 1940's feel of the Lenfesty Center, the backdrop of your head table are TRAINS. mY FAVORITE TRAIN is the General Motors Aerotrain back when I was a youngester 30 years ago, you could go upinside the Aerotrain but for the past 20 years now it's been off limits..

Had a blast at the museum. The guys had a great time checking out the old engines and cars. The day that were there there was also a WWII reenactment. If you are looking for something to do in GB that isn't football, this is a great stop.

Walking through some of the trains was like a walk back in time. The old Pullman sleeper cars and dining areas on some of the trains was eery. Yes the seats were worn and tattered but that was the whole point of seeing that which was sometimes over 80'years old. Just the collection of so many different trains was amazing. Looking into how the coal was used to produce steam to propel the train was interesting. Just seeing the Big Boy engine was awesome. There was a nice 30 minute video about the Big Boy and how train use evolved. All of this for $9 for seniors. It was $11 if you wanted the train ride. The parking is free. If nothing else the money went for further upgrade to the trains or to pay the employees. Some of the trains you can climb on board the engine and see what the engineer used to maneuver the train. Some of the trains outside you could only walk past them on a walkway. It would have been nice to see better inside through the windows on those trains with some lighting inside. Maybe in the future there will be some upgrades. A great way to spend 2-3 hours. There is a hands on discovery center for children but we didn't go through it. For $2 the train ride would be worth it for kids. There is a look out on the property but we chose not to climb it as it was hot and many steps.

I was hesitant in booking this venue for my upcoming wedding as I have been to two previous weddings here. A year prior to my wedding date their wedding coordinator Brian ensured us when we met that they do not double book events and that they have never had to move a wedding inside due to rain. I knew right away that he was lying because a wedding that I stood up in the year previous was moved inside due to rain, and yes Brian was the the wedding coordinator. Other venues that we were considering were booked on our date so reluctantly we chose the Museum. We went back in a few days later to let Brian know that we wanted to book the date and he acted as we had never met. We ended up signing the contract and everything had seemed to be going smoothly up until 2 weeks ago when we called to finalize the details. We were told that Brian was no longer employed by the museum and that someone would call us back regarding our wedding. 2 days later we were finally able to get through to Scott who had taken over for Brian. He let us know that they have a family day booked for Point Beach Power Plant the same day. They employ over 400 people. When we asked if they could ask attendees to kindly wait at the door while our 20 minute ceremony was going on he responded, "I cant do that, they paid to be here." I bit my tongue and kept my composure as best i could. Scott was very short and rude to my fiance and I and said he could still squeeze us in. Obviously something that a Bride does not want to hear. The lack of professionalism and customer service by the museum and its employees was quite astonishing. This all happened 15 days before our wedding and we and after scrambling for 3 days we were able to find another venue to accommodate us. If i could give them 0 stars i would. I would never recommend that anyone plan their wedding here.

I enjoyed my visit today. It was kind of sad, though, to see that The National Railroad Museum is so obviously underfunded and not maintained well. So very small, so few rolling stock, so many unlabeled exhibits. How can we not have a much larger, much greater museum dedicated to our railroad history?! I have seen better collections at several other places, including the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. Here in DePere the museum is definitely worth the trip for a dedicated rail fan. Seeing a Big Boy in person is worth the price of admission. The Pullman Car exhibit is nice, too, as is the General Eisenhower train. But the rest of the rolling stock is in poor condition, unlabeled, poorly maintained or unrestored. I was sad and angry as I walked through the buildings thinking about how little we care about this critical part of our history!