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San Diego Model Railroad Museum, San Diego

4.4
#5 of 39 in Museums in San Diego
#Specialty Museum, #Museum
One of the largest venues of its kind in the world, San Diego Model Railroad Museum features a number of scale model railorads and layouts. The four clubs that created and maintain these exhibits are the San Diego Model Railroad Association, La Mesa Model Railroad Club, San Diego Society of N-Scale, and San Diego 3-Railers. Children adore the hands-on "Lionel type" layouts at the museum's toy train gallery. Since opening in 1982, almost 3 million visitors have spent time learning and playing at this interactive and informative museum. San Diego Model Railroad Museum is just one of the many highlights you can arrange to see using our world travel planner, San Diego Edition.
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4.5
TripAdvisor
  • By Bear H On July 5, 2018
    If you enjoy model trains this is the place to go. Make sure you take the kids!. Very large with very well done models of the Strain yards and the various places in the mountains where train traffic o...  more »
  • By Fred G On July 5, 2018
    It took forever to find the Model Railroad Museum even using a map. It is in the basement of the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park in San Diego. It is a working model train display with layou...  more »
  • By Frank P On June 30, 2018
    In the beautiful Balboa Park you will find next to large museums also this beautiful small model railroad museum! Really nice to spend a while and view. Especially if you have the attractiepas of Balbao Park.
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  • By John Vuong On January 4, 2018
    I am not a big fan of Museums however I found this one to be spectacular. The detail and size of the sculptures and amazing cities/towns created was amazing. I spent 1.5 hrs at this museum admiring how many people and man hours that were dedicated to creating such a masterpiece of a display. They had multiple rooms and even if you are not a train / railroad enthusiast I would recommend going.
  • By Calvin Kimin On March 16, 2018
    This place is pretty decent. Lots of miniature buildings. One place that is interesting is where the club members display their collection. You can look for hidden figures along the railroad figures.
  • By T. C. On February 3, 2018
    This is a must see for anyone with a kid or a kid at heart. An amazing set of layouts. There are 2 huge HO layouts, a large N scale layout, a large O 2 rail layout and a large toy train layout that is decorated for several holidays, and a garden trolly run off solar power and a kids corner (only open some of the museum hours) . There is also a kids corner The people running the trains are very friendly. The level of detail is amazing. Go when it first opens to avoid crowds. If your local its free once a month but much more crowded. 10X more crowded on a free Tuesday than on a regular Tuesday.
  • By Madhu Shesharam On February 5, 2018
    Miniature heaven !!! Must visit place in Balboa Park . Best model rail road museum, perhaps biggest in the world they say.. it’s huge with Great attention to details .. with so much history.
  • By Emily Rose On January 10, 2018
    Really wonderful little museum. Great for children and adults alike. They're always adding more to it
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