The Jackson Street Roundhouse in Saint Paul lets you see where railroads put their locomotives at the end of a run. Find the turntable and trace the tracks leading from it into the building. Each track leads into a separate work bay, and the turntable bridge has to line up with the chosen track before the engine can move. The layout let a single approach serve a series of stalls, which is why the plan of the building fans out around the table.
Inside, the Minnesota Transportation Museum uses the historic work space to explain rail travel and railroad employment across the Upper Midwest. A locomotive in a roundhouse can be studied the way a shop worker approached it, at close range and with a view of the parts that needed servicing. Compare a Northern Pacific steam locomotive with later diesel equipment. Steam machinery has moving rods and other parts visible beside the driving wheels. Diesel-era equipment presents a different view of how power gets to the rails.
The museum’s account of its diesel collection includes SDP40 No. 6327, donated by BNSF in 2009. The type’s designation points to an aspect of diesel history that a casual visitor might miss. Railroads bought related locomotive designs for different jobs, and a passenger assignment imposed different demands from local freight or switching. The museum’s equipment information is a useful companion to the display because paint and lettering can tell you who owned an engine, while a model designation helps explain the work it was built to do.
Leave some time for the turntable and the building itself. The size of a stall door makes more sense after you have walked alongside a locomotive, and a glance across the floor makes the engineering of the radial layout clear. The museum publishes admission details and schedules for the roundhouse. It also runs activities at other locations, so check the departure point if you plan to pair the collection with a train ride.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Minnesota
- End O Line Railroad Park Museum — Currie: Railroad park and local history museum
- Lake Superior Railroad Museum — Duluth: Major railroad museum
- All 3 railroad museums and sites in Minnesota
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Midwest — the trains you can ride in the region