Washington’s railroad museums include the Northwest Railway Museum at Snoqualmie, a major operating collection. Toppenish, Issaquah, Reardan, Shelton and Burien add depot, equipment, logging railroad and archive collections.
Each listing below links to a full guide with the history, what to look for and how to reach the operator.
Railroad museums & collections — 4
Inland Northwest Rail Museum
The Inland Northwest Rail Museum preserves the railroads and equipment associated with the communities of the region. Its Reardan setting provides space for a full-size collection and interpretation of the railway’s place in local history. The museum is useful for visitors interested in the transport networks that served eastern Washington and neighboring areas.
Read the guide →Issaquah Depot Museum
The Issaquah Depot Museum forms part of a local museum organization that also operates Gilman Town Hall. The preserved station provides a setting for exploring the town’s transport connections and community development. Its value comes from the relationship between the building, its exhibits and the place around it rather than a large locomotive collection.
Read the guide →Northern Pacific Railway Museum
The Northern Pacific Railway Museum preserves the history of the railroad at Toppenish. The depot setting connects the collection with the railway’s role in the Yakima Valley and the community it served. Its company-specific focus offers a different perspective from a general transportation museum. Current contact details need to be tied to the Toppenish institution itself, since searches can return the unrelated Northwest Railway Museum on the other side of Washington.
Read the guide →Peninsular Railway and Lumbermens Museum
The Peninsular Railway and Lumbermen’s Museum preserves the railroad and logging history of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula through the Simpson Railroad heritage operation. Its subject connects rail transportation with the timber industry, offering a perspective different from a passenger-station museum. The organization’s preservation work and public activities make the railway itself part of the collection. Readers should check announced operating dates and avoid assuming that all former industrial facilities or stored vehicles are open for independent visits.
Read the guide →Operating & preservation collections — 1
Archives & research collections — 1
Ride a train in Washington
Museums are for walking around; these operators run trains you can ride.
- Chehalis-Centralia Railroad — Chehalis: heritage railway
- Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad — Elbe: heritage steam railway
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — flagship sites and state guides
- Pacific — the trains you can ride in the region
- Railroad museums in California
- Railroad museums in Oregon