“My dad works for the railway!” my son proclaims proudly to all and sundry at the Alberta Railway Museum. My husband jokes he loves it so much he even spends his days off with trains (with two little boys in our house, it would be hard to avoid!) luckily at the museum, they are train people, and they understand. “It gets in your blood.” an older gentleman tells us knowingly.
It seems right that I would be married to a railway man, my dad worked as a carman, and my grandfather worked for the post office on the rails, sorting mail as the train rattled endlessly between Vancouver and Calgary. If my kids weren’t inundated by Thomas and Chuggington and the likes, they would still love trains, I’m sure. So it is kind of amazing we hadn’t made it out to the Alberta Railway Museum before now.
The museum is a bit of a hidden gem, tucked in the far northeast corner of the city. The address is Edmonton, but it feels decidedly rural; a fun day trip adventure for us from the southside.
The museum is made up of some relocated railway buildings like the now defunct St. Albert station and a bunch of restored train cars. There is a lot of leeway to climb and touch things, and enough printed information for the readers to learn about trains and their history.
On long weekends the open air museum offers 20 minute rides on a train for an extra $5 per person. Although the trip is basically back and forth on a fairly short track, the thrill is the noise and journey, not the destination!
The Alberta Railway Museum is Alberta’s largest railway museum, and the third largest museum of its kind in Canada. At this facility, families get a chance to experience railway history in a fun, hands-on way that will thrill young train enthusiasts as well as grown-up history buffs. The museum features over 75 train cars and locomotives, archives of railway history, and other artifacts related to the province’s trains and railroads.
The Alberta Railway Museum opens on the Victoria Day weekend each year and remains open to the general public from 10 am to 5 pm every weekend until Labour Day. Locomotives and trains only run on long weekends and Father’s Day.
Alberta Railway Museum Details:
Address: 24215 – 34 Street, Edmonton AB
Phone: 780-472–6229
Website: www.albertarailwaymuseum.com
Update 1/25/21.
