The Top 10 Railroading Museums in the US Southwest and Rocky Mountains

For the past year I've been compiling a list of Railroading Museums for my model railroading website.  These museums all look like fantastic places to visit, but what are the most popular?   I'll continue with this list for the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States.  The Southwest and Rocky Mountain States are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

The most popular railroading museums (based on online chatter) in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains are:

10. Railway Museum of San Angelo in San Angelo, Texas

9. Las Cruces Railroad Museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico

8. Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, Nevada

7. Northern Pacific Depot Railroad Museum in Wallace, Idaho

6. Pueblo Railway Museum in Pueblo, Colorado

5. Phoenix Trolley Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

4. Wheels Transportation Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico

3. Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

2. Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado

...and the most popular railroading museum in the USA Southwest and Rocky Mountains is...

1. Arizona Railway Museum in Chandler, Arizona

Museums not making my top 10 were Cheyenne Depot Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Southern Arizona Transportation Museum in Tucson, Arizona; Three Rivers Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah; Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum in Durango, Colorado; Ridgway Railroad Museum in Ridgway, Colorado; Western Mining and Railroad Museum in Helper, Utah; Golden Spike National Historic Site in Promontory, Utah; Old Pueblo Trolley in Tucson, Arizona; Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Railroad Museum of Oklahoma in Enid, Oklahoma; and Cimarron Valley Railroad Museum in Cushing, Oklahoma.

It's nice to see that seven different states did get museums in the top ranking, meaning that anyone living in or visiting this region might have something interesting close enough to visit.  This is a huge region, though, so some residents of these regions will be no where close to these great museums - but perhaps that's the perfect reason to take a little vacation!

I compiled this list by searching for the railroading museums listed on a number of search engines and ranking them by the number of web pages, discussion forums, photos, videos, etc that are available online. Check out my complete list of Railroading Museums at www.ModelTrainsWithLarry.com.

About the Author

I'm a vegan freelance PHP and MySQL programmer living in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego with my wife and our 3 cats. I enjoy hiking, reading, gardening, watching too much television, and other nerdy activites.