temple railroad & heritage museum

Beautiful old train station still functioning. Have attended many wonderful events here. Museum small but very interesting.

** If your in WACO, drive down about half an hour south to TEMPLE to see the TRAINS. SEE the ORIGINAL SANTA FE SWITCHER #2301, THEE ONLY ONE LEFT IN THE COUNTRY. In the rail yard, there are box cars, cabooses', and THE BEAUTIFUL RESTORED ORIGINAL 1908 BUILT RAIL STATION. Upstairs is the museum; check out the ORIGINAL type writer, and downstairs the VINTAGE FORD MUSTANG. Museum is WELL WORTH SEEING, (a senior discount is offered too for the museum). I am sure the museum would all appreciate donations for helping to restore the past, especially the #2301. Depending on the time of day you are there, you could evenly catch the Amtrak making the stop. WELL WORTH THE FEW HOURS OF TIME to see. Thanks 'guys' for your talented display of "THE PAST".

If you love Railroad history, then this museum is great. It is small, but not expensive. Lots of little interesting facts and artifacts. They are building a model railroad in one room and I think that will be a great addition. My kids enjoyed it, but ran through quickly. Probably better for older kids or younger kids really into trains.

I have been to numerous wedding receptions and dinner parties at the old station....but never knew it house a museum as well. I rather enjoyed the tour the first time I went through it. I've lived in Temple my whole life and just this past January got to have the FULL experience.

What a great train museum! There was plenty to see and do for young and old. 2nd floor of museum has LOTS of memorabilia from the Santa Fe plus other train items. Interesting historical readings. Look outside the back windows for a good view of the trains & tracks. For young kids, there's a play room with train toys. Outside there is a couple of old trains you can get up close to that are fenced in safely from the working track area. Our kids enjoyed walking the tracks, climbing aboard the engine car, and pulling a rope to make the bell ring! During our 1.5 hr visit, there were 3 trains that passed by, and all blew their horns and waved - fun! This place is an Amtrack stop, so we got to watch the passengers exit and enter the train, and the conductor yell "Aaalll Abooard!" as they were about to depart. Great show for the kids. The gift shop is chocked FULL of train gadgets, shirts, games, pins, cards, Thomas, toys...great place to get a gift for train lovers or bday party gift. Staff was friendly. Glad we stopped while travelling through town. Accessible, and free parking directly in front of museum.

Very nicely restored building old trains out on the back that allow tours. Nice little park next door that you can watch the running trains come through. Very cool piece of history in temple it's a must see of even u just drive by.

Full disclosure: We are inveterate train fans. But still. This place was amazing. Friendliest, most informational museum staffer ever. I love people who love their job ... it sure shows. Wish I had gotten her name. The museum was fun, interesting, full of all things railroad you might never see anywhere else. I liked the Harvey Girls exhibit, the tools exhibits, the rich history of all things connected to the town and to the railroad. Interesting info about Temple's early-day subdivisions, who knew. Dishes, menus and other super fun memorabilia from back in the day. Photos, maps, an old bench from the depot. The train yard. The WW II stuff. All the wondrous quality wood of things like this one big rail station desk. The gorgeous Native American paintings exhibit that harks back to railroad promotional posters. The hobo symbols meant to let the next hobo know how to best go about getting a meal or a night in the barn, hilarious but kind of touching too. Conductor memorabilia, hats, coats, etc. Nice gift shop (but they need more and better selection of adult T-shirts ... we couldn't find one to buy though we wanted to, badly). They need a little sandwich shop too. We would have eaten the humblest thing there, just to be eating there. Beautiful old depot, stunning marble floors. Oh, and there was a nice model train exhibit there and the coolest collection of older train nerds there the day we were there, they were overseeing the model train exhibit, guess parts of it belonged to each of them. They made my day. Out in the train yard we got to see engineers shuttling an engine out of the shop onto the track and then back again onto a different track. We too are a little bit nerdy. So much is original, even the bathrooms thrilled my heart, the old tile and the old doors and handles. That super nice staffer, she let us look at her binder that had a complete list of all the eateries in town, saved us a lot of tortured surfing on our cells for somewhere to go. Can't say enough good about this place. I never take photos much but I took a lot here. Such fun. Thanks, Temple, and whatever else powers that be, for having preserved such a great tribute to your train history and to your town!

Have been several times over the last 4 years, our grandson loves the childrens playroom. We love visiting when Amtrak stops from San Antonio. The passengers get off and chat about their origins. It is great!!

Not just an active Amtrak station but also a museum with several engines and passenger cars outside and a great museum on the second floor. My Dad and I had time to kill after his appointment at the VA clinic so we thought what the heck! Lots of live freight train traffic passing thru too!

this was a very nice museum had a lot to look at and do. they have this in a old train station that was built in 1929 also is still as a train station Amtrak stop every day. The people that work the museum were very nice we enjoyed talking to them. they have some old train cars that you can look at. the price was very cheap to go though it.

This is a good stop off point between Austin and Dallas. The museum was the second floor of the old station which is neat. They had a bunch of model trains behind glass which were neat and some other memorabilia of all kinds. The static displays were all locked (except the engine) and are starting to get run down. The engine however was open and you could pull levers, etc.I would recommend the train museum in Galveston (even after all of the hurricane damage from a few years ago) over this one, but if you need a 30-45 minute pitstop, don't hesitate to stop here.

This museum is a treat. They have lots of railroad memorabilia and plenty of posters, pictures, narratives etc to guide you through the 6 or 8 rooms of displays they have. Very interesting to see.Plus, as a bonus, it is right on the BNSF active tracks and there is a small yard located there. Good place to view trains.

Interesting displays about the local train history. There are displays of different kinds of trains. Christmas brings a train display with a Christmas town that everyone loves. They have kids activities and computer games. There are two locomotives for the kids to play on.

I learned a lot about Temple's history and Scott and White's start with the Santa Fe Railroad. Play room for little kids.

Love this museum, inside and out ... also, a first class library of books, photos, all kinds of railroading memorabilia ... and occasional group trips.