San Diego Model Railroad Museum

Spanning over 27,000 square feet of trains, trestles, and tracks the The San Diego Model Railroad Museum (SDMRM) is located in the heart of Balboa Park.  SDMRM features both indoor and outdoor exhibits and programming for all ages.

Their mission is to research, collect, preserve and present the heritage of American railroading using educational programs, displays, toy trains, and scale models of California railroads. At every twist, turn, and tunnel we spark curiosity while developing educational programming that includes education milestones like critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Our exhibits transform little engineers into modelers who tinker with engines and lay down track to build and transform something from nothing.

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

4.7

Based on 1029 reviews

Eunice

08:21 15 Apr 24

We came at around 1PM on a Tuesday, and it wasn't too too busy. With a student ID, a ticket cost me $10/ea. The staff... are really friendly and will explain interesting facts for you. There was so much to see, and observing the little details in the model trains was so much fun. I must also note, though, that there are also many areas still under renovation. There are two floors to the museum. Our favorite part was the room with the easter themed trains. They had an interactive scavenger hunt and gave out free eggs with chocolate in them, which was awesome. The museum was great overall, and I'd probably recommend it for train enthusiasts and kids.read more

Thomas Stees

06:26 06 Apr 24

Fun mini train museum. Spend about an hour here. Very impressive models and scenery. The tehachapi loop is cool to see... on a small scale.read more

Alexandra Wong

23:40 25 Feb 24

Straightforward, but delightful local museum dedicated to the model railroading hobby, with a dash of San Diego history... mixed in. The dioramas were intricate and well-assembled.The museum could benefit from a remodel, but some of the outdated features gave it a nice patina. We loved the smaller room filled with Lionel train sets!read more

Tejas Dhilip

02:07 28 Dec 23

No amount of words can capture how much effort and love was put into this museum. The amount of detail and attention... put into these models is so rich. Please go here if you have time in San Diego, this is a cant-miss destination.read more

Reed B

19:54 19 Dec 23

I really wanted to love the San Diego Model Railroad Museum but I ended up just being a bit bored and disappointed. ... While there is a lot to see, when we went it seemed that many of the displays were barely operating with just one train, or under refurbishment or the trains were going incredibly slow. I can imagine that some people might enjoy this more but as a casual model train enthusiast it just seemed somewhat anticlimactic. They do have lots of friendly (and some not so friendly) volunteers that will be happy to talk to you about what they are working on. There is a nice sized gift shop that is mostly kid oriented.read more

Peter Matusov

16:12 05 Dec 23

This place is absolutely phenomenal. One of the best gems of San Diego. It is an equal attraction for three family... generations visiting the museum all together! Plenty of railroad history, faithfully recreated in HO scale!read more

Graham

19:27 22 Oct 23

Really interesting, obviously a passion project for many people. Entry was included in the Balboa ticket for entry to... many places. Definitely worth popping in.read more

Tim Salikhov

03:38 18 Oct 23

So much fun regardless of age! Great stories unfolding all around you. You can spend hours marveling at every detail... these wonderful craftsmen put together.read more

Ivan Kalinin

04:47 27 Aug 23

Absolutely loved the place. If you are visiting Balboa Park you must visit the museum. All of us adults and children... were delighted with the installation.read more

Dominic Fawver

03:36 04 Aug 23

Friendly staff and club members. Beautiful displays showing the skill and passion of many model train enthusiasts.

Shawn Buster

03:20 20 Jun 23

We did the San diego city card. Highly recommended to visit so many place as you visit San Diego. This is one of five... museums the wife and I visited on this day. Cool place to take the kids.read more

Ruth Jones

20:20 22 May 23

A wonderful hidden gem located in the heart of Balboa Park. The incredible displays are intricate and full of... memorabilia. The volunteers do an amazing job of recreating facades and small town America. You will not be disappointed if you want to travel back in time!read more

Mei Lee

11:37 15 May 23

My husband loves trains and we've been wanting to come here. We always take walks in balboa park and we passed by a... sign for the museum. It's to the left of the photography museum on the same level as the cafe.It's not a huge museum we finished the loop in about 20-30 mins. Gift shop available as well, really small. Adults are $13.50 per ticket. The train models are so well done! Every little detail from the hair and clothes were spot on in a miniature scale. It was incredible to see their work. Met some of the train model engineers, they are so excited about their work.My favorite section was the Christmas train set. They had bows and Christmas decor all over. The trains also burn oil and have steam coming out. It was so cool to see!Definitely worth coming if you love model trains!read more

Izzy Chang

22:37 26 Mar 23

Went here with my partner who is a lover of trains. So much fun to see the displays. I am a big fan of miniatures too!... Fun for the whole family, with a scavenger hunt to keep kids entertained. Also a toy train area with small toys incorporated with the trains. And a button to control Thomas the Tank Engine! Some of the viewing windows seemed a bit tall for young kids, so you may have to lift up the little ones. Would have appreciated more postcards and other merchandise featuring photos of the trains themselves. Overall, a very fun place to visit and I would highly recommend it!read more

RedBullKC

16:57 06 Oct 22

What a spectacular downtown visit of childhood and fun for all! We toured and watched for an hour finding new things... and hidden "innuendos" throughout! Love trains as a kid and this is a hidden gem 💎 to enjoy for as long as you want! The store is filled with toys, trains or publications to purchase and a complete layout of 2 full rooms to walk around and enjoy the scenery, flashing lights and pure artistry and creativeness at its best! The flashing lights, moving trains and storm from above brings out all alive and wanting to see more! 👀 A blessing to visit on a whim and enjoyment throughout! Kids and adults will appreciate! Great job in "Old San Diego Downtown!" 👏 Enjoy the photos and look closely! 😉read more

RDL

21:57 30 Aug 22

So much work and detail. A huge and incredible layout. The trains and the planning and the beautifully detailed... landscape make this is a must-see even if such a hobby isn't your cup of tea. I have a modest train layout at home that is of course comparatively tiny, but it still required numerous months to finish and a lot of work. So, when I walked through this museum and saw its size I couldn't imagine the money and man hours required ... Highly recommend.read more

Eric Yang

21:44 14 Aug 22

Would absolutely recommend coming here if you are in Balboa park. Tickets are pretty cheap, and there's several floors... of things to look at. There's a ton of really cool artifacts, fossils, taxiderm, and life-size replicas of all sorts of animals. One of the coolest exhibits was this section with preserved jars of animals, like two headed snakes, big toads, and other weird animals. The place is also not crowded. Probably one of the best museums here, apart from the air and space museum and the model railroad museum.read more

Swapna Ajay

16:22 11 Aug 22

Good miniature collection of trains , other vehicles and buildings; and a vast layout of tracks . However, half of the... trains were not working or moving. Overall, just an okay experience . The top level of the museum didn't have anything much. Most of it was half done/ undone or under construction . My kid and I were not really impressed. We were in and out in 15 minutes. I have seen better stuff in other countries. This was kind of disappointing . However , I appreciate the effort put in setting it up.read more

Empire Sheds and Design Toews

17:34 28 Jul 22

My kids loved it! Located in the basement so you take an elevator down from street level. Alot of intricate work... displayed. My school age kids enjoyed the scavenger hunt looking for hidden details in each diorama. Our toddler just enjoyed the moving trains and all the vehicles and lights. Takes about an hour to tour about four hallway/rooms. Volunteers are running their trains and working on repairs, ready to answer your question.read more

Lissa Newton

03:58 25 Jul 22

Interesting museum with fascinatingly intricate minatures, this place delights children and adults alike. From the... tiny chickens to the working steam engines on the moving trains, it's like being a giant walking along stretches of various scenery. It's definitely worth the visit.read more

Penny Lane_18

05:20 12 Jul 22

Wasn't sure what to expect but ended up loving it!! The small details are absolutely amazing. I highly recommend... grabbing the scavenger hunt paper on your way in; it was a super fun addition and we really got into trying to find them all.read more

Michele Kira

20:37 05 Jul 22

I didn't want to go, but went with family that did. Best 2.5 hours of the day! Displays are amazing and the people that... run it are so fun! The details are incredible!! Be sure you grab a scavenger hunt paper at the ticket booth and look for everything.read more

Brandon Seth

02:52 29 Jun 22

I love the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. It is so much fun to see the artist at work! And they take their craft VERY... seriously. This is a must for train and model lovers. All children will enjoy this place. I love watching them work the trains!!read more

Joseph C

00:49 09 Jun 22

For me, this is the best museum in Balboa Park. This museum has several train layouts. I know they have N, HO, O, and... once in a while (weather permitting), the G outdoor layout is operational. I’m not sure if they have a Z scale layout though. If they do, it’s probably too small that’s why I haven’t seen it 😊 This museum is so massive it has 2 levels. It has several exhibits, it even has a night time exhibit you have to see to believe. The staff and volunteers are awesome too. They are knowledgeable and helpful and they will try to answer whatever questions you may have. Another great thing about this museum is the quarterly swap meet. I’ve been to the last one and they had a lot of used and some new train stuff at very good prices. For those who are not interested in the quarterly swap meet, they have a souvenir shop inside the museum that sells many cool train and train related items. SDMRM is a great museum, it is definitely one of the best spots to see here in S.D.read more

Elisa Coates

22:05 15 May 22

My kid LOVED it here. Tons of details on the models, and the makers were busy at work while we visited.My one... complaint is that it’s not really designed for young toddlers. My son is very tall for a 2 year old and even on the little platforms to climb up he was barely at eye level with the trains. I had to continually hold him up for almost the entire two hours we were there, so it was a bit more tiring of an activity for me than I was expecting!We also loved exploring Balboa Park for the morning before the museum opened.read more

Joshua Baakko (Model Railroad Tips)

15:33 07 May 22

So I'm growing gravely concerned over the actions of the museum staff, board of directors, and mostly so the senior... club members & boards of the clubs located here.I've heard though many channels (and legally this is all hearsay, but I trust my closest model railroad acquaintances), that club staff is extremely hard to deal with to include:- Permanent bans for missed clubs dues payments- Bans related to false accusations- Complete elimination of youth memberships and youth clubs- Outright theft of members' trains "due to late payment of dues"- Stonewalling former members, thus not allowing them to rectify the situation and becoming members in good standing- Months upon months delay processing membership checks, sometimes in excess of 6mo causing the bank to deny the paper checkHonestly. Go once, experience the museum, then don't go back. Continuing to patronize implies that you condone the clubs' treatment of their members, who provide you the museum patrons with the trains you wished to see operating on the club layouts in the museum.I've never been a member and I don't ever intend to, because it's not a welcoming environment. I did however operate the Lego layout one holiday season and there wasn't a friendly face there, other than all the smiling kids...read more

Maro Terry

04:28 12 Feb 22

We visited this museum for our 2.5 year old and she enjoyed watching all of the trains coming and going. She was about... 37" tall and some of the stairs they built for viewing were too short so we had to hold her up to be able to see everything. She's doesn't like to be held up but instead she wanted to climb up the stairs (viewing platforms) so it was a bit tough when she would throw a temper tantrum.read more

Beth Cato

16:18 19 Jan 22

What a fantastic place to geek out over model trains! I absolutely loved all of the displays, even the ones that showed... sections in progress. The people involved here do incredible work. There are so many details built into every scene.read more

Spencer

17:47 12 Jan 22

Grandson is like a mini Sheldon. Loves model trains and wants to touch them all. Great place to take him and my wife... was impressed with this place too.read more

Matt Levey

04:14 05 Jan 22

Really cool and the kids loved it. What would make it better would be some sort of guided path with relevant... descriptions and history. There are signs and some history but seems random and easy to walk past. Could be more organized for non- model railroad enthusiasts.read more

JudyNV

23:23 02 Jan 22

Very nice museum in Balboa Park, not to be missed. It must be twice as big as it was in 2004 when we last visited. Not... just for kids. Anyone who appreciates craftmanship has to be in awe of all the work that has gone into creating this model of various actual RR layouts around California. It would be very difficult to spend less than an hour here - most will spend nearly two hours and love every minute of it.read more

shawn moore

00:43 20 Dec 21

Our kids had a blast here. The holiday room is a lot of fun. If your kids like trains they will enjoy it here

girish agarwal

09:00 07 Dec 21

Wonderful exhibit of the historic and current rail roads and trains in the US. The trains running across the museum are... great to watch... The entire place can be viewed in 20-30 mins but you can spend much longer if you wanna dig deeper into the details... Great addition to the San Diego Go City pass. Can quickly cover this before going to the Zoo as it's close by...read more

Linda Jarzynka

17:28 01 Dec 21

Loved it! The displays are so intricate you can feel the passion these people have for their hobby. Need 1-2 hours to... see it allread more

Roy Bolton

03:44 06 Oct 21

Great model railroad museum. The men who build and operate the trains love to share their knowledge. Very... interesting. Great for kids.read more

Keith Wall

05:33 07 Sep 21

I’ve never seen anything like it. The amount of detail that was put into the models is mind blowing. If you love model... trains or just want to see something a little different, this place is worth the price of admission. I’d go again, if given the opportunityread more

Isaiah Richardson

13:13 19 Aug 21

Absolutely amazing experience for my family, especially the kids.The environments are stunningly detailed and the... passion of the members really shine through. Everyone was eager to point out hidden treasures and answer any question.read more

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