Paducah Railroad Museum
Paducah Railroad Museum
3.5
Wednesday
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Friday
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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3.5
70 reviews
Excellent
18
Very good
24
Average
16
Poor
7
Terrible
5
BW88
1 contribution
Sept 2020 • Family
I understand Covid has changed a lot of things recently, but the Railroad Museum is NOT what we experienced last time we were here. It is not only in a bit of disrepair, the workers were slightly rude when responding to questions. ALL interactive exhibits are shut down at this time, but the website doesn't say that, and there is no indication when you walk in that your experience will be limited. It is only AFTER you pay, when you get to the first electronic display, that you can see the signs stating they are not in operation. The simulator was shut down, no electric trains were even connected to power, and there was no one wandering the museum to tell you about anything to make it more interesting. After our first visit two years ago, this visit was a huge disappointment.
Written 5 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sam D
Wauseon, OH273 contributions
Jul 2021
Paducah was a railroad and river town. The Illinois Central was a huge influence in this town, and the museum has a lot of IC items to look at. The volunteer staff love their museum, and it shows. I like trains, and I really liked this museum. It has a bit of everything, and I hope they get the train simulator back up and running. It is unique.
Written 16 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SeniorTravelerTF
Fort Atkinson1,196 contributions
May 2023 • Couples
With few exceptions, this could be any railroad museum in any town in the country Very little attempt to tie in how the river traffic works with the railroads for the local settlement and economy, what each railroad that served the city carried or specialized in, how they are related to the current Big Six, etc. The local railroad, Paducah and Louisville, could be much more involved in providing equipment, literature, signage, and displays. The simulation that is advertised in pretty lame given the games we can all play on phones and computers. Docent was helpful.
Written 7 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Janey M
41 contributions
Aug 2019 • Family
My son is 9 and loves trains. We were out spending the day together and decided to stop in. We came in around 2:45--3pm. The lady behind the desk was rude. We were the only visitors there and I felt as if she didn't want us there that late in the day as they close at 4. She greeted me with a frown and a forced, "can I help you?" as if she had no idea why we were there. I asked what the entrance fee was and she said, "sign our guestbook." Then she sighed really big and told me 6 for me, 3 for my son. As I was paying, he walked past the desk to look at a mannequin dressed in a train conductor's uniform. My son is respectful and does not destroy things, but he must've made an 'illegal move' because before I could pay and sign the guest book, she barked at him from behind her desk: "don't touch that! Don't touch anything!" I paid, we walked through 2 rooms. It appeared there was a room to view movies in, but no one told us anything about it. We snapped a couple of pics with railroad crossing signs and found ourselves in the back room where some trains were laid out on tracks, not moving. I said to my son, "well this is a big disappointment. There's really not a lot here" Suddenly a big man appeared in the corner, came walking toward us, didnt say a word to either of us, then flipped a switch on for one of the trains. We watched it whirl around some and I thanked him. Then i caught sight of the diesel simulator and asked what it was. He said it was "a boring, stupid, uninteresting and not well thought out exhibit." (He literally said that!)I said we would like to check it out anyway. We walked on board. He worked the entire exhibit, would not allow my son to sit in the engineer seat or pull the whistle. My son sat staring at the wall, obviously bored. I asked him if he would like to stand close where he can see the simulator and he shrugged his shoulders. He asked if he could sit in engineer's seat. Big guy ignored him and kept sitting in it. He mumbled about things I had no idea what he was talking about for the entire simulator. As I was starting to get bored and tell the guy we had seen enough, the lady from the front desk came and rapped on the wall and called his name as if she were his mother and he responded, "we're almost done." I said, "it must be time to go." He said, "yea, its 4pm." We walked up to the front where mean lady was waiting. I looked at her and said, "I'm so sorry but I need to use the restroom before I leave. My son probably should, too." She scowled at me and didnt respond. When we finally walked out, she did thank us for coming. I wont ever go back or take my kids back. It did not meet my expectations at all, with displays, simulators and especially the volunteers who are there, that seemed completely unhappy to be volunteering.
Written 27 August 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
K_T_8889
Vienna, Austria62 contributions
Jul 2013 • Family
This museum was small, but worth the small price of admission. The simulator alone was a lot of fun! It was really cool to get to "drive" a train in real life situations. The kids loved it!!
Written 11 July 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Joyce H
Saint Louis, MO317 contributions
Jul 2015 • Solo
We were on a cruise on the American Queen with a revised route so no one in Paducah was expecting us. Hubby thought he'd try the Railroad museum while I walked over to the quilt museum. Admission is normally $5 but they don't charge cruisers. They will take donations though. Hubby said that it definitely wasn't worth the donation. Not recommended.
Written 20 July 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your feedback. We make every effort to open for the American Queen as well as the Queen of the Mississippi when they are in port. Our museum is 100% volunteer run. So, availability of manpower is a constant challenge.
I heard from a friend of mine that contacted you directly for clarification that your husband was disappointed that some of the train layouts were not running and he was expecting more train cars. As for our layouts, all of them do run. We may not have them running 100% of the time as moving trains are like magnets to hands. We are trying now to get some more protection for each of the models. Unfortunately, Plexiglas is extremely expensive.
Every railroad museum is different. Some have rolling stock a.k.a. train cars, others do not. We simply do not have the real estate to house rolling stock. So, we try to fit our museum with other "gems" such as our working Centralized Traffic Control System and Locomotive Simulator.
As for our Locomotive Simulator, we only have a diesel locomotive simulator. Apparently, there was a misunderstanding somewhere. If that misunderstanding was caused by a Museum Volunteer, I will see that is corrected. If you were told this by someone outside of our museum, I am sorry, but our local population does not know what we have and do not have. This is another one of our constant challenges.
Thanks again for your feedback. We change/update our exhibits regularly. I hope if you are ever back in Paducah, you can see how we have changed in that time.
Sincerely,
J. Logan Blewett
Museum Director, Paducah Railroad Museum
President, Paducah Chapter of the NRHS
Written 23 July 2015
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Stuart L
Atlanta, United States18 contributions
Oct 2014 • Couples
There was little here to justify the $5 admission fee. According to the man at the desk, the simulator operator "got a bug up his butt" and took his toys and went home. There were a few pieces of railroad art that were moderately interesting and a several maintenance/inspection vehicles, but no other rolling stock on display on the museum grounds. The money guy had some vague comments about things they were going to be doing so maybe our admission fee will benefit future visitors. One can only hope. Worth a look, about 2 blocks from the museum, is a static display of an Illinois Central Mikado belonging to the city of Paducah but maintained by the museum along with a baggage car and caboose. My overall suggestion would be to visit the loco display but skip the museum itself.
Written 12 October 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MandMDen
Arlington, TN285 contributions
May 2014 • Friends
Spent nearly an hour with former train engineer John in the cab of the simulator as he drove us through Indiana. Totally fascinating for the four of us as we learned what a train engineer does and sees. John also showed us some things he is working on for the future.
Written 19 May 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
BransonMO
Branson, MO24 contributions
Jun 2013 • Family
We stopped in for my son who is 4 years old. He enjoyed the model trains that were running and the thomas train they had that ran but that was it. Everything else is for adult interest. We were told he was too young to drive the train. Like I said if you like trains and the history of them go it is for you! But I just wanted something fun for my little guy he is the one that loves the trains!
Written 11 July 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RichGTraveling
Cincinnati197 contributions
May 2018 • Couples
The displays are well set up in the first room, and very well organized, with plenty of the details that make museums like this fun for people who like trains. The second room is mostly model train set ups, but there are exhibits around the walls. The train simulator is kind of slow moving, didn't get any feel for how a train is actually driven. That part might have been better with a different volunteer running it.
Written 13 May 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your feedback. We strive to give the best experience possible both with the historical education as well as the hands on opportunity with the simulator. Occasionally, when the museum visitorship is higher, it is harder to give everyone a full experience because of the time it takes to complete a route. Freight trains do not always move very quickly simply because of their weight. If they were to go faster, then issues would occur, and our simulator will demonstrate that if the train goes faster than it should.
Sincerely,
J. Logan Blewett
Museum Director
Paducah Railroad Museum
Written 15 May 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
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