Kansas Railroad Museums (2026): A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 7, 2026

Kansas railroad museums keep the Santa Fe and the Union Pacific in the towns those railroads built. Wichita has Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 3768 over Douglas Avenue, beside the 1914 Union Station. Topeka has the oldest surviving Santa Fe locomotive, 2-8-0 No. 132, in the Kansas Museum of History, and Gilbert Stanley Underwood’s Union Pacific depot a short distance north. Abilene boards its train at an 1887 Rock Island depot while 4-6-2 No. 3415 is in the shop. Atchison runs a 12-inch-gauge railroad at the Santa Fe depot. Liberal, Kingman, and Scammon keep a depot, a county-seat station, and a static display.

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal's The Polar Express From Onboard

The Great Overland Station, is the preserved Union Pacific depot in North Topeka that opened in 1927. Great Overland Station photo.

Which days Abilene runs is on the Kansas scenic-train guide. Confirm the museum doors on each site before you drive.

On this page: At a glance · Kansas railroads · Wichita · Topeka · Great Overland Station · Abilene · Atchison · Smaller museums · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Great Plains Transportation Museum	Wichita	Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 3768. FP45 No. 93 left in August 2025 for cosmetic restoration	gptm.us · Santa Fe
Kansas Museum of History	Topeka	Santa Fe 2-8-0 No. 132, Baldwin builder’s number 5266. Reopened November 22, 2025	kansashistory.gov
Great Overland Station	Topeka	Union Pacific passenger depot, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, 1925–1927. Listed October 1, 2002	Railroad Heritage, Inc.
Abilene & Smoky Valley	Abilene	1887 Rock Island depot. Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415 is in a 15-year overhaul	asvrr.org · Scenic guide
North East Kansas Railroaders	Atchison	12-inch-gauge Atchison & Western at the Santa Fe depot, plus HO modules	nekrailroaders.com
Heart of the Heartlands	Scammon	Static display, including Kansas City Southern 2-8-0 No. 1023	Scammon
Rock Island depot	Liberal	Depot and hotel opened June 23, 1911. Chamber of commerce and a small display	Liberal Chamber of Commerce
Santa Fe depot	Kingman	County-seat depot of 1910–1911. National Register, October 11, 2001	Kingman

Kansas railroads

The Santa Fe, the Rock Island, the Union Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific built the through lines across Kansas. Abilene was a cattle town on the Kansas Pacific, which became part of the Union Pacific, before the Rock Island depot that now boards the Abilene train. Wichita gathered the Santa Fe, the Rock Island, and the Frisco at one Union Station. Topeka kept a Union Pacific passenger depot and a separate Santa Fe station. Ride days are on the scenic guide.

Great Plains Transportation Museum

The Great Plains Transportation Museum is at 700 East Douglas, on the BNSF line through downtown Wichita. Santa Fe 4-8-4 No. 3768 is the steam locomotive over the street. Baldwin built it in May 1938, construction number 62122, one of the eleven engines in the 3765 class, Nos. 3765–3775. It is the survivor of that class. The railroad took it out of service at Argentine in August 1953. Wichita received it in May 1958. It stood at Friends University, moved to Union Station in April 1977, and reached the museum site in January 1985.

Santa Fe FP45 No. 93 is the other famous piece, and it is away from Douglas. Electro-Motive built it in late 1967 as No. 103. It became No. 93, worked passenger trains until 1971, and stayed in freight service through 1998. BNSF gave it to the museum in June 1999. On August 17, 2025, it left Wichita for a cosmetic restoration at Mid-America Car in Kansas City, refreshing the red-and-silver Super Fleet warbonnet Santa Fe applied in January 1990. The museum’s February 2026 report still had that work under way. Check the museum before you count on seeing the FP45 beside No. 3768.

Wichita Union Station stands next door. It is a railroad building with a commercial life of its own, and it is a separate stop from the museum. Kansas City architect Louis Curtiss designed the Beaux-Arts terminal. The station was dedicated on March 7, 1914, after the railroads agreed to elevate the tracks across Douglas. The Santa Fe, the Rock Island, and the Frisco used it, and so did the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient, which the Santa Fe acquired in 1928. Passenger trains ended in 1979, when Amtrak discontinued the Lone Star. The terminal beside the museum is in commercial use.

Kansas Museum of History

The Kansas Historical Society operates the Kansas Museum of History at 6425 SW 6th Avenue in Topeka. The gallery closed in 2022 for a renovation and reopened on November 22, 2025. The Connecting Kansas exhibit is built around an 1880 Santa Fe steam locomotive. Confirm hours and admission on the Society’s site.

That locomotive is 2-8-0 No. 132, the oldest surviving Santa Fe engine. Burnham, Parry, Williams, & Company, the Baldwin works, outshopped it in September 1880 under builder’s number 5266. The order was entered on April 5, 1880, and the engine went into service that October, one of Nos. 130–139, class 10-36 E. It was renumbered 912 in 1898 and 2414 in 1900. The railroad rebuilt it for display as No. 132 in 1940–1941, then returned it to steam in 1950 as No. 1, the Cyrus K. Holliday. A flatbed moved it to the museum site in February 1983, while the building was still under construction. The Society restored the 1880 appearance, and the engine is displayed again as No. 132. The two coaches with it are a 1920s drover’s car and a 1910s division superintendent’s car. The company history is the Santa Fe page.

Great Overland Station

Great Overland Station, at 701 North Kansas Avenue, is the Union Pacific passenger depot Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed for North Topeka. The railroad built it from 1925 to 1927 in a Neoclassical Revival dress, with a terra-cotta center pavilion. Passenger service began in January 1927. The National Register lists it as the Union Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot, reference 02000492, on October 1, 2002.

The last passenger train left on May 2, 1971. Railroad offices stayed until 1988. A fire in 1992 damaged the west end. Railroad Heritage, Inc., the group that began as Topeka Railroad Days, Inc., carried the rehabilitation from 2000 to 2002, and the building is the railroad museum. The Santa Fe used its own Topeka station. In later years Rock Island trains also called here. The Union Pacific page is the company history.

Abilene & Smoky Valley

The Abilene & Smoky Valley boards at the 1887 Rock Island depot, 200 SE 5th Street. The railroad describes the line to Enterprise as about five miles, with a stop at the Hoffman Mill. The track under the train is Rock Island iron from 1886. Joe Minick and Fred Schmidt started the association in 1993. In 2024 the Legislature named the railroad the Kansas Heritage Railroad.

Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415, built by Baldwin in 1919, is the engine in the shop. The city put it in Eisenhower Park in 1955. It returned to service in 2009, and the same 2024 act named it a state symbol. The Pacific is in its 15-year overhaul. A February 2026 trade report put it out of service since 2023, with a hoped-for return around Labor Day 2027. That is a shop target. The scenic guide is where the railroad’s calendar lives, and a listing has to name the Pacific before the day is a steam day.

North East Kansas Railroaders

North East Kansas Railroaders, Inc., keeps the Atchison & Western Miniature Railroad at the Santa Fe depot, 200 South 10th Street. The railroad is 12-inch gauge. Rides run on weekends from late spring through early fall. The ride is free, and the club asks for a donation toward the track and the equipment. The same group takes HO modules to events around northeast Kansas. Confirm the weekend on the club’s site.

Smaller museums

Heart of the Heartlands, at 6769 Northwest 20th Street in Scammon, is a museum of equipment on static display. Kansas City Southern 2-8-0 No. 1023 is the steam locomotive, in cosmetic display. The scenic guide found no public ride on the calendar. Confirm the open days before you treat the stop as a walk-through.

The Liberal depot and hotel opened on June 23, 1911, after fire destroyed the wooden depot on March 11, 1910. The standing building is brick and stucco. A 1998 restoration put the chamber of commerce in the depot, at 4 Rock Island Road, with a small memorabilia display. The restored eating house and hotel beside it house a clinic. The chamber’s own day is the day to see the railroad room.

The Kingman Santa Fe depot, at 201 East Sherman, is the county-seat station built in 1910–1911, brick, with a Mission Revival roof. The National Register listing is October 11, 2001. Amtrak’s Southwest Chief uses the depot in Kingman, Arizona. This building is the Santa Fe station in Kingman, Kansas, and a small local museum. Confirm a visit with the town.

The Midland Railway at Baldwin City has ended as a heritage operation. The Kansas Belle dinner train last ran in 2020, and the cars were trucked to Abilene in 2024. Ottawa Northern, on a piece of that old track, has no regular 2026 scenic calendar. Those notes live on the scenic guide.

Railroad museums
Kansas scenic trains
Santa Fe · Union Pacific · Rock Island · Frisco
Colorado railroad museums · Missouri railroad museums · Iowa railroad museums

Sources

Kansas Museum of History: Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue. Reopening November 22, 2025, after a closure that began in 2022, follows the Society’s September 23, 2025 release and the museum media kit. The Connecting Kansas gallery is the release’s name for the railroad exhibit. Santa Fe No. 132 follows the Society’s cool-things locomotive page: Burnham, Parry, Williams, & Company, builder’s number 5266, order entered April 5, 1880, outshopped September 1880, in service October 1880, class 10-36 E, Nos. 130–139, renumbered 912 in 1898 and 2414 in 1900, display rebuild 1940–1941, Cyrus K. Holliday in 1950, flatbed move February 1983. “Oldest surviving” follows the Kansas Memory account of the same engine.
Great Overland Station: National Register reference 02000492, listed October 1, 2002, as Union Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot, 701 N. Kansas Avenue, Gilbert Stanley Underwood, built 1925–1927. Passenger service from January 1927, the 1992 fire, and Railroad Heritage, Inc. (formerly Topeka Railroad Days, Inc.) follow the station’s published history. Last passenger train May 2, 1971, and offices until 1988, follow the National Park Service place page.
Great Plains Transportation Museum, gptm.us, 700 East Douglas. No. 3768: Baldwin, May 1938, Argentine in August 1953, city of Wichita in May 1958, Union Station in April 1977, museum site January 1985, from the museum’s archived locomotive page. Construction number 62122 follows the Railroad Picture Archives record for ATSF 3768. No. 93: Electro-Motive, late 1967, as 103, later 93; BNSF donation June 1999; departure August 17, 2025, for Mid-America Car, Trains, August 18, 2025. The February 23, 2026 Railway Age report still had the cosmetic work under way.
Wichita Union Station history, ictunionstation.com: Louis Curtiss, Beaux-Arts, dedicated March 7, 1914. Passenger service ended in 1979 with the Lone Star. The Santa Fe acquisition of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient in 1928 is the railroad’s date. Abilene, the five-mile Enterprise line, No. 3415, Heart of the Heartlands, and the closed Midland follow the Kansas scenic-train guide. Liberal’s June 23, 1911 opening and the March 11, 1910 fire follow the Rock Island Line historical page for that town. The chamber address, 4 Rock Island Road, and the 1998 restoration follow the Kansas travel listing. Kingman: Kansas Historical Society register, 201 East Sherman, listed October 11, 2001; National Register reference 01001091, built 1910. Atchison: nekrailroaders.com, with 200 South 10th Street from the Lewis and Clark trail listing for the little train.

Confirm hours and which locomotive is on the property before you travel. American-Rails does not sell tickets.

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