Kentucky Railroad Museums (2026): A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 7, 2026

Kentucky’s railroad museums sit on the Louisville & Nashville. New Haven is the state’s main collection and a real ride, with L&N 4-6-2 No. 152 on the days the railroad assigns it. Bowling Green keeps the 1925 limestone depot and a display train whose lead unit wears the number 796. Versailles has two stops a few miles apart: a short train on a former Southern branch, and a toy-train museum in the town’s 1911 L&N station. Paducah’s chapter museum stands beside the old Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis freight house. Covington holds a Pennsylvania E8 and a Pennsylvania switcher in what remains of the L&N’s Latonia yard.

Louisville & Nashville GP7 411 at the Kentucky Railway Museum

Louisville & Nashville GP7 #411 and other equipment preserved at the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven, Kentucky. KRM photo.

Which days New Haven, Versailles, and Stearns run is on the Kentucky scenic-train guide. Confirm the museum doors on each site before you drive.

On this page: At a glance · Kentucky railroads · New Haven · Bowling Green · Versailles · Paducah · Covington · Other stops · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Kentucky Railway Museum	New Haven	L&N 4-6-2 No. 152, Rogers 1905. Seventeen miles of the old Lebanon Branch	kyrail.org · Profile
Historic RailPark & Train Museum	Bowling Green	1925 L&N limestone depot and a display train headed by a shell lettered 796	historicrailpark.com
Bluegrass Scenic Railroad & Museum	Versailles	About 5.5 miles of a former Southern branch. The walk is free. The train is the ticket	bluegrassrailroad.com · Scenic guide
Nostalgia Station	Versailles	1911 L&N depot. Antique toys and model trains, 1890s–1990s	nostalgiastationmuseum.com
Paducah Railroad Museum	Paducah	Opened April 1996. Now at 200 Washington Street, beside the 1925 freight house	paducahrr.org
Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati	Covington	Pennsylvania E8A No. 5888 and SW1 No. 9408, in the old Latonia yard	Covington
Kentucky Steam Heritage	Ravenna	Restoring Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2716 at the former L&N shops	Ravenna
Big South Fork Scenic Railway	Stearns	Gorge ride on the old Kentucky & Tennessee, about 16 miles to Blue Heron	bsfsry.com · Scenic guide

Kentucky railroads

The Lexington & Ohio was incorporated on January 27, 1830, to give inland Lexington a way to the Ohio River. Strap-iron track reached Frankfort, 29 miles, by 1834. The first locomotive, Daniel Boone, arrived in 1835. The state took the property in 1842, the line reached Louisville in 1851, and the route ended in the Louisville & Nashville. The L&N was chartered on March 5, 1850, to build from Louisville toward Nashville. It grew into a system from Chicago to New Orleans that included most of Kentucky. A fuller account is on the Kentucky railroads page.

Kentucky Railway Museum

The Kentucky Railway Museum at New Haven is the state’s railroad museum and a train ride on the same grounds. The museum was chartered in 1954. With Louisville & Nashville No. 152 in hand, it leased six acres on River Road in Louisville and opened on Memorial Day 1958. In September 1985 the Pacific moved under its own power, after a thirteen-year restoration and about thirty years of retirement. The museum then bought 17 miles of the old Lebanon Branch, from just east of Boston to New Hope. Two brothers in New Haven gave six acres and a building, and the permanent site opened on July 4, 1990. A replica of the brick L&N depot opened in the summer of 1995.

No. 152 is a 4-6-2, class K-2A, built by Rogers in 1905, construction number 6256. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and on March 6, 2000, it became the official state locomotive. It is the oldest known surviving 4-6-2 Pacific. Steam is assigned to selected days. A diesel day, often behind a former Santa Fe CF7, is still a train on the Lebanon Branch, about an hour and a half along the Rolling Fork. The calendar, and the question of which days name No. 152, stay on the scenic guide.

Historic RailPark & Train Museum

The Historic RailPark & Train Museum occupies Bowling Green’s Louisville & Nashville depot, built in 1925 of Warren County limestone from the former White Stone Quarry. The depot replaced an older station on the Louisville–Nashville main line. The first display cars went on the track behind it in May 2002.

The locomotive lettered Louisville & Nashville 796 is a former Chicago & North Western E8A. Electro-Motive built it in June 1953 as C&NW 5028A. It later carried the number 513, including its years as an RTA and Metra locomotive. In 2007 the engine compartment was gutted and the shell was painted as L&N 796. It arrived in Bowling Green in 2008 and houses a short film. The real L&N 796 was scrapped in the 1970s. Behind the shell, the train the museum walks includes railway post office car No. 1107, which came from the Bluegrass museum in 2007; the Duncan Hines diner, a 1949 Pullman; Towering Pine, a 1953 Pullman sleeper; office car No. 353, built of wood at the South Louisville Shops in 1911 and steel-sheathed in 1942, which the museum calls the oldest surviving L&N-built passenger car; and a Chessie C-27 caboose painted as L&N 6497. Tour times are the museum’s.

Versailles

Bluegrass Scenic Railroad & Museum, on Highway 62 west of Lexington, runs weekend trains on about 5.5 miles of a former Southern branch. The branch began as the Louisville Southern, between the Lexington area and Lawrenceburg. RJ Corman’s Central Kentucky Lines freights the same track, so the passenger days are the days the excursion is called. Walking the equipment is free. The train is the ticket. Pumpkin trains and Santa trains stay on the scenic guide.

Nostalgia Station Toy and Train Museum, at 279 Depot Street, is the other Versailles stop. It occupies the town’s 1911 Louisville & Nashville passenger station. The rooms hold antique toys and model trains from the 1890s into the 1990s, including two operating dealer layouts. Winfrey and Wanda Adkins operate it. Winfrey has kept the collection for more than forty years, and he is a former president of the Bluegrass railroad. The two stops share a town and a volunteer history. They are two buildings. Confirm the toy museum’s days on its own site.

Paducah Railroad Museum

The Paducah Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society opened its museum in April 1996, on the second floor of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis freight house. That building, at 300 South 3rd Street, went up in 1925, with the division superintendent’s office upstairs and the freight floor below. The National Register listing is July 17, 1979. The Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama, the line that brought the NC&StL into town, passed to the Louisville & Nashville in 1895 and was leased back to the NC&StL the same year. A joint route and the bridge at Metropolis gave the Burlington its Kentucky connection. The Illinois Central later bought a third interest, and Canadian National is now the primary user of that crossing. The NC&StL itself was absorbed into the L&N in 1957. The company page is the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis.

The freight house was sold, and in 2004 the museum moved to 200 Washington Street, at Second Street, half a block away. The 1925 building still stands across the way. The collection is signals, depot fittings, and the paper of the Paducah railroads. Hours and admission are on the chapter’s site.

Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati

The Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati sits at 315 West Southern Avenue in Latonia, the Covington neighborhood across the river from Cincinnati. The museum dates to 1975, begun so the group could run private cars on Amtrak. The yard is a remnant of the Louisville & Nashville’s Latonia yard, and the equipment comes from the railroads that entered Cincinnati.

The two locomotives to know are Pennsylvania. E8A No. 5888 is an Electro-Motive unit of April 1950, construction number 10425. SW1 No. 9408 is an Electro-Motive switcher of 1950, construction number 11202, later Penn Central 8568, and it wears its Pennsylvania number again. The yard holds a great deal besides those two. In July 2026 the museum posted public days as the first Saturday of each month from June through October. Confirm the next date before you go.

Other Kentucky stops

Big South Fork Scenic Railway at Stearns is the gorge ride on the old Kentucky & Tennessee. That coal and timber railroad opened in 1902 and met the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific at the Southern main line. The ordinary trip is about 16 miles and about three hours to the Blue Heron mining camp. The calendar is on the scenic guide.

Kentucky Steam Heritage is restoring Chesapeake & Ohio 2-8-4 No. 2716 at the former Louisville & Nashville shops in Ravenna. The locomotive project was announced in February 2016, and a plan for the shop site followed on May 19, 2018. Visit on a day the organization posts as open. The riding museum in this state is New Haven.

My Old Kentucky Dinner Train at Bardstown is a seated meal on RJ Corman’s Bardstown Line, a former L&N branch. The depot is 602 North 3rd Street, and the round trip is a little over 18 miles. It is a restaurant on rails. The profile is the dinner-train page, and the calendar is on the scenic guide.

Sources

Kentucky Railway Museum history, kyrail.org/history: charter 1954, River Road opening on Memorial Day 1958, No. 152 under its own power in September 1985, 17 miles from just east of Boston to New Hope, New Haven opening July 4, 1990, replica depot in the summer of 1995. Rogers 1905, construction number 6256, class K-2A, the National Register listing, the March 6, 2000 state-locomotive designation, and the oldest-surviving-Pacific statement follow the published account of L&N 152. Steam days and the former Santa Fe CF7 follow the Kentucky scenic-train guide. The profile page is /krm.html.
Historic RailPark, historicrailpark.com: depot built in 1925, cars first placed in May 2002, Duncan Hines as a 1949 Pullman, Towering Pine as a 1953 Pullman sleeper, office car 353 built in 1911. The steel sheathing of 1942 and the South Louisville Shops follow the museum’s railcar page, which also calls 353 the oldest surviving L&N-built passenger car. The locomotive lettered 796 follows Heritage Rail Alliance, June 2019: C&NW E8A 5028A, built June 1953, later 513, painted as L&N 796 in 2007, arrived in 2008. RPO 1107 came from the Bluegrass museum in 2007. The White Stone Quarry stone line is the depot description carried on the previous museum page.
Nostalgia Station, nostalgiastationmuseum.com: 279 Depot Street, a 1911 L&N passenger station, toys and trains from the 1890s to the 1990s. Winfrey and Wanda Adkins, and the span of more than forty years, follow the Lexington Herald-Leader, January 17, 2025. Bluegrass mileage, the Louisville Southern origin, the free grounds walk, Big South Fork’s 16 miles and three hours, Kentucky Steam Heritage’s February 2016 and May 19, 2018 dates, and the Bardstown dinner train follow the Kentucky scenic-train guide.
Paducah Chapter, paducahrr.org: museum opened April 1996 in the 1925 freight house; Paducah, Tennessee & Alabama acquired and leased in 1895; museum at 200 Washington Street since the 2004 move. Freight-house National Register reference 79003118, listed July 17, 1979, at 300 South 3rd Street. The NC&StL merger into the L&N in 1957 follows the freight-house marker text. Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati: 315 West Southern Avenue; Pennsylvania 5888, Electro-Motive, April 1950, construction number 10425; SW1 9408, construction number 11202, later Penn Central 8568. The July 30, 2026 notice of first-Saturday openings, June through October, is the museum’s own posting.

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

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