Louisiana Scenic Train Rides (2026): A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 1, 2026

Louisiana does not have a full-size scenic railroad on a regular 2026 calendar. The narrow-gauge Old Hickory ride at Jackson is not posted as an excursion. What runs there now is a model-railroad museum. Long Leaf preserves a sawmill railroad and has offered short rides at its fall festival. The one booked train ride in the state this season is seasonal: The Polar Express returns to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal from December 11 through December 31. For a daylight excursion of any length, use Arkansas or Texas.

RTAs St. Charles Avenue line during the 1980s

New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA) car #932 is on the the St. Charles Avenue line during the 1980s. American-Rails.com collection.

Tourism notes below. Intercity travel: Amtrak at New Orleans (City of New Orleans, Crescent, Sunset Limited) and the Mardi Gras Service along the Mississippi coast to Mobile.

Louisiana Train Rides at a Glance

Ride	Where	2026 status	Site
The Polar Express Train Ride	New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal	December 11–31. About an hour, toward Mid-City and back. Not a daylight scenic trip	nolathepolarexpressride.com
Southern Forest Heritage Museum	Long Leaf	Logging complex you can walk. Short rides have been part of the fall festival. Confirm	Museum site
Old Hickory Train Museum	Jackson	Model-railroad open houses. The narrow-gauge excursion is not on a published schedule	Museum announcements
DeQuincy Railroad Museum	DeQuincy	Static collection in the Kansas City Southern depot. No train	Museum site

Compiled October 1, 2026. A listing here is not a promise that a locomotive will be in steam.

State Rail History (Brief)

The Pontchartrain Railroad was chartered January 20, 1830, the first railroad chartered west of the Alleghenies. It ran about five miles from the Vieux Carré along what is now Elysian Fields Avenue to Milneburg on Lake Pontchartrain. Passenger service opened April 24, 1831, behind horses. The first steam locomotive, The Shields, went to work on June 15, 1832, and was soon replaced by an English engine, The Pontchartrain, on September 27. Horses stayed available until 1861. Ocean ships could reach Milneburg through the Rigolets, and the train remembered as Smoky Mary carried the lakefront crowds. The road faded in the twentieth century as the port and the city moved on.

Later Louisiana belonged to the Illinois Central and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley down the river, the Southern Pacific and the Texas & Pacific across the south, the Kansas City Southern through DeQuincy, and the Louisiana & Arkansas. New Orleans was the terminal, not a tourist-railroad town. The streetcars survived. The excursion railroads mostly did not.

Related: Railroad history · Mississippi · Texas · Arkansas.

What You Can Ride

The Polar Express, New Orleans

The licensed Polar Express train is back at Union Passenger Terminal for 2026, the first time since 2024. It did not run in 2025 because of the new Amtrak service to Mobile. Trains operate December 11 through December 31, as many as five times a day from noon into the evening, on a short turn toward Mid-City and back. The ride itself is about an hour. It is a holiday show, not a tour of the bayous. Tickets went on sale August 18, 2026. Book on the ride’s own site, and read the refund rule before you buy.

Polar Express trains · nolathepolarexpressride.com

Southern Forest Heritage Museum

At Long Leaf, south of Alexandria, the museum keeps a sawmill town: the mill, the woods equipment, and the railroad that brought logs in, including a doodlebug that once carried passengers. The grounds are the visit. A March 2026 notice put public hours at Wednesday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The fall festival is October 17, 2026, and short train rides have been sold at that event in recent years. Confirm this year’s ride before you count on it. There is no weekly scenic train.

Old Hickory Train Museum

The narrow-gauge Old Hickory Railroad at Jackson commemorated the Clinton & Port Hudson, one of the old short lines, with a 36-inch-gauge train brought to town in 1998. That excursion is not on a published schedule. The address, 3406 College Street, is now the Old Hickory Train Museum, home of the Greater Baton Rouge Model Railroaders. Open houses in 2026 are the second and fourth Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with free admission. Go for the layouts. Do not go for a narrow-gauge trip unless the museum has posted one.

Museums & the Streetcar

The DeQuincy Railroad Museum occupies the Kansas City Southern depot and displays equipment. It does not run a train. Groups that preserve a Louisiana steam locomotive, including the Louisiana Steam Train Association’s work around Southern Pacific 2-8-2 #745, do not publish a standing excursion. A trip happens only when they announce one.

The St. Charles streetcar is how many visitors ride a rail car in New Orleans. It is Regional Transit Authority service on a National Historic Landmark line, with a fare and a stop pattern like any other streetcar. It is not a tourist railroad, and it is not in the table as an excursion. Ride it as city transit.

Planning Tips

December in New Orleans: Polar Express, if that is the show you want. Read the date. It is not the City of New Orleans.
A daylight excursion: Arkansas & Missouri from Springdale, or the Texas State Railroad between Palestine and Rusk.
Long Leaf: a museum day. Ask about the festival train if you are there October 17.
Jackson, Louisiana: the model-railroad open house. Not the old narrow-gauge ride.

Seasonal & Related Reading

National tourist trains hub · Polar Express trains · Amtrak
Neighbors: Mississippi · Texas · Arkansas

Always verify the operator’s website before you travel. A museum listing is not a train schedule.

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