Massachusetts Railroad Museums (2026): A Complete Guide

Last revised: October 8, 2026

Massachusetts railroad museums sit on a short map with a long memory. Lenox keeps the Berkshire Scenic collection in a 1902 Housatonic station, and the train itself now runs in the Hoosac Valley, from Adams toward North Adams. Shelburne Falls still rides Shelburne Falls & Colrain car 10, a Wason combine of 1896, in the freight yard beside the Bridge of Flowers. Chatham’s 1887 depot has been a museum since 1960. Carver’s Edaville is the family park that once held Maine’s two-foot engines. Lowell’s trolley belongs to the national park.

Edaville Railroad 0-4-4T 4 leading an excursion in 1964

An early view of the Edaville Railroad features 0-4-4T #4 (ex-Monson Railroad #4) at Edaville, Massachuetts in September, 1964. Rick Burn photo.

Which days the Berkshire train, Edaville, and the Cape Cod Central run is on the Massachusetts scenic-train guide. Confirm the museum doors on each site before you drive.

On this page: At a glance · Massachusetts railroads · Lenox and Adams · Shelburne Falls · Carver · Chatham · Lowell · Other stops · Related reading

At a glance

Place	Town	What it is known for	Site
Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum	Lenox and Adams	1902 Lenox station. Hoosac Valley trains from Adams since 2016	berkshiretrains.org · Scenic guide
Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum	Shelburne Falls	Shelburne Falls & Colrain No. 10, Wason 1896, at 14 Depot Street	sftm.org
Edaville Railroad	Carver	Family park train. The Maine two-foot engines returned to Portland in 1993	edaville.com · Scenic guide
Chatham Railroad Museum	Chatham	Depot opened November 21, 1887. Museum since July 1960. A 1910 wooden caboose	chathamrailroadmuseum.com
Lowell National Historical Park	Lowell	Trolley through the mill district. Park established in 1978	nps.gov/lowe

Massachusetts railroads

The Granite Railway opened at Quincy on October 7, 1826, a horse-powered line that hauled stone for the Bunker Hill Monument. It is the railroad Massachusetts claims as the first working commercial road in the country. The Boston & Lowell, chartered on June 5, 1830, was the next famous one, built to the mills with a thirty-year monopoly on that route. The Boston & Maine grew out of the Andover & Wilmington, chartered on March 15, 1833, and eventually covered the north of the state and the line into Maine. South and east, the New York, New Haven & Hartford gathered the Old Colony, the Cape, and the Housatonic. West of Boston, the Boston & Albany was the New York Central’s way to the harbor. At the peak the state had more than 2,100 miles. A fuller account is on the Massachusetts railroads page.

Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum

The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum was the project of John W. Herbert, a General Electric veteran who wrote a proposal called “Steam Dreams” in 1983. The cost of steam ended that part of the plan before the first train. Tourist service began in July 1984 between Lee and Great Barrington, on the Housatonic Railroad, with tickets sold from a card table at Lee. The equipment came from retired New Jersey Transit cars and from the General Electric transformer plant at Pittsfield.

The museum’s home is Lenox station, 10 Willow Creek Road. The Housatonic built it in 1902. The New Haven had absorbed that railroad in 1892, and the Berkshire Division used the station until the last summer of passenger service in 1970. The building was listed on June 16, 1989. The museum received it in the late 1980s, and from 2003 through 2011 the train ran from Lenox to Stockbridge. At the end of 2011 the Housatonic ended the arrangement.

Since 2016 the ride has been in the Hoosac Valley. Trains leave the station the town of Adams built at 4 Hoosac Street, on a piece of the old Adams branch, and run toward North Adams. Lenox remains the museum, the shop, and the headquarters. A Budd rail-diesel car is part of the Hoosac Valley fleet. The days, and which terminal is selling tickets, stay on the scenic guide.

The Housatonic itself was chartered in May 1836. Regular service reached New Milford, Connecticut, on February 19, 1840, and the Massachusetts line on December 1, 1842, the day the Berkshire Railroad finished the continuation toward West Stockbridge. The Stockbridge & Pittsfield, chartered in 1847, carried the line on to Pittsfield. That is the railroad whose station is at Lenox.

Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum

The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, at 14 Depot Street, exists to run one car. Shelburne Falls & Colrain No. 10 is a combination baggage-and-passenger trolley built by the Wason Manufacturing Company of Springfield in 1896, the year the seven-mile line opened. It worked through the late 1920s. The railway quit late in 1927, and the rails came up in 1928. A farmer kept the body. His family gave it to the museum in 1991, and the restored car was running by 1999.

For twenty of its working years No. 10 crossed the Deerfield River on the bridge the railway built in 1908, so the trolley could reach the Boston & Maine and New Haven station on the Buckland side. That bridge is the Bridge of Flowers. The museum occupies the old freight yard below it, and a former Central Vermont caboose sits outside. The days the car runs are on sftm.org.

Edaville Railroad

Edaville, at Carver, began in 1947 as Ellis D. Atwood’s two-foot railroad through the cranberry bogs. Atwood bought locomotives and cars from the Bridgton & Saco River and the Monson, and for nearly half a century those Maine engines worked in Massachusetts. When the original park closed, the historic two-foot power went home. It reached Portland in 1993 and is the collection at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum.

The railroad on the Carver grounds today is a family park train, with a holiday-light season that is its own ticket. Treat the visit as a park day. The calendar is on the scenic guide.

Chatham Railroad Museum

The Chatham Railroad Museum fills the wooden depot at 153 Depot Road. The Chatham Railroad opened from Harwich to Chatham on November 21, 1887, and leased the branch at once to the Old Colony, which then held the rail lines of Cape Cod. The New Haven leased the Old Colony in 1893, and the Chatham branch became a New Haven line. Passenger trains ended in 1931. Freight lasted until the branch was abandoned in 1937. The other stations on the branch were eventually taken down. Chatham’s depot stayed.

Phyllis and Jacob Cox gave the building to the town. The museum opened in July 1960, with Frank Love, a retired New York Central officer, as the first director. He wrote to railroad presidents and asked for pieces, and the rooms still hold that kind of collection: lanterns, badges, timetables, telegraph gear, and New York Central models built for the 1939 World’s Fair. A restored wooden caboose of 1910 stands with the depot. The building was listed in 1978. Summer hours are the town’s.

Lowell National Historical Park

Lowell National Historical Park, established by Congress in 1978, is a mill park first. The Boott Cotton Mills and the canal system are the textile story. The railroad piece is the trolley that runs through that district, on track the park laid for the purpose, and a streetcar exhibit kept with the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport. Ride days are the park’s.

Other Massachusetts stops

Cape Cod Central Railroad at Hyannis is the scenic and dinner train on the old New Haven route down the Cape. It is an excursion railroad. The calendar is on the scenic guide.

The Boston Street Railway Association publishes Roll Sign and keeps a photograph and paper archive of Boston’s street railways. The visit is the magazine and the meeting. It is a society, and the cars themselves are at Kennebunkport and Lowell.

The Walker Transportation Collection, at the Beverly Historical Society, is photographs, books, and smaller artifacts of New England transport, from streetcars to aircraft. It is a research room inside a local historical society. The society posts the hours.

Sources

Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum, berkshiretrains.org: founded 1984; first trains in July 1984 between Lee and Great Barrington; Lenox station acquired in the late 1980s; Lenox-to-Stockbridge rides 2003–2011; Hoosac Valley service from 2016. Lenox Railroad Station, built 1902, National Register reference 89000225, listed June 16, 1989. Adams station at 4 Hoosac Street follows the museum’s published location. Housatonic charter of May 1836, New Milford on February 19, 1840, and the state line on December 1, 1842, follow the railroad’s corporate history. The New Haven absorption is 1892.
Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, sftm.org: 14 Depot Street. Car 10, Wason, 1896. Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway, late 1896 to late 1927. The 1908 bridge is the Bridge of Flowers. The 1991 donation is the museum’s car page. The car was running by 1999.
Edaville: Ellis D. Atwood, 1947, South Carver, using Bridgton and Monson equipment. Those locomotives returned to the Maine Narrow Gauge museum in Portland in 1993. The present Carver operation is the family park railroad. Chatham Railroad Museum, chathamrailroadmuseum.com: 153 Depot Road. Chatham Railroad opened November 21, 1887, leased at once to the Old Colony. New Haven lease of the Old Colony, 1893. Passenger service ended in 1931. Branch abandoned in 1937. Museum opened in July 1960. Wooden caboose of 1910. National Register listing November 27, 1978.
Lowell National Historical Park, established 1978. The trolley and the streetcar exhibit with the Seashore Trolley Museum are the railroad piece. Cape Cod Central follows the Massachusetts scenic-train guide. Boston Street Railway Association: Roll Sign and the archive. Walker Transportation Collection: Beverly Historical Society.

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

Facebook X Pinterest Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Messenger