Kentucky Railroad Museum
NEW HAVEN, KY
4.5· 853 Google reviews
🎃 Pumpkin / Halloween 2026 — dates & tickets →View 200 upcoming eventsUpcoming Events
About Kentucky Railroad Museum
Take a nostalgic trip aboard L&N's Historic Lebanon Branch. Specialty train tours include Dine by Rail, Mystery Theater, Train Robbery, and Christmas Train. Read more.
📍 NEW HAVEN, KY 40051
History
The Kentucky Railway Museum was chartered in 1954 by a group of Louisville railroad enthusiasts who secured a charter through the Kentucky General Assembly to preserve steam locomotives and related artifacts. Its first public opening occurred on May 30 1958 at 1837 East River Road in Louisville, a 6‑acre site that later suffered severe flooding, notably in March 1964, prompting relocation. After a temporary move to the 32‑acre Ormsby Station in Jefferson County in 1977, the museum settled at its current 8‑acre New Haven property on July 4 1990, a site that incorporates the last 18 miles of the former Louisville and Nashville Lebanon line. The museum’s station building, a replica of the 1910 L&N depot, is cited as one of the oldest railroad stations in the United States.
The Trains
The Kentucky Railway Museum’s active roster includes Louisville and Nashville Railroad #152, a 4‑6‑2 Pacific that is the oldest known surviving example of its type and the official state locomotive of Kentucky, as well as Monon Route Diesel Engine No. 32, a black‑and‑gold unit acquired in 1972 after purchase by the L & N in August 1971; Chesapeake and Ohio 2716 remains on the museum’s property pending restoration in Ravenna, Kentucky. Historic passenger equipment on site comprises Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665, the Mt. Broderick Pullman lounge‑observation‑sleeping car, and the Frankfort and Cincinnati Model 55 “Cardinal” gas‑powered rail car, all listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum operates a heritage railroad on the last eighteen miles of the former Louisville and Nashville Lebanon Branch, running excursion trains between Boston, Kentucky and the museum’s New Haven depot.
Nearby
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Where to Stay
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Rent a Car
Most heritage railroads sit well off the interstate. Picking up a rental at the nearest airport is usually the easiest way in.
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