Well worth the admission price to see all of the train layouts that have been put together - these people have spend a lot of time on them. A few bits of history added in but it’s more like going over to somebody’s garage and looking at their layouts. Great for kids as they have “step ups” for them to get a better view. A leisurely stroll through the displays only takes an hour or less.

Large variety of scales and eras with some very prototypical trains. Lots of details that are still in progress and really show how much work goes into everything on the layouts

It was a nice experience for my lil ones. I did think we would be seeing actual retired trains. But still a good experience.

A 100% must see in my opinion. The love and care they put into such amazing displays was something I thoroughly enjoyed and something I think everyone should check out.

I love miniatures because of the level of detail contained within them. This museum did not disappoint. Not only was it way larger than expected, but the storytelling within the models was outstanding. You could sit here for hours and find new things to look at. Definitely recommend coming here if youre in Balboa Park.

One of San Diegos best highlights. Even if you arent a big railroad person it is interesting.The model trains are very interesting and the attention to detail is impressive.Worth 90 minutes of your time. Just sit and watch the models.

Let me just say the the only exhibit that was worth coming was the La Mesa Model Railroad Club, but that was great. I only stayed there during the four and a half hours I was there, walking with one really nice teenager who was running a train. We were talking about our modeling mistakes, worst quality models, and just altogether having a great time. The only problem with the La Mesa Club was that the town of Tehachapi wasn’t visible to the general public. However, it made up for that with great scenery over the rest of the layout.

Affordable and worth it! The detail is unbelievable! My child has autism and this is his heaven!We got a souvenir and my son loves it!!!

Excellent museum, excellent work done in recreating landscapes and railroad models of different places.. spent 2 hours and was well worth the time.

Celebrates a bygone era of US railways. My expectations were not met but glad I had the opportunity to visit.

I think it is an awesome place to visit. I am a model train buff so it is a great place to visit. Stayed until we had to leave at closing time.

Really unique museum with many model trains.We enjoyed our visit very much.It was also decorated really nice for xmas.On the second floor you could see how they built the models.Perfect and enjoyable for the whole family.

Extensive display of model railroading, clearly involving many dedicated craftsmen and historians. In addition to the many completed operating displays, others are under construction. This place is huge.

An awesome, awesome place! Definitely a museum to check out if you have any interest in model trains. Theres a toy trains section thats almost magical with all the trains and the incredible dioramas theyve created.

Miniature heaven !!! Must visit place in Balboa Park . Best model rail road museum, perhaps biggest in the world they say.. it’s huge with Great attention to details .. with so much history.

Beautiful museum. One can spend 2 hours here. They have different exhibits for different types of train tracks. My toddler loves Thomas and the friends exhibition. Staff was friendly and answered the questions. And museum visit is free for San Diego county residents on first Tuesday of the month.

The museum was clean and organized. All of the staff was friendly and happy to answer any question from kids or adults. The different types and styles of model trains were visible and on display. It was enjoyable for kids of all ages

Fun filled place for young kids and train enthusiasts. Brings up good memories of younger days.

What a great place for the entire family! Multiple displays show the range of what model railroading is all about. You can ask questions of the volunteers that man the different displays and they are only to happy to discuss their passion! While you are in Balboa Park, please take the time to check this museum out!

If you love trains this is the place to be!

Im not a model train enthusiast, by any means, but I still enjoyed this place. The displays are massive and you can see the new stuff being built by hand upstairs. They had a ton of models running on beautifully crafted landscapes. Views could be a bit better, but I think this is a fun way to kill some time.

My son just loves going here. This place is ran by volunteers and these guys you can tell are just having so much fun with their model trains. My son wants to come and help out now. This is a great place to have in Balboa and the displays are amazing!

Impressive collection of working scale models of California rail lines of different locations that brings the kid in us.

This is a must see for anyone with a kid or a kid at heart. An amazing set of layouts. There are 2 huge HO layouts, a large N scale layout, a large O 2 rail layout and a large toy train layout that is decorated for several holidays, and a garden trolly run off solar power and a kids corner (only open some of the museum hours) . There is also a kids corner The people running the trains are very friendly. The level of detail is amazing. Go when it first opens to avoid crowds. If your local its free once a month but much more crowded. 10X more crowded on a free Tuesday than on a regular Tuesday.

Super fun place for the kids! The size of the models is incredible!

Great model train museum for both adults and kids. There a small play area with wood trains perfect for toddlers.

Its a good place for railroad fans. The dioramas are very artistic and life like. They have Easter eggs through out. The trains unfortunately are not always visible since they spend a good chunk of time behind the areas visible through glass. You have to trace and predict the route of the train to make sure u can follow it. Kids can loose interest pretty quick this way. All in all its ok but u gotta love trains.

Man, they have miles of tracks there, like 10 people just run that thing. Very good place to go with kids, even for 40 years old person it was fan.

Good place to have a glance on trains’ history. Good for family and their kids.

Quaint museum with some of the most detailed model trains ever. A unique microcosm of americana. See scenes from the 50s to the 90s.Good place to take the kids, they have a play area with toys.Museum is large, be sure to see it all.

Pretty neat experience seeing all those trains. I almost like the miniature scenes more than the trains. I dare you to find the over turned chicken truck where the truck driver is chasing his chickens

Train nut heaven, best layouts I have seen in along time

Who wouldn’t want to visit!!? Ha. I’ve been many times and the kids never get bored.

I am not one who frequently goes to model railroad museums, this museum blew my expectations away. I would recommend spending an hour or so appreciating the fine detail that has been put into each of their many displays!

The largest model train museum in the country, however although they have a limited budget the whole place could use a bit of spit shining. Still a great place to go if your into that. Word of advice if you got a bad knee like me theres actually an unadvertised elevator past the stairs and cafe.

If you love model railroading, this is the place to see!

Amazing place, nevermind before have I seen so many layouts in one place! Very friendly volunteers love to chat!

Wonderful exhibits. Friendly staff, amazing layouts. My fav was the toy train exhibit. Reminds me of my childhood at Christmas. The smell of the train smoke was intoxicating. Highly recommend for any and all train lovers.

Great place for kids and adults we had a great time.

Way back when I was a teenager, my father and I were members of one of the clubs here. That was a long time ago and a lot of progress has been made since then. I havent been down here in a while and it was really exciting to be back and see how much has changed and how much the clubs have grown over the years. We paid an admission fee I think it was around $11 per adult but its a donation to the clubs to help pay for their overhead like the building space and keeping the lights on, etc. As I expected it was a great experience thanks to all the members who have contributed their time and resources over the years. They have really done a nice job and they take great pride in their hobby. So if youre down in Balboa Park for any reason, its definitely worth stopping by. The kids will love it for sure!

We spent about 30 minutes and it was more than enough....its interesting to see but kids got bored as there are no hands-on activities for them. Got in due to our San Diego GO card...otherwise, I wouldnt pay to go here.

Best model railroad ever.

Very interesting little trains and town. Good for eductional purpose.

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is the only American Alliance of Museums accredited model railroad museum in North America, and with 27,000 square feet of property, it is also one of the largest. Its mission is to preserve the heritage of railroading through a series of miniature representations of California railroads, as well as research and preserve the history of model railroading. The museum also strives to educate the public about the history and aspects of railroading while actively engaging all kinds of people in learning about the art of model railroading and the history of railroads. It is also home to pieces from the original display of the historic miniature replica of the AT&SF railroad system in the Ford Building, built by legendary model railroader Minton Cronkite for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition.

Model Trains and large layouts say yes to to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.

This is a must see. Ever wonder what happened to all the diecast cars from the past.... They are probably here.

Amazing model railways. There are multiple tracks at this venue of varying sizes and themes. This is a great place to take children and most parts of it are wheelchair and stroller friendly. Our favorite room was right at the back with a lovely frie dly gentleman who took the time to answer all our questions about the track. They have a great program where they let children in to learn how to run the trains etc.

Such a hidden gem in the Balboa park, it’s below the museum of photography. If you love trains and miniature models, see this. It was amazing, the attention to detail and models of different rail road tracks. Good for all age kids but def for elementary and middle school age, esp if they love trains.

All scales represented in a large open museum. Well worth the price of admission.

What an amazing place! Passionate staff and club members. Theyve put alot of time and skill the layouts at the museum. I have been there twice and enjoyed it both times!

I love it. Many train to look at. Discount for veteran

We love going here. My four year old begs to come. Everyone is so kind and theres a fun kids area for them to play in

Excellent exhibits run by dedicated volunteers

Tim was so informative and graciously gave us a behind the scenes tour! Its amazing the attention to detail that goes into this craft. Definitely worth the visit.

Amazing place! Our train-obsessed kids loved it! We could spend hours watching the model trains run. The dioramas created for the trains - villages, people, scenery, etc - is exemplary. The hard-work, dedication, and passion of those involved clearly shows in all the exhibits!

This was a spur of the moment stop that turned out to be really worth it. First off, the girl upfront was super cute lol. But the museum itself was very interesting and it excited my kids. The people who put the landscapes together make them painfully detailed and leave a few Easter eggs for the observant, such as a shark in a swimming pool or Simba on a hill.

3 yr old had a blast

Awesome place to go with your kid or on a date. The attention to detail on the models is amazing

The level of detail is incredible. Look for some comedic scenes! If you just focus on the trains youll miss a lot of the fun. There were some members of the clubs that built the trains wandering around talking to guests and answering questions. They were extremely interesting and kind. Also, the woman who was in the gift shop today was so sweet and helpful. A great experience, and not just for kids!

Great place that most of us never heard of. Theres a lot of work and put into this place. It gives us a glimpse of the railroads and history of San Diego.

A great museum with multiple layouts! HO is the biggest. Also an N guage, O guage, Lionel 3 rail and a small garden layout in the back. Fun ace. Even s play room for the kids!

I loved this place! What a gem. A pleasant unexpected surprise! I could lose myself in that place, enjoying the incredible model railroad displays. So many of them, and incredibly detailed. Highly recommend!

The landscape is detailed, but not a lot of trains to see. Model fans might enjoy it, but certainly not for kids.

Amazingly fun to look at. Great detail and fun little scene.

Tremendous! Amazing designs and attention to detail. Very friendly and helpful staff. A must see for the entire family. My wife even enjoyed it.

My kids love it, but my wife doesnt appreciate it as much. Interesting train tracks for the kids to watch. Staff is generally cheerful when its not packed.

My kids loved this place. The downstairs is so active. I didnt take pictures there because we were enjoying it so much.

I like this place better

Eh. Im a fan of model railroading, but this layout, while it takes up a lot of space, is fairly sparse and very few trains were running. For the price it wasnt very entertaining and I got a lot more out of the Model Railroad place in Old Town. I think this place is going for ultra realism by running a train an hour or something in the main area and having nearly nothing in between towns and out in the country. The problem is, thats boring. The pictures shown in this listing are fairly misleading as there is a single room in the museum with a lot of dense city-like detail. Most of the layout is devoid of buildings, activity or interesting scenery. Its not even the largest layout in the country, its just the largest layout in a certified museum, whatever that means.

This was awesome! I loved the models, the trains, the structures. It looks like towns or mountains youd see on a road trip.

Cheap and fun to drop by for an hour or two! Every time I’m in the area, I make time to visit. Sure, there may not be an incredible amount of trains running at any time, but the attention to detail is what gets you!

Even if you arent into model trains, you should at least give this place a look. I think its kind of fun seeing them going every which way. There are several types of model trains on display, all running. The miniatures are really clever too!

Very extensive and detailed exhibition of model railroads. Theres a good deal of new construction which is interesting in itself.

Amazing place to spend a few hours and enjoy a valued hobby of many

Cool museum to find all the model Trains that are in existence, cant but them tho ):

Wonderful train museum. I operate HO scale trains here monthly and the crew members are wonderful people too. Great place for anyone who loves trains.

One of the nicer model railroad museums Ive ever been in

This is quite an amazing place, as it houses the layouts of four different model railroad groups. The Halloween decorations in the three-rail room are a lot of fun! If you like model railroading or just trains in general you will want to spend quite a bit of time in here. I would definitely make an effort to get there at least several hours before the 4 p.m. weekday and 5 p.m. weekend closing times, as there will be more trains running. Also, its important to note that they are closed on Mondays.

Wait until you see the trains in this basement! One of the largest model railroad exhibits in North America. It contains O-Scale, HO-Scale, N-Scale, and Lionel toy trains exhibits. Be sure to check out the surfer on the coast.

We are regulars at the SDMRM thanks to their fantastic layouts and frequent events. Wish there were more swap meets each year!

Proof there is good in the world. I recently visited this museum with a friend and somehow my license and debit card fell out of my pocket and went missing.After retracing all my steps from my visit here I found nothing. I even went to the front desk before leaving and nobody had turned either card in. But they were kind enough to take down my information and let me know if they found anything.A few days later here I am with a postage paid envelope and letter from the museum. Enclosed were both my license and missing debit card.I’m so thankful for the people at this wonderful place. They truly go above and beyond. The proof is all around you.

Amazing and a wonderful exersion in to the history of trains... Its great for kids of all ages!

Very disappointing. Lots of empty displays with no working trains. Not worth the price. The o scale room was the best. They have restricted the view of any display due to security of the setups but it takes away from the feel. Bigger is not better. They should condense and make it a better attraction.

The way that they keep the model trains in tip top condition to make them run smoothly is excellent. But also the attention to detail is outstanding

MANDATORY DONATION!!! This place need to be monitor. They are Rude, Disrespectful And snobby. What I heard and saw was not ok. Saw a lady donate and guy at the door was rude about it. Not to mention why I choose to not donate he wasnt happy about it either. Both owner and door men pressure everyone to donate. It be better if they charge.

In flux as the various modeling clubs hash out what to display. Very informative people around to help answer any questions.

Several huge layouts featuring various gage model trains. Features local sites built to the scale of the trains in the layout.

A very nice place to visit.

A rather unique attraction. The scale and detail of the models are impressive. Well worth a visit--although probably not a second one unless you are into model railroad.

My 4yr old loves this museum! Its great for young kids bc they cant exactly get lost in there. The tracks are set up so you walk in a circle. They have a play area and a special room with the most amazing tracks. Love going to this museum any chance we get!

I was really excited to take my 3 & 5 year old here because the reviews seemed positive. We all wound up being disappointed. Huge environments but very few trains running made for a very boring place for young kids. I think this place would be better for older hobbyists, not necessarily young kids that enjoy trains.

I enjoy the miniture hobos depicted in the train yards.

So much fun for my little guys . They get so excited watching the trains go by. Nice that you arent rushed and its free for residents the first tuesday of every month .

My train obsessed son and I always love this museum! ️ Great layouts and fun kids play room.

An absolutely lovely and endearing museum with fascinating train models.Its a very dear place and an adorable destination in Balboa Park.The staff are all very courteous and friendly as well!

While sort of a pain to find parking for, this place was pretty cool if youve got someone obsessed with trains. Perfect for little ones for sure. Huge sprawling model train displays that move about the mini-landscape are meticulously maintained by the hobbyists there and all together its quite neat.

Very nice layouts. All scales.

Good for kids but the $12 admission fee is too high for such a small museum.

Great.

Used to go here all the time as a child. Sill love it just as much today.