San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park, San Diego

Bridges and trains are two of my favorite things to take pictures of, trains especially. Side note, if you are looking for an awesome place to see real trains make sure to go to Orange Empire Railway Museum but if you want to see miniature trains and miniature cityscapes in all their glory then you need to go to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park.

Details

• Cost: Adults $9, Children (Age 6-14) $2
• Hours: Tuesday through Friday 11:00 – 4:00, Saturday – Sunday 11:00 – 5:00

With so many different options in Balboa Park you can literally spend an entire day exploring all of the museum, if not longer. For me though I went right to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum to see one of the largest in the entire country and to indulge my inner child, who remembers building these with my dad as I was growing up.

This museum is located on the bottom floor of one of the main buildings and while it is not as big as some of the other museums in the Balboa Park complex, all of the displays are miniatures so there is obviously a lot of details to see.

The museum is like one long loop and each area has a large window from when you can watch the trains go by and check out the cities that are made to compliment the look and provide a full experience.

My wife and I decided to play a game of “what’s the weirdest thing you can find,” as there is a lot of goofyness added to the cities that are created for the trains. Here are some of the ones we found:

A man walking his dinosaur.

A bunch of rock climbers

My personal favorite, the shark sitting in the family swimming pool.

I would love throw out the challenge for any readers to find a better one and post it in the comments.

The train museum is maintained by many volunteers and you can see as you are walking around how they interact with children, care for the trains and just help to provide an awesome experience.

This is a great place for practicing photography as there are a of of fun scenes and moving things you can interact with and photograph.

While not for everyone, this is a really great museum if you are into trains or miniatures. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you love trains make sure to check out Orange Empire as well.