North Alabama Railroad Museum — Attraction in Huntsville

Husband and I are both nerds. We went on a Friday mid-morning. Volunteers and staff only do tours on Wednesday and Saturdays, as we learned on the papers and signs once we were there. Free parking, closed gate, but a sign said to just walk on through. So we walked on through. Everything is outdoors. Locating the papers for the self-guided tour was a little tricky, but we eventually found it in the Paybill stand by the waiting room. One paper, printed double-sided showed a map of the area, briefly explained the history of each building, and talked about the work the museum does. We meandered around, looked at the cars, but aside from one plaque by the caboose, there was no other signage or learning opportunities. We spent maybe 30 minutes here. A little disappointing since there wasn't anything new to us, and it was much smaller than we expected. But a nice little side quest...

The Railroad Museum was not what I expected.

We went on a day the Museum does not have any staffing. We were able to walk around freely to look at the rail cars and the buildings which was interesting.

The Museum is located very close to what was once the Chase Nursery. That company is long gone and the roof of the building is falling in, etc. There is a lot of the old equipment around and there is no good reason anyone would want to enter the old building as it is unsafe. It is not part of the museum but it is right there beside it.

The old depot is present and we were able to walk around it. There is a stairway to go up to the windows of the passenger cars.

With the federal government now spending millions on updating passenger service, it was interesting to see some of the old cars that are parked here. We could not see inside any of the cars, at least on the day...

DO NOT RIDE THE TRAIN IN SUMMER! There is no air conditioning and they had no water or other drinks available. We were told that they sold out of water. How?! If you sell out of water halfway through an hour long ride that should tell you something - you didn't bring enough and your customers (including small children) are trapped in a 90+ degree train car with no ventilation and nothing to drink. The windows do not open either. It was miserable for everyone in that car and people were using anything at hand to wave as a fan. When we finally got out of the hotbox drenched in sweat, we were told no one was available to give refunds. I would not recommend this to my worst enemy and will be disputing the credit card charges since the company thinks this is acceptable to do to people. Avoid this experience and take your money elsewhere like the...