Jackson Street Roundhouse — Attraction in Saint Paul

We celebrated my son’s birthday this weekend here. For those who are planning a birthday party here, the train car for the party is located in a train car outside of the museum. Be ready to do everything on your own as there is no staff/volunteer to help organize the party. There is no sign by the train car to notify other customers that there is a private party and no way to lock the doors. We had gifts, cake, and guests left their jackets in the train car while we spent the first hour playing in the museum. As we walked out there were random people walking out of the train car.

Additionally, be ready for grumpy volunteers. One male volunteer yelled at the kids to “Get out!” and felt the need to scold the parents and said the kids are banned from one particular train. All because one child moved a Halloween decoration!

I was told we can go out back for the caboose ride whenever we’re ready. When our party arrived for the caboose ride there were 4 volunteers in front of us and no one acknowledged us. I let them know we’re the birthday party group. One particularly grumpy female volunteer looked at me and said, “I was told you guys are riding at 3:30!” She then rolls her eyes and turns around. No instructions were given. As the caboose arrived and stopped, one excited child started running towards it. That same grumpy volunteer yelled at our group, “DO NOT MOVE UNTIL EVERYONE GETS OFF THE TRAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” It was absolutely unnecessary and unwelcoming.

Even though the museum had really interesting things to see I wouldn’t recommend hosting a birthday party here. It was chaos. The cost should include a point person to help organize the 2 hours. Instead I was the party organizer and didn’t get to enjoy the party with my...

Purchased our tickets inside and the woman at the desk gave us no information at all. Decided to do the caboose ride but waited almost 30 minutes before someone said they would be over momentarily to get started. During our wait, multiple staff members passed by but completely ignored us. I understand most of the staff are volunteers but a large number of them were sitting together on benches chatting and eating together (this was at 3 pm). A simple sign at the gate showing when the next ride would take place would be very helpful and save a lot of time! Figured we would get a drink and a snack but the only option was a soda (2 choices) and potato chips or Oreo cookies, some left and went to a cafe. For the $15 entry fee we expected more, at least some engagement from the people running the museum. There was a young guy working on the caboose ride and he was friendly and cheerful, so 5 stars to him. The exhibit is quite small and we spent less than an hour there, including our 30 minute wait for the caboose ride, which is 5 minutes...

The jackson street round house is one of the last fully functioning roundhouses in the country. It is worth the trip to walk through old train cars and explore, the kids can climb just a little and they have toddler wednesdays and free short train rides on select saturdays. There are also train models and equiptment to look at. Many of the volunteers are very knowledgeable. Theres a gift shop, a play steam engine for kids and a train engineer simulator in the far back. Also they repair and restore trains here so sometimes you can get a tour through the workshop ( sometimes they make steel candy canes in the winter time, good for kids to see) . great place,full of fun. Mainly volunteer and donation run. Totally worth...