Roads & Rails Museum

We have driven past this little museum for years. Finally decided to visit it and the ice cream shop down the street for a nice afternoon. This is a very nice arrangement of trains running through miniature settings with buttons to activate various animations, and very kid friendly. My wife and I spend about an hour and a half viewing the eclectic constructs and setting and looking for funny little jokes like a small town zoo with escaping animals and dinosaurs in cages. The little mine cavern scene has a surprise scifi element in one corner if you look carefully. A pleasant outing well worth the admission. Plus a good selection of Legos kits in the gift shop.

We went here two years ago with my neighbor and her daughter. It was a blast the kids were totally interested. I like that there are buttons for the children to push and feel like they are part of the exhibit. A few buttons didn’t work but the kids didn’t mind they just moved on to the next lol. It cost around $ 7 per person I believe that was a little expensive to me. I think $ 4-​$ 5 would be sufficient. I also think they should have some type of deal if you have 3 or more people. It’s been awhile since we“be been here so they could of improved either way the kids enjoyed it. We were there for a hour or so.

An absolute great exhibit of model trains and such. Also an amazing room of Lego trains and exhibits. Definitely a place to visit and support.

I have a 2 year old boy who is obsessed with trains – like really obsessed. And he asks to come here by saying, «push buttons, mama?» He loves how independent he can be here and that he feels in control of the trains. I love that the walkway is small enough that he can just run and I can let him go but the display feels huge and transports you. They have stools which he also loves to carry around so he can stand up and see everything. I took one star away for the price – it is $ 7 per person and they don’t offer a subscription or annual membership so we can’t go very often.
I’d also like to see all the buttons labeled for what they do – and have them all working.

Half the trains are ‘stuck’ or otherwise not working. Ok if you appreciate the scenery. Not ok if your kids want to see things actually move!

Its a GREAT display for model trains. My friend and I enjoyed the display very much. Its much bigger than you thinks it is and it is very detailed. Enjoy it!

This is a gem! It is inexpensive entertainment for my 4YO son. It’s a pretty small place but somehow we still spent 1.5h there. Admission is $ 4 for kids & $ 7 for adults; parking is free! Make sure you grab a step stool in the main train room. They are located to the left of the room (end of the display). We found them at the end of the display so we went around again with the stool and my son was able to see much more!

We had a super time at this model train exhibit! The display is huge! Our six year old son really enjoyed pushing all the buttons to make people and things move. There are many scenes only the adults will get, such as the Karate Kid and the Lost capsule. The Lego room was a complete bonus for our son. He has been talking about it for days.

I found this place by accident on a previous trip through Frederick, but it was closed that day. So I made a special effort to stop on our current trip south. I don’t really know what I expected, but this not it. I’m not sure how the term «museum» fits. And $ 7.00 (senior rate) seemed a lot once I got in.
The main room is a huge layout of mostly Lionel 3 track trains. There was one train that circled the entire layout regularly. There were multiple other loops than seemed to be operated by sensors as they only ran when someone was in the area. There were hundreds of modeled scenes from towns to amusement parks to western towns, but they all seemed to be hodgepodge with no real coherence. The modeling and scenery were pretty well done (not shabby). There were multiple buttons to press as I went around the layout that activated various features (amusement rides, slot-​cars that circled towns, etc). There was really too much stuff to see anything — if you know what I mean.
A second room had 3 – 4 Lego displays that seemed to have every Lego kit ever made set up. Again, it seemed like the idea was to see how much they could fit in, rather trying to make a quality diorama.
Overall I did not think it was worth the time or money, and will not recommend that friends should stop if they are in the area.

a must for your little train lover (young and old!)

This is FANTASTIC for kids and parents alike. Even if you’re in the DC area, this is worth the drive all the way to Frederick. My husband found it in an internet search and ended up spending 2 hours there with our son. They’ve been back several times and i joined them on the last trip. The trains are very cool, even for people who aren’t terribly into that.
The main event is on mammoth model train set that runs, maybe, half a football field? Multiple trains, of course, and all kinds of vignettes, built with someone’s very good sense of humor. It’s kinda like playing Where’s Waldo with cute scenes throughout that play on pop culture or history. (Clearly the owners have put love as well as time and money into their masterpiece.) You could easily spend an hour just walking around it, taking in the individual scenes, the jokes embeddded into the set, etc. It’s interactive, too, with numerous spots where a kid (or kid at heart) can press a button and make something happen within the model. There are a few smaller sets in the gift shop, as well, and they’re worth a look, too. (There was one cute one with aliens/​ufos; we spent at least 15 minutes looking over the details of that alone.)

This is the best train exhibit I have seen yet. The model is huge. The museum houses one of the largest miniature world model train displays in the country. The staff is very friendly. It’s great for kids of all ages. In the gift shop there is also a lego exhibit.