The Railway Museum of Greater Cincinnati is a railroad museum in Covington, Kentucky, at the former Louisville and Nashville Railroad yard.
The museum owns and maintains a collection of 80 historic railroad equipment and acquires several new pieces each year to their home in the Latonia Rail Yard.
Located on a 4-acre (16,000 m2) site, the museum displays several classic, well-known vehicles, as well as rarities that will impress rail experts.
The museum is located at 315 Southern Avenue in the Latonia area of Covington.
The majority of the collection is from the first half of the 20th century.
This museum was founded in 1975 when a club of local railroad enthusiasts decided to run passenger cars on Amtrak trains. However, in the 1980s, Amtrak tightened its restrictions on passenger cars, making it too difficult (and expensive) for the club members to continue running their recreational rides.
Though the Amtrak excursions ended, the cars remained as the core of the present collection.
At that point, the goal of the museum changed and now focuses on the preservation of the equipment. Tom Holley, former Chairman of the Board, stated: “Now the primary purpose of the museum is the collection of the equipment that belonged to the seven railroads then entered Cincinnati.”
Inside the cars, you’ll find original seats, gears, and even sinks.
The original passenger cars remained and today there are roughly 80 trains, artifacts, and pieces of equipment, including sleeping cars, box cars, dining cars, switchers, diesel locomotives and even an old railway post office. Most of the collection stems from the 1930s-1950s, while other railcars date back to as early as 1908.
A unique collection of authentic trains and railroad equipment.
Most of the collection stems from the 1930s-1950s, while other railcars date back to as early as 1908.
Pennsylvania Railroad E8 locomotive #5888 has been undergoing restoration for the past few years. A “theatrical” baggage car (the Juliet, one of 47 built by the Pennsy between 1917 and 1922) sits on the track beside the locomotive and will serve as a mobile staging area for the renovation.
The Museum also has a large collection of Pullman-Standard cars including the Metropolitan View built in 1938 for the PRR’s Broadway Limited and a BM70nb railway post office (PRR #6518) modernized for the same train.
Many of the Pullman-Standard cars were built as part of the Fleet of Modernism in the 1930s.
Visitors are welcome to explore the museum.
Some vehicles are designated as “climb aboard,” which welcomes guests to walk through a passenger car, or sit in the engineer’s seat in a locomotive.
Photos: Chris Miller/Flickr