Eloise Ogden/MDN The Railroad Museum of Minot is dedicated to regional railroad history and culture.

Minot’s beginning dates to the early years of the railroad moving westward across the country in the late 1880s.

Fast forward to the 1980s when railroad enthusiasts felt Minot should have a railroad museum, and at a public discussion on the idea, the backers cited the city’s railroad history, the wealth or memorabilia among employee families, the need for such a tourist attraction and Minot’s central location on the northern line of the Burlington Northern, now BNSF, according to a history of the Railroad Museum of Minot published in The Minot Daily News.

The discussion was held during Downtown Railroad Days, part of the annual Minot Arts Festival.

The museum was established, first located in the Town and Country Center and later moved to a former lumberyard building in downtown Minot, where it is located today at 19 1st St. NE. It is next to the CPKC, formerly Canadian Pacific Railway, tracks and not far from the BNSF tracks.

The Railroad Museum of Minot is dedicated to the rich railroad history and culture that established many cities in North Dakota.

There are three floors in the museum, with photos, statues, railroad artifacts and model trains, according to a recent story in The Minot Daily News. The top floor has an archive room with donated artifacts yet to be placed for viewing. The middle floor has the Prairieville scale model donated to the museum. In the lower level the Souris River Model Railroad Club has a large train layout.

Museum volunteers normally operate the Magic City Express during summers in Roosevelt Park but it is not operating now due to floodwall construction by the Souris River Joint Board and City of Minot.

The museum is open every Saturday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.