28. July 2026
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Museums & Exhibitions

Georgia State Railroad Museum

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Georgia State Railroad Museum

20 USD
Georgia State Railroad Museum
3.3

Rating

 3.3/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very interesting historic architecture
  • Interesting rolling stock
  • Ride a historic diesel train
  • Operating railway turntable

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Cars can only be visited with a guided tour
  • Train tour is rather limited
  • Overall, admission is too high

Aviation museums and railroad museums always tend influencing my travel planning. Thus, before Weird Al Yankovic stepped on stage of Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, I just had to have a look into the Georgia State Railroad Museum. It was formerly named Roundhouse Railroad Museum. Here is my review, based on my June 2026 visit.

 

Georgia State Railroad Museum – Location & Admission

The museum is located just West of the historic district of Central Savannah. It includes part of Central of Georgia Railway: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities, which is a National Historic Landmark District and considered being the most complete antebellum railroad complex in the United States. Across the road, there is a visitor center including the Savannah History Museum. The easiest way of getting there is by car. The museum drives a parking lot, which is free during your visit.

Apart from a few holidays, the Georgia State Railroad Museum opens daily from 9:00 to 16:00. Admission is 20 USD. It includes admission to the STEAM Center, an outpost of the Savannah Children’s Museum (which I did not visit to due to limited time). If you spend some time in Savannah, it is definitely worth to buy a combined ticket for three museums (of your choice) driven by the Coastal Heritage Society. Apart from this museum and the History and Children’s Museum, you may visit the Old Fort Jackson, the Pinpoint Heritage Museum or the Harper Folkes House.

 

Georgia State Railroad Museum – The Visit

As said, the Georgia State Railroad Museum is located at a historic railroad company site. The most eye-catching structure is definitely the (operating) railway turntable and the storages built around it. They also host the public part of their engine and car collection. There is a nice number of these exhibits. Unfortunately, apart from a car hosting a documentary, you are not allowed to enter any of the rolling stock. This is only possible if you do a guided tour. Thus, this part did not really meet my expectation.

Due to that reason, the museum likely does not meet your expectation as a railway nerd. Where it in fact feels much stronger is from an architecture and history perspective. The fact that a few buildings are partial ruins does not change that. There are a couple of buildings you can enter. Signs tell you about the former function as part of the railway company operations. The buildings also have some historic exhibits, which are in fact interesting.

 

Georgia State Railroad Museum – The Ride

During most of the opening days apart from Mondays and Tuesdays – check out the schedule on their website before – the museum operates a train ride with their diesel engine train. One trip is complimentary, you receive the timed ticket when entering the museum. You can purchase additional trips. I had rather mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, riding the historic stock was a cool experience. Furthermore, the configuration of the engine and the car fits on the turntable. You more or less head straight on the turntable, take another track and then backup at a maintenance shop. Thereafter the train turns the same route back.

You get some pretty nice information about the train and the place on the 25 minute tour. Apart from the rather boring route, I was especially disappointed about the maintenance shop stop. At most, a third of the car is backing up into the building. The guide tells you about the cars, which are currently renovated. I sat on the opposite end and did not see anything. Due to the active work in there, there is no other option to explore the exhibit at all.

 

Georgia State Railroad Museum – Services

The staff at the museum was friendly. The Georgia State Railroad Museum also drives a shop at the reception and ticketing building, which offers typical souvenir stuff, majorly for younger visitors.

 

Georgia State Railroad Museum – My View

The Georgia State Railroad Museum has so much potential – but it simply is not even close in reaching it. There is cool rolling stock in the trainyard, the operating turntable is a cool feature as well. However, without being able to explore at least the cars, it feel dead. It is a really interesting place due to the architecture. The train ride is just too limited and the stop at the maintenance shop is not worth it for at least half of the people (if the car is full). Thus, the 20 USD admission feels being close to a rip-off. If you visit this place, definitely go for a guided tour, which likely adds quite some value. Unfortunately, I could not find any information about these during my visit.

 

Rail-Related Museums

Here are all my museum reviews, which are related to my Rides on Rail category:

 

Other Transport (USA)

Here are all postings about non-aviation transportation related to the USA:

 

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