Full-Size Train Museum Announces Opening Date in Hudson Valley

A three-day festival with train car dining, a theater boxcar, and more will officially launch the area's most unique outdoor transportation museum.

Imagine visiting a museum about the history of transportation, but instead of seeing models and diagrams of trains, you got to experience those full-sized train cars for yourself. Well, that's exactly what's in store for Hudson Valley visitors when a new museum opens this spring. Hearing a locomotive start-up, having a meal in a real dining car, sitting inside an actual caboose and other unique, hands-on experiences are all on the schedule for a festival to officially open the museum.

Home to LEGOLAND New York, a planned dinosaur theme park, the Velocipede History Museum, and the little-known Farmer's Museum, Orange County is quickly becoming a hot tourist destination. The soon-to-open Port Jervis Transporation History Center is hoping to be another place for families to visit while touring the region.

The museum was born out of a conversation between Operation Toy Train and the City Council of Port Jervis. Operation Toy Train is a charity operation that collects toys for children during the holiday season and transports them using historic train cars. The organization collects over 25,000 toys every year and continues to grow.

Due to their incredible success, Operation Toy Train has amassed a large number of donated historic train cars. Because they're only used for a short time every year, it made sense to find them a permanent home where people could appreciate them all year.  It just so happens that Port Jervis is the home of the historic site of the Erie Railroad’s turntable, roundhouse, and locomotive servicing facility. Soon, the idea for the Hudson Valley's Transportation History Center came to be.

After hearing about the proposed center, another donation was made from the Dining Car Society, which has gifted the center the very first Comet 1 Commuter Coach ever built. Visitors will even be able to enjoy meals inside a real dining car during the kick-off festival this spring.

The first-ever Port Jervis Transportation Festival will be held on May 28, 29, and 30 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm each day rain or shine. The event takes place at the transportation center, located at the former Erie Railroad turntable facility in Port Jervis behind the Save-A-Lot shopping center. More details can be found on the center's website.