Reviews of Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum (Museum)

Kyle Cameron

Great museum with lots to see and plenty of fun activities for children, however a bit run down and in need of maintenance.

Catherine B

We stopped in quickly to kill time before our hockey game. It was really neat. Will probably be back again if we head up that way.

Jane Imnotprovidingtherest

I don't normally care about trains (I came to keep a friend company), but it was pretty amazing! It looked like a train graveyard to me, but it turns out that you can go into some of the train and see what they originally looked like. There's also old cars (Pontiac, ambulance, and a yellow oldie that I don't know the name of). There's an old train station that you can go into, with original typewriters, wired phones, an old stove (early 1900s?), and other station equipment. There's also a lookout tower, though I didn't go up. There's a miniature train setup, and a larger one that runs on the weekends. Overall, I highly recommend. And don't complain about the admission price - trains are expensive, and restorations even more so.

Tammy Frakking

Had a wonderful time photographing scarce examples of Canadian and Provincial railroad heritage equipment! Museum did a great job of exhibits and activities for young children. Loved the ride-on-train through the park!

Brian Doddridge

Wonderfully kind and knowledgeable staff always pull out all the stops for their special events. Steam punk days was especially fun. I can't wait to go back next year!

Jonas Henn

(Translated) The museum is a bit rusty, also lacks clear information on the "exhibition pieces" you can almost purely in all locomotives and trains purely. (Original) Das Museum ist etwas angerostet, auch fehlen klare Informationen zu den "Ausstellungs Stücken" dafür kann man fast in alle Lokomotiven und Züge rein.

Lana Allen

Took my granddaughter here. She loved riding the train

Robert Ford

Great place to bring the grandkids

Jill Greenlees

Always friendly staff. A favourite place for the kids. Love the mini rail Going for an evening event (a ride in the dark on the mini rail is amazing)

George MacKay

Fun nice place for a family visit. Great Xmas decorations.

Ang O.

Great place for kids. Especially if you love old machinery and history. Next best thing to Barkerville. And it's local.

Niki patel

Good collection of historic transportation. Good place to spend time with family!

Kirk Tiberius

Great place to let the kids explore.

Bryan Rowntree

Great place

Bill Phillips

One of Prince George's gems. Don't miss it if you're in town and, if you live here and haven't visited recently, check it out.

Mitchell Sinclair

Very friendly staff and lots to see

Vanessa Estrada

Is awesome! In summer is necessary to bring repellent

dominique boisseau

(Translated) Very nice museum of the train. An ecomuseum even with buildings related to the train. (Original) Très jolie musée du train. Un ecomusée même avec des bâtiments ayants un rapport avec le train.

ADRIAN IULIAN BALTARETU

Lots of interesting railway and loggung machinery and a mini train ride!

Holy Moly

Definitely worth to visit at least once in your lifetime. A great collection of history and nostalgia. Collection is set on a massive green space so the kids that normally get bored had lots of space to run around in.

James Younger

Good smaller town museum. Like how you actually could go inside most of the trains

imq music

Lots of info for items and railcars. But very limited on getting displays to look in original shape.

TERRI JIRSCHELE

My husband and I, with a long-time friend and his wife, visited Prince George in 2015. While there we had the opportunity of seeing for ourselves just how wonderful your Railway and Forestry Museum is. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon wandering around your entire site! My husband and his friend are retired United States Coast Guard Telephone Technicians. They were quite excited to see that you had a Teletype. While stationed together, they worked on many a Teletype – just like the very unit you have in your collection at Penny Station. Thank you for having a wonderful facility.

MATHIEU GUERY

(Translated) One word: superb. Kid's dream. See how a locomotive is built up, how these extreme travelers live. (Original) Un seul mot : superbe. Rêve de gamin. Voir comment est constitué une locomotive, comment ces voyageurs de l’extrême logent.

Michael Miller

Nice museum at a decent price. Would like to see a better "path" to get around and many of the cars have no description. But the ones that do have descriptions are nice.

DewClaw Shep

Such a fun rail musiem. Loved the open outside self guided concept and so soo many of the cars and engines you could go into. Well worth going to if you have a love of train.

Rose Schmidt

It was so interactive, you could adventure onto so many trains and buildings related to the railway industry. A lot was closed when I went, and I'd love more signs talking about the what and the when (which may be included when train tours are conducted). They are open 11-4, closed Mon and Tues. Call ahead of you have any worry about things being closed. Highly recommended.

David Yule

Lots of historical displays

M C

It's an amazing place! Very interesting and interactive, fun for all ages! You can tell it has been built with great passion and is attended by the friendliest and very welcoming staff. It's a must see museum in Prince George!

Katica Lachapelle

Love Love Love! So much historic information and a great place for photography. We did the walk of lights in December and loved it. Definitely will be going back for a different season.

Edward - MamaYeh RV Park

All kind of very old trains and locomotives, very attractive to the children. Lots of fun to take a tiny train running around the whole open area in the museum!

one one

Neat Place

Marek Seweryn

Very interesting place and fantastic and helpful staff as well :)

Tinagirl Travels

This is a really fun place for all ages to spend a few hours. The trains here are so cool to walk around and look at! Any train lover needs to check this place out!

Jaime Le Francois

A unique experience suitable for families and kids of all age ranges.

Mike K

The Christmas light up is an awesome family tradition, we go to it every year.

Ben Primus

My family has made it a tradition to addend here during the Christmas festivities. We look forward to it every year.

Jan Flohrschütz

lovely small museum with historical rails and cars! + very friendly staff, especially Nadine ☺️

Garth Lasko

Grandsons love it, again so much is to be credited to those who pioneered this park. What a place to see our earlier train cars and some of the prestige of train travel back then logging and other examples of pg history the beehive burner. These burners had lined the river road area in the 50 tees. Please support our heritage.

J.P. Muldoe

A great lesson in history, and affordable entertainment for the whole family.

Kat Sykes

Wonderful gem of a museum! So many of the rail cars, etc on display are accessible. You can walk right in and take a good look at everything, it's quite amazing. Well worth the time to go see.

D Sivertsen

Friendly knowledgeable staff welcome you to one of Prince George's hidden gems.

Richard Papp

I had my first ever visit there and was amazed by everything there

Sallem 58

I do feel some things could use a bit of tender love and care but I can understand how hard that is if you don't get the funding. I would like to suggest they put magazines they have in the old train into one of the more safe trains they hold history that may not be exciting but it was what people got to read on those long trips and if you offer people a chance to read those books it may allow people who wish to enjoy some time in history a nice place to do so. Also sorry for climbing into those closed train cars I was just very curious

Edward Pickett

Very interesting display of old railway equipment.

Hockey United

Ever since I was little I loved going to the museum, plus the train horn at the end is the best for little ones

Caring K9 Institute

They have been so amazing to us over the years. They are true believers in community support and it is an absolutely beautiful facility.

Laurel Sanders

A group of adult friends attended the free (canned goods offering in lieu of fee) Celebration of Lights event. We enjoyed touring the various buildings and trains. We were mildly disappointed as the light show was not as dramatic as the event title suggested. Also, we passed on the free hot chocolate and hot dog because of the long line ups.

Jules LaRue

It was a nice tourist place. Informative as well, & they have a small train to ride on for the whole family.

Carrie Haas

Great Train History.

Christi Shand

This museum was really great especially because we could really interact with the trains. It had so much more than just trains. Old vehicles, washing machines, wood stoves, etc. We especially loved the train ride. The gift shop was great and the experience captivated my kids the entire time.

Dani

We visited the BC Rail & Forestry museum with our kids. The boys especially were thrilled to see the authentic trains and the Turn table. We were able to walk through some of the displays as we “socially distanced “ from other families that toured the establishment. The site has buildings as well, of days gone by, of train depots, work shacks, equipment shacks. All of which are furnished with furniture and items from that era. Quite enchanting. As we walked through the grounds, we found a fully laden cherry tree, Apple trees and a raspberry patch which all had ripe fruit. A very pleasant place to learn from and walk through. Our only disappointment was that the small train that runs the perimeter of the museum yard, was not operational because of COVID 19.

renee jaspers

Fantastic place to go by yourself or to take the family. They hold different art shows and other interesting events.

Alexander Saffran

Love this meusium. Trains are pretty great.

Ryan Todd

Fantastic Family Fun

Jim Hauck

Enjoyed the lights again this year

Bailey Grose

A fun place for the entire family!

Ron Vike

Loved it.

John “Jay” McGowan

Great place for a visit. Good documentation is in the handout, self-tour brochure. There are many old buildings, trains, and equipment to explore with some very nice surprises of prestige carriages with strong connections to BCs history. For the moment, the miniature train is not running but there are still many fascinating objects to keep the family occupied. A curator is available to answer the many questions that may arise from the tour.

PARMINDER SINGH

Very nice people

mike johnson

Fun and interesting place to spend some time.

Julian

Great information and friendly staff. If you have kids, absolutely go on the mini train ride. Can't miss this if you're visiting PG.

Fraser Hayes

There aren't very many places like this anymore. Almost nothing off limits, just explore!

Allan Williams

I love this museum! Lots of old train cars, engines, and other equipment. Especially enjoyed a room with old telephones.

Gordin Warner

Lots of rotting railcars. Really needs a shot of cash to restore and preserve these cars before they rust away. The station houses are the best features.

Kristian Smith

A wide array of trains and related machinery through history. The tour is self guided with a pamphlet that is very educational. Would recommended you like to cho choooo

Hassan Pardawalla

A fun place to walk around exploring relics of the past. Amazing to look at the machinery that was used for the railway and forestry industry. There is definitely a lot of history here that may not be found else where. More signs and information needs to be provide around the museum grounds. Take your time and make sure you enter all the buildings and check out all the trains.

Kedar Radhakrishna

Great way to spend the afternoon with the family. Loved the train ride. Museum has done a great job preserving the trains and their history.

Miranda Free

I could've spent several more hours there taking photos. It was a great way to get into the Holiday Spirit.

John Zukowski

Static Railway & Forestry museum, locomotives, rail cars and coaches to walk through and experience Canada's rich history. Logging and Railways that built the B.C. interior communities..

Vince Tennant

We were there for roughly two hours and had a blast. Very informative and very fun to explore. Go there! You won't regret it!

Benjamin Gravela

If you're interested with old stuff then this is great.

Fred Layton

Brilliant,,, I can't say enough about this place, its really deceiving from the outside, I researched it but was overwhelmed by what was there, its supposed to take about an hour to go through but my wife and I took over 3 hrs to do it. We looked and experienced every single train, building and exhibit there was, ( my wife has a Passion for Trains, Professional & personal experience)we was blown away, I kinda had to Drag my wife out of there,,,, she loves Trains and anything to do with that. Were from Whitby ont and was visiting our kids and grandchildren, we WILL go again for sure Thanks it was special

Dan Kronstadt

An interesting, somewhat offbeat collection of train stuff: locomotives, passenger and freight cars, a train snow plow, an old train station - plus a small collection of old telephones and telephone switching equipment, fire fighting equipment... Much of the stuff is unrestored, but fun to see. If you are in the area, it's worth a stop.

Azami Mohd Noor

kids love it!!

Philip & Karen Watson

Fantastic. Wonderful to see how trains & forestry operated in early 1900's. Amazing work building our country. Loved learning the history behind each train & forestry equipment.

Paul Vanderhoek

Great people. Great display of historical pieces.

Doug Gale

Very interesting with lots for the kids to see my grandson loved the trains

richard chang

This is a must see for any train enthusiast. The displays are nicely laid out. It was really interesting reading about the history of the railway network through central BC.

Amber Sheil

Such a great exhibit!!! Loved every minute of it!!!!!

AMF F

Very interesting. Voluntary staff was very informative and went out of their way to find explanations and answers to our questions. Great place for children as we saw them enjoy going into buildings and into the trains . Enjoyed the afternoon. Glad we stopped by.

Richard Ferris

Play great museum if you like lots of older equipment that you can get up close to an off and go inside of. They have so much equipment and soul of a restoration funds that most of it is as is. The outdoor exhibit includes many locomotives cars they even have a complete turntable that they removed and reinstalled. I can ruin hope this Museum either gets lots of volunteers are lots of money is they have an amazing amount of equipment that could use some TLC They also have a small indoors area which has a gift shop and some displays but this is an outdoor Museum. They have multiple buildings with different exhibits but mainly it's all the different equipment you can see get up close to close to an often go inside of. Good museum for exploring the grounds

Jesse Seniunas

Pretty cool museum. Has a fun holiday light display during the holiday season. Has a cool little train you can ride around. Entrance fees are pretty cheap. Fun to walk around with the family for the afternoon.

Mihkel Hein

Good

W.F. Johnston

Nice museum

Julie Prins

This is an amazing place! We have been to many museums and this one is very unique in that you can touch and get into most of what they have, and they have a lot! Our kids really enjoyed it and it was a great learning experience to be able to climb into trains and equipment to see exaclty how they worked and were built. Bit of a lack of sineage but that doesnt take away from how amazing this place is. Plan for several hours, i hope this place never changes and we can keep coming back as our kids get older. Bad mosquitos though, bring bug spray if your there in summer

Joan Smith

I am glad we visited the museum, nice history. However, our overall opinion was that of dissappointment. There are many areas of much needed improvement: There were no brochures available for your walking tour. The grounds were unkept, grass needed cutting, very unsafe with debris, various old equipment etc. laying around. Many small bldgs that were not open, think they were full of junk. Perhaps only 2 or 3 train cars were refurbished. Bottom line - everything was in dissary, very old, no organization. Unless it is improved with signs outside of the cars that were accessible l would not recommend going here. Not accessible for wheelchairs etc either.

Christina Pucknat

Lots of hands on fun, great for kids anytime of the year

Denise Rader

Nice park, great birding, and fun to watch the train go over.

Dennis Sawchuk

Great display of railway history

Pineapple Tropical

A real gem! A one of a kind place and totally worth visiting for anyone of any age.

John Hessels

Wonderful collection of older rail equipment.

Jamie Giede

The drive thru Christmas lights display was AMAZING! Staff were very friendly and happy. It was a wonderful experience

Marg Robinson

Christmas lights were great

stephen davies

Great history. My son loves trains and there are many to walk thru. Little train ride was exciting for him too.

Rick Cassidy Cassidy

Very cool place. Lots of good memories.

Amy Jones

Awesome place

Whitney Busse

Always a fun time when we go

Mike Jean

Always a great day.

Madison Morey

Great

Keith Schultz

Interesting and informative Museum about transportation

monica contois

we go every christmas. its nice to see them adjust so we can still enjoy the lights during covid!

El Chileno DMV

Had a great time looking over the collection of trains, tractors, trucks, buildings, and even phones. Most of the engines and cars are open for you to go inside, which makes this museum one of the best. If you make it to Prince George, take a few hours and go visit.

Neil Thorsteinson

Nature at its best

K B

Fun place for young children. It was great seeing old and newer machinery. Lots of history built in. Our family enjoyed their visit.

Brendon Clarke

Very interesting. Would suggest!

Mark Egan

The staff are very friendly and were busy sprucing up the displays and grounds. Lots to see whether you are 70 yrs old or 2 yrs old. Some nice local crafts and arts being sold inside the gift shop.

Greg Kehler

Awesome place to visit for the old railway cars and history

Ni Ge

Amazing pieces of local history. Not just trains

Rob Robins

Awesome Christmas display. Great job!

Jon Carlson

Great place, lots to see ????

Kris Wilk

Lots to explore. Great information and very well done. Ride the mini train for sure

Cameron St John

This place has big dreams! As with many rail museums, their stuff is falling into a bit of disrepair but there is a lot of it, being near railheads for BCRail as well as CN. The logging equipment was pretty cool and not something you will see in many places.

Kim Lea MacRae

Great train museum. Worth the drive through to see the Christmas display...

Natasha Rempel

Beautiful Christmas display!

Sarah van Leeuwen

Such a fun place for kids!

Ajay pal Parmar

Place is good to visit for the kids they get to see the different trains and different types of forestry equipment.

Amir Bishara

Cool meusem

Mike Johnston

Great place to learn about the history of the railway in British Columbia.

Rafael Febres

Beautiful place, nice and friendly personnel.

Gloria Wahl

This wonderful museum has so much more to offer with past history; which it seems is slowly deteriorating due to lack of donations, volunteers and maintenance. It needs a perk or two; maybe a coffee shop, paint and lighting as a facelift and what could be more exciting than a group of young actors playing roles promoting the exhibits, the dinning car and old train stations.

Gallant Roland

Didn't go in

Jeffrey Wilson

I am sorry to give what used to be such an interesting museum such a low rating, but over the 20 plus years I have been visiting it, I have in recent years seen a huge decline. Most of the exhibits have become so rotted out by the elements they are no longer viewable inside. It really felt like I brought the family to a junk yard. That being said, I realize that it is a non-profit and powered by volunteers. I would love to see all levels of government step in and help to make this a real attraction. A museum should be a place of restoration and preservation, and not a yard where historic items go to decay.

John Sedo

Great place for the Grandkids Very well done Thanks