Reviews of St. Jacobs & Aberfoyle Model Railway (Museum)

Bree Dulmage

Bring a stool for younger / shorter visitors! There's a lot to see, but the tables are high!

R Abuloc

Very detailed model train museum. They even have night mode! Great place for kids.

Larissa Lagzdins

Amazing knowlegable staff. Extremely intricate design. Stay for a while and see the train site in both day and lit up for night!

Phillip Rutledge

Young and old alike will delight in visiting St Jacobs and Aberfoyle model Railway. This is in the heart of St Jacobs, a quaint little town with much to see and enjoy. The train layout is O scale set in the mid-1950s. You will want to stay at least 30 minutes to see the whole train layout transition from daytime to night and back again. I encourage you to go and see. All aboard!! ????

Ger Zhao

The staff are super knowledgeable and helpful. All the model train and the environment is handmade so it's super impressive! A cute way to spend some time if you're visiting St. Jacobs.

Hemnath D

Wonderful miniature CN and CP rail with beautiful fully functional trains, rail route. Amazed with the creativity. Staffs at the center are very friendly and enthusiastic to explain the heritage, the way they build the models and how they operate the trains manually without any computer per-programs. Its a must visit for kids and enthusiastic adults. If you are planning a visit, stay there to experience both day and night scene.

Jason Williams

It's an amazing place. The night and day is very impressive! So much detail. Gotta bring your own stool for younger kids! Copied from page! ** Please note that the average height of our display is around 36″. Parents may bring their own step stools for their children to see better, if they wish. **

Clarence MacDonald-Wiens

Beautiful model railway with both night and day scenes! Every time I came back to an area I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Incredibly detailed and very well put together. I'll be back for sure!

Vince Ou

Must see! Wonderful attraction for all ages; their massive train model also features a "night time" so do plan to spending at least an hour there, including finding the Easter eggs! Prices are more than reasonable, but make sure you do your research of when they're open -- closed Jan-Apr (ish) for winter maintenance annually. The staff are incredibly passionate about what they do; highly recommended that you talk to them about their work!

Trevor Tremaine

Nice, and knowledge staff. Interesting layout with lots of hand-built and crafted trains along with an entire diorama that ends up surrounding the visitors. The kids enjoyed the display and all the active trains.

Aiglee Klassen-Castillo

Really cute place run by the people that created it and other volunteers. It's fairly small but you'd can spend a lot of time looking at all the details. Everything is an exact replica of something down to a specific size and everything is made by hand. Very impressive

Christopher Franklin

It was great to go and see the model trains in action. The detailing on everything was great to see. Every building has something going on inside them. Lots of little funny things to discover in the set up as well. They have a 40 minute cycle of day and night. 32 minutes of daytime and 8 minutes of night. Workers were very informative about the trains and set up. It took 16 months to set up the complete thing. I'm giving it a 4 out of 5 only because I felt the night wasn't long enough to really give you a chance to walk around and look in the buildings. Really fun activity!

andrew anderson

I was blown away by the detail and the subtle humour in the set up, check out the name of the greasy spoon - its the best. Before I knew it my family had spend 1 & 1/2 hours looking and then re looking at this railroad. The host was extremely knowledgeable and welcoming, and the fee to enter was more than worth it. This is more than worth it and makes a visit to St. Jacobs a balanced family event for everyone.

Chris Dewar

Incredible attention to detail in this miniature world, and the sheer size and scale of this display are really impressive. The different types of new and old trains are fun to follow around the various scenes from the country to the city. Well worth the trip and we have been several times.

Alfred Tanious

Although very small but 5 star is well deserved, a great place to shed some light bout the old times, the trails system and also some of the evolution of electricity development and progress. Also have some of the old tools used to produce or get the maple syrup. A great must see place, it is also a no admiration place, so you donation will help keep it open.

Giovanni Paoletti

I saw this layout for the first time when I was about 4 or 5 years old and it was still in Aberfoyle- one of many model railways in southwestern Ontario my grandparents took me to as a child. I was impressed all over again when I went to see it this February, and was inspired to sign up as a volunteer. It is well worth most of my weekends which I now spend there, and I highly recommend coming to check it out in person. It's rich with history, and fantastic entertainment for all!

Peter Janzen

A great place to come check out with the kids!! They had a great set up of model trains in the 1950s

Satvir Kaur

A must visit place in St. Jacobs village. It's a beautiful combination of art and technology. Tickets are reasonable, $8 for adult. Must take your kids to inspire for their school project. They also have light show with night effect. And the staff is friendly too.

Jim Andriotis

The models and trains were amazing! I loved how they cycle from day to night. Wish they had some small step stools for the kids to stand on so they could see the displays.

Daniel Nurgitz

A great big room full of carefully crafted model trains, buildings and scenery. My 8 year old son loves trains and he really enjoyed watching them go around the track and through the tunnels. There are steam engines and diesel engines pulling model freight and passenger cars. There's even a really neat "night-time" where they turn the lights low and the lights of the buildings and trains light up bright. You can then really appreciate all the little extra details that you don't see during the "day-time", like the little furniture inside the buildings and the people inside the trains. If you like trains, don't miss this model railway!

Ryan Trim

The attention to detail was a amazing. We had a great time, the night show was really cool.

Chernyshov Yuriy

Absolutely incredible view! So much effort was given to make it up and running. Recommend to visit and not only for kids.

Parker Zhang

Very well maintained museum that shows 1950s south Ontario. The city is combination of multiple real scene and buildings. Staff are very friendly and knowledgeable.

Gordie Hanna

The doors and washrooms are somewhat wheelchair friendly, and the rest of the place is very barrier free. Lots of free parking available as well. The trains and the set up are spectacular. One could imagine so many stories. Certainly kid friendly, but it might be the adults you have to drag out kicking and screaming.

Yineng Wang

I took my 4yr old here on Monday afternoon. We spend over an hour here. We would like to stay longer except they are closing. The level of detail is amazing. Every corner of building are worth checking out. I plan to revisit soon because my son kept asking me when are we going back to the train place. Lol

TheReal Sswager

Really great place!

John Beresford

This really is a fantastic experience and I could (normally) care less about model trains. The key is the letting the guides explain all the details.

Emilia Collee

What a hidden gem! It's a small place but we still spent a lot of time in there enjoying the model train. The staff are very knowledgeable and you can tell how much pride they have in the model and operatio of the railway. There are so many details to see, we will definitely be returning!

scott hundey

Super awesome detail great history and volunteer opportunities!

Christine Smithrim

Very nice set up. Try and find the button that opens the outhouse door.

Heather Clark

Such a beautiful , large display ( like a whole mini town) with different trains . Marvelous, dedicated volunteers. Informative volunteers, with sooo much information to share .

Valerie Morris

The best tourist attractions. Young and older really enjoy. So much to see. It is modeled after the 1960's. There is a night scene that I would not have ever imagined. This is for sure worth the drive. Enjoy ????

Husam Mohammed

Fantastic place, very friendly volunteers, so much history. Kids love it, it's amazing, I'll certainly go again

Chris Gibson

Don't miss this stunning model railway! Beautifully detailed.

Matt C

My family and I were lucky enough to stumble onto this absolute gem today. We saw the signs for the museum and decided to check it out. We did not go in as model train enthusiasts. We were greeted warmly at the door by a very friendly gentleman who put us in touch with the two Waynes. Both were incredibly knowledgeable and kind. We were already awe struck by the size of the display and we were fascinated with the incredible level of detail. Meanwhile, the two Waynes filled us in on the amount of time, thought and care that has gone into building a work of art almost 50 years in the making. It really rounded out the experience and they have every right to be proud of what they have helped to create. My 8 year old son was transfixed for over an hour and talked about it for the rest of the day. We all did actually. Make sure you stick around until they dim the lights each hour to see the entire display light up like it’s nighttime. It’s incredible. Well done to all of you. We’ll be back.

Andrew Fox

Very impressive display of model railroading. I can't imagine the number of man hours that went into putting together such a detailed display. When they turn out the lights it adds another level of intrigue.

Nicholas Lariviere

What an awesome experience, we just happened to come upon it as we were heading to the main street and we're so glad we did. The volunteers have devoted decades to their passion and to see it and hear them talk about all their years off knowledge is a real treat. Every half hour they dim the lights and go I to night mode make sure you stay long enough to check that out as well. Please take time to go in a support this rare treasure. So much impressive detail and commitment, it's very inspiring.

Gregson Lodge

We visit every year. Top notch modelling in O scale that you are unlikely to forget. Keep in mind that all the trains you see were hand built from scratch many years ago, which makes the experience more astounding. The dusk to dawn light show is a wonder to behold.

Dennis Baker

The level of detail is out of this world. Hats off to the amount of work that went into the display. A must see.

Big Daddy Jr.

Had a wonderful time, the attention to details is remarkable. The staff friendly and knowledgeable. An awesome experience overall.