Oregon Rail Heritage Center

Do you know what my boys love? All of them (even Dad)? They love trains! Seeing them up close is even better, so you can imagine how excited they were to discover this new train museum in Portland.

We were up at OMSI as a family, and trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the afternoon after we were done playing at OMSI, but before we headed back home. Just a block or so away was this cool Railroad Heritage Center

We (meaning the kids and I) noticed this new building last few times we went to OMSI, but  I didn't realize it was like a museum with real trains inside! It caught Dad's attention, and he realized it was open, so we decided to come back after lunch! It's pretty small, but the locomotives are still huge.

A picture of the caboose outside

 As we entered a guy in a yellow vest was very welcoming, and told us to spend as much time as we wanted looking around. They don't charge entrance fee, just a donation.

Being able to get up really close to these giants was pretty cool. The kids were smaller than some of the wheels alone.

They had a few things parked outside as well.

 We even had the chance to go inside the caboose, and get a peek at what a real caboose looks like. It was pretty neat!

Alex at the top of the caboose in the look-out. The docent was really nice and let all the kids climb up to see what it was like.

The kids even had some educational fun while looking at the train. They had to count wheels, count lights, look for numbers and letters, and find facts about each of the locomotives. They each earned a prize for completing it. Aaron picked a magnet, and the 2 little boys picked key chains. Some of these answers were pretty tough to find, especially the 8 and older page.

If you are close to Portland, OR, and have some train loving people in your family go check it out!