The Galveston Railroad Museum occupies the restored 1913 Santa Fe passenger terminal, one of the finest surviving examples of Mission Revival railway architecture in Texas. The terminal itself is worth seeing for the building alone — the arched windows, the tile floors, and the waiting rooms convey a sense of the railway age that most American cities lost when they demolished their stations.
The collection runs to more than 40 pieces of rolling stock, including steam locomotives, diesel engines, passenger cars, and freight cars, displayed in the tracks behind the terminal. The steam trains are well-preserved and several can be boarded and explored. There is a working HO-scale model railroad layout in the terminal that is popular with children but interesting for anyone curious about how Galveston's rail network once looked. A few hours covers everything comfortably.