Description:

The Choo Choo Barn is open from 10 am to 5 pm daily.  There are special hours during Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Month of January.  They actually close for part of January and all of February each year to give themselves an opportunity to maintain and improve the railroad each year.  Check their website for details.

The first time I ever went to the Choo Choo Barn it was with my father, husband and then 11 year old son.  As we’re walking out the door of our house, I heard my father grumbling to his grandson, “Your mother’s making us go to a BABY PLACE!!”.  Fast forward a few hours and I had to literally DRAG the guys OUT of the Choo Choo Barn, they kept wanting to walk around the room again and again… they were HOOKED!

So to be clear, kids will certainly enjoy this ‘epic’ model railroad exhibit… but it is definitely not JUST for kids!

The Choo Choo Barn started many years ago as a family passion that evolved into a business.  As the business grew, so did the owner’s understanding about what he was creating… the complex network of scenes, and rail lines is more than just a “model railroad”… it’s ART.  And in this case, it’s art imitating life… Lancaster County life that is.  OK, the “ski mountain, complete with gondola” isn’t exact in Lancaster County, but the Poconos isn’t SO far away.  There are also scenes of Amish men building a barn, a small town parade, a circus, a traffic accident and a house catching fire (along with the fire company’s response!).  There are even airplanes and hot air balloons flying… and if that’s not enough, the room goes dark every 10 minutes or so… so you can see the whole scene at night!

If you love trains or plan on visiting Strasburg for the day, I highly recommend putting the Choo Choo Barn on your list of places to visit.