Empire State Railway Museum
70 Lower 70 High Street
Phoenicia, NY 12464
(845) 688-7501
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Railway_Museum
Open: Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm (the museum is seasonal and closes Columbus Day weekend until the next April)
Admission: Free but donations are accepted
My review on TripAdvisor:
The front of the Empire State Railway Museum
The History of the Rail Station:
(From the museum pamphlet)
The Empire State Railway Museum is housed in the historic, restored Phoenicia Railway Station, which was built in 1899 and example of the stations built by the Ulster & Delaware Railroad.
From the 1800’s through the 1940’s, the steam locomotives of the Ulster & Delaware climbed the mountain grades bound for the grand hotels and boarding houses of the Catskills. The trains carried thousands of passengers over the years. This transportation system was instrumental in the region becoming famous. All the trains stopped at the Phoenicia Station. Beside the passenger trains, there were many freight trains carrying lumber, blue stone, dairy and agricultural products bound for New York City and beyond.
The History of the Museum:
(From the museum website)
Founded in 1960 and then moved to Phoenicia in 1983. The historic Phoenicia Station, built in 1899, allow visitors to view the three interior rooms of the building. Enjoy the unique architecture of the Waiting Room with its framed artwork, photographs and artifacts on display. Step into the Agent’s Office and view the diorama with the HO-scaled layout of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad as it was in the early 1900s, plus several other dioramas and antique telegraph equipment (The Empire State Railway Museum website).
The front of the museum station
The welcoming sign to the Museum in the Summer of 2026
The Mission of the Museum:
The Empire State Railway Museum’s mission is to preserve the history of the Catskill Mountain and surrounding railroads and their impact on our culture, society, economy and communities through education, interpretation, restoration and preservation of not only railroad records, photographs, equipment, cars and locomotives, but also that of the personal histories and recollections of those involved with and affected by the railroads (Empire State Railway Museum website).
The Rail Explorers Building
When I visited the museum for the first time, I started with a tour of the grounds where the tracks are still being used for recreation purposes by the bike business that runs on the tracks next to the museum.
The railway on the museum’s grounds
I then toured the caboose that has been restored and displayed outside where the trains used arrive from the City. The museum did a nice job with the restoration showing was life was like on the train lines back at the turn of the last century.
The caboose car at the museum
The caboose car was acquired recently is from the Leigh Valley, PA line and is from the 1940’s (Museum pamphlet).
The inside of the caboose
The view from the back of the caboose
The cooking area of the caboose
The views from the caboose of the railways
I then toured the barn where train cars were being restored. This was fascinating. The volunteers are restoring all these train pieces back to their original glory with a small staff of volunteers.
The barn where the train cars are being restored and renovated
The cars being renovated
The front of the locomotive
Fixing the locomotive equipment
The sides of the cars being restored
It was fascinating to see how these train cars were being cared for by a small army of people and for the many hours it takes to care for these train pieces.
The inside of the museum and the building once served as the train station bringing people from the City to the Hudson River Valley for recreation and tourism to the Grand Hotels. The original waiting room has a rustic opened ended look about it and still looks like it is ready to welcome people from the early 1900’s.
The inside of the old train station that serves as the gallery
I love how elaborate the main Waiting Room was with the dark woods and rustic appearance, which must have fascinated visitors to the hotels when they arrived.
The history of the train station
The hallway that leads to waiting rooms and the old offices
The artifacts from railways
The sides of the museum displayed all sorts of artifacts that would have been used on the lines for maintenance and construction. There is all sorts of lanterns and lights on the tables and shelves.
The train artifacts
Lanterns, spikes and oil cans used on the rail lines
The lanterns used on the rail lines by workers at the station
The signal lights used on the train lines
All around the museum, the history of the area is told in pictures from the turn of the last century. People arriving to the area, the construction of the rail lines, the development of the Grand Resorts and the functions of the trains. It was an interesting history of the affects of the railroads on rural areas.
The development on three rail industry in the area
The construction of the Ashoken Reservoir
The Grand Hotels that brought tourism to the area
The area once boast the Grand Hotels of the Catskills long before air travel. Once upon a time, this was only accessible to the wealthy by carriage but with the coming of the railroads, opened these resorts up to a larger clientele. The famous Mountain House Hotel and others are featured in this display.
A video discussions on the tools to repair the rails
Rail and tourism artifacts from the era
In the center of the museum, there was a display case of many artifacts used in the rail service. All sorts of tools of the trade, functions of the rails and memoribilia are displayed in these cases.
The museum artifacts in the displays cases
The display of the rail cars and movements
Servicing the railroad
The deeds and business of the railroad
The workings of the railroads
The old Brake Stand of the rail yard on display
Off to the side of the old Waiting Room was the Conductor’s old office, which was now another gallery of model trains. The displays showcased the old railroads and have all sorts of artifacts on the Conductor’s old office and life at the station.
The Conductor’s old office now the Model Train Room
The model of the old railways
The Conductor’s old desk
A picture of the old station
The pot belly stove that kept him warm in the colder months
At the end of the tour is a small gift shop and information area of other cultural sites to visit. There is all sorts of information about the area and other cultural sites in the area.
The Gift Shop
The information area
The museum is an interesting look at travel after the Civil War until after WWII when the area opened up to automobiles. Jet travel in the 1960’s changed the area again as families left these grand hotels and traveled to places like Florida and the Caribbean.
It is an interesting peek at the past and the volunteers really showcase all their restoration work.
