Since 1934, volunteers have been building the Twin Cities in miniature — and the Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul is their cathedral. Its vast O-scale layout recreates the metro’s railroads in loving detail: miniature Minneapolis and St. Paul skylines, working yards, tiny towns and trains that glide through seasons of scenery.
The museum, now in the former Amtrak depot district near University Avenue, also hosts layouts in multiple scales, a toy train division kids can run themselves, and the beloved Night Trains season in winter, when the miniature world lights up and “snow” falls over tiny Minnesota.
Generations of families have pressed their noses to the glass here. Some museums preserve objects; this one preserves wonder, at 1:48 scale.
