Train Museums in Hawaii: Every Railroad Museum by Town
- 6 museums
- 5 towns
- 3 with train rides
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The Hawaiian Railway Society runs the only operating historic railway left in Hawaii, on the old three-foot narrow gauge trackbed of the Oahu Railway & Land Company that once hauled sugar along the Leeward coast. It leads this Hawaii page of our train museum guide for every state, which covers 6 museums and rail sites in 5 towns on four islands. Type your town into the finder below to see what is on your island.
Nearly every stop here grew out of sugar. You can ride a narrated train to the ocean at Kahe Point on Oahu, loop a working farm and feed the animals on the Kauai Plantation Railway, see four restored plantation steam engines at Grove Farm, and climb a red caboose on the Big Island's Hamakua Coast.
One listing, Maui's Sugar Cane Train, no longer runs, and Grove Farm is by reservation only, so read each card before you plan your island day.
Look inside the book
Big engines, little legs. Bring Rally along.
In Rally Takes the Train, a corgi's little legs can't manage the big train stairs, so Dad gives him a boost. It takes about five minutes to read, a good fit for the drive to a Hawaii train museum.
Rally Takes the Train
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Quick picks: where to start in Hawaii
Best train ride
Ewa Beach
A narrated two-hour round trip at 15 miles an hour from Ewa to the ocean at Kahe Point, with a free Toy Train Museum back at the station.
Best first visit with a toddler
Lihue
The ride lasts 40 minutes, stops halfway so kids can feed pigs, goats, sheep and Stiney the donkey, and children under 3 ride free.
For steam fans
Lihue
Four original plantation steam engines, including Paulo from 1887, are kept at a 1943 roundhouse in Puhi and pull cane cars on Train Days.
Rainy day pick
Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum
Puunene
Six indoor rooms, a working cane-crushing model with sound and light, and a 1915 locomotive bell, with kids 5 and under free.
Worth the scenic drive
Laupahoehoe
A big red caboose to climb, a model train room and fruit trees for a picnic, about 30 minutes north of Hilo on the Hamakua Coast.
Every train museum in Hawaii, town by town
6 museums in 5 towns, A to Z by town. Tap any museum for its own page: the full story, what to see, what kids can do, hours, tickets, contact details and 20 answers to the questions families ask.
Ewa Beach
Heritage railroad with a museum
Hawaiian Railway Society
Oahu's only historic train ride: a narrated two-hour round trip on restored narrow gauge track from Ewa to Kahe Point, with a premium seat in a 1900 parlor car once a month and a free toy train museum.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsKaanapali
Heritage railroad with a museumClosed
Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad (Sugar Cane Train)
West Maui's beloved Sugar Cane Train ran steam-powered, open-air rides for forty-four seasons between Lahaina, Kaanapali and Puukolii. It no longer operates; a brush fire destroyed its shops, two steam locomotives and many coaches.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsLaupahoehoe
Railroad museum
Laupahoehoe Train Museum
A small, community-run museum in the old station agent's house on the Big Island's Hamakua Coast, with railroad photos, a model train room and a big red caboose out front. Open four weekdays; call ahead.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsLihue: 2 train museums
Lihue on Kauai has two rail stops about 3 miles apart: the Kauai Plantation Railway, with daily 40-minute rides around Kilohana Plantation, and Grove Farm Museum, where homestead tours are by reservation and the steam engines run on Train Days.
Museum with a major rail exhibit
Grove Farm Museum
The preserved Wilcox family sugar plantation homestead in Lihue, seen on guided tours, plus four restored plantation steam engines kept at a 1943 roundhouse in Puhi and run for Train Days and special rides. Book tours ahead.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsHeritage railroad with a museum
Kauai Plantation Railway
Narrated 40-minute train rides around historic Kilohana Plantation in Lihue, with sugarcane and fruit groves along the way and a stop to feed the farm animals. Departures daily; a train and lunch tour runs on weekdays.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsPuunene
Museum with a major rail exhibit
Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum
Maui's sugar history in the former Puunene Mill manager's house: immigration and plantation life rooms, a working cane-crushing model, a 1915 locomotive bell and big outdoor machinery. Open Monday to Thursday; kamaaina free.
Hours, tickets, contact and 20 FAQsCompare every Hawaii train museum side by side
Type, train rides, admission, hours and who each one suits, in one table. Tap a column to sort it, or a museum to open its page.
| Hours | Best for | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Railway SocietyEwa Beach | Heritage railroad | Yes | Standard ride $20; Premium Parlor Car 64 ride $35; Toy Train Museum free | Train rides Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; Toy Train Museum Wed 12 to 1 pm, Sat 11 am to 3 pm, Sun 12 to 3 pm (closed for lunch breaks) | Families, rail fans and visitors curious about plantation-era Oahu |
| Laupahoehoe Train MuseumLaupahoehoe | Railroad museum | No | Adults $10, seniors and kamaaina $8, students $5, family $25 | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 am to 2 pm; other days by appointment; closed major holidays | Families and history lovers driving the Hamakua Coast |
| Grove Farm MuseumLihue | Rail gallery | Yes | Not posted online; ask when booking | Guided tours by reservation; call (808) 245-3202 to book | History lovers, steam fans and school groups |
| Kauai Plantation RailwayLihue | Heritage railroad | Yes | Adult $23.50, child 3 to 12 $16.50, senior 62+ $20, under 3 free; kamaaina discounts | Signature tours daily at 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm and 2 pm, plus 4:30 and 5:30 pm Tuesday and Friday; Train & Lunch Tour weekdays at 10 am | Families with young kids and first-time Kauai visitors |
| Alexander & Baldwin Sugar MuseumPuunene | Rail gallery | No | Adult $12, senior and military $9, child $5, age 5 and under free, kamaaina free | Monday to Thursday, 10 am to 2 pm; last admission 1 pm | Families and history lovers on Maui |
| Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad (Sugar Cane Train)Kaanapali | Heritage railroad | No | Not applicable | Closed; no longer operating | Rail history fans remembering the line |
No museum on this page matches every filter you picked.
How sugar put railroads on the islands
Hawaii's railroads were built to move cane. Grove Farm on Kauai, founded in 1864, was one of the earliest plantations of the sugar boom, and its steam engines hauled cane until Grove Farm became the last plantation in Hawaii to do so, retiring engine Wainiha in 1957. On Oahu, the Oahu Railway & Land Company ran narrow gauge trains carrying sugar and passengers along the Leeward coast, serviced at the Iwilei Roundhouse from 1908 to 1959. On Maui, plantations built miles of ditches and tunnels to water the cane fields, and a 1915 locomotive bell recalls the rails that moved the harvest.
The Big Island had a coast railroad too. From 1899 to 1946 the Hilo Railroad and its successor, the Hawaii Consolidated Railway, carried goods and passengers along the Hamakua Coast, until a tsunami in 1946 damaged the line beyond repair and it never ran again.
Each island keeps a piece of it. The Hawaiian Railway Society rides the old OR&L line, Grove Farm Museum keeps Kauai's last steam cane engines, the Laupahoehoe Train Museum remembers the Hamakua Coast line, and the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum tells Maui's sugar story beside the old Puunene mill.
Map of every train museum in Hawaii
A Hawaii train day
Trip 1
Kauai plantation rails in one day
Kilohana and Grove Farm are about 3 miles apart in Lihue. Take a morning Signature Train Tour at Kilohana and feed the farm animals, then join a reserved Grove Farm homestead tour in the afternoon. If your dates line up with a Grove Farm Train Day, the steam engines and cane cars make the pairing even better.
Good to know before you go
- The Hawaiian Railway Society ride is two hours long, so bring water, sun protection and something for the return leg. Most rides include a snack stop in Ko Olina, except the Sunday 1 pm departure.
- Parlor Car 64 rides on the second Sunday of each month sell out months ahead, so book early if you want the 1900 car.
- Grove Farm is not a drop-in museum: book tours by phone or email, and know that the steam engines live at the Puhi roundhouse, not at the homestead.
- The Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum is open Monday to Thursday only, with last admission at 1 pm, and Hawaii residents get in free with ID.
- Laupahoehoe's hours depend on volunteers, so call (808) 962-6300 before the drive up the Hamakua Coast.
- Maui's Sugar Cane Train no longer runs, so do not build a West Maui day around it.
Drive times on each island
You cannot drive between islands, so these approximate times, without traffic, run from each island's main town to its own rail stops.
| Museum | From Honolulu | From Hilo | From Kahului | From Lihue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Railway SocietyEwa Beach | 20 min | |||
| Laupahoehoe Train MuseumLaupahoehoe | 30 min | |||
| Alexander & Baldwin Sugar MuseumPuunene | 5 min | |||
| Grove Farm MuseumLihue | 5 min | |||
| Kauai Plantation RailwayLihue | 5 min |
Holiday trains and seasonal days at Hawaii museums
Oahu has the islands' main holiday trains. In fall, the Hawaiian Railway Society runs a Halloween Train Ride along the Leeward coast, and the Laupahoehoe Train Museum hosts a Halloween open house; our Hawaii Halloween train guide rounds up the fall options. In the holiday season, the society's Holiday Express rolls out, and on Kauai, Grove Farm posts community events such as Lihue Ohana Night on December 11, 2026. See our Hawaii Christmas train rides roundup for dates as they are announced.
From Rally's family
There is a page in our book my kids ask for every time: Rally, our real corgi, pressing his nose to an arched train window, the ocean outside and a white bird gliding along beside the Pacific Surfliner. My children are learning to read, and they always stop there to look. My mom dreamed up this story and died in 2021 before she could write it; our story page tells the rest. If your family rides along the water in Hawaii, print a Rally coloring page and let the kids add their own bird.
The nearest train museums off the islands
Hawaii has no neighboring states to drive to, so the next train museums are a flight away. Our California train museum guide includes the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, with 21 restored locomotives and cars, and the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park, where kids can push a button to run a train. To the north, the Alaska train museums include the White Pass & Yukon Route in Skagway, a Gold Rush narrow gauge railway that climbs almost 3,000 feet in 20 miles.
A train book for the drive
Hawaii has no Amtrak service, but families flying to the West Coast can ride the train from our book, and our Pacific Surfliner with kids guide covers that coastal trip.
Free for train families
Print the Rally coloring pages before you go
Watercolor coloring pages from the book, free to print. They fit in a folder with a few crayons for the drive to the museum or the wait for the next train ride.
Get the free coloring pages
A train story for the ride homeRally Takes the Train is a five-minute rhyming picture book about a corgi's first train trip to see his grand-paw-rents. Hand-painted in real watercolor. $13.99 on Amazon, for ages 0 to 8.
Buy on Amazon (opens in a new tab)More for train families
- Train museums in every state: search all 50 by town
- Christmas train rides in Hawaii: Santa trains and holiday rides
- Halloween train rides in Hawaii: pumpkin trains for next October
- The Pacific Surfliner with kids: ride a real Amtrak train
- Every Amtrak route with kids: find a train by city or station
- Train books for toddlers for the drive home
Hawaii train museum questions
Are there train rides in Hawaii?
Yes, Hawaii has a few train rides as of October 2026. The Hawaiian Railway Society on Oahu runs a two-hour narrated round trip from Ewa to Kahe Point, the Kauai Plantation Railway in Lihue runs 40-minute tours daily, and Grove Farm Museum on Kauai runs steam-powered cane car rides on Train Days and special programs.
What is the best train museum in Hawaii?
The Hawaiian Railway Society in Ewa Beach is the most complete train outing in Hawaii. It operates 6.5 miles of restored Oahu Railway & Land Company track, three restored vintage diesels and Parlor Car 64 from 1900, plus a free Toy Train Museum. For steam, Grove Farm Museum on Kauai keeps four original plantation locomotives.
Is there a train museum on Oahu?
Yes, the Hawaiian Railway Society at 91-1001 Renton Road in Ewa Beach is Oahu's train museum and ride. Trains run Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and the standard ride costs $20 as of October 2026. The free Toy Train Museum at the Ewa station opens for a few hours on those same days.
How far is the Hawaiian Railway Society from Honolulu?
The Hawaiian Railway Society in Ewa Beach is roughly 20 minutes from Honolulu without traffic. From H-1 west, take exit 5A toward Ewa, follow Highway 76 south, then turn onto Renton Road. The entrance is through a fence on a small lane, so watch carefully. Riders can also board at Ko Olina.
Is there a train ride on Kauai?
Yes, Kauai has two. The Kauai Plantation Railway at Kilohana in Lihue runs 40-minute narrated tours daily, with a stop to feed the farm animals. Grove Farm Museum, also in Lihue, runs cane car rides behind restored steam engines on Train Days and special programs, so check its events page.
Is there a train museum on the Big Island?
Yes, the Laupahoehoe Train Museum sits on the Hamakua Coast, about 30 minutes north of Hilo near mile marker 25 on Highway 19. It occupies the restored station agent's house of the old Laupahoehoe station, with photos, a model train room, a red caboose and a switch engine. It is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Is there a train museum on Maui?
Maui's main rail history stop is the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum in Puunene, which displays a 1915 plantation locomotive bell and a working cane-crushing model. It is open Monday to Thursday, 10 am to 2 pm, as of October 2026. Maui's Sugar Cane Train in Kaanapali no longer operates.
Does the Sugar Cane Train on Maui still run?
No, the Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific Railroad, known as the Sugar Cane Train, no longer operates. A brush fire of roughly 90 acres near Kaanapali destroyed its shops, two steam locomotives and many passenger cars. For decades it carried families in open-air coaches between Lahaina, Kaanapali and Puukolii, over the curved Hahakea trestle.
What is the best Hawaii train ride for toddlers?
The Kauai Plantation Railway in Lihue is the easiest train ride in Hawaii for toddlers. The Signature Train Tour lasts 40 minutes, and halfway around the loop everyone steps off to feed pigs, goats, sheep and Stiney the donkey. Children under 3 ride free, and kids 3 to 12 pay a reduced fare.
How much does the Kauai Plantation Railway cost?
As of October 2026, the Kauai Plantation Railway Signature Train Tour costs $23.50 for adults, $16.50 for children 3 to 12 and $20 for seniors 62 and up, and children under 3 ride free. Kamaaina get reduced fares, with lower prices again on Sundays. Tours leave daily from the Train Depot at Kilohana.
What is Parlor Car 64 at the Hawaiian Railway Society?
Parlor Car 64 was built in 1900 for Oahu Railway & Land Company founder Benjamin F. Dillingham and used to entertain Hawaiian royalty and visiting dignitaries. Riders can book it on the second Sunday of each month for $35 as of October 2026. Seats sell out months in advance, so plan ahead.
What steam locomotives are at Grove Farm Museum?
Grove Farm Museum keeps four original plantation steam engines: Paulo from 1887, Wainiha from 1915, Wahiawa from 1921 and Kaipu from 1925. Paulo is the oldest restored locomotive on Kauai, and three of the four were built by Baldwin. Volunteers maintain them at the original 1943 roundhouse in Puhi.
Do you need a reservation for Grove Farm Museum on Kauai?
Yes, Grove Farm Museum is not a drop-in museum. Guided homestead tours are by reservation, booked by calling (808) 245-3202 or emailing the tours office. Admission is not posted online, so ask when you book. Train rides happen on Train Days and special programs rather than on every tour.
What can kids see at the Laupahoehoe Train Museum?
Kids can climb aboard the big red caboose, peek into a restored narrow gauge boxcar and watch the diesel switch engine run on tour days. The model train room holds an N gauge layout of the Hamakua Coast line and an award-winning HO model. A family ticket costs $25 as of October 2026.
What can you see at the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum?
The museum moves through six rooms on Maui's sugar history, from water and immigration to field work and the mill. The Mill Room has a working cane-crushing model and a 1915 locomotive bell. Outside are an 1898 Nordberg steam engine, an 11-foot bull gear and vintage cane haulers and tractors.
Is there a Halloween train ride in Hawaii?
Yes, the Hawaiian Railway Society on Oahu runs a Halloween Train Ride each fall along the Leeward coast, and families often call it a favorite. On the Big Island, the Laupahoehoe Train Museum hosts a Halloween open house. Watch each museum's website and social pages for the current year's dates.
Is there a Christmas train in Hawaii?
Yes, the Hawaiian Railway Society runs a Holiday Express train ride along the Leeward coast of Oahu in the holiday season. It is popular with families, so book once dates are posted. On Kauai, Grove Farm Museum holds Lihue Ohana Night on December 11, 2026, among its community events.
What was the Oahu Railway & Land Company?
The Oahu Railway & Land Company, or OR&L, was the narrow gauge railroad that hauled sugar from Oahu's plantations and carried passengers along the Leeward coast. Its engines were serviced at the Iwilei Roundhouse from 1908 to 1959. The Hawaiian Railway Society now runs trains on restored OR&L track at Ewa.
Why did the railroad on the Hamakua Coast stop running?
The Hilo Railroad and its successor, the Hawaii Consolidated Railway, ran along the Hamakua Coast from 1899 until 1946, when a tsunami damaged the tracks and facilities beyond repair. The line never ran again. The Laupahoehoe Train Museum opened in 1998 in the old station agent's house to keep that story alive.
Why were there railroads in Hawaii?
Hawaii's railroads were built mainly to haul sugarcane from the fields to the mills, and some also carried passengers. Grove Farm on Kauai was the last plantation in Hawaii to haul cane by steam, retiring engine Wainiha in 1957. On Oahu, the OR&L carried both sugar and travelers along the Leeward coast.
Keep exploring
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