At the LA County Fairgrounds in Pomona, RailGiants opens free one weekend a month so visitors can climb into the cabs of giant steam and diesel locomotives, including two rare three-cylinder engines.

The Illinois Railway Museum in Union calls itself the largest railway museum in the United States, and one general admission ticket covers unlimited rides on its electric, steam and diesel trains.

The Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City is free to walk through, and on select Saturdays its volunteers run vintage diesel locomotives and historic coaches out of the Oakwood Depot.

Upstairs in the historic Darden Mill in downtown Elkins, the West Virginia Railroad Museum tells the story of the state's railroads and coal industry through artifacts, photographs and oral histories.

The Winchester & Western has served northern Virginia since 1916, and one of its old cabooses now sits on display in downtown Winchester, a quick stop for families who love trains.

The Grand Canyon Railway leaves the 1908 Williams Depot every day for the South Rim, with Western characters, musicians and a staged train robbery along the 64-mile line Santa Fe completed in 1901.

Evanston, Wyoming owns one of the last intact roundhouses on the original Union Pacific line, built in 1912 to 1914 and restored section by section. Tours are booked through the city.

On an old railroad right of way at the edge of downtown Schuyler, Nebraska, volunteers have grown the Railside Green Arboretum: nearly three acres of trees, flowers and a vintage caboose.