The Providence & Worcester Railroad has run since 1844. Its history survives in archive collections, from company records at UConn to an 1850s repair shop account book at the Smithsonian.

Nine Massachusetts train museums and rail rides, from an 1896 trolley in Shelburne Falls and the 1862 Chester depot to streetcars in Lowell, Edaville's holiday train and the Cape Cod Central.

North of Frederick, the Walkersville Southern Railroad runs vintage excursion trains over trackbed the Pennsylvania Railroad opened in 1872, with a depot, a railroad museum and a yard full of small locomotives.

In Portage, Pennsylvania, the old train station now holds two floors of railroad and coal mining history, kept by the Portage Area Historical Society, with the original ticket office on view.

The Washington State Railroads Historical Society worked to preserve the railroad story of Pasco, Washington, a major Northern Pacific and SP&S hub, and ran a small Saturday museum near the old depot.

Clifton Forge's restored 1895 C&O freight depot anchors the C&O Railway Heritage Center, with indoor exhibits, an O-scale layout and restored cars you can step inside.

For nearly four decades the Historic Jefferson Railway carried families on a narrow gauge ride beside Big Cypress Bayou in Jefferson, Texas. Here is what it was, and what to check before you plan a trip.

The award-winning Anderson County Museum has shared the story of the Electric City since 1983, with free galleries covering transportation, industry, textiles and more in downtown Anderson.

A family guide to 6 Arkansas train museums and rides: Cotton Belt steam in Pine Bluff, a 1926 streetcar in Fort Smith, Ozark excursions from Eureka Springs and Springdale, and two old depots.

A family run heritage railroad in Corinth, New York, the Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway pulls vintage cars behind historic Alco and EMD diesels on scenic, pumpkin patch and Candy Cane Express rides through the Southern Adirondacks.

On North Main Street in Eureka Springs, a 1940-era diesel pulls narrated excursions and the Eurekan Dining Car over restored Missouri & North Arkansas track, with a turntable and steam engines on display.

A family guide to 8 Utah train museums and rides in 7 towns: the spot where the transcontinental railroad was finished, the state railroad museum in Ogden, a canyon train ride in Heber and a free depot museum in Tooele.

Cleveland's free Railroad Heritage Museum tells the Mississippi Delta's railroad story with work tools, timetables, a 1941 Illinois Central caboose and the largest O-gauge layout in the state.

A family guide to 15 train museums, rides and rail sites in Wisconsin, from Big Boy in Green Bay and steam in the Baraboo Hills to trolleys in East Troy, a pizza train in the Northwoods and a zoo train in Milwaukee.

From Wappocomo Station near Romney, the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad carries riders along the South Branch of the Potomac River and into the Trough, a canyon where bald eagles nest on the cliffs.

After seven years off the rails, the Issaquah Valley Trolley is back: a restored 1925 streetcar from Lisbon, Portugal carrying riders from Issaquah's historic Depot to Gilman Boulevard.

Near Chiloquin in Southern Oregon, Train Mountain has more than 32 miles of 7.5-inch gauge track, free volunteer-led rail tours in summer and a museum of over 50 full-size rail cars.

Volunteers at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum in Versailles run 11-mile round trips from Woodford County Park through horse farms to the Kentucky River gorge at Tyrone, on track first laid in the 1880s.

From 2011 to 2017 the Orange Blossom Cannonball carried passengers between Tavares and Mount Dora on an old citrus line. Here is what it was, what happened, and where the line stands now.

The Houston Railroad Museum is listed on Mesa Drive in Houston, with ties to the Gulf Coast chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. Here is what is known and what to confirm before you visit.