Built in 1917 when Seward called itself the Gateway to Alaska, the town's historic railroad depot survived the 1964 earthquake and joined the National Register in 1987. Here is its story and how to ride to Seward.

Founded in 1946, Pennsylvania Live Steamers runs a 5-acre miniature railroad in Collegeville where members build and operate steam and diesel trains you can ride. Run days are for members and guests.

North Carolina train museums for families: a 37-bay roundhouse in Spencer, steam trains at Tweetsie, mountain rides from Bryson City, push-button layouts in Wilmington and a free depot museum in Hamlet.

Beside the old South Park line right of way in Breckenridge, the free High Line Railroad Park shows off Engine No. 9, a narrow gauge rotary snowplow and a mining and railroad themed playground.

Black River & Western Railroad runs vintage passenger trains between Flemington and Ringoes in Hunterdon County, on an 1854 line that still hauls freight, with Santa, Easter and pumpkin trains.

At Little Amerricka, a family amusement park in Marshall, Wisconsin, the 16-inch gauge Whiskey River Railway carries riders through two miles of countryside, with a Pumpkin Train each October.

On 30 acres near Reardan, Washington, volunteers of a 1967 rail society show locomotives, streetcars and passenger cars, run model trains, and give every visitor a ride on the 2-foot gauge Reardan Rocket.

Next to Zoo Miami on an old Navy blimp base, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum keeps the presidential car Ferdinand Magellan, FEC steam locomotive 153 and a narrow gauge train kids can ride.

The Nebraska Railroad Museum, the volunteer nonprofit behind the Fremont & Elkhorn Valley Railroad, is leaving Fremont for a new home at the Burlington Railroad Depot in Nebraska City.

Plant City's 1909 Union Depot is home to the free Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum, a restored Seaboard caboose, a 1942 Whitcomb locomotive and a busy train viewing platform.

Guided tours at the Monon Connection Museum in Monon, Indiana lead through more than 6,500 railroad items, a model train layout, a re-created Illinois Central depot and the restored Flagler Car #90.

North of Washington, Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum runs vintage streetcars on a former interurban line and shows about 30 more in its Trolley Display Building, including a New Orleans car from the Desire line.

In the restored 1909 L&N depot in Milton, the free West Florida Railroad Museum shows off cabooses, a dining car, two model railroads and a kiddie train for ages 3 to 12, open Fridays and Saturdays.

In downtown Mendota, Illinois, volunteers rebuilt what remains of the grand 1888 Union Depot into a railroad museum with a Baldwin steam locomotive, five vintage cars, speeder rides and an HO model of old Mendota.

Inside the 1899 Ulster and Delaware station in Phoenicia, the Empire State Railway Museum tells the story of the Catskill Mountain railroads through a station agent's office, dioramas and telegraph equipment.

The Las Vegas Railroad Society works to preserve railroad and mining equipment and teach local students about rail history, while UNLV holds Union Pacific and Las Vegas and Tonopah records.

The Champlain Valley Dinner Train serves a three-course meal cooked on board 1930s dining cars during a three-hour round trip from Burlington toward Middlebury, run by Vermont Rail System.

Across from the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, the National Streetcar Museum tells the trolley's story with hands-on exhibits, and the park's own trolleys offer free seasonal rides downtown.

Founded in 1948 on the old Columbus, Delaware and Marion interurban line, the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington runs Saturday train rides past streetcars, interurbans and a 1910 steam engine.

Old 300, a streetcar built in 1913 for San Antonio, rolls 3 miles along the Columbia River in Astoria, run by volunteers who narrate the city's history for a $1 fare.