Santa Susana Depot Museum and Model Railroad

Amazing collection of early railroad workings at the station, and so much more. Hadn’t realized this was here for a long time. So it took a while to stop in. Glad we did!
The only regret was we didn’t have a lot of time. We had to pack in as much learning about the depot and it’s collections as the excellent docent could offer in a quick overview.
Will have to return and do it more justice. Displays are very well curated and presented.

A fun place to submerge oneself in railroad history, both real and imagined. Here is a nice museum with some interesting local color. There is also a fun to view model railroad and a few related displays. Come for a visit, you might discover the railroader lurking within.

Our trainiac 4 year old loves visiting, it’s extra nice that it’s adjacent to working train tracks and a nice little park with playground and picnic areas. The train portion is small, but nicely done.

We really enjoyed our visits here. First time was to see Santa and the kids were fascinated by the museum while we waited for his arrival. Yes it’s small but it’s very quaint and the station master who shared the station’s history was knowledgeable and made the stories interesting on both visits. Great for kids and adults with interests in history or trains.

I’ve been visiting this place since they had the old layout in the waiting room. The new layout is bigger and nicer, but only members can see the whole thing. Visitors are confined to one corner of the room, only able to see maybe half of the layout. Most clubs let you walk around the layout more. A nice place to stop by for a few minutes on the way to something nearby, but not a trip in itself.

Kinda cool but not much to see. I definitely wouldn’t put much effort into going here unless you were already gonna be in the area.

I like this place. It’s really interesting! Not a whole lot to see unless you join their model train club but still. Worth a look.

This is a nice place to drop by when cruising through on the 118, but not worth going out of the way.
The train depot was moved from original location. The waiting area and depot office remain intact, but it’s very small because of the small population in the area. The depot’s larger cargo areas have been transformed. One section is used for an HO scale model railroad which is run by a local club. Although nicely detailed, the layout is small compared to most clubs.

This place ROCKS. Most people that know me know that I like odd little museums just off the beaten track, and this is one of those spots… but not so off the beaten track.
Here’s the story– this railroad depot is original from the 1800’s…it was moved a few miles up the tracks in the 70’s in order to preserve it, but otherwise is just as it was way back in the day. The city and volunteers have painstakingly re-​created what exactly the interior and exterior of the depot would have looked like in it’s hey-​day and it’s really facinating.
The highlight, for me, is the section on Corrigainville, which, if you weren’t aware, was a western movie ranch AND sort of old school «universal studios» type place… you could go and watch western stunt shows, re-​creations of the shootout at the OK corrall, paddle boat on the ‘lake’ used for all the Jungle Jim films and a whole lot more. The ranch burned down in the early 70’s, though you can still visiti it, enjoying the interpretive trail that has many markers specifying what occoured on each location throughout the trail. ANYHOW, at the Depot museum they have an entire section on corrigainville: a scale model of what it looked like back in it’s heyday, old memoribillia and maps, books of photographs and a whole lot more.
I’ve been twice and had the same docent on hand both times, and he was amazing. Extremly knowledgable about the history of the train depot, corrigainville and simi valley in general. Upon noticing my interest in Corrigainville he even invited me to watch an old 50’s era promotonal film hosted by Crash Corrigan himself in their private screening room. Complete score as far as I’m concerned!
Do yourself a favor and check this place out… it is free, but a donation is accepted, and they are only open on Saturday and Sundays from 1 – 4! Enjoy!!!

Great little train museum in Simi Valley. Easy to miss, too. Free but donations are suggested. Limited parking, but there is a park neighboring the museum that seems to have good parking.
There are displays and a model railroad in the museum. Limited hours though (weekends from 1 – 4 PM).