DeQuincy Railroad Museum, DeQuincy, Louisiana

Front of Museum

About 20 miles north of Sulphur is the darling little town of DeQuincy. As we came nearer the end of our time here, I knew that I had to take Landon to check out the museum, with or without Austin. So, we set off on a rainy morning to check it out!

The museum is housed in the old rail station and  depot. Passenger and freight trains came through here, and there are tracks on both sides of the station that are still in use! 

Inside, there was tons of train memorabilia including this cool office set-up that replicates what the train office looked like when the station was still in use. My favorite pieces were the old type writers, calculators, and Morse code device. 

Office

One of the most interesting papers I saw in the museum was this train order for the day after Pearl Harbor- ordering train operators to not allow Japanese people to travel on trains in light of the invasion. Super interesting to me!

Train stop travel notice

Also inside was a model train that the docent turned on for Landon to enjoy. He stood on a stool and watched it for a long time. Right at the end of our time there, the train caught a stationary train car and dragged it along the track. Then, the engine separated from the rest of the train cars. At this  time, Landon's hands were close to the controls, but I'm almost positive he did not touch anything. The docent said it has been having trouble lately, so she shut it down. There were old train lights, conductor's caps, and a whole room full of model trains built to be exactly like the real deal. Landon loved that room!

Train light light

After taking in all of the train stuff inside, we headed outside to see what all was out there. Along with an old train bulletin, there was a passenger train car, a steam engine, and two red cabooses! Landon has learned the differences between steam trains and diesels and so he identified every train in the whole museum as a steam or diesel train!

Old train schedule

Red caboose

Back of the train depot

As we were checking out the big trains, we heard a train whistle. I looked down the track, and a big train was coming! The whistle and the noise of the cars going on the track was really loud and I could tell Landon was scared as well as excited. We ran over to the train viewing platform and watched the train go by. I think Landon was surprised most by how fast the train was going!

Self-explanatory sign

WOW! Train!

Landon really wanted to go inside!

The DeQuincy railroad museum was the perfect toddler outing- just enough stuff to keep us busy for an hour or so. Landon loved all the trains and now asks to go back on a daily basis. The best part of this outing is that it was free! I felt bad about not having cash to make a donation, so I attempted to buy a T-shirt for Landon and they only accept cash in the gift shop as well. Maybe next time!