The weekend-long celebration features vintage trains, model displays and live music at L.A.’s historic train station
Credit: Los Angeles Union Station
Union Station’s beloved Train Festival is back by popular demand this weekend, running Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is free, with programming for the whole family.
Visitors can step inside vintage and modern train cars, explore detailed model train displays, enjoy live music, and pick up limited-edition merchandise and Metro TAP cards. The festival is supported by Metro, Metrolink and Amtrak, and will feature a virtual reality experience by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
After the festival’s exciting debut in 2023, marketing director Susie Vance says Union Station wanted to plan another event to celebrate “everything rail and transportation.”
“It’s our biggest event of the year,” Vance says, “and it’s a feel-good event to get people out of their homes and feel like a part of the L.A. community and participate in something that brings a little nostalgia and history from Union Station.”
Credit: Los Angeles Union Station
This year’s theme, “LA’s Spirit in Motion,” emerged as a nod to the sports events on the horizon for Los Angeles, including the Olympics, World Cup and Super Bowl.
“As we go into time periods when the world will descend on Los Angeles, we’re hoping that people get in the custom of taking buses to our venues and sporting arenas. We’ll be transferring people and bringing people all over the city through our bus and rail system,” Vance says. “We use the word ‘spirit’ because we had just come out of the fires, so we wanted to show that connectivity with our community.”
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Attendees can tour railroad equipment on tracks 13, 14 and 15, including a 1937 train that made history as the first steam locomotive to bring a passenger train into Union Station: the Santa Fe 3751.
“It’s the star of our show,” Vance explains. “If someone’s never seen a steam locomotive, it’s quite a spectacle to see, in a good way. It’s just a beautiful locomotive. Steam comes out of the top, so the kids really love it, and you do have an opportunity to get in the cab of it.”
The National Forum, a 1956 Pullman Car with dining quarters and a lounge, as well as a 1959 Canadian National Car, will also be on display for guests to explore, alongside modern-day train cars.
Credit: Los Angeles Union Station
Five model train displays — carefully crafted by societies such as Group 160 NTRAK Club and Lego User Group of Los Angeles — add some miniature magic that will appeal to all ages.
“Everybody loves a good model train display,” Vance says. “Kids love being able to go up close to these miniature models of trains and different scales of trains, as well as mountain scenery and little stores, and go through a western town.”
After exploring storied vintage trains and watching miniature ones go by, attendees can take architecture and art tours by Los Angeles Conservancy and California Preservation Foundation, or listen to live music put on by Metro Art on the North Patio.
Vance hopes the festival highlights how many transportation options Angelenos have access to and “how lucky we are to have it in Los Angeles.”
“Trains are forever evolving. We’re always hoping there’s more travel by public transit, whether it be bus or rail,” Vance says. “It’s really amazing just to see how the city functions, and how the community gets around from the ocean all the way to downtown.”