Visiting Lancaster with the Kids: Choo Choo Barn

This week we’ve been featuring all of the wonderful spots we toured as part of our recent overnight trip to Lancaster. Today we’re talking about our tour of the Choo Choo Barn! It was such a unique experience.

Just to recap, our itinerary for the 2 days looked like this:

Day1:
AM: Strasburg Railroad

PM: Cherry Crest Farm

Overnight Accommodations at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square

Day 2:

AM: Choo Choo Barn

PM: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Nothing can really prepare you for the amazing scene that is set up at the Choo Choo Barn. I had looked at their website before going, but I still wasn’t exactly sure what would be behind the curtained door when we entered it. In fact, the folks at the Choo Choo Barn guarantee that you’ve never seen anything like it!

At the Choo Choo Barn, you will find a 1,700 square foot model train featuring many different scenes from the local areas. There are over 150 hand-built animated figures and vehicles and 22 operating trains.

The most impressive part of the setup is that overall it is a very cohesive, well-laid out plan. But, when you walk around you see all of these really cool individual vignettes that represent many different local treasures. There are replicas of Dutch Wonderland, the Strasburg Railroad, a Turkey Hill Convenience store, and many others. My girls’ favorite vignette was of the circus. There were adorable little animals and circus trainers and clowns. Another favorite was the little house that “catches on fire” every 10 minutes and the little fire engine and fire men that come out to put out the fire. The attention to detail at the Choo Choo Barn is spectacular and there is so much to see there for train enthusiasts and novices alike!

If you want to learn more about the Choo Choo Barn, take a look at their website and connect with them on both Facebook and Twitter.

There is so much for families to see and do in the Lancaster area. We can’t wait to schedule our next trip!

*Disclosure: My family was provided free admission to the above attractions as well as overnight accommodations in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received and, as always, I’ll tell you the real deal about what my impressions and experiences are. All opinions are expressly my own.