Kingman Railroad Museum Model Train Show Returns April 25 with Vendors, Bargains

A $3 admission and free parking will make Kingman Railroad Museum’s spring model train show an easy bargain hunt when it returns to the College Park Church Community Center, 1990 Jagerson Ave., from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 25. The one-day event will bring together displays and vendors, giving visitors a chance to browse new and used model trains, along with other hobby items, without leaving northwest Arizona.

For Kingman, the show is more than a sales floor with a few tables. The museum says it is the only local model train show in town, which gives the date added weight for collectors looking for a specific road name, beginners trying to get a first layout started, and families hoping to find an affordable starter set. In a hobby where in-person shopping still matters, one spring show can do the work of several weekends of searching.

The museum itself adds to the appeal. It runs O, HO and N scale trains, and the layouts are switched out regularly, so repeat visits can bring a different scene behind the glass. Regular museum hours are Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., subject to volunteer availability, with regular admission set at $2 per person. Children under 12 and active-duty military are admitted free.

Kingman Railroad Museum says the depot has seen four stations since the first train arrived on March 28, 1883. The current depot was built in 1907, restored, and reopened as the museum in 2012. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1986. The museum also says it runs entirely on volunteers and is always in need of help staffing and maintaining the train layouts, which makes the annual show useful not just as a marketplace, but as a support day for a small preservation operation.

Admission for the show will be $3 for ages 13 and up, and attendees 12 and older will receive a free raffle ticket. With a church-community-center venue, a short schedule and no parking fee, the event should fit neatly into a spring Saturday and give visitors a practical way to see operating trains, meet vendors and come home with something useful for the next layout.