Museum works to preserve the history of the rails that built the state

REARDAN — The Inland Northwest Rail Museum is a longstanding place that serves to preserve the history of trains and railroads from across the nation. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary at its new location in Reardan, the museum seeks to expand its offerings as staff work to share this piece of history. 

“There’s no evidence of railroads outside of freight trains going by most of the time, because Amtrak is a pretty limited passenger service, and people don’t realize what a way of life railroads were,” said Dale Swant, President of the Inland Empire Railway Historical Society. “Railroads were instrumental in settling the Western United States.” 

The museum was started in 1967 by the Inland Empire Railway Historical Society in Spokane, where a group of former railroad employees came together to display the railcars that hadn’t been scrapped at the Spokane fairgrounds. Throughout the years, cars and parts from around the country have been donated to the museum, which has vastly expanded the exhibits they have on display. 

In 2016, the museum’s new location in Reardan opene,d where it still operates the same as it did from the beginning. Swant said everything is completely run by volunteers who come in during their free time to work on both helping museum guests in touring the museum and restoring locomotive equipment. 

“We have two floors of exhibits and then we have a big area that we call the restoration center where we work on restoring passenger cars, freight cars, locomotives, that kind of stuff,” he said. “Basically, we’re just doing cosmetic restorations because it’s a very expensive operation to try to get a locomotive going, but our hope is that in the future we can do that.” 

A smaller form of this idea does exist at the museum as they offer a two-foot gauge train ride during operating hours along a three-quarter mile track on the property, he said.  

“We take everybody for a ride on that and it’s kind of a fun experience that everybody gets to ride on a train,” said Swant. “In most cases, people have never been on a train.”  

During special occasions throughout the year, they will also host a full-size train ride using some of the restored cars. The full-size train rides are typically held for the holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, but in 2026, for the 250th celebration of the nation's founding, there will also be a special train night July 4. 

As they gain more funding and relations with local rail companies, Swant dreams of having a full passenger train ride that takes guests to different towns nearby.  

Swant said he likes to have the museum as an interactive experience for those who come to visit and learn more about trains and the rails that built the American West. During tours, guests are taken through the restored dining, buffet-lounge and passenger cars and can get hands-on with some of the equipment 

“In each one of the cars that we restored, they have some of the original materials, so people can see what was used during those periods,” he said. 

One of the most important things to the people who run the Inland NW Rail Museum is to emphasize keeping this portion of history alive and archiving what is left from the era where trains ruled freight transport and moved passengers around the country. 

“When you come to the museum, you get to see and read about all the developments that happen, what the equipment was and what the people were like,” said Swant. “They don’t teach that in school, so the only place you can find out about it is either through some books or at our museum.” 

Inland is always open to accepting donations of memorabilia from those who used to work on the railroad. 

Inland Northwest Rail Museum
27300 Sprinkle Road N
Reardan, WA 99029
509-796-3377
[email protected]
Inlandnwrailmuseum.com 

Hours:  
Winter: Saturday 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Regular Season: Fri. - Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

    A train car from the Great Northern Railway on display at the Inland Northwest Rail Museum. The museum has a variety of restored locomotives and cars that guests can explore and interact with.
  

    Three junior engineers at the Inland Northwest Rail Museum. Inland Empire Railway Historical Society President David Swant said that the museum aims to teach generations about the importance of railroads in our country’s development.
  

    Students and teachers gather for a photo during a class field trip to the Inland Northwest Rail Museum. The museum is open to field trips and birthday party reservations and also has special events throughout the year.