21 restored railcars and a Chinese workers' memorial tied to the deadliest years of transcontinental construction
125 I St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Adults $12; Youth (6-17) $6; Children 5 and under free.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Indoor museum; most exhibits accessible, some historic rail cars have limited access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1981 · Transcontinental Railroad History · Chinese Railroad Worker Memorial · Central Pacific Railroad Collection · Smithsonian Affiliate
The California State Railroad Museum occupies a purpose-built facility in Old Sacramento's historic waterfront district, a neighborhood that itself sits on fill above the city's original 19th-century streets. The museum's origins date to 1937, when railroad enthusiasts began collecting Central Pacific and Southern Pacific rolling stock. The Railroad History Museum opened in 1981; the complex eventually absorbed the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown and became a Smithsonian affiliate in 2017.
The collection's 21 restored locomotives and rail cars trace the arc of western railroad history from the construction era forward. The most significant exhibit for the museum's dark-history dimension is the Chinese Workers' Experience gallery, installed and renovated for the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad's completion in May 2019. The Central Pacific hired Chinese laborers beginning in 1865, eventually employing between 10,000 and 20,000 men at a time. They were paid less than white counterparts and covered their own food costs. Historians estimate as many as 1,200 Chinese workers died during construction — killed in avalanches during winter tunnel work through Donner Summit, in premature explosions during nitroglycerin blasting, and in rockslides. Their names were largely unrecorded and their deaths went unacknowledged in the railroad's promotional history for decades.
The museum is also the home terminal of the Sacramento Southern Railroad, which operates steam-powered excursion trains along the Sacramento River on weekends. Multiple Sacramento ghost tour operators include the museum on their Old Town walking circuits, connecting the building's railroad-era death toll to reported paranormal phenomena among the restored cars.
Sources
The California State Railroad Museum appears on multiple Sacramento ghost tour itineraries as a stop connected to the mass death that attended the Central Pacific's construction push through the Sierra Nevada in the late 1860s. Tour guides describe the 21 restored cars as conduits for the energy of workers who died unacknowledged — in avalanches, explosions, and rockslides — before their stories were formally documented.
The specific paranormal claims are not well-documented in primary sources. Tour operators describe the museum as featuring cold spots in the exhibit halls and unaccounted-for sounds among the rolling stock after closing hours. The Chinese workers' connection is the most-cited narrative anchor: as many as 1,200 men died building the western half of the transcontinental railroad, their names unrecorded and their deaths treated as a labor expense by the Central Pacific. The museum's Chinese Workers' Experience gallery represents the first formal institutional recognition of their contribution and sacrifice.
The museum does not promote any paranormal programming and the accounts circulate primarily through commercial ghost tour content.
Self-guided exploration of 21 fully restored locomotives and railroad cars dating to 1862, including exhibits on the Central Pacific Railroad's construction across the Sierra Nevada and the Chinese Workers' Experience gallery, which documents the estimated 10,000–20,000 Chinese laborers who built the western segment of the transcontinental railroad — as many as 1,200 of whom died in avalanches, explosions, and accidents during the work.
Several independent ghost tour operators include the museum as a featured stop on evening walking tours of Old Sacramento, pairing the railroad's death toll with stories of Chinese laborers said to haunt the rail cars. Tours depart from Waterfront Park.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Charleston, SC
Magnolia Plantation was established in 1676 by Thomas and Ann Drayton, English settlers from Barbados, and remains under the control of the Drayton family after fifteen generations. The plantation's wealth derived from Carolina Gold rice cultivated by enslaved Africans. Magnolia opened its gardens to the public in 1871, making it one of the oldest public gardens in the United States.
.jpg)
Winston-Salem, NC
The Salem Tavern was built in 1784 to serve travelers stopping in the Moravian settlement at Salem, North Carolina. The Moravian congregation built and operated the tavern — a common enterprise in Moravian settlements — as a source of revenue and a place of hospitality for outsiders. President George Washington lodged here in May 1791 during his Southern Tour, an event documented in his own diary.
Tiburon, CA
The U.S. Immigration Station on Angel Island operated from January 21, 1910 to November 5, 1940, processing hundreds of thousands of immigrants while enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants were detained here, with stays ranging from days to 22 months and a rejection rate of roughly 18%.