Mid-Continent Railway Museum

About Us:

Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society–also known as Mid-Continent Railway Museum–is an outdoor, living museum and operating railroad recreating the small town/short line way of life during the “Golden Age of Railroading,” with operating trains, educational exhibits, and displays of restored rolling stock. Mid-Continent has operated at North Freedom, Wisconsin since 1963.

Vision Statement:

The Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society sees itself as a place where visitors can learn of a time when the railroad station was the social and communication center of every small town. People came to the station to meet folks who came from faraway places, or to journey to those places. The mail, packages, newspapers, and goods came by rail, or were shipped by rail. The railroad and its telegraph were the nucleus that tied a small community to every place in the entire country. Everyone depended on the railroad for transportation, information, and the shipment of goods and mail.

Mission Statement:

Our mission is to educate the public by recreating as accurately as possible the Golden Years of Railroads, from the Civil War days until after World War II, by operating a living railroad with vintage equipment from those times.

We will collect, preserve, restore, and operate artifacts from those times so as to inform the public about the development of railroading from wooden equipment to steel, and from steam power to internal combustion. We will give our visitors a firsthand experience on this equipment. We will do our best to accurately portray this Golden Age.