Four of the pieces are separately on the National Register of Historic Places: the Louisville and Nashville Steam Locomotive No.

The site of the current museum was built by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad from 1856 to 1857, on their old line, which ran to Lebanon, Kentucky.

[2] The line was of vital importance to the Union cause, making it a frequent target of Confederate forces under John Hunt Morgan, and others, during the 1860s; the nearby bridge was even destroyed.

[3][4] The museum was chartered in 1954 by railroad enthusiasts from Louisville, through the Kentucky General Assembly, who wished to preserve steam locomotives and other rail paraphernalia.

The museum eventually left the first location because of flooding from the nearby Ohio River, and a general lack of necessary space.

In June 1992 it became necessary to build a razor wire perimeter fence after three juveniles (of an average age of twelve) damaged several of the historic cars and trains.

The museum operates a heritage railroad and offers excursion trains on selected weekends in summer and fall.

There is a large model train layout and a gift shop at New Haven, in a brick building that is a replica of the former L&N depot there.

[1][17] Another locomotive that dates back to the Kentucky Railway Museum's early days is Monon Route's Diesel Engine No.

It was painted black and gold by Monon, and kept as such, to match the school colors of Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana.

In 1995 when the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society moved it to their shops and ran it in the summer of 1996, then retired it and sent it back to New Haven in 2001 to focus on the restoration of NKP 765.

And then in 2019 when the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp leased it and moved it to Ravenna, KY to restore it for operation, which they currently are still working on as of 2022.

Broderick Pullman Car was a four-star hotel on rails, with polished brass restroom fixtures, and pull out beds.

[21] Train rides leave regularly from the museum to Boston, Kentucky, and back, with views of the Rolling Fork River Valley along the way.

Dioramas include a German-landscape featuring a village and carnival, and another depicting convicts working on placing rails.