A Railroad Museum and a Ghost Town!

After our time in Lake Havasu, it was time head on Phoenix/Scottsdale before heading home.  At the time of our trip, it was still baseball spring training, so Scottsdale was still quite packed.  We didn’t take in any games, but we did check out a train museum, and paid another visit to a ghost town.  The railroad museum was the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, which was a few miles from downtown Scottsdale.  It features model railroads, trains on display, a mock train station, and a train ride that goes around the park.  Here is a small sampling from the railroad park:

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A refurbished steam locomotive outside the entrance to the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park.

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I’ve always railroad crossing signals, so of course I had to get a picture of me standing beside one, right alongside the steam locomotive.

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An old railway semaphore signal

The next day on our last day in Arizona, and on the same day I happened to catch a mild cold, we went to the Goldfield Ghost Town, which is in within the Lost Dutchman State Park.  Lost Dutchman State Park is in Apache Junction, which is east of Phoenix.  We had been to the ghost town a couple times before.  Aside from the touristy souvenir knick-knacks you can buy, there’s a train ride, gold panning, and a mock gunfight at a saloon.  It’s a fun place to take families and kids.  The park is also right outside the Tonto National Forest.  Here is also a small sampling:

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An old stamp mill, which was during the days of the Gold Rush.  You can also sometimes find old stamp mills in historic gold mining regions of Northern California.

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A viewing point of Canyon Lake, which is within the Tonto National Forest.

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Another shot of Canyon Lake

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A mountain range within the borders of Tonto National Forest.  I have additional pictures of that range when Don and I hiked in the park back in 2012, which I will gladly share in a later post!

So if you ever find yourself in this part of Arizona and need something to do with the kids, definitely check out the Goldfields Ghost Town and the Railroad Park in Scottsdale! And if you enjoy hiking, check out the trails in the Tonto National Forest, and there’s camping opportunities there as well!

 

12 thoughts on “A Railroad Museum and a Ghost Town!

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