I have visited the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento ("Old Sac" to the locals) twice, once in 2024, and again in 2025. The museum primarily discusses the Gold Rush age and how rail got across the country and what it was like. One of the more interesting exhibits was about the Golden Spike Ceremony: the day the two coasts of the country were officially connected by rail. I missed this detail in 2025, but they actually have several items at the museum which were at the ceremony back in 1876.
​If anyone is in or around Sacramento, I highly recommend this museum. They also have digital exhibits online, if you cannot make the trip to the capital city. (In my 2025 videos, I tried to highlight parts of the museum that are not recorded in these digital exhibits.)
The museum starts outside, located at mile marker 0, the start of the Central Pacific Railroad. There are store-front buildings restored from long ago that sit on the property, along with a passenger station (mainly used as a storage shed), turntable, roundhouse (in which the museum is located), and plenty of stock sitting on the rails. The museum runs excursion trains on the weekends, which we participated in during our 2025 visit.

There is a track outside (including the turntable) that is laid dual-gauge. I did not follow it into the roundhouse, but my assumption is that this is for the narrow-gauge engine, which was upstairs inside when we visited (though I'm curious to know how they get it down from its exhibit).
The dual-gauge track can be seen in a few photos on this page. I wondered why they centered it in the ROW rather than simply adding one third rail to a side.

Between our two visits, not much changed, but the F7 in the shed was switched out between 2024 and 2025 and the F7 inside was different, too. A complete list of the museum's inventory can be found here. Not everything was on display when we visited. Additionally, some of their displays are on loan from other organizations, such as the Gov. Stanford engine.
The museum's other spaces include a passenger station staged as it would have been circa 1876, a freight depot (original frame), seven buildings adjacent to the museum, and a a green space known as "1849 Scene." 
Photos were not taken of all the buildings.
​There are also a few pictures of buffers because they are different styles and I think that's interesting. 
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The passenger station is fenced off so you cannot go inside via the tracks. It seems to be a primary place for the museum to house in-use equipment. It is also home to a couple of station cats. The theater hosts educational plays for school groups on occasion, and the depot seems to be used for public event space. 
After exploring outside, guests can pay their fee (it's not bad) and explore the three-floor interior of the roundhouse. Prototype engines are found on the first floor along with a narrow-gauge train found on level three. Exhibits take up the rest of the second and third floors, including space for model trains.

Speaking of model trains: Check out my model of the museum's Old Sacramento Waterfront car on this page. (Scroll down to find it.)

The Golden Spike

May 10th, 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah was when the famous Golden Spike Ceremony took place. This event connected the two largest railroads in the country together, allowing for rail travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific within the USA. The story of this incredible event is well documented throughout the museum. There are artifacts from the event including an all-wood boxcar which was present. 

SP 4294 Baldwin 4-8-8-2 (cab-forward)

The SP 4294 on display at the museum is quite a sight. The organization has restored the engine to circa 1950s appearance. It is amazing to stand beside this engine. At 123 feet & 8 inches, this engine is only about 9 feet shorter than the largest engine in the world: the UP "Big Boy." This is the only surviving SP cab-forward in the world.

More can be read about this engine on the museum's website and on Wikipedia (though the article is outdated). All photos of #4294 are from 2024.
Header: Out back, you can see that the museum is in a refurbished roundhouse, complete with an in-use turntable. (2025)