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All aboard for the Union Station Train Festival this weekend

Dañiel Andres Martinez
Dañiel Andres Martinez is an on-call associate producer for LAist.
Published Sep 20, 2025 4:55 AM
13 men stand in front of the Black Santa Fe 3751 engine car and pose for a picture at the head of the engine. They are all waving "Hello" to the camera. The engine is on a rail track with another train visible right next to the Black Santa Fe 3751. The other train has a yellow car in front just out of frame and the car behind it is metallic and silver, with most of it obscured by the Black Santa Fe 3751.
Mock crews for the Santa Fe 3751 stand at the head of the stationary engine.
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Union Station Train Festival
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Union Station will be filled with more train cars than usual this weekend as the Union Station Train Festival takes over downtown L.A.'s iconic transportation landmark. The biannual event is also back after a one year break.

Climb aboard history

A long line of people pile up behind each other to board the Santa Fe 3751 on display at the Union Station Train Festival in 2023. People at the head of line can be seen boarding via a bright yellow staircase that leads directly into the 3751 car. A crew member in overalls and a conductor hat lets people in one by one.
People line up to get a look at the inside of the Santa Fe 3751 at the 2023 Union Station Train Festival.
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Union Station
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A child and a woman wave "Hello" to the camera through the windows of a car on the black Santa Fe 3751. The child flashes a peace sign, while the woman extends her five fingers out in a semi-wave.
Attendees of the 2023 Union Station Train Festival wave to spectators outside of one of the rail cars on display.
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Union Station Train Festival
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Union Station
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Attendees will get a chance to check out several rail cars of decades past on station tracks 13, 14 and 15.

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“We have the Tioga Pass, which is a 1959 car that was a business car through Canada. We have the National Forum, which was from 1956, a Pullman car, and then the star of the show is a Santa Fe 3751,” said Susie Vance, director of marketing at Union Station.

The classic Santa Fe 3751 is the 1927 steam locomotive that pulled the very first passenger train into Union Station back in 1939. There will also be equipment displays from Amtrak, Metrolink and the Pacific Railroad Society.

One new addition this year will be a restored 1945 Railway Express truck. The Railway Express Agency was a door-to-door delivery service that shipped packages all across the country via a network of rail and bus services.

Trains big and small

A man points out something in the model train display to a child he holds in his arms. The child is wearing a light blue and white striped conductor hat, a red handkerchief , white shirt, and blue overalls. He is dressed up as a train crew member. A woman stands next to both of them looking at the model train display. The display shows a model of a port, with cargo being unloaded from a ship.
A family takes looks at model trains on display at the 2023 Union Station Train Festival.
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A large crowd gathers around several tables of model train display track at the 2023 Union Station Train Festival inside of Union Station. The "Information" section of Union Station can be seen in the background.
Model trains on display at the Union Station Train Festival in 2023.
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Union Station
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Real trains aren’t the only ones on display this weekend. There will be five constructed model train displays created by local train enthusiasts, including one completely made from Legos.

“ People have worked years and years, sometimes decades, on these displays,” Vance said.

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Hop on the virtual high speed tracks

The festival will also give attendees a peak into the future. Through an internship project with the California High Speed Rail Authority, high school students at Azusa's K12  Foothill Consortium have created a full-scale physical model of a high speed rail car.

Guests can step inside the model, take a seat in one of the aisles and don virtual reality goggles, allowing themselves to be immersed in an experience of what riding high speed rail could look like.

“This immersive experience invites visitors to board a futuristic train mock-up,” Vance said.

Explore Union Station

A wide view of more of the model trains on display at the 2023 Train Festival. There is a crowd filling up the entire room. The chandeliers and wooden beams on the ceiling of Union Station can be seen. Many guests can be observed taking pictures of the displays in front of them.
A view of a busy Union Station during the 2023 Train Festival.
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Union Station is also bringing plenty of opportunities to tour unseen parts of the station this weekend.

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Docents from Metro art and the Los Angeles Conservancy will be on hand to teach people about the architecture and history of Union Station.

For the first time in several years guests will be able to walk through a part of Union Station that once held a Fred Harvey, a restaurant chain that opened in 1939. The Union Station location used to serve employees and weary travelers alike before it was shuttered in 1967.

It was used as a filming location for many decades after that, and it is back open again for the Train Festival.

A band is seen playing on the North Patio of the 2023 Union Station Train Festival. The band is shaded by five white umbrellas. A man in a red button up shirt is shown sitting down at a keyboard. Behind him a man in a black polo shirt and black pants strums on an electric guitar. On his left a a man is seen striking drums. To the left of him a bass player strums. In front of him a saxophonist plays into a microphone. To his left two horn players blow into their microphones. To the saxophonists' right a woman sings into a microphone. They are surrounded by loud speakers. On the far right side of the picture a sound engineering crew is barely visible, mostly obscured by the ensemble band.
A live band plays on the North Patio at the 2023 Union Station Train Festival.
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Union Station Train Festival
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Union Station
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Details 

Union Station Train Festival 2025
800 N Alameda St, Los Angeles
Sept. 19 to Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Find out how to attend here, admission is free.
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