点评:My wife and I were heading to the Michigan dunes for vacation and she indulged my history geek/railfan tendencies, and found she loved it too! It seems a lot of the reviews focus on the model trains to entertain kids, which, yes, are there, and other reviews put it down for being so small, but if you are interested in rail history, this is a WORTHWHILE stop. It is small (and volunteer-run), but they have a quite a few artifacts. They tell the history of the New York Central, with a focus on the 20th Century Limited, though they leaned very heavily into the local history of Elkhart as a railroading town and the Lake Shore and Southern Michigan (one of the precursors to the NYC). Rather than being disappointed there isn't more, I think it's better to appreciate that they have actually managed to salvage as much of the NYC's history as they have, considering the NYC hasn't been around for over 50 years! You really get a feel for how luxurious it was to ride the 20th Century Limited.
When we were there (on a Friday afternoon), there was only one other visitor, and there's plenty of parking. Admission is $6 a person and we spent about an hour and a half. They have several cars they have not been able to refurbish (like I said, they're small and volunteer-run) but you can go inside a caboose as well as the diesel engine that pulled the 20th Century on its final trip.
翻译:我和妻子原本打算去密歇根州的沙丘地区度假,她体谅我作为历史迷和铁路爱好者的喜好,结果发现自己也乐在其中!似乎很多评论都着重提到这里的模型火车能吸引小孩,确实有这些模型火车;也有评论因为展馆规模太小而给予负面评价。不过,如果你对铁路历史感兴趣,这里绝对值得一逛。虽然展馆规模不大(且由志愿者运营),但他们收藏了不少文物。这里讲述了纽约中央铁路的历史。虽然这些资料以20世纪特快列车为重点,但也大量涉及埃尔克哈特作为铁路之城的本地历史,以及湖岸与南密歇根铁路公司(纽约中央铁路公司的前身之一)。鉴于纽约中央铁路公司已经不复存在超过50年了,我觉得与其遗憾资料不够丰富,不如庆幸他们竟能保存下这么多关于该铁路公司的历史资料。你真的能体会到乘坐20世纪特快列车有多么奢华。
我们去的时候(周五下午)只有另一位游客,而且停车场也很大。门票价格为每人6美元,我们在那里逗留了大约一个半小时。他们还有几节车厢暂时无法修复(就像我说的,这里规模不大,全靠志愿者运营),不过你可以进入守车,还能看看那台曾牵引20世纪特快列车完成最后旅程的柴油机车。