Exporail

My young sons love trains, so naturally we find ourselves at this museum quite often (children 3 years and under are free!). We purchased a one-​year membership here, which pays itself off in three or four visits.
This museum is really unique and is a hidden gem. Inside, you can explore various «real» engines and rail cars used for diverse purposes in the past, e.g. delivering mail, ploughing snow. You can also go underneath a train to see the complete wheel system. A separate room houses small electric trains that wind through miniature towns and landscapes — Thomas the Tank Engine is a favourite of my sons.
In the summer, you can ride a miniature train and a passenger train (unfortunately the latter was not running the day we visited) and at Christmastime, they offer more activities for children, including train ornament crafts, cookie workshops, and festive electric trains on display.
There is a gift shop and a small cafeteria on site. Or, pack a picnic and eat outside on the grounds while you gaze at railcars. Either way, a day trip here is sure to be a success.

Did you know they’re only open weekends to the public? That’s not what multiple online sources say. So, is this a nice place to take your children? I wouldn’t know.

Musée vraiment cool pour autant les adultes comme encore les petites familles/​enfants, on peut voir environ 70 locomotives/​wagons/​trams datant de différentes époques, prix d’entrée de 18 $ pour un adulte, prix spéciaux pour aînés et enfants. Une visite qui vous fera revivre un retour vers le passé, très intéressant & enrichissant!

This is a wonderful place to visit, for kids both young and young at heart. I have been visiting this museum since I was a child, and I think I’m enjoying it the most now as an adult.
I will admit, my favourite part of the visit was the miniature railway. When we first saw the track size we weren’t sure us adults would fit, and we were puzzled when a small locomotive came around the bend pulling what looked like a bunch of wooden gym benches. We shouldn’t have been concerned, it was a lot of fun! It wizzes through a wooded area, over small bridges and even through a tunnel.
There is also an operational streetcar to take you from site to site, or you could just sit and do the loop and enjoy the ride. Inside the main building are all kinds of trains, from old steam locomotives to schoolhouse cars to sleeper cars. There was even a prototype of the new metro cars we’ll be getting eventually. My favourite piece on display though was a open air streetcar used to tour Mont-​Royal and Westmount, that looked a little bit like a sauté moutons type boat, except with ornate details that include beavers and maple leaf decorations.
Only a short drive from the island of Montréal, Exporail is worth the drive!

This is an OUTSTANDING museum dedicated to railroading in Canada. I visited during the fall season so the grounds were very quiet. I spent 5 hrs. on the grounds, but then I try to read the placards and write down the information pertinent to the photo taken. Because I visited on the tail end of the season, only a streetcar was running the grounds and also the miniatuure train. One note, only a few of the rolling stock are open to the public but what one can view from the outside only seems enough to get a good idea of the conditions within. I visited the museum by taking a commuter train to Saint-​Constant stn, and walked next door to the museum. As for the return trip, I chose the option to walk to an autoparc next to a shopping center, about 35 – 40 min walk, and caught the CIT Roussillon bus 130 back to centre Montréal. If you are interested in trains, then you have no reason not to experience this remarkable train museum. PS The museum sells a compendium of the collection which is more or less up-​to-​date.

This is by far the best train museum we have ever been to. There is an extraordinary display of various railway vehicles including engines, passenger cars, handcarts and even a car that was modified to run on tracks and was used for track inspections. There is tons of train history to read. There is a small outdoor train for you to take your kids on (you straddle it for the ride). There is a larger passenger train that trains you around the grounds of the museum. This is a fantastic place.