Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad

The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad is the Official Kansas Heritage Railroad, a living history museum and excursion railroad dedicated to preserving the legacy of the railroad industry that built Kansas and the American heartland. Operating on a 5.5-mile stretch of track originally laid by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in 1886, the A&SV runs its Flint Hills Express excursion train between the historic Old Abilene Town depot and the neighboring community of Enterprise, crossing the Smoky Hill River on an early steel truss bridge and stopping at a replica 1880s Hoffman Grist Mill where visitors can watch heritage grain milling in action. The railroad’s crown jewel is Santa Fe 3415, a 1919 Baldwin 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designated as Kansas’s official state steam locomotive by the Legislature in 2024 — the only operational steam locomotive in Kansas. Passengers ride in antique coaches, including a rare 1902 wooden Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad car and a 1946 Pullman coach, while narrators tell the story of how railroads shaped Kansas agriculture and the Great Plains economy. The 1887 Rock Island Depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Smoky Valley Limited dinner train, school charter Meadowlark Flyer, and holiday specials, including the Pumpkin Patch Express and Cowtown Santa Express, round out a robust calendar of events. Located adjacent to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.