June 14th 2025
Cordials: 6:30 pm Train Depot
Dinner: 7:30 pm Northern Lights
Have a club car experience at the Galveston Railroad Museum’s Harvey House Dinner, Saturday, June 14. Enjoy the same legendary customer service and menu experienced for decades by rail travelers nationwide. The evening includes cordials, a seated dinner, wine, dessert, and entertainment. Reservations are required, $150 per person, all inclusive, limited seating at tables for four. Reservations may be made online at https://galvestonrrmuseum.org/harvey-house-dinner/ , or call (409) 765-5700. Dress is 50’s railcar dining. Proceeds benefit renovation of the exhibit The History of Railroading in Texas.
The History of Railroading in Texas is a comprehensive exhibit that documents the growth of the railroad and its impact on the growth and economic development across the state, circa 1830 – 1980. Commissioned in 1982 by museum founder Mary Moody Northen as a centerpiece of historic content, the exhibit was unveiled at the opening of the museum in 1983. Future plans for the exhibition include bringing the design and content up to current museum standards and extending the timeline. Located in co-joined repurposed baggage cars, the interior and exterior of the railcars will be renovated in compliance with The Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as receive air system and electrical upgrades, improved signage, and touch screens to facilitate a learning experience. To meet our goal, we need support. The project is to be funded by grants, contributions, and fundraising events.
The Harvey House Dinner takes us back in history to when Galveston’s Union Passenger Terminal Station was the site of a Harvey House Restaurant that remained in operation until 1938. Travelers accustomed to ‘dingy beaneries’ with ‘rough waiters’ were pleasantly surprised by the attractive and courteous servers who became known as the Harvey House Girls.
Founded by Fred Harvey in 1878 to serve e growing number of train passengers, the chain of Harvey House restaurants was located along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway in the American Southwest. A few Harvey Houses currently remain as first-class hotels located at the Grand Canyon, Winslow, Arizona, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Harvey House Museum located in Belen, New Mexico, operates a small diner serving menu items that today are referred to as ‘comfort food.’
Now operating as The Center for Transportation and Commerce, visitors to the Galveston Railroad Museum regularly walk through the space formerly occupied by the legendary diner to view exhibits. Still intact are the original marble floors, ceiling, and light fixtures. A Harvey House exhibit and photographs are on display in the depot where an original uniform is on display, and Harvey House cookbooks are available in the museum store.
The museum’s dining cars offers unique dining experiences, and the Northern Lights, built in 1990 by the Bombardier Company for Amtrak as a dinette, complete with serving galley and four seat dining booths, is open daily as an exhibit and accommodates families attending the annual holiday event, The Polar Express Train Ride. It is available, for a fee, for private functions based upon availability.
If you have not visited the Galveston Railroad Museum lately, we invite you to stop by to enjoy new exhibits with an immersive experience rich in transportation history. Climb aboard trains for a tactile approach to learning about the golden age of rail and to see how people traveled in the past. Sleep cars, dining cars, post office, cattle car, military transport, and much more are on display. A 100-year-old steam driven engine, weekend caboose rides, and hand powered baggage cars provide stories from the past, as do the Ghosts of Travelers Past who greet visitors daily in the 1832 Tain Depot.
Harvey House Dinner seats are limited so please make your reservations early. All aboard!
www.galvestonRRmuseum.org (409) 765-5700
