Age of Steam and Warther's are both excellent - might as well round it out with the Dennison Depot Museum also in the area.
Overmod Why is NMOT in St. Louis absent from this list? IRM is world-class; if you had to have just one 'number one' by most definitions of the term, I think they would qualify. There's probably a parallel for trolley/traction museums: Branford, Seashore, Rockhill, and whatever that Electric City operation opposite Steamtown is are possibilities.
Why is NMOT in St. Louis absent from this list?
IRM is world-class; if you had to have just one 'number one' by most definitions of the term, I think they would qualify.
There's probably a parallel for trolley/traction museums: Branford, Seashore, Rockhill, and whatever that Electric City operation opposite Steamtown is are possibilities.
NMOT needs a lot of help. I went in August. Many exhibits are rusted and fading.
As for IRM, steam locomotives are displayed with main rods missing. Claim is that it eases movement. But, how often are they moved? It's like looking at the "Mona Lisa" with the face cut out with a switchblade.
Flintlock76 You've done better than I have LO! From my own visits I'd say the top two on the East Coast are the B&O Museum in Baltimore and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. I haven't been to Spencer Shops in North Carolina in 25+ years so I shouldn't comment on it at this time. I did enjoy it when I was there.
You've done better than I have LO! From my own visits I'd say the top two on the East Coast are the B&O Museum in Baltimore and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg. I haven't been to Spencer Shops in North Carolina in 25+ years so I shouldn't comment on it at this time. I did enjoy it when I was there.
Last time I went, the B&O and Strasburg museums had exhibits rusting and decayed outside. Even EA # 51 was in a dusty shed after decades on display indoors.
Gramp https://nationalrrmuseum.org/ National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI. Another really fine museum. Almost a stone’s throw from Lambeau Field. (Maybe a little more).
https://nationalrrmuseum.org/
National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI. Another really fine museum. Almost a stone’s throw from Lambeau Field. (Maybe a little more).
NRM is a dud. Inauthentic re-lettering and painting are the beginning. See TripAdvisor on that one!
It's a dilemma for RR museums. Everything cannot fit indoors, and everything that gets acquired cannot be refurbished in a timely manner.
It's inevitable that lots of equipment will be outside rusting away. Steamtown has LOTS.
I suppose some museums need to be more realistic about what they will ever actually get to, and just sell some equipment off for the scrap value. But how many railroad lovers would ever want to do that?
Me, I get a kick out of seeing the derilect stuff too.
Rick Laubscher, CEO of San Francisco's Market Street Railway Association, coined the term "Museums in Motion" for the 50-year-or-more-old historic cars, some running regularly, some on special occasions including one over 120-years old, on San Francisco's E and F streetcar lines, providing regular transit service, and of course the cable cars. This term certainly applies also to much of the Cumbres and Toltec, Nevada Northern, Strassburg, Grand Canyon Railway, and others.
Thanks for pointing out NMOT, Overmod. My hometown museum and has a fine collection, including one of my favorites Frisco #1522 and we do have a Big Boy too. Wish #1522 was still running. I'd add IRM, NCTM, Cheyenne Depot museum, CO museum in Golden, O. Winston Link and VMT.
If you're interested in narrow gauge, I recommend the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum (wwfry.org) in Alna, Maine. The 30-year-old museum has restored an 1891 two-foot gauge steam locomotive to service along with several rail cars and has reopened 2.6 miles of the original WW&F route, with restoration of a 3/4-mile extension underway that will open in 2021.
Just getting a roof over most things will extend its life almost indefinitely.
New Englander If you're interested in narrow gauge, I recommend the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum (wwfry.org) in Alna, Maine. The 30-year-old museum has restored an 1891 two-foot gauge steam locomotive to service along with several rail cars and has reopened 2.6 miles of the original WW&F route, with restoration of a 3/4-mile extension underway that will open in 2021.
Here we see the difference between a museum and an activity center (train/trolley ride). Museums don't make enough money from their visitors and need to provide an activity to boost their income. All of the above venues with train/trolley rides should be classified as an activity. Typically the activity takes in more than half of the organization's income and spends about the same fraction. But that does boost the income so the doors of the 'museum' part can stay open. We are fortunate that we can provide rides to bring in the money. Many museums, need special events, significant donors and government support to stay open. I find it amazing that there are any non-government supported museum/activity running in the train world. And as for artifacts, train/trolley museums have nearly the same problem as flight musuems: the stuff is large. It is impossible to get roofs over all the stuff so much of it looks like bone yards... Roofs are nice over everything, but there is another significant expense that railroads musuems have. A model train museum would make much more sense.
One thing (of many) that impressed me about IRM was when they ran their Nebraska Zepher train using it's EMD E-5 on a special pair of round trips between Chicago Union Station and Quincy IL at track speed (79mph) and served food cooked on board in the dining car to the passengers. They had to meet BNSF and Amtrak and FRA standards. That is a hurdle that few museums could pass in my estimation. They are still acquiring equipment and when they do, it has to have a fund for a storage space to keep it protected.
How did those articulated Budd passenger cars ride at speed, say, compared to an Amfleet coach?
I was thinking about going to form impressions for myself, but sometimes thinking doesn't lead to doing.
They were somewhat more lightweight than the later AAR standard for "lightweight" passengers, which were standard until the Amfleet era.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
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