The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission with the active support of the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (FRM).
The museum's collection has more than 100 historic locomotives and railroad cars that chronicle American railroad history. Visitors can climb aboard various locomotives and cars, inspect a 62-ton locomotive from underneath, view restoration activities via closed-circuit television, enjoy interactive educational programs, and more.
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania was created to provide a historical account of railroading in Pennsylvania by preserving rolling stock, artifacts, and archives of railroad companies of the Commonwealth. However, the museum has branched out over the years, acquiring some pieces that are not directly related to Pennsylvania, but are important to the history of railroading.
In addition to full-size rolling stock pieces, a smaller exhibit gallery is on the second floor. The museum offers a number of other attractions, including several model railroad layouts, a hands-on educational center, and a library and archives.
Building and grounds
Today, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania covers 18 acres. This includes Rolling Stock Hall, a second-floor changing-exhibit gallery, an observation bridge, a hands-on education center called Stewart Junction, an extensive library and archives, a restoration and paint shop, and an outdoor storage and display yard. Rolling Stock Hall and the second floor are both handicapped accessible. The yard is subject to weather closure.
The initial display building opened in 1975 as the first building constructed to be a railroad museum and featured an operating turntable from the Reading Company. The original building was roughly 45,000 square feet in size and included an observation bridge leading across Rolling Stock Hall, allowing visitors to see the trains from above. In June 1995, Rolling Stock Hall was enlarged to 100,000 square feet.
A newly designed entrance and gift shop were opened in June 2007. Some larger or more-modern engines and cars are displayed outdoors, and a new roundhouse to store some of the larger locomotives is to be built in the near future.
The National Toy Train Museum and Choo Choo Barn are located nearby, and the Strasburg Rail Road is across the street from the museum.
History
For the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, the Pennsylvania Railroad displayed a number of historic locomotives and cars it had collected over the years. After the fair had ended, the PRR decided to preserve the equipment that had been displayed, along with various other locomotives and rolling stock. All were moved to a roundhouse in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and looked after by employees.
With the state looking to establish a railroad museum and PRR successor Penn Central looking to rid itself of the collection, in the late 1960s it was decided that a museum was to be built adjacent to the Strasburg Rail Road in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. The engines were moved to the Strasburg Rail Road, where they were stored while the museum was under construction. A large number of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Historic Collection were sent to Strasburg coupled together, forming the "Train of Trains."
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania was officially opened to the public April 1, 1975. As the museum acquired more equipment, they required more space, so in 1995, Rolling Stock Hall was expanded by 55,000 square feet. Today, the museum covers 18 acres of land, including 100,000 square feet indoors. A roundhouse for the larger locomotives that are currently stored outside was planned for 2018 but had not broken ground as-of January 2019. In all, the museum holds roughly 100 pieces of rolling stock, some nearing 200 years old.
Collection
Locomotives
The collection is made up of more than a hundred historic locomotives and cars, many of which are part of the historical collection of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Following the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, the PRR placed many of their historic rolling stock aside for preservation. The collection was stored in a roundhouse in Northumberland. In 1969, the collection was relocated to Strasburg, for storage at the Strasburg Rail Road until the museum's completion in 1975.