Museum of the American Railroad

The Museum of the American Railroad, formerly known as the Age of Steam Railroad Museum, is a railroad museum in Frisco, Texas. The museum has a large collection of steam, diesel, passenger, and freight railroad equipment, and is noted for allowing guests to walk through some of the equipment on guided tours. The President and CEO is Bob LaPrelle who has worked there for over 30 years now. It was established in 1963 for the Texas State Fair as the Southwest Railroad Historical Society.

Museum of the American Railroad
Two steam locomotives sit on display at the Museum of the American Railroad
Former name
Southwest Railroad Historical Society, Age Of Steam Railway Museum
Established1963
LocationFrisco, Texas, United States
Type501(C) Not For Profit
CollectionsRailway Rolling Stock and Historic Railroad Buildings
Public transit accessFrisco Shuttle Busses
Nearest parkingFrisco Discovery Center
Websitewww.historictrains.org

History

The museum began as a small exhibit at the State Fair of Texas in 1963, and continued as a staple of the annual fair, officially becoming a museum in 1986.[1] It remained at its original site at Fair Park until closing in November 2011.[2] The museum has fully relocated to Frisco, Texas;[3][4] the move was based on a strategic plan, called Visions 2006, which called for a comprehensive reorganization of the museum, including new facilities, new governance and new programs.[5] The museum's offices and some exhibits are temporarily housed at the Frisco Heritage Museum while construction continues on the museum's new location two blocks south.[6] A new model train layout opened in July 2018 in the Frisco Discovery center next to the Museum's site, the gift shop and ticket sales for the guided tours have since been moved to the new layout from the Heritage museum.

Collection
Frisco 4501 in Irving,TX during move to Frisco, TX
The Museum of the American Railroad's Frisco, Texas, location in June 2019

The items in the collection are as follows:

Locomotives

Steam

Diesel

Electric

AT&SF #49 at the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco, TX

Passenger equipment

Sleepers

Coaches

Lounges

Diners

Other

Transit Equipment

Metra Electric District (Ex-Illinois Central Railroad) "Stream-Liner" Built by St. Louis Car Company(First order #1501-1630, 1971-1972) and Bombardier Transportation (Second order #1631-1666, 1978-1979)

  • 1548
  • 1552
  • 1601
  • 1608
  • 1661
  • And five more

Freight equipment
  • Kansas City Southern single sheathed boxcar #7460
  • Kansas City Southern Lines Boxcar No. 107859
  • Lone Star Producing Company tank car #1817
  • Western Pacific Railroad Boxcar No. 68652
  • Texas & Pacific Railroad Boxcar No. X4446
  • Packers Car Line (Armour & Company) Ice Refrigerator Car PCX 4063
  • Packers Car Line (Armour & Company) Ice Refrigerator Car PCX 4005
  • Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Mechanical Refrigerator Car No. GNWR 1032 

Cabooses

Speeders/Handcars

Structures
  • Houston & Texas Central Railroad Depot, ca. 1905
  • Houston & Texas Central Railroad Handcar Shed, Dallas, TX ca. 1905
  • Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad Interlocking Tower 19
    Tower 19, Frisco 4501 in Fair Park Dallas, TX

Road vehicles

De-accessioned Equipment

TrainTopia

The museum opened a permanent exhibit called TrainTopia – A Railroad Odyssey in Miniature, located in the Frisco Discovery Center adjacent to the museum.[9] This is a massive 2,500-square-foot professionally-built model railroad layout donated to the museum by the Sanders family,[10] and supported by a $300,000 donation from the Ryan Foundation to finance moving the layout and preparing the exhibit space.[11] The scene spans Texas to Arizona, and includes details such as the dramatic rock formations of the Four Corners region near New Mexico, an animated downtown Dallas street scene, the Palo Duro Drive-In Theater complete with a movie playing, West Texas refineries, and working saw mills in Colorado.[9] A custom light show changes the exhibit from day to night.[9] The rolling stock of G scale trains includes hundreds of pieces of locomotives and cars, most finely-crafted by LGB in Germany.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2013-11-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org/
  3. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/frisco/headlines/20120901-museums-move-to-frisco-means-prized-collection-of-locomotives-train-cars-to-hit-the-tracks-again.ece
  4. "Museum of the American Railroad website". Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  5. http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org/Portals/0/Visions_Web.pdf
  6. http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org
  7. "Pullman Sleeping Car Glengyle". www.asme.org. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
  8. "Museum of the American Railroad > Collection > Collection Overview". www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org. Retrieved 2019-07-14.
  9. "TrainTopia Tickets!". Museum of the American Railroad, November 2, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  10. "Sanders Family of North Dallas Donates Spectacular Model Train Layout". Museum of the American Railroad, February 17, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  11. "Amanda and Brint Ryan Fund Reconstruction of Model Train Layout". Museum of the American Railroad, December 13, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2020.

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