Progress at the Museum Continues

We have built, rebuilt, and strengthened structures and programs:

New Museum Entrance Building. See details here. This project continues a series of impressive developments at the Museum.

New Railroaders Hall. Doubled the indoor display space for locomotives and exhibits.

 

Railway Education Center. Home for extensive hands-on, outreach, and professional teaching activities.

And Much More, including a new Restoration Building, a 1915 street scene, rebuilt outdoor tracks, new archival storage facilities, expanded exhibits, a locomotive cab simulator, effective use of computer technology, professional cataloging of archival holdings....

See our Restoration section for how we've restored precious locomotives and rolling stock.

With support from the Friends of the Railroad Museum (FRM), we have sought funding:

The Museum has been a regular recipient of grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and other respected funding sources.

These include the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the North American Railway Foundation, John Frederick Steinman Foundation, the Transportation Enhancement Act (TEA 21 and ISTEA), Save America's Treasures (National Endowment for the Arts), and many other individuals and corporations.

See our slide show on how effectively these funds have been used here.

Learn about major funding breakthroughs in 2010, including a new roundhouse and an impressive new exhibits program here.

We think carefully of the future:

"These days, any museum that is standing still is really moving backwards!  Your input and support have been of great help in keeping us moving on down the right track!"

A Museum as large as we are needs to carefully assess its needs, resources, and priorities to guide its further development. The Museum's 15-year Strategic Plan adopted in 2000 was eighty percent implemented by 2005, so a new five-year plan was developed in 2006, and adopted in May 2007!

It was developed in concert with Museum Staff, Friends of the Railroad Museum leadership, our Advisory Committee, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. To view the approved plan, click here.     

This is in PDF format. If you need the free Adobe Reader to view it, get it here.

We are serious about our responsibilities:

The Museum is regarded as a world-class facility in the field of railroad history. We belong to professional associations, and have been preparing for formal accreditation. This has entailed formal self-examination, compilation of extensive data, and submission to an outside review process.