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.[1]
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[2] but had not broken ground as-of January 2019.[3] In all, the museum holds roughly 100 pieces of rolling stock, some nearing 200 years old.[2]
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.[4]
Some of these engines had operated on the Strasburg Rail Road for a number of years before being put back on display: PRR 1223, famous for its use in the 1969 film Hello, Dolly!, and
PRR 7002 (originally #8063), a re-creation of the famous original PRR #7002, which set an unofficial land speed record in 1905 by traveling at 127.1 miles per hour. Both had been leased to the Strasburg Rail Road and retired permanently in 1989.[4]
Other historic locomotives are featured at the museum, including the famous "Lindbergh Engine", PRR 460, which completed a 6-year cosmetic restoration in November 2016, and the oldest PRR locomotive #1187, built in 1888. The 1187 is placed over a pit, so visitors may go underneath and see the locomotive's underside. In 1895 #1187 suffered an accident but was barely damaged: however, the smoke box had to be rebuilt and it remained on the locomotive to this day. The official steam locomotive of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PRR 3750, famous for pulling President Warren Harding's funeral train, is on display outside of the museum. Two replicas are also included in the Pennsylvania Historic Collection, the John Bull (built 1831) and the John Stevens (built 1825).[4] In August 2023 the 185-year-old Rocket was removed from its prior home, the Franklin Institute, to be renovated for display at the museum.[5]
Electric locomotives include two PRR GG1 locomotives: the original prototype PRR 4800, and PRR #4935. Two other electric locomotives include AmtrakE60 #603, and EMD AEM-7 #915, which were donated by Amtrak in 2015.[4]
Solari Board from 30th Street Station awaiting installation
Cars
The museum also has a large collection of rail cars. Many of these are examples of cars seen on the Pennsylvania Railroad, including a P70 passenger car, a B60 Baggage car, and an N5c caboose. On display also are several wood-bodied freight and passenger cars, and one of the first all-steel passenger cars, PRR 1651.[4]
Other
The Solari board that displayed train departure times in Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is in the museum's collection. The board, created by Solari di Udine, was the last such one at an Amtrak station. It was replaced with a digital board on January 26, 2019, and has been on static display at the museum since July 2019.[6]
A book available in the gift shop, The Haunted Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, reveals that apparitions may be associated with some older items of equipment.[7]
^Cupper, Dan; Lettenberger, Bob (November 2023). "185-year-old Rocket moving to Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania". Trains. No. 11 Vol 83. Kalmbach Media. p. 52.
