Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania 50

The new front entrance signage at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, installed in March 2024, showcases a silhouette of Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotive No. 1223, along with the working 8-foot Seth Thomas Clock, adorning the clock tower since 2007.
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, PHMC

Rising from the rolling hills and lush farmlands of Lancaster County is a sprawling complex of exhibit buildings, train tracks, and historic railroad equipment. Together, they tell the story of how railroads changed the lives of people for more than two centuries. For 50 years now, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has preserved and interpreted the commonwealth’s rich railroad history. It has engaged audiences by exploring the role railroads have played, past and present, in building our nation and shaping our daily lives.

Along with nearby railroad-related attractions like the Strasburg Rail Road, the Choo Choo Barn, the National Toy Train Museum, and the Red Caboose Motel & Restaurant at Paradise Station, among others, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has helped to firmly cement Strasburg, Pennsylvania, as a railroad-themed destination experience for travelers from all across the country and around the world. Today, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is best known for its world-class collection of approximately 100 locomotives and railroad cars spanning the early 19th century through the late 20th century, but it is so much more than that.

The idea for a museum devoted to the history of railroading in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was conceived in the early 1960s and approved by the Pennsylvania State Legislature, with the support of Gov. William W. Scranton, under the authority of Act 451 of 1963. Two years later, a special committee voted to establish the new museum in Strasburg over other more historic communities with important railroad connections, like Altoona, Mt. Union, Honesdale and Scranton, due in large part to the site’s close proximity to the Strasburg Rail Road, a very successful tourist railroad operation located in prime Lancaster County Amish country.

Originally to be called the “Pennsylvania Museum of Rail Transportation,” implying a slightly broader focus initially, the name was shortened to the “Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania” in 1967. Property was purchased for the new museum in 1967–68 and track laying began in 1969, with the 100-foot-long 1928 Reading Company turntable installed on the grounds in 1970.

Although the construction of the original museum building took place between 1972 and 1974, it was almost a year after completion before the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania opened its doors to the public for the first time on April 22, 1975. A formal “grand opening” ceremony was delayed until September 10, 1975, to allow for Gov. Milton J. Shapp and other dignitaries to attend.

PHMC Executive Director William Wewer speaks before a crowd of visitors gathered in front of the Virginia & Truckee No. 20 Tahoe steam locomotive during the dedication and grand opening ceremony for the Railroad Museum, held on September 10, 1975, with Gov. Milton Shapp in attendance. Rather than cutting a ribbon, the governor rang the polished brass bell of the Tahoe.
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, PHMC

Even before a building was constructed to house them, several locomotives and railroad cars had already been acquired by the commonwealth by the late 1960s. But it was the arrival of the nearly two dozen retired locomotives and railroad cars preserved by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1969 that helped to build the most excitement for the future museum.

Between the late 1930s and the late 1950s, PRR had set aside important examples of its motive power and freight and passenger equipment from throughout its corporate history for exhibition at various world’s fairs and other public events. This unique and important railroad equipment was moved to its new home in Strasburg in 1969, officially joining the permanent collection in 1979. To this core, the museum gradually added locomotives and railroad cars representing other railroads and manufacturers, large and small, that served Pennsylvania and the nation. At the same time, the museum began assembling an impressive collection of smaller artifacts, like uniforms, signals, telegraphy equipment, tools, lanterns, office furniture, artwork, dining car china and silver, scale models, and archival materials, including countless photographs, negatives, slides, drawings, books, serials and company records.

By 1971 the museum had already amassed nearly three dozen vehicular railroad artifacts — a full year before its construction commenced and four years before its grand opening to the public. Since opening its doors in 1975, the museum’s roster of locomotives and railroad cars increased in size to just over 100 pieces by the dawn of the 21st century. Today, the museum continues to look ahead to the kinds of contemporary locomotives and rolling stock that could best keep the story relevant for current and future generations.

The museum’s most recent addition in October 2023 is now its oldest locomotive: the Philadelphia & Reading Railway No.1 Rocket steam locomotive, built in 1838. The museum’s most modern locomotive is Amtrak AEM-7 No. 915, an electric passenger engine that joined the collection in 2015. Between these two acquisitions are artifacts representing almost two centuries of railroad history, yet the story of railroading in the commonwealth continues to unfold.

This interior view of the Railroad Museum’s main exhibit hall, taken from the observation bridge inside the museum in the late 1970s, shows the interior displays largely as they appeared from the opening of the museum through the early 1990s.
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, PHMC

Since its inception, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has grown in size and scope to better tell this story, recruiting invaluable assistance from the broader community along the way. In 1983 the nonprofit Friends of the Railroad Museum (FRM) was formed to provide preservation, programmatic and fundraising support to the museum. With the FRM’s help, the museum initiated a comprehensive stabilization and restoration program for its locomotives and railroad cars — many of which had been stored outdoors. In the mid-1980s the museum also announced its hopes to double its indoor exhibit space to shelter more of the locomotives and rolling stock stored outdoors. After a master-planning process, a successful capital fund drive was launched to secure the funding to construct a 45,000-square-foot addition to the museum.

Completed in 1995, this addition resembled a “train shed” of a grand urban passenger terminal of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and allowed more locomotives and railroad cars to be displayed indoors. Other additions have included a modern restoration shop in 1998, the Stewart Junction railway education center in 1999, the 1915-era “Golden Age of Railroading” Street Scene in 2005, a new front entrance and atrium in 2007, and modern climate control in 2012. Comprehensive new exhibits were installed in 2021 and new exterior interpretive and branding signage was erected in 2024, with the construction of a new roundhouse exhibit building set to follow.

All of these expansions have enhanced the museum’s ability to adequately preserve and display its impressive collection of locomotives and railroad cars, while at the same time providing a welcoming venue to conduct tours, public programs and scholarly research.

In the 50 years since its opening day on April 22, 1975, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has used its renowned collection of artifacts in concert with its dynamic exhibits, education programs and special events to illustrate the subtle yet profound ways in which railroads have changed people’s lives. At just 50 years old, it seems the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is still just getting warmed up in fulfilling its
mission and serving the broader public.

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s 50th anniversary celebration will kick off on April 22, 2025, with special tours and exhibits commemorating this important milestone. For more information on the anniversary, as well as the rest of the year’s events and programs, please visit rrmuseumpa.org.

Patrick C. Morrison is the director of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.