Trails to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Written by Amy Fox in the Trailheads category and the Fall 2017 issue Topics in this article: E6 locomotives, Lancaster County, National Register of Historic Places, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Railroad Locomotive No. 460 (Lindbergh Engine), Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, railroads, Smithsonian, steam locomotives, Strasburg, Strasburg Rail Road
The restoration of the Lindbergh Engine, Pennsylvania Railroad E6s No. 460, was supported with commonwealth funding and private funds raised by the Friends of the Railroad Museum. Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania/Photo by Craig A. Benner
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania opened to the public in 1975 across Route 741 from the Strasburg Rail Road in Strasburg, Lancaster County. The excursion railway’s popularity as well as Lancaster County’s significance as a tourist destination contributed to the selection of Strasburg over Altoona, which was also in consideration. The museum, renowned for being the first purpose-built railroad museum in North America, was designed to house a collection of locomotives and railcars from the Pennsylvania Railroad. Over the years, PHMC and the nonprofit Friends of the Railroad Museum have worked in partnership to increase the museum’s exhibit, program and collections capacities. Steinman Station, a recreated 1915 small-town passenger station, was added in 1988. Rolling Stock Hall was roughly doubled in size with the addition of a 19th century–style train shed in 1995. The museum’s Restoration Shop opened in 1999. Stewart Junction Railway Education Center, a venue for hands-on learning and play with a freight station exterior, opened in 2000. The most recent major addition was the new entrance lobby extension in 2007.
Today the museum’s collection includes more than 100 locomotives and pieces of rolling stock representing major and minor railroads operating in Pennsylvania; hundreds of smaller objects such as signal lanterns, railroad china, maintenance tools and personal items of workers; and an extensive library and archival repository documenting railroad history from the 19th century to the present. After 42 years of presenting railroading history to the public, the museum, now a member of the Smithsonian Affiliates program (see PHMC Highlights, Winter 2017), is poised for its next phase of development and expansion.
Railroad Museum and PHMC staff are working with an exhibit team from Universal Services Associates Inc. and Gecko Group to develop new interpretive exhibits that will be placed throughout the museum. One of the challenges is to “layer” the new exhibits on top of the existing rolling stock displays and recreated buildings. The new exhibits are designed to enhance the museum’s world-class collections by adding historical context and themes to the mix. The goal is to provide rewarding experiences for serious railfans and people who just enjoy looking at trains or are searching for a fun day out.
The museum’s entrance lobby will be reconfigured to better accommodate visitors and front-desk staff and to allow for a thematic orientation space. The primary message, “Railroads Changed Our Lives Forever,” and five supporting themes will be introduced through graphic panels, photo murals and artifacts. Visitors will then be directed through the connecting hallway to Rolling Stock Hall, where new wayfinding signage will present them with a variety of options.
If visitors choose to enter Steinman Station, to their right, they will find new interpretive exhibits about travel, telegraphy (already a popular topic in the station) and an audiovisual overview of the exhibit themes. When they exit the station, they will find new low-tech interactives that help them explore the 1915 street scene (general store, bar/hotel, family home, labor union office and photographer’s studio). The Stewart Junction Education Center will be updated with new signage and interpretation for the model train layouts, as well as a new exhibit about how a railway freight office operates.
If visitors entering Rolling Stock Hall turn to their left instead, they will encounter a new feature called Trainworks. While many in the museum’s audience are quite knowledgeable about railroad technology, others are curious to learn about the basics of locomotion, braking, and types and functions of railcars. Trainworks, through graphics, artifacts and hands-on games, will explain these topics to help visitors explore and understand the wide variety of rolling stock in the collection.
Planning for interpretive exhibits to be placed around the train platforms required thorough discussion and design creativity. Considerations included the museum’s public programming (such as the upcoming Trains and Troops event in November), private rentals (a source of public engagement and financial support), and sight lines for the many visitors who want to photograph the trains. The result is a series of five “hot spots,” each focused on one of the five themes that are introduced in the lobby exhibits: railroad workers, changing marketplaces, impact on landscapes, innovation, and railroad travel and advertising.
In addition to the new Rolling Stock Hall exhibits, which should be completed in 2018, there is considerable excitement and anticipation surrounding a new building that will provide more space for the museum’s collection of steam locomotives. The Roundhouse will be built at the edge of the museum rail yard, just beyond the working turntable. Though not a full recreation of a historic roundhouse, the new building’s design echoes the shape and materials to the extent possible, given other factors.
The museum’s new Roundhouse exhibit will complement the working turntable, used to reposition rolling stock in the train yard. Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania/Erdy McHenry Architecture LLC
The Roundhouse will provide sheltered exhibit space for six Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotives, all of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places: E6s No. 460 (“the Lindbergh Engine”), M1b No. 6755, K4s No. 3750, L1s No. 520, H10s No. 7688 and B6sb No. 1670. Plans also call for interpretive signage related to the locomotives and railroad roundhouses, as well as a structural element that will allow the wheels of the Lindbergh Engine to move while it remains stationary. The Lindbergh Engine was the focus of a multiyear restoration effort completed last year (see “The Lindbergh Engine: Racing through Time with Pennsylvania Railroad Locomotive No. 460,” Spring 2016). The Friends of the Railroad Museum have embarked on a fundraising initiative, Ready for the Roundhouse, to raise $250,000 to stabilize, media blast and paint the other five locomotives. In August, the Friends reported that they were two-thirds of the way to their goal. More information on contributing is available at rrmuseumpa.org/giving.
Leading the museum staff, board and volunteers into this new era is Patrick C. Morrison, named site administrator of the Railroad Museum in May of this year. Morrison has worked at the museum for more than 20 years, focusing on educational programs and outreach for visitors of all ages. He holds degrees from Millersville University and the University of Delaware.
Amy Killpatrick Fox is a museum educator in PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Mu-seums. She writes a weekly blog also called Trailheads at patrailheads.blogspot.com.
