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Not to be confused with Age of Steam Roundhouse.
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Museum of the American Railroad
Dallas Railroad museum 4.jpg
Two steam locomotives sit on display at the Museum of the American Railroad
Former name Southwest Railroad Historical Society, Age Of Steam Railway Museum
Established 1963
Location Frisco, Texas, United States
Type 501(C) Not For Profit
Collections Railway Rolling Stock and Historic Railroad Buildings
Public transit access Frisco Shuttle Busses
Nearest parking Frisco Discovery Center

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 more than 70 pieces of steam, diesel, passenger, and freight railroad equipment sitting on 15 acres making it one of the largest historic rail collections in the US. Guests may walk through some of the equipment on guided tours.

History

The museum began as a small exhibit at Fair Park in 1963, and continued as a staple of the annual State Fair of Texas. It officially became a museum in 1986, remaining at its original site until November 2011. The museum has fully moved to Frisco, Texas; 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. 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.

TrainTopia, a G scale model train layout, opened in July 2018 in the Frisco Discovery Center next to the museum's site. An additional O-scale layout is being reassembled.

Collection

Frisco 4501
Frisco 4501 in Irving,TX during move to Frisco, TX
Frisco June 2019 28 (Museum of the American Railroad)
The Museum of the American Railroad's Frisco, Texas, location in June 2019

The collection includes:

Locomotives

Steam

  • Union Pacific #4018: Big Boy 4-8-8-4 (Built by ALCO in 1941)
  • St. Louis-San Francisco Railway #4501: 4-8-4 (Baldwin, 1942) Famous for pulling the Meteor
  • St. Louis-San Francisco Railway #1625: 2-10-0 (ALCO, 1918)
  • Dallas Union Terminal #7: 0-6-0 (Baldwin, 1923)

Diesel

  • Southern Pacific #2379: Fairbanks Morse H12-44 Built 1956 (Operational)
  • Colorado & Wyoming #1107: Baldwin VO-1000 Built 1943 (Operational)
  • Union Pacific #6913: EMD DDA40X Built 1969
  • United States Army #8000: ALCO RSD-1 Built 1942 (Originally an ALCO RS-1 built for New York, Susquehanna & Western as #231, rebuilt by ALCO as one of the first RSD-1s) (Operational)
  • Santa Fe #49: EMD F7 Built 1952 (formerly Canadian National #9167, repainted into Santa Fe Red Warbonnet colors in 2006) (Operational)
  • BNSF #97: EMD SDFP45 Built 1967 (Formerly Santa Fe EMD FP45 #107) Rebuilt in 1982 and reclassified as SDFP45. (Under Restoration)
  • Santa Fe #M-160: Doodlebug Built by J. G. Brill Company in 1931. Re-engined in 1952 by AT&SF with an EMD 6-567B. (Operational)
  • Santa Fe #2404: EMC NW2, built in July, 1939
  • Santa Fe #2260: Baldwin Locomotive Works DS4-4-1000, built February, 1948
  • Santa Fe #608: Fairbanks-Morse H12-44, built November, 1951
  • Santa Fe #59L: American Locomotive Company PA-1 Built 1948, now under restoration. Also known as Delaware and Hudson Railway #16 and Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México #DH-16
  • Santa Fe #2428: Santa Fe CF7
  • Santa Fe #2447: Santa Fe CF7
  • Asarco #10: Whitcomb Locomotive Company 1945 Class 8-DM-67 (21 1⁄2 inch (Hunt) gauge)
  • Southern Pacific #MW8209: EMD F7B 1949 (Originally SP #6151C, renumbered when converted for snow plow service) (Under Cosmetic Restoration)
  • Vulcan Materials Company Plymouth Locomotive Works: Model ML8 1943 (30-ton)

Electric

  • Pennsylvania Railroad class GG1
AT&SF -49
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) (All Operational)

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

Freight equipment

  • Kansas City Southern #7460: single sheathed boxcar
  • Kansas City Southern Lines #107859: boxcar
  • Lone Star Producing Company #1817: tank car
  • Western Pacific Railroad #68652: boxcar
  • Texas & Pacific Railroad #X4446: boxcar
  • Packers Car Line (Armour & Company) PCX 4063: Ice Refrigerator Car
  • Packers Car Line (Armour & Company) PCX 4005: Ice Refrigerator Car
  • Genesee & Wyoming Railroad #GNWR 1032: Mechanical Refrigerator Car

Cabooses

  • Santa Fe Caboose #999311: Built 1949
  • Santa Fe Caboose #1618
  • Cotton Belt #2332: drover caboose Built 1920
  • Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad #932: Built 1971

Speeders/Handcars

  • Union Pacific Railroad #MT14444M: Fairmont Railway Motors Model M-14 Built 1977 (Onan 2 cyl. engine)
  • Track-Work Incorporated (Ex-Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad) #RIMC 915: Fairmont Railway Motors Model S2E Built 1955 (Fairmont 1 cyl. engine)
  • Gifford-Hill & Company #H109: handcar, Donated 1964

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
    Dallas Railroad museum 2
    Tower 19, Frisco 4501 in Fair Park Dallas, TX

Road vehicles

  • Railway Express Agency Ford 1-ton box truck, 1941

Formerly owned equipment

TrainTopia

The museum has an exhibit called "TrainTopia – A Railroad Odyssey in Miniature" in the Frisco Discovery Center next to the museum. This is a 2,500-square-foot professionally-built G scale model railroad layout donated to the museum by the Sanders family; a $300,000 donation from the Ryan Foundation funded moving the layout and preparing the exhibit space. 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 with a movie playing, a West Texas refinery, and working sawmills in Colorado. A custom light show changes the exhibit from day to night. The layout has hundreds of locomotives and cars, most made by LGB in Germany.

Gallery

Exhibit formerly at Fair Park

  • Union Pacific EMD DDA40X at Fair Park 09.2006

    Union Pacific EMD DDA40X

  • Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 -4018 at Fair Park 09.2006 0

    Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 -4018

  • Santa Fe EMD FP45 diesel -97 at Fair Park 09.2006

    Santa Fe EMD FP45 diesel -97

  • Santa Fe Caboose at Fair Park 09.2006 2

    Santa Fe Caboose

  • Santa Fe -M-160 Doodlebug at Fair Park 09.2006

    Santa Fe -M-160 Doodlebug

  • Santa Fe -49 EMD F7 at Fair Park 09.2006 -1

    Santa Fe -49 EMD F7

  • Pennsylvania Railroad -4903 GG1 at Fair Park 09.2006

    Pennsylvania Railroad -4903 GG1

  • Colorado & Wyoming -1107 Baldwin VO-1000 at Fair Park 09.2006

    Colorado & Wyoming -1107 Baldwin VO-1000

  • Lone Star Producing Company tank car -1817 at Fair Park 09.2006 1

    Lone Star Producing Company tank car -1817

  • Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad dining car -438 Fair Park 09.2006

    Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad dining car -438

See also

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