Railroad Museum of the Niagara Frontier facts for kids
The Railroad Museum of the Niagara Frontier is a cool place to learn about trains! It's located in an old train building called a freight depot. This building was built way back in 1922 in North Tonawanda, New York. The museum's main goal is to save and share the history of railroads in the Buffalo, New York area. Buffalo was once a very important center for trains in America. The Niagara Frontier Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society runs and owns the museum.
How the Museum Started
The museum officially opened its doors on June 1, 2003. Members of the National Railroad Historical Society worked hard to fix up the old train depot. After all their hard work, they had a special ceremony to celebrate the opening.
What You Can See There
The Railroad Museum of the Niagara Frontier has many interesting items. They have small pieces of railroad history. They also have four large pieces of real railway equipment!
- Cabooses: You can see two special train cars called cabooses. One of them used to belong to the Erie Railroad. The other came from the New York Central railroad. These cabooses have unique "bay-windows" that stick out.
- Locomotives: The museum also has two different types of train engines, called locomotives.
- One is a small, gasoline-powered engine. It's called a Plymouth 20-Tonner.
- The other is a Whitcomb 50-Ton Diesel-Hydraulic centercab switcher. This powerful engine was built in Canada. It used to work for the Tonawanda Island Railroad.
Across the street from the museum building, there is an old train control tower. It's called EL-2. This tower was used to manage train tracks and signals. The museum is working to restore this tower. They plan to make it part of the museum for visitors to explore.
