Railroaders Memorial Museum facts for kids
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Main gates of the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona, PA
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| Established | 21 September 1980 |
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| Location | Altoona, Pennsylvania |
| Type | Railway Museum |
The Railroaders Memorial Museum (RMM) is a cool railroad museum located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This museum tells the story of railroad workers and the towns that grew because of railroads in central Pennsylvania. It especially focuses on Altoona and the huge Altoona Works train shops. Since 1998, the museum has been in the Master Mechanics Building, which the Pennsylvania Railroad built in 1882. The museum also runs a separate visitor center and viewing spot at the famous Horseshoe Curve.
Contents
History of the Museum
How the Museum Started
People in Altoona first talked about having a railroad museum way back in 1938. They thought it would help bring tourists to the city. In the 1960s, there was a big plan for a "Pennsyland" railroad museum. Altoona wanted to get 28 old Pennsylvania Railroad trains that were no longer being used.
However, the state decided to put its main railroad museum, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, in Strasburg. Strasburg also got the historic trains, including old steam locomotives and passenger cars.
Even though the state chose Strasburg, a group in Altoona called the Altoona Railway Museum Club kept working to build a museum. In 1968, they became the Horseshoe Curve Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. They collected railroad items and showed them off to get people excited. The Railroaders Memorial Museum was officially started in 1972 to raise money and collect more artifacts.
One of their first big purchases was The Loretto in 1975. This was a special private railroad car built for a rich steel boss named Charles M. Schwab. That same year, land was set aside for the museum, and money was donated for its construction. The museum officially opened on September 21, 1980, even though it wasn't fully finished yet.
Early Train Restoration Projects
In 1983, The Loretto train car was badly damaged by a fire. People worked hard to raise money to fix it.
Altoona's city leaders then wondered if they could fix up PRR 1361. This was a large K4 steam locomotive that belonged to the city and was displayed at the Horseshoe Curve. Museum officials wanted to help with this project.
In 1985, the museum was given the PRR 1361. They had to find another train to put at the Horseshoe Curve instead. Conrail, a railroad company, gave them a GP9 diesel-electric locomotive called PRR 7048 for the Curve. The museum also received money and workers to move No. 1361 and start fixing it up.
Conrail's chairman, L. Stanley Crane, even suggested that the K4 1361 could be used for special steam train trips. Over the next two years, the engine was fixed to run again at Conrail's Altoona shops. But it only ran for about a year before it broke down. Problems with money and leadership at the museum made it hard to fix the engine.
In 1996, the engine was sent to Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton for a full restoration. However, the museum stopped paying for the project in 2007. The parts of the engine were stored in different places. The plan to restore it was officially canceled in 2010. This failed restoration is still a talked-about topic because of its long history and the money spent.
Museum Growth
The National Park Service became interested in historic sites in western Pennsylvania. This led to the America's Industrial Heritage Project in 1988. This project aimed to find important industrial sites and help create a better tourism industry. Altoona was chosen as a key city for this.
As part of this project, the Railroaders Memorial Museum worked with the National Park Service to improve the visitor areas at the nearby Horseshoe Curve. These improvements cost $5.8 million and were finished in 1992. A new visitor center, run by the museum, was opened.
Museum officials also looked for a bigger space for the Railroaders Memorial Museum. In 1990, they wanted to move into the Master Mechanics Building nearby. This four-story brick office building was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It had been empty since 1984.
The project to move the museum cost $12 million. It was paid for by the National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration, and a state grant. There were some delays and even a big snowstorm in 1996 that caused problems for the museum's money. But finally, the grand opening ceremonies for the new museum were held on April 25, 1998.
Changes in Management
In 2002, the museum faced serious money problems. An internal check showed that the museum was deep in debt. The people on the museum's board of directors were surprised to learn they couldn't even afford to open the doors. Most of the board members then left.
New board members took over. They hired the Westsylvania Heritage Corporation to help run the museum. They made big changes to save money, like cutting the budget and letting go of more than half of the museum's employees. Many jobs were then done by volunteers. They also started to earn more money by holding events and renting out the museum's spaces. Slowly, the museum began to pay off its debts.
In 2007, the museum's operations were given to the Salone Management Group. This group had already organized concerts at the museum. In 2010, the Salone Management Group oversaw the building of a quarter-roundhouse on the museum grounds.
In 2020, Joseph DeFrancesco became the new executive director. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the museum and the Horseshoe Curve visitor center to close temporarily. DeFrancesco made more cuts and reorganized the museum. The museum reopened in March 2021. In June 2021, the museum hired FMW Solutions to try and restore the PRR 1361 locomotive to working condition again. Charles "Wick" Moorman, a retired leader from Norfolk Southern Railway, was chosen as the chairman of the board.
With new staff and a new board, the museum is now in a much stronger financial position.
The Museum Building
Since 1998, the museum has been in the Master Mechanics Building. This building was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona Works. The Altoona Works was once the biggest complex of railroad shop facilities in the world! The railroad started building shops in Altoona in 1849. Within 30 years, they had many different shops, including places to build and fix locomotives and rail cars. They also had paint shops, a blacksmith shop, and metal foundries.
The Master Mechanics Building was finished in 1882. It had offices and was the first home of the railroad's Test Department. This department had laboratories where they tested materials used to build and maintain railroads. In 1886, a third story was added to the building. By 1909, it had four floors. The Test Department helped the Pennsylvania Railroad make sure all its materials met high standards. They even gave demonstrations at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.
The Pennsylvania Railroad and the companies that followed it continued to use the building for offices. It was even the headquarters for the railroad police. It was last used by Conrail for medical offices and became empty in 1984.
Starting in 1990, the Master Mechanics Building was renovated for the museum. It opened in its new space eight years later. The building also has offices for the Railroaders Heritage Corporation.
You can see old trains displayed in a courtyard, a quarter-roundhouse, and a turntable on the museum grounds. The old museum building, also on the grounds, is now used for storage.
Ghost Stories at the Museum
The museum started telling stories about the Master Mechanics Building being a haunted tourist attraction in 2003. During Halloween, they had tours about the museum's "real ghost stories." A TV show called Ghost Hunters filmed part of an episode inside the museum. However, the episode showed that the haunting was not real. After the show aired in 2004, some local ghost hunters wrote a book claiming that spirits of dead railroad workers haunt the museum.
Museum Collection
| PRR 7048 | |
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| PRR 7048 at the Horseshoe Curve in October 2011 | |
| Power type | Diesel–electric |
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| Builder | Electro-Motive Diesel |
| Build date | December 1955 |
| AAR wheel arr. | B-B |
| Gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Prime mover | EMD 567C |
| Power output | 1,750 hp (1,300 kW) |
| Retired | 1985 |
| Disposition | On static display in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Cosmetically restored in 2021. |
The museum has several trains in its collection. One important train is the Pennsylvania Railroad 1361. This is a K4 steam locomotive that was displayed at the Horseshoe Curve from 1957 to 1985. It was fixed to run again but broke down within a year. Since 2015, it has been getting fixed up at a roundhouse on the museum grounds.
No. 1361 was replaced at the Horseshoe Curve by Pennsylvania Railroad 7048. This is a preserved GP9 Diesel-electric locomotive. It was built in December 1955 for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Later, it was owned by Conrail. In 1985, Conrail painted No. 7048 back in its original Pennsylvania Railroad colors and gave it to the museum. In 2021, work was done to make 7048 look new again.
