Elizabeth was excited as we crossed the Fox River as she had never been to this museum before and I had not been there since 2003.
The sign you see from the freeway. We pulled in and parked before taking pictures.
National Railroad Museum HistoryEstablished in 1956 by several local businessmen, the National Railroad Museum began as a Steam Locomotive Committee aimed at preserving a favorite steam locomotive and other rolling stock. General Carl R. Gray, commander of military railroads during World War II, simultaneously advocated for the creation of a national railroad museum.
Through a designation by Congress, catalyzed by the work of U.S. Representative John Byrnes and Senator Alexander Wiley, the National Railroad Museum became the only congressionally designated railroad museum in the United States. The Museum operates as a privately funded 501(c)(3) educational organization and is among the largest railroad museums in the nation.
Located on Cooke Memorial Park, and later adding a portion of land owned by Brown County, the National Railroad Museum's 33 acres is the site of an increasing collection of rolling stock. Some pieces are housed in our beautiful, enclosed Frederick J. Lenfestey Center, while others are on display outside and under the roof of the Victor McCormick Train Pavilion.
As old freight equipment was replaced and passenger travel declined, the Museum acquired unique locomotives such as Union Pacific 4017 "Big Boy", the Pershing and Dwight D. Eisenhower locomotives, and more pieces representative of United States railroad history. The Museum now features more than 70 pieces of rolling stock, 100,000-plus small artifacts, operating / display tracks, seasonal train rides and special events.
The Museum's staff members and 200+ volunteers warmly welcome and help educate more than 100,000 visitors annually from across the country and around the world. Despite its status as the only Congressionally designated national-status railroad museum in the United States, the National Railroad Museum receives no federal, state or local tax support. Funds supporting Museum operations come from admissions, grants, memberships, fundraising events, mission-related business activities and the generosity of private donors.
Reading Company coach 1290, built by Harlan and Hollingsworth in 1925. Later re-built with an observation platform "Josephine".
Chicago and North Western bi-level passenger car 32 built by Pullman-Standard in 1956.
Children Discover Depot.
Soo Line 2718 live steamer. We went inside and introduced ourselves from Trainweb.com, gave him a card and he gave us wristbands for our visit. Then we started inside the main building.
All along the Fine Dining.
Picture Gallery.
Santa Fe Railway dining car china.
Drumhead Gallery.
Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 4017 built by American Locomotive Works in 1942.
Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 4890 built by the railroad in 1940. The GG1 was a Pennsylvania Railroad design intended to haul a consist of 12-14 passenger cars on the electrified sections of the system between New York, Washington, DC, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The tapered hood sides and centre cab were a product of concerns for crew safety, as they provided better visibility when running in either direction. GG1s were mainly used to haul passenger trains but some were regeared for freight service. 4890 was on display at the B&O Museum until 1995 when it was bought by the National Railroad Museum.
United States Army 2-8-0 101 built by Baldwin in 1918. They were known as "Pershings", after four-star General John Pershing, Commander of the United States Expeditionary Forces in Europe. They were intended for use in the European war theatre, although this locomotive never made it to Europe. Instead, it went to Fort Monroe, Virginia, as 765. It was renumbered 8341 and named "General Pershing" in 1925. In 1941, it moved to Fort Benning, Georgia and then, in 1943, to Cape Blanding, Florida.
Two years after retiring from service with the US Army, in 1947 8341 was shipped to Korea along with one hundred other locomotives from Europe to serve in the Korean War. There, it was renumbered 101 and was damaged by arms fire but was rebuilt in 1953 and put back into service. 101 ended its operating life as a switcher in Seoul and was then donated to the museum by the Republic of Korea in 1959. It went on display at the museum in 1961.
Pullman Company 10-1-2 sleeping car 8667 "Lake Mitchell" built by Pullman in 1924.
Museum views.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Dynamometer car 30 donated in 1971.
Wisconsin State Merci Car from France, which toured Wisconsin communities in 1949.
Milwaukee Road wooden caboose 2 nee, Kickapoo Valley and Northern 2 built by the railroad in 1889.
Ahnapee & Western bay window caboose 33 built in 1924.
W.F. Carey Company 0-4-0T 5 built by Alco-Cooke in 1923 for stock and then sold to the W.F. Carey Company as 5. It was acquired by the Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company in 1934 along with the Carey Company. Renumbered 29, it switched in the yards of the company town of Pullman, Illinois, fourteen miles south of Chicago until the late 1950s. It was sold to the Purdey Company, a scrap dealer in Chicago, in the late 1950s or early 1960s. In 1961, 29 was purchased by the Jennie Fuller Estate of Green Bay and the following year was donated to the museum. From 1962, with a plate bearing "Brillion Pioneer" attached to its foot boards, 29 hauled trains for the museum's tourist "Wisconsin & Yesterday Railroad". Unfortunately, complaints from locals along the route forced it into retirement.
British Railways streamlined 4-6-2 60008 "Dwight D. Eisenhower". Designed by London and North Eastern's Nigel Gresley for fast passenger service between London, Scotland and the North of England it was outshopped from the railway's Doncaster Works in the United Kingdom in September 1937. This coal-burning Pacific type locomotive was originally numbered 4496 and named "Golden Shuttle". It was renamed "Dwight D. Eisenhower" and renumbered 8 after World War II. With nationalisation of the British Rail system in 1948, the locomotive became 60008. It spent much of its operating life working out of Kings Cross, London and was finally withdrawn from service in July 1963. The following year, the engine was restored at Doncaster and donated to the National Railroad Museum. It was shipped to the United States, arriving in May 1964.
In October 1990, 60008 was moved to Abilene, Kansas, for the celebrations of the centenary of Eisenhower's birth. In 2012, 60008 was loaned to the National Railway Museum in York, England for two years. While there, it received a new coat of authentic BR Brunswick Green paint to replace the inaccurate shade applied during a repaint at Green Bay. It went on display at the York museum, as well as appearing at various times with five other A4 survivors. An anonymous donor apparently offered the Green Bay museum $1 million to allow the engine to stay in the United Kingdom but in 2014, it returned to the United States.
London and North Eastern sleeping car 1591, built by the railway in 1936.
London and North Eastern sleeping car 1592, built by the railway in 1936 and armour plated.
Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad wedge snowplow P100. The E&LS was founded in 1898 and was bought by Hanna Mining in the early 1960s. In 1978, John Larkin, a Minneapolis businessman bought the line. It still operates 208 miles of track from Ontonagon, Michigan, to Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Museum view.
Green Bay and Western C430 315 built by American Locomotive Works in 1968. After suffering a broken crankshaft in 1986, it was retired. In 1987, the GB&W donated it to the museum.
Wisconsin Central GP30 715 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963 as SOO Line 715.
Black Hills Packing Company URTX 72733 built by General American in 1948.
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad dining car "Dothan" built by Pullman in 1923.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad diner/parlour/observation car 300 "Silver Spirit" built by Budd in 1939.
Museum view.
Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway E-1 class 2-10-2 506 built by American Locomotive Company in 1919. It remained in service until 1962 and was donated to the museum the same year.
Rock Island Aerotrain 2 built by General Motors in 1955. Following World War II, with greater car ownership, growth of the nation's interstate highway system and air services, railway passenger numbers began to decline. In response, railroads sought ways to attract passengers back, including introducing stylish trains that combined speed and added luxury. One such effort was General Motors' "Aerotrain", unveiled in 1955. The trainset is essentially a combination of GM bus bodies re-styled and adapted to run on rails and hauled by a diesel engine. The GM "style" is evident in the windshield design, smooth front end lines with recessed headlights, and the fin-like wrap-around just above the pilot.
The first railroad to test one of the new trains in February 1956 was the Pennsylvania Railroad, but the lightweight coaches, single-axle trucks and a suspension system designed for buses made for a very uncomfortable ride at high speed. The Pennsy was not convinced and returned the train to GM after a year of use. GM took the trains on a tour of the country in an effort to drum up interest, but the same problems arose and no-one was willing to buy. Finally, in 1957, they were sold to the Rock Island for commuter services in Chicago, where lower speeds applied but after only nine years, in 1966, both trains were retired.
Sumter & Choctaw Railway 2-8-2 102 built by Baldwin in 1924. The Sumter & Choctaw was owned by the Allison Lumber Company in Bellamy, Alabama, serving the two namesake counties in western Alabama. 102 was donated to the museum in 1964. In 1988, the museum sent the locomotive to the Green Bay & Western Norwood roundhouse, where it spent nearly eighteen months being rebuilt with a diesel engine from an old center-cab switcher fitted to the tender so that it can haul trains, although not in steam.
Unknown box car.
Wisconsin Central Railway, subsidiary of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, wrecking crane W-1. It was built by the Industrial Works of Bay City, Michigan in 1903.
Illinios Central extended vision caboose 191488 built by the railroad in 1970 as 9488.
Minnesota & St. Louis NW-1 D-538 built by Electro-Motive Corporation in 1938. It was sold to the Marinette, Tomahawk & Western in 1957 and continued in service on that railroad until 1973, when it was donated to the museum.
Great Northern S-2 11 built as South Buffalo 73 which became Fort Howard Paper Company 63-146, then Georgia Pacific 63-146.
Tennessee Central Railway business car 100 ex Monon Railroad 1, built by the railroad in 1925.
Menasha Wooden Ware Company wooden box car 242.
Milwaukee Road H-10-44 767 built by Fairbanks-Morse in 1945 as 1809.
Unofficial replica Thomas the Tank Engine created in 1996 by the National Railroad Museum, the first museum in the United States to host a Day out with Thomas.
Anheuser-Busch Plymouth 15 ton switcher.
Pardee and Curtin Lumber Company 2 truck Shay 12 on a flat car. It was built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1917 as a 36" gauge coal-burner and is one of thirteen Shays rostered over the years by the Pardee & Curtin Lumber Company of Webster County, West Virginia. It was sold to the Ely Thomas Lumber Company in Fenwick, West Virginia, in 1947 and renumbered 5. In 1955, it was purchased by the railfans Harold Allen and Casimir Samborski and placed in storage in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was finally purchased by George Banta Jr., and donated to the museum in 1972.
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad coach 62 "Vern Bushman" built by Hicks Locomotive and Car in 1910.
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad combination baggage/passenger car 63 built by Hicks Locomotive and Car in 1910.
Green Bay and Western Railroad combination Mail/Baggage/Express car 21 built by Hicks Locomotive and Car built in 1908 as 52.
Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 2-8-0 24 built by American Locomotive Works in 1910 as Marquette & Southeastern Railway 40, which operated a sixty mile line between Big Bay and Lawson, Michigan. In 1911, the Marquette & Southeastern merged with the Munising Railway, a short line between Munising and Princeton, Michigan. The Munising, Marquette & South Eastern Railroad merged with the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad in 1923. The LS&I then renumbered the locomotive 24.
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad 4-6-2 2718 built by American Locomotive Company in 1923. The Soo Line was started in 1883 by a consortium of flour mill owners in Minneapolis to connect its two namesake cities and avoid sending shipments through Chicago. It was never a major passenger carrier as its line between Chicago and Minneapolis/St Paul was much longer than its competitors, the Milwaukee Road, Chicago & North Western and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. 2718 was in service for twenty-five years until 1958, when the Soo Line donated it to the museum.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Railway post office car 2330 built by Standard Steel in 1922.
Santa Fe 2-10-4 5017 built by Baldwin in 1944. 5017 worked on the Santa Fe Pecos Division between Clovis and Belen, New Mexico but travelled as far afield as Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. It ran up a total of 750,000 miles in its fifteen year life. Retired in 1959, it was donated to the museum that year.
Museum scene.
Union Pacific Railroad Astra Dome Diner 8003, built by American Car and Foundry in 1955 and used on the City of Los Angeles.
Chesapeake and Ohio K-4 2-8-4 2736 built by American Locomotive Works in 1944.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4 section-7 duplex roomettes-3 double bedroom-1 compartment sleeping car 1269 "Poplar River", built by Pullman Standard in 1950. It was later Great Northern 1269.
RVCX 20 used by the Richter Vinegar Company of Manitowoc. It was used to haul vinegar and apple cider. The tanks were built of solid redwood and could carry 8,470 gallons.
Chicago and North Western combine 7411 built by Pullman Car & Manufacturing Company in 1915.
Chicago and North Western bay window caboose 11217 built by International Car in 1966.
The rear of the Rock Island Areotrain.
Elizabeth and the Rock Island Aerotrain 2.
United States Army 44 ton switcher 106 built by Whitcomb in 1941 as St. Louis Ordinance 2.
Unknown baggage car x6073.
Armour and Company (Packer Car Lines) refrigerator car 4408 built by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1957.
United States Army RSD-1 8651 built by American Locomotive Company in 1945.
Southern Pacific S-6 1203 built by American Locomotive Company in 1955 as 1036. It is lettered for the Green Bay Route and numbered 106.
Museum scene.
Burlington Northern Railroad Jordan spreader 973127 built by O.F. Jordan.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy combine 3515 later rebuilt into baggage car 1580.
Chicago Great Western Railway caboose 662 built by Pullman-Standard.
Wisconsin Central SD24 2402 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959 as Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 510. This unit was renumbered 6250 when the CB&Q merged into Burlington Northern in 1970. In a succession of sales, it became Maryland Midland 6250, Fox River Valley 2402 and finally, Wisconsin Central 2402.
Green Bay and Western Brown City Voiture 774.
The last thing I took a picture of was this small steam engine in a glass case that you see when you walk into the museum. Elizabeth really enjoyed her experience at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay and I enjoyed my second visit to this fine establishment. Thank you to the National Railroad Museum for having us visit today. It is a class act and I look forward to bringing friends here in the future.
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