National Railroad Museum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States. For other national railroad museums see National Railway Museum (disambiguation)

US Army 101, a Consolidation Class 2-8-0 on display at the National Railroad Museum on April 26, 2004. This locomotive was built for use in France during WWI but never made it there. The original European style cab was replaced by an American style.

A display of several railroad drumheads at the museum.

The National Railroad Museum, located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin (a suburb of Green Bay), is one of the oldest museums dedicated to railroad history. It was founded in 1956 by community volunteers in Green Bay who contributed time and resources. Throughout its history, patron contributions have continued to create one of the largest railroad preservation institutions in the United States.

Today, the National Railroad Museum is home to one of the United States' most historic railroad collections. The museum has a large collection of rolling stock and a number of historic locomotives including an Aerotrain, Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4017 (the world's largest steam locomotive type), and the British Railways A4 Class No. 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower (ex-London & North Eastern Railway No. 4496 Golden Shuttle) and train used by the Supreme Allied Commander and his staff in the United Kingdom during World War II.

In addition to the rolling stock there is a museum building housing a wide variety of railroad artifacts, an archive, and photography gallery. The grounds also contain an extensive model railroad housed in a separate building as well as a standard gauge track around the perimeter of the grounds featuring a replica of Thomas the Tank Engine to pull young friends past the rolling stock exhibited there.