The Fox River Expansion

The Museum has now reached a critical point in our history, where the size of the facility is no longer large enough to accommodate our current activities, educational programming, or support growth in any area. 

Although the Museum’s collection grows at an average of 18% per year and the number of children who attend educational programs increases by an average of 500 per year, the Museum’s facilities have remained unchanged since 2001. In addition, after the Museum’s attendance grew by 65% between 2010 and 2016, we have consistently hosted an average of 100,000 visitors annually. Our facility was designed to serve fewer visitors and our current resources also do not allow us to continue to meet the needs of our diverse and changing community. 

Preserve

Today our Congressionally-designated museum is home to 70+ one-of-a-kind train cars, known as rolling stock; a dynamic host of rotating exhibits; and a growing collection of priceless railroad artifacts, images, and manuscripts that now tops 150,000 pieces.

Less than half of the Museum’s exhibit space (36,500 square feet out of a total of 78,000) is climate-controlled. This puts the integrity of our valuable rolling stock and museum collections at risk. 

Your donation means preserving more of our rolling stock and collection in perpetuity. These items are part of interactive educational programs for children and adults of all ages that help us live out our mission.

Inspire

Your donation will also help us inspire future generations! Railroad History is a vital piece of America’s history. Through preservation and education efforts, future generations will be inspired by our country’s rich railroad history.

Educate

We lack the space to add the immersive, technology-rich exhibits that would help us meet our educational mission. Your donation means new exhibit spaces allowing us to integrate technology and hands-on activities to create three-dimensional learning experiences.

When you contribute to Full Steam Ahead!, you will be part of a campaign that supports a vital educational resource for our community, and also makes a substantial contribution to the economic health of our area.