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California State Railroad Museum announces exhibit partnership with the National Model Railroad Association
The project sounds exciting - 3500 sq ft would allow for a large exhibit.
But I am surprised that the NMRA is to provide funding. Frankly, with the recent dues increases, I don’t think they have the money.
Sounds like a bad move to me. The state of California is continually in financial trouble and cutting its bloated budget to try and get by. In a case of freebies to loafers and illegals vs funding for the train exhibit the train will loose every time.
Personally, I’m psyched to have this new exhibit coming to the CSRM. It is a wonderful facility, and there is an amazing amount of foot traffic through the place. Curious if it will be finished (or even started) by the NMRA National Convention in 2011.
My questions are how does the NMRA fit into this?
What is their role?
Are they donating money, over site of the construction or what?
I think this is a bad decision on the part of the NMRA that will alienate a large portion of the membership and also make potential members question whether they should join. $500,000 to $750,000 is a huge sum of money and considering California’s financial woes, I don’t believe the state can provide any assurance for the future of this NMRA endeavor.
I appreciate the NMRA’s zeal; but with the California State Parks system ran by the Govenator…do we know that exhibit will still have a home in Jamestown/Sacramento area? This is a question the membership of the NMRA should ask…
To make it a proper model railroad exhibit, it should include authentic an authentic environment for it. You know, tracks winding around behind the water heater, a washer and dryer etc.
While I’m sure the electronics will be state of the art, it should include a simulated rat’s nest of wires below the benchwork. There should also be an authentic model railroader’s workbench, complete with dozens of unfinished projects, spilled paint and glue, and an ashtray brimming with butts…
This is a good thing for the hobby. Depending where you live, you will agree or disagree. The museum is the gateway to railroading for hundreds of thousands of people each year. What better way to spred the enjoyment of our hobby. There are few trustees of railroading more dedicated then the California State Railroad Museum.
Sounds like we’re paying a lot of money to move a lot of NMRA to California state control, which, as others have said, is not noted for their fiscal skills. And how many California citizens will vote for money to fund “Proposition HO” when the crunch comes?
I’m dismayed that the announcement of such a large financial commitment by the NMRA should come from a non-affiliated site. I think the membership would not approve such a move if put to a vote, as it should be.
Just as a point of clarification, you guys – although it says that the NMRA will provide funding, this WILL NOT come from dues money. All plans are very preliminary, but the NMRA is currently talking about a corporate fund raiser, which may or may not include member donations. Because of the NMRA’s position as a standard bearer in the hobby, it’s serving as the “point person” for this project.
Second, as plans stand right now, this is NOT going to be a huge layout. Again, very preliminary, but what’s being discussed is an exhibit showing the evolution of scale model railroading from its earliest beginnings, through the tinplate and Depression era, through the war, and up into today. We may even show a small train layout in various stages of construction, so the general public can see benchwork, wiring, scenery, etc – and realize it’s actually not that hard to build a model railroad.
The CRSM gets over half-a-million visitors a year and is California’s #3 tourist attraction – there’s virtually no better way to expose that many people to all the facets and fun of model railroading.
Hope that clears some stuff up.
-Gerry Leone
NMRA Communications Director
As a long term member of NMRA I believe that what is proposed is insane! Where will the funds come from? Why does it cost the enormous amount of money noted for only 3,500 sf? Many of us could build a layout for far less. And let us face it - California is far from being in the geographic center of the USA where such a layout should be. Boo on this project.
Harold Tepper from New Jersey
This sounds positive. It would be especially nice if the museum installed a model RR with a similar scope and realism as the one in southern California that covers Techepi, Calinete and the region with a high degree of fidelity but cover perhaps Sacramento to Donner pass instead! Any mention of a planned operational layout?
When did this turn into a political forum? Have any of you visited the CSRM? To have such a wonderful museum be without a model train exhibit is unseemly. If the largest model railroad organization can’t contribute to one of the nation’s premier railroad museums then we are indeed in desperate times.
Get back to the roundhouse all of you wingnuts!
NMRA made a committment to Chattanooga and that is where it should stay. Build the layout at CSRM but keep NMRA and its library a seperate institution in its current location. We have all seen what mergers and buy-outs have done, cut back on diversity and choices.
As a Californian, and Proud of it, I feel this a good idea for the NMRA. The CSRM is one of the best railroad museums in the United States, if not in the world. It already has a large display of model railroading equipment in many sizes, with a running Tin Plate display in its upper gallery. Located in Old Sacramento, over looking the Sacramento River, it would get a lot of traffic from people all over the world, when they visit California. The Sacramento area in particular.
Nevertheless, here is an excerpt from the museum’s website announcing the partnership with NMRA.
“The proposed exhibit is expected to cost between $500,000 and $750,000 to develop, with the NMRA providing the necessary funding. In addition to pursuing development of this new scale model railroading exhibit, the parties have additionally agreed to explore possible relocation of the NMRA’s library collection, currently housed in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Sacramento. The collection would be administered by the staff of the California State Railroad Museum Library, also located at Old Sacramento State Historic Park.”
So, there is also the possibility of NMRA’s library moving to Sacrament too.
Frankly, I have doubts about the accuracy/completeness of the announcement. There is nothing of this at NMRA’s website, and I never recall any such announcements from the organization and never had the impression it had hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund such a project.
I think this is a bad idea. I see no benefit to the NMRA from the expense of this project. I am also very much against the idea of moving the library. With all of budget problems in California, I see a time coming when it will be a long wait and a huge fee for any information out of the library. There may even be a time when you can only get research materials by going to California yourself due to “budget cuts, staff cuts, and lack of needed funds”. Our officials should have put both ideas to a vote and let the membership decide. After all, the NMRA is supposed to be for the memberships benefit and such large projects should only be done with a guaranteed benefit to the membership that is legally enforceable if there is a breach of promise.