Construction to start on roundhouse at Railroad Museum of Pa. in Strasburg

• By Karyl Carmignani/For LNP | LancasterOnline

Six historic steam locomotives will soon be protected from the elements and preserved for future generations to enjoy, thanks to an anticipated addition at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

The museum will break ground Tuesday morning on a 16,000-square-foot roundhouse during an event that is open to the public with museum admission.The project is slated for completion in late 2026 or early 2027.

Museum director Patrick Morrison said that getting the locomotives sheltered from the weather is “a major point of this exercise, so we can start to stabilize and restore them over time.”

The design

Designed by Erdy McHenry Architecture of Philadelphia, the roundhouse exhibit structure will feature a fan shape with six temperature-controlled stalls to hold steam locomotives. The roundhouse design will utilize brick, steel and glass, as well as a clerestory-style roof to maximize natural lighting. Dillsburg-based eciConstruction will build the structure.

The roundhouse’s design is inspired by the building type used historically in rail yards to service, inspect and store locomotives, said Morrison, who has worked at the museum for 29 years, the last nine as director. When complete, the roundhouse will include an ADA-accessible pathway leading from the museum.

Plus, the roundhouse needed to be big enough to accommodate the Pennsylvania Railroad M1b No. 6755, a 110-feet-long locomotive.

When complete, visitors will get to see six steam locomotives in “varying stages of preservation,” Morrison said, from rusty, sun-faded husks to shiny cars in automotive-grade paint and meticulously detailed.

The building itself will be funded by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and the Department of General Services. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania declined to share the cost of building the roundhouse.

“This roundhouse project is a monumental step forward for the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and for preserving our state’s rich industrial heritage,” said Andrea Lowery, executive director, PHMC in a press release.

The nonprofit Friends of the Railroad Museum, which raises money for restoration projects, has raised over $300,000 for restoration work associated with the locomotives that will be housed in the roundhouse during its Ready for the Roundhouse fundraising campaign, which is still under way. Supporters can donate at rrmuseumpa.org/giving.

The turntable

The upgrades also include the museum’s 100-foot 1928 Reading Company turntable, which will be refurbished and updated before it’s placed in the center, outdoors, of the roundhouse structure.

A turntable in railroad parlance is a moveable set of tracks that allows locomotives to be directed onto a specific track or change directions. Steam locomotives only operated efficiently in the forward direction; the turntable allows engineers to turn them around and align them with stalls in the roundhouse.

Morrison said the museum’s turntable was delivered in 1967 from the Reading Railroad roundhouse in Cressona, Schuylkill County, and made operational in 1971. The museum has a display explaining its history.

As the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania continues its 50th anniversary year, it will continue to welcome visits during construction.

Morrison is looking forward to the next chapter of the museum’s history. He said getting those six steam locomotives under the same roof is “a big deal.”

“Even after 29 years here, I am still amazed how impressive these locomotives are,” Morrison said.

Museum history

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission began collecting items and acquiring locomotives and other rolling stock for the collection as early as 1966. In the summer of 1972, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the start of construction on the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The museum doors swung open on April 22, 1975. 

As the museum continued to build and restore its collection, along with adding programs to engage visitors, it expanded.  

In 1983, the Friends of the Railroad Museum was formed to help it achieve its goals. A restoration crew of FRM members removed rust, painted and completed repairs to equipment that had been stored outside in the museum yard.  

The 1990s brought an east wing expansion to the Rolling Stock Hall, which opened in 1995. Other additions included a pole barn for remediation and restoration work (now used for painting) and a restoration shop built on the south side of the main museum (in use today).  

To reach and engage young visitors, a hands-on learning center was created; later a larger education center called Stewart Junction was built and remains the hub of educational programs to this day.  

Behind the scenes changes were happening. too. The 2000s brought the Archives Annex in the museum basement, featuring compact shelving to accommodate the extensive archival material. Curatorial assistants took inventory and updated records for the museum’s 15,000 artifacts.  

The 2010s brought much-needed air conditioning in Rolling Stock Hall, making locomotive exploration much more enjoyable. Interpretive exhibits were enhanced to convey broader stories about Pennsylvania’s railroading history. The museum joined the Library System of Lancaster County’s Family Museum Pass Program and Museums for All, providing opportunities for low-cost or free admission.  

In recent years, accessibility and inclusion have been driving forces behind their programming and educational activities. In 2022, the museum launched sensory hours, a scheduled time with reduced lighting and noises for sensory-sensitive visitors. The museum offers monthly special events, which can be found on the website. While the museum has evolved over the past half a century, three main concepts have endured: preservation, education and interpretation. The new roundhouse will round out those goals.

The locomotives

Here are the locomotives to be housed in the new roundhouse upon completion.  

• Pennsylvania Railroad H10s No. 7688 

• Pennsylvania Railroad B6sb No. 1670 

• Pennsylvania Railroad E6s No. 460 

• Pennsylvania Railroad K4s No. 3750 

• Pennsylvania Railroad L1s No. 520 

• Pennsylvania Railroad M1b No. 6755

By the numbers

90,000: Visitors per year who go to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

150: Active volunteers who support the museum annually. 

24: Employees who keep the operation on track. 

100: Locomotives and cars in the collection.

*All numbers are rounded estimates.