Railway History Campus

Featuring the more traditional concepts of a Museum space with exhibits and artifacts in a climate controlled building the Train Shed Exhibit Hall lets visitors to see the locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars and maintenance equipment while learning about the role and impact of railways in Northwest development. 

The Railway Education Center, a space with reading room for public access to this collection of non-circulating material and a classroom for Educational Programs is open via appointment; access to the collection is limited while the Museum is in the multi-year process of moving the materials from long-term offsite storage into the new facilities. The building provides public restrooms when the campus is open, the classroom is open for special programs and the reading room available by advanced appointment for researchers.

The Conservation and Restoration Workshop used for collections care on the Museum's large objects is only open to the public via the Tour Package as it is an active work site and is not available to drop in visitors; all visitors must make an advance reservations. If you wish to schedule an a Tour Package for your group, email: info@TrainMuseum.org.

The Train Shed Exhibit Hall is the Northwest Railway Museum's 25,000 sq. ft. structure to house locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, and maintenance-of-way cars. Featuring the more traditional concepts of a Museum space with exhibits and artifacts in a climate controlled building the Train Shed Exhibit Hall lets visitors to see the locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars and maintenance equipment. Telling the story of how railways changed settlement patterns, foodways, trade networks, industry and leisure activity the The Railroad Changed Everything exhibit creates an understanding about the role and impact of railways in Northwest development. The Train Shed also houses several exhibits including the award-winning Wellington Remembered exhibit,  The Railroad Built the Pacific Northwest exhibit, and exhibits exploring the lives of Railway Workers.

It also provides fundamental protection against rain, rapid changes in humidity or temperature, and light. These environmental factors present some of the greatest threats to the Museum's collection of railway artifacts. This building has allowed the Museum to preserve about one-third of our large object collection inside. 

The Train Shed Exhibit Hall houses a mixture of large objects, ranging from our most historically significant and restored pieces like the Chapel Car Messenger of Peace and White River Lumber Co Caboose 001 to our most vulnerable to the weather pieces like Canadian Pacific Railway #25 which is currently housed in the building awaiting future restoration. 

The Conservation and Restoration Workshop is the building used at the Railway History Campus to perform collection care on railway transportation artifacts including locomotives, passenger and freight cars, and special maintenance vehicles such as snow plows. This indoor facility has 8,200 square feet. This facility is where the Museum's full time and volunteer staff perform collection care on large objects. The Conservation and Restoration Workshop ("CRW") allows all types of collection care to be performed inside a heated building, including preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. 

Since 2007 major projects have included the restoration of Chapel Car 5 Messager of Peace, SPS Coach 218, the rehabilitation of White River Timber Co Caboose 001 and Weyerhaeuser Timber Co Locomotive 1 that ran on the White River Timber Co line. Currently the major project is the restoration of the Northern Pacific Steam Locomotive 924 and smaller restoration projects are being performed on each of the passenger cars that visitors regularly ride on at the Museum.

The Conservation and Restoration Workshop used for collections care on the Museum's large objects is only open to the public via the Tour Package as it is an active work site and is not available to drop in visitors; all visitors must make an advance reservations. If you wish to schedule an a Tour Package for your group, email: info@TrainMuseum.org.