ASHWAUBENON, Wis. – The National Railroad Museum has submitted a plan to the Village of Ashwaubenon for a $15 million expansion project that would include a new building for exhibits and a plaza along the Fox River, Green Bay’s Fox 11 News reported. The museum would expand its current Lenfestey Center by 32,040 square feet. The project would also include a 36-stall parking lot and other improvements. Sketches submitted to the village show what appears to be four rows of tracks inside, with the building including outdoor patio space facing the river.
“The timeline is dependent on funding, but we hope to break ground in a few years,” Museum CEO Jacqueline Frank told FOX 11. Frank says this is the first phase of an overall master plan for updating the site.
Discussion of the expansion plans began in 2016 when initial designs were released. Frank says the overall project is “years down the line.”
The Lenfestey Center, a 25,000 square foot facility, is the Museum’s main rolling stock exhibition venue. The climate-controlled facility is home to such notable pieces as Union Pacific No. 4017, one of two museum-based Big Boys exhibited indoors, London & North Eastern Railway locomotive No. 60008, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and cars from Eisenhower’s World War II command train. This facility was opened in July 2001.
Founded in 1956 by community volunteers, the National Railroad Museum is one of the oldest and largest institutions dedicated to preserving and interpreting United States railroad history. In 1958, a joint resolution of Congress recognized the Museum as the country’s National Railroad Museum. Among the museum displays are a Chesapeake & Ohio Kanawha 2-8-4 No. 2736, Santa Fe 2-10-4 No. 5017, a General Motors Aerotrain, and Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric No. 4890.
For additional information about the project or to support the effort, contact Museum CEO Jacqueline Frank at jdfrank@nationalrrmuseum.org.
