FRISCO, Texas — While the Museum of the American Railroad remains a work in progress, the seeds have been sown to make it of the nation’s more impressive rail museums once completed.
The museum traces its origins to an exhibit at the 1963 State Fair of Texas. It proved so popular, it was made an annual exhibit at the fair and formally opened as a museum — known as the Age of Steam Museum — in 1986 at Fair Park in Dallas.
The location closed in November 2011, and the museum relocated to its current location in Frisco, a suburb located about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas. The town, interestingly, was created by and named for the St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) Railway, which arrived in the area in 1902.
Today, many of the museum’s operations are located at the nearby Frisco Heritage Museum. But, its railyard is open for regular walking tours. Plans call for a depot inspired by Boston’s North Station of 1893 to house some of its collection.
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