Honoring the Past & Inspiring the Future
Imagine a future where every child experiences the transformative power of the railroad. Where school children from all over the Sacramento region discover how railroad history can inspire innovation and societal progress. The California State Railroad Museum is a dynamic bridge connecting our rich railroad heritage with the future through innovative educational programs and strategic community partnerships.
Your support on the Big Day of Giving creates countless moments of wonder and discovery for the young, and the young-at-heart. Please make a generous gift to the California State Railroad Museum Foundation today so that we can continue to make those lifelong memories.
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The California State Railroad Museum is more than a guardian of history – it stands as a bridge between our cultural heritage and tomorrow's possibilities. Through innovative educational programs, careful curation, and strategic community partnerships, the Museum has become a Laboratory of Learning, preserving the past while building a bridge to the future of rail innovation in California. We achieve this through the telling of stories that helped shape our Golden State.
Our Educational Reach
In 2025 we will spark curiosity and learning for over 100,000 young minds–nearly doubling last year's number of elementary students that visit with a school field trip to the Museum. We welcome public schools and home-school groups from all over California.
For countless Title I students, the museum provides their first-ever train ride experience—an opportunity to understand the transformative power of the Iron Horse. The Foundation subsidizes school bus transportation costs of more than $33,000, allowing elementary schools to bring dozens of students that, without such support, would not be able to afford a field trip to the Museum.
Through our Rail Innovation in Action program, 150 high school students from twenty states earned credits toward graduation while reimagining the future of rail travel through our virtual classroom. This groundbreaking partnership with the Lemelson Foundation and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Lemelson-MIT) allows students to participate with no enrollment fee, which helps remove barriers to invention education. The culminating project of the pilot year had students form small groups to collaborate on solutions to the challenges of motive power in rail travel and transportation. The ideas generated were truly remarkable and are on display at the Museum. To see the posters, click here.
Breathing Life into History
Donors help bring history to life as we restore and curate thousands of artifacts as well as the State’s impressive rolling stock. Having returned to service two magnificent locomotives (#402 and #6819) last year, our focus at the old Sacramento Railyards is now on the AT&SF #1010 and the Granite Rock #10, while Railtown’s famous #3 is nearing completion.
Importantly, new exhibits inside the museum, including "Women in Rail History" and "Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg – Out & About," have illuminated forgotten chapters of railroad history. There is also new public artwork with multisensory exhibits, including “Field Notes” in which old and new photos, movie footage and graphics tell how railroads affected Black Americans. These stories add to our understanding of life in the early 20th century and serve as inspiration for visitors to the Museum.
Strengthening Community Bonds
The Museum expands its cultural impact through local partnerships with Sacramento Public Library, the Great Wall Youth Orchestra, and Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum. These collaborations allow true stories to be told of how the railroad changed lives throughout the history of the American West.
The Museum also partners with and hosts the Northern California Invention Convention, transforming the Roundhouse into a high-energy hub of innovation. Young inventors channel the pioneering spirit of America's railway builders and showcase solutions to modern challenges—from a LEGO® sorting system to protecting the environment with sustainable actions we all can take.
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As you consider where your support for the 2025 Big Day of Giving will make the greatest impact, we invite you to remember the field trips of your youth – they likely created lasting impressions. Help us make those memories today through a gift to the California State Railroad Museum Foundation.
A gift of:
- $100 provides historic train rides for eight students on the Sacramento Southern Railroad (SSRR)
- $250 provides crucial restoration materials for the AT&SF #1010 and Railtown's #3
- $500 supports a high-school student’s virtual enrollment in Rail Innovation in Action classes
- $1000 underwrites transportation costs for a field trip to the Museum for two Title I schools
Thank you for supporting the California State Railroad Museum Foundation!