Become Part of History

Our Home - Warehouse "B" - Built in 1883

PRESENTING THE FOLLOWING OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE

You have an opportunity to honor or remember a member of your family, or to have your business name be prominently displayed on a part of Wilmington history. The Wilmington Railroad Museum met the exciting challenge of moving all of our artifacts, ranging from a pencil to a 100-ton steam locomotive, into a different building or onto new tracks with minimum disruption for Museum visitors. As you can imagine, this complicated and expensive process was only the first step in the continuous effort to tell the story of the railroads and the people who worked on them. You can become a part of Wilmington history and at the same time help us by sponsoring one of the following activities.   Pick the one you want before it is spoken for. Don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Sponsored Activity                                           Donation

Reconstruction of the HO train layout                  $ 10,000



Reconstruction of the Lionel train layout             $   5,000



Purchase a new Museum Display Case               $   1,500

Construction of the Museum Library                    $ 25,000



Landscape Outside Play Area                 $ 10,000



Installation of Signs & Lighting                            $   7,500



Memorial Plaque for RR Employees                    $ 100/Individual

Engraved Brick for Railroad Garden    $ 100/Brick

White Flag 30th Anniversary Campaign               $30/$300/$3000

Sponsorship acknowledgements will indicate the individual, group of individuals, company, or corporation making each donation.

Please make your checks out to ?The Wilmington Railroad Museum Foundation and clearly indicate which sponsorship activity you wish to support.

Mail to: The Wilmington Railroad Museum, 505 Nutt Street, Wilmington, NC 28401. Each gift will be properly acknowledged as indicated above.

We are a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, any gift or donation is tax deductible. For this one time Museum relocation effort we are accepting specific donations for the tasks indicated above. We will update this list on our web site by indicating those that are still available and listing the individual, group, or company that has donated the funds for a specific activity unless you would prefer that we not do so.

If you have any questions about this sponsorship activity please click on CONTACT US on our main menu and send us your request. We will get back to you within the next two days.

Don't be disappointed. Select your sponsorship item today and help make the new Railroad Museum a great Wilmington showplace.

SPECIAL ARTIFACT PROJECTS

We preserve and maintain artifacts for the enjoyment of our visitors. Sometimes there is something that needs work done with outside assistance. These are some examples of unique items for special attention.

Link-and-Pin Coupler: This was unearthed in the freight yard area and dates from before the 1870s, when the more familiar knuckle couplers were starting to be introduced. It shows how cars were hooked together, along with hints about the dangers of standing between cars to drop the pin in place. It's heavily rusted, but clearly shows the pin securing the link within the coupler boot. Work would include trating the remaining iron to stabilize it agains future deterioration.

Casket Cart: This was used to offload caskets from baggage cars and move them to a funeral home or indoors for pickup. Work is needed to prevent further deterioration, along with replicas of accessories and restoration painting.

Locomotive Whistle: This was ussed on the largest of the ACL mainline locomotives in the twilight of steam power. The project would re-mount the whistle in Railroad Heritage Square, to sound a grade crossing signal once a day. Never before heard in Wilmington, this would be an enduring echo of times past, when scores of trains arrived and departed each day.

If you have any questions about sponsoring one of these very distinctive projects, please click on CONTACT US on our main menu and send us your request. We will get back to you within the next two days.

MODEL RAILROAD VOLUNTEEER OPPORTUNITIES AND SCHEDULES

In addition to routine gatherings on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m., model volunteers are welcome throughout the week to expand and refine the features and details of the largest museum-grade HO layout in the southeastern U.S. Model activities are constituted as part of the Board of Trustees and serve to demonstrate the craftsmanship and technical excellence of this pasttime. Contact Bill Bryden at 509-9713 or Kurt Schwerdt at 256-0937 for more information.

CREATING A NEW MUSEUM: Photos from the "Big Move" in 2007

Arched doorways in progress in new museum