Southeastern Railway Museum Closing in on Fundraising Goal for New Building

The Southeastern Railway Museum is closing in on its fundraising goal for the museum’s largest expansion project since it moved to its current location roughly two decades ago.

The museum, designated Georgia’s Transportation History Museum, is planning to formally open the $1 million, 21,000-square-foot Rail Transit Exhibit (RTE) building this fall.

The new building, which sits behind the current Building 2, increases the museum’s covered exhibit spaces by nearly 50 percent. The new addition will have four tracks on which to display at least eight historic rail cars, and a 48-foot-wide central area will be used for transit displays or other exhibits and as an events space.

“This new building will allow the museum to improve how we interpret and tell the history of transportation in Georgia,” said Randy Pirkle, the museum’s administrator.

The Rail Transit Exhibit building is partially funded by a $500,000 transportation equity grant (TE). The museum has raised substantial matching funds and is raising an additional $200,000 to cover additional costs related to the project.

As of June, framing is complete and more than a quarter of the roof has been installed.

The museum is still looking to raise $200,000. For more information about contributing to the project, visit train-museum.org/donate-online.

For more information, visit SoutheasternRailwayMuseum.org.