Twin City Model Railroad Museum gets a reprieve

This just in from John Longhurst: The Twin City Model Railroad Museum is getting a five month reprieve! They will have to move eventually, but this gives the club some much needed time to get their finances in order and to find a new location.

However, their toy train museum, located in a separate building at Bandana Square, couldn't be saved. It's going to close this Monday, November 2.

Their goal is to raise $250,000 to pay for their move and the $30,000 in rent that they owe. They still have to pay all of their operating expenses from December until they move in the spring. Once a new location for the museum is found, the club will apply for grant funding to help pay for the relocation.

For more information about the Twin City Model Railroad Museum's reprieve, go to John Longhurst's CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision blog site by clicking here. To view the article from CBS television in Minnesota that broke the story, click here.

Twin Citiy Model Railroad Museum is closing

A fine example of some of the amazing modelling work done by the Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota. Photo by Paul Ullrich.

Our good friend and long time WMRC member sent us some sad news last week, The Twin City Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota is closing. The museum, which has been around for an amazing 81 years in several locations, is $30,000 in debt. They just can't pay their rent, and to make matters worse, it would cost about $50,000 to move the layout to another location.

This museum has been the highlight for many Winnipeg model railroad buffs when they visit Minneapolis -St. Paul. In addition to their massive scale O gauge layout, they had recently included a separate toy train display in another building next to their Bandana Square location, which was formerly the Northern Pacific Railway's Como passenger car shops.

The museum is slated to close today, but members hope that they will be allowed to stay open for the the Christmas season so it can earn some much needed revenue. Their toy train will be closing on November 15. 

For more information about the Twin City Model railroad Museum, and its closing, you can see John Longhurst's many posts about it by clicking here. To read an article about the closing of the museum from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, click here. To visit the Twin City Model railroad Museum's website, please click here.

 Just one of the Twin City Model Railroad Museum's toy train layouts. Photo by Paul Ullrich.

 Another more realistic 3-rail O gauge hi-rail layout was also a part of their toy train display, which was house in a separate building in Bandana Square. Regular visitor to the area will recognize many of the city's famous most famous building to the far left of the image. Photo by Paul Ullrich.