Overview of the RTM

The Railroad Technology Museum  (RTM) will increase the drawing power of Sacramento as a cultural and tourism destination, and provide a unique focal point for surrounding Downtown Railyards and waterfront redevelopment efforts. 

Building the RTM benefits the Museum’s commercial and residential neighbors—including Old Sacramento, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the City and County of Sacramento—and will help to spur redevelopment of the Railyards in a positive, historically appropriate manner. The spacious railroad shop buildings will house California State Railroad Museum’s collection of historic locomotives and railroad cars, plus formal museum exhibit galleries interpreting railroad engineering and technology.

Artist Drawing of the New Railroad Technology Museum in the Sacramento Railyards

At the RTM, children would have the opportunity to explore fundamental physics and engineering principles through hands-on, interactive exhibits. Through the use of sectioned locomotives, scale models, interactive displays, oral histories, and other interpretive techniques, the Museum and its staff would educate the public about steam and diesel locomotion, track structure design and wheel interface, the importance of the Shops and its labor force in the development of Sacramento, and the relevance of railroads in helping meet the transportation challenges of the future for California and the United States.

The RTM will provide the opportunity for the public to regularly view ongoing train restoration work. Previously, this important aspect of the California State Railroad Museum’s work has been conducted offsite and was not accessible to the public. The ability to watch artisans working “real time” on steam and diesel locomotives, wooden and steel railroad cars, and other types of projects has significant informational and educational value. The RTM will support curriculum-based educational programs for teenagers and young adults.