So this is kind of a dumb question, but how did the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, you know become The National Railroad Museum? I saw on their website that they were declared such by Congress in 1958, but not much on the story of how that came to be other than some people in 1956 petitioned for it.

Hindsight being 20/20, there are certainly museums I know of that have larger collections than the National Railroad Museum, like IRM and the California State Railroad Museum (the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum might have a larger collection too?) but it seems like the National Railroad Museum has a bit of a broader collection, with stuff from various railroads nationally; including a foamer trifecta of a Big Boy, a GG1 and a British A4 in the same room. But I kind of wonder about the story of how it became the national museum, and what else in their collection is meant to reflect that national approach?

They asked for the title. Yes, it was that simple.
Well, not quite, but with a friendly few folks in Congress, a resolution was presented that went through the Committee of Rules and Administration.
The resolution did clearly state:

Resolved, That the United States shall be put to no expense by the approval of this concurrent resolution.

Not to be confused with how the "National" got into the name of the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis.

I think both museums are dedicated to transportation technology rather than regional railroad history. A broad range of examples from many places is appropriate.

That is something I was also wondering about, so despite the national title the museum is independent of the federal government then.

The reality is that, unlike Britain's National Railway Museum which IS a branch of the national Science Museum corporately, the "National" in the names of both museums have as much "official" bearing as whatever stupid news release proclaims it's "National Puppy Day," "National Pop-Tart Day," "National Chevy Big-Block Engine Day," "National Licorice Day," or whatever.

In other words, it's a marketing gimmick. Nothing more, nothing less.

One of the pet peeves out there is the persistence with too many people in calling a museum across the street from the Strasburg RR "the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum," as if its only focus was the PRR, when its name is "The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania" and its focus is all the railroads of the Commonwealth.

Here in Arizona, we have a similar divide between the long-established Arizona RailWAY Museum in suburban Phoenix, which has a selection of both Arizona rail relics and a great deal of seemingly random privately-owned equipment, and the still-abuilding Arizona STATE RailROAD Museum in Williams, whose planning focus is exclusively on railroads that operated IN Arizona, yet isn't state-subsidized as the name might imply.

This subject has been mentioned before; the fact is that the United States is just too big for any kind of national museum such as they have in several European countries. Also over there there are many national railroads, Switzerland and formally the United Kingdom.

What we have here are many fine regional collections: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Illinois Railway Museum, Southern California Railroad Museum and on a smaller scale the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Maine to name just a few.

And those are steam lines; then there are streetcars, lumbering collections and others. In addition, new museums are still in progress like the Museum of the American Railroad in Fresno, Texas.

Comment if i have left out any other categories.

Ted Miles, Western Railway Museum

I think in both instances, the museum collection was intended to be national, rather than regional, in scope. The National Museum of Transport certainly was , with Doc Roberts collecting a Big Boy, an eastern Camelback, and even an Italian jackshaft electric loco since all the domestic examples of that particular technology were gone.

Back then, there were very few RR museums, so these two assembled National Collections. B&O was B&O and Royal Blue Route only; PRR's collection was not open to the public; Franklin Institute had no more room.

BTW that Italian motor drew 3-phase power from two overhead wires with bow collectors and having the two sides of the pickup bar insulated from each other. The third phase was in the rails. The US analog would be the first GN Cascade Tunnel electrification.

Phil Mulligan

When it comes to the difference between the "Pennsylvania Railroad Museum," and "The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania" that is a pretty fine distinction for most people. Remember, most people have never heard of the Pennsylvania RR. It has been gone longer than most have been alive. The important thing with any museum is butts in seats not what they call it.

That is probably the best way to look at it then. The California State Railroad Museum for as impressive as it is, is entirely focused on the state of California, and really has no national focus.

In comparison both the Green Bay and St. Louis museums that have a national focus collected rolling stock from national sources. I do find it kind of interesting though that the one common thread between both museum's collections is a Union Pacific 4000 class...

A part of me envies the authority a place like Britain's NRM carries, but I guess it is worth considering that Britain is a much smaller country at the end of the day. The NRM while first class is likely more comparable in scope to stuff like the California State Railroad Museum; while any attempt at a national collection in America is just going to end up looking like a "greatest hits" album that grabs up the famous stuff like Big Boys and GG1's in an attempt to try and cover what a national railroad retrospective would look like. I guess a truly national collection that included both greatest hits and 'b-sides' in America would have to be so absurdly huge it would be almost impossible to maintain and operate.

In canada we are the Canadian Railway Museum (is easy)
But we are regional railway museum too
Toronto railroad museum
Alberta railroad museum
West coast railroad museum
etc

For Green Bay a National railroad museum since he sale 261 no, that my opinion.
Illinois railroad Museum and National Museum of transportation has more the title (National) with the collection.
I see Green Bay more a regional museum