News

Click here to download a .pdf version of our 2007 Annual Report.

Fast Facts
Education
Jensen Memorial Car House Progress
Archives
Tracks
Electric Cars

Fast Facts

Stable operating income: 56% earned and 44% contributed
Mission-related expenditures: 88% programs, 8% administrative, and 4% fundraising
Strong volunteer effort: 23,850 hours of donated service, the equivalent of nearly 12 full time staff, valued at $568,998
2007-2008 operating budget of $613,000
The most visited Museum in Solano County: 25,000 annual visitors
Youth focus: 50% of all visitors under 14

Education

Do you want to know how field trips to local museums can help students and teachers address many of the California State Curriculum Standards, especially in grades K-5?  The Solano County Museum Consortium and the Solano County Office of Education can help!

Click here to download a free .pdf copy of “Standards Based Education Resources at Solano County Museums.”

Click here to learn more about the school field trip program at the Western Railway Museum.

Jensen Memorial Car House Construction Update

The Loring C. Jensen Memorial Car House is now complete after four years of construction and ten years of fundraising. Costing $2.5 million, this was the largest and most expensive project in the organization's sixty-year history. The community contributed over $2.15 million to the project, with the remaining $350,000 being funded by the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association. The 37,000 sq. ft. facility helps the Western Railway Museum permanently preserve its priceless collection of electric railway artifacts and interpret these artifacts for the public.

On Saturday May 3, 2008, the Western Railway Museum invites the community to celebrate the grand opening of its newest display building, the Loring C. Jensen Memorial Car House. Celebration activities include tours of the new building and the 38 historic trains on display inside, train rides throughout the day, and an ice-cream social from 1pm - 4pm. Visitors on May 3 can also tour the Exhibit Hall, picnic in the Museum's spacious park, and shop in the museum store. Parking is free. Admission is just $10 for adults, $9 for seniors 65 years and older, and $7 for children 2 - 14.

The building is another major investment in the infrastructure of Solano County's most popular museum. It provides appropriate preservation of the core collection of electric railway equipment, and increased public accessibility to the collection.

Archives

During 2007, the Archives Department's devoted team of volunteers completed two important publications: “Key System Streetcars – Transit, Real Estate, and the Growth of the East Bay” and “The Journal of the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association #2.”

“Key System Streetcars” is a 470-page book authored by the late Vernon Sappers.  Archives volunteers led by Bart Nadeau and Harry Aitken finished the book and arranged to have it published by Signature Press. 

“The Journal of the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association #2” is a 92-page soft-bound, comprehensively illustrated publication compiled and edited by Bart Nadeau and the late Walter Rice, Ph.D.  It contains seven articles on important aspects of local traction history by BAERA authors.