At the Western Railway Museum, the General Fund pays for a wide variety of mundane yet crucial expenses. It covers maintenance of the streetcars and interurban trains, all of the Sacramento Northern Railroad, the overhead lines and substations that power our cars, the museum buildings and park areas, as well as the electricity, repairs, insurance and all other routine expenses. These expenditures are frequently invisible, but covering our expenses is vital to our ability to achieve the ongoing excellence that the museum strives for.
This year we hoped for a dramatic recovery of visitor income, but national Covid regulations still limit passenger density on transit vehicles and that includes museums. We reopened in July 2021, and visits are picking up, but passenger revenue is still restricted. We need your help to make the budget balance for the next year. Your unrestricted gifts to the General Fund enable the museum to thrive and excel in these challenging times. Thank you for your support.
