Twin City Model Railroad Museum

Hello friends,

This year Twin City Model Railroad Museum is celebrating our 90th Anniversary! Its pretty fun to realize things like diesel locomotives, Thomas the Tank Engine, trains controlled by smartphone, and so much more didn't exist when we first opened to the public! We are incredibly honored to share the love of model railroading and toy train collecting with the Twin Cities and are grateful that people continue to visit and volunteer. 

Last year's campaign funds were used to create our resource room, which included windows, flooring, cabinetry, and more! We were grateful for the community support. This new addition allows us to host birthday parties, museum meetings, and special events!

(Exterior of completed resource room pictured above)

This year, our GiveMN fundraising is focused on two projects. The first is the replacement of the HVAC unit that provides the temperature control that covers the entry/store/LEGO display area of the museum. The current estimate for the replacement of the unit and related work is $25,000. This project is pretty urgent as it makes the other units work harder to make up for this one and shorten their operating lives.

The second project would start the designs for a "one-hour fire barrier" on our perimeter walls. In order to expand our museum gift shop and combine the resource and birthday space into the rest of the museum as our master plan calls for, we need to upgrade our walls to provide fire safety for/from our neighbors. This is a standard requirement in a space like ours and its something we've been studying more. The cost estimate for the actual work is $80,000, which is a big task for us - which means we will likely work on this in baby steps. 

(proposed look of new museum entrance)

We are hopeful that our Give to the Max fundraising effort and a successful Night Trains season will help us continue to turn our museum into a world-class facility that can be an asset to the local community and beyond! 

We thank your for your consideration. And remember, your donation is fully tax deductible and you can start making donation pledges today, which will be applied on November 21st!  We know that you receive many requests for support during this season and we truly appreciate all donations. Be sure to follow us on Facebook for all the latest details and be sure to visit during our wonderful holiday Night Trains events! 

Sincerely,

Brandon Jutz

Marketing and Public Relations Volunteer, TCMRM