[1] The museum was founded in 1975 when a club of local railroad enthusiasts decided to run passenger cars on Amtrak trains.
In the late 1980s, Amtrak tightened its restrictions on passenger cars, making it too expensive for most private citizens to keep them up.
Tom Holley, former chairman of the board, stated "Now the primary purpose of the museum is the collection of the equipment that belonged to the seven railroads then entered Cincinnati."
A "theatrical" baggage car (the Juliet, one of 47 built by the Pennsy between 1917 and 1922) sits on the track beside the locomotive and will serve as a mobile staging area for the renovation.
[3] Some of the other equipment includes former PRR #9408, an EMD SW1 switcher,[4] a preserved Dinky, Brookville BMD 15-ton switcher,[5] former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad modern lightweight coach the La Paz, a preserved troop sleeper, an early Southern Railway business car, and former RI #428 (El Comedor) dining car.