About Us

    Nearly 25 years ago the Augusta County Model Railroad Club was formed by nine members who informally showcased their railroad modeling talents at public events. Attorneys advised that the club should incorporate. In January of 2000, a set of by-laws was drawn up and approved by the members that constituted the organization at the time.

    The organization made application to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Corporation Commission to be a museum and the Augusta County Railroad Museum certificate of incorporation was granted August 29, 2000. In a letter dated January 2001, the IRS granted the museum its not-for-profit 501(3)(c) status.

    Today the Augusta County Railroad Museum is chartered as a public charity (501)c3 based in Augusta County, Virginia. The organization entirely consists of volunteer members interested in railroads and model railroads who donate their time displaying and operating exhibits at civic shows and other publically accessable venues for the interested public.

Our Mission

    The mission of the Augusta County Railroad Museum is "to encourage interest in the history of railroading and to promote the hobby of model railroading." This is accomplished through museum displays and operating model train layouts that are open to the public free of charge and through educational outreach.

Business Meetings

    The Augusta County Railroad Museum conducts its monthly business meeting at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. The customary meeting location is the

Augusta County Library
1759 Jefferson Highway
Fisherville Virginia 22939

in the lower floor reading room.

    The meeting addresses the organization's managment and operational concerns to include

- reviewing the organization's financial posture
- reviewing applications for new membership
- reviewing Museum commitments and engagements in the community
- reviewing news impacting the railroad and model railroad community
- planning for upcoming events
- deciding all matters put to a vote
- addressing other matters of common concern

Applying for Membership

    Customarily the business meetings are of a businees nature and are attended by our members to resolve decisions incurred by our organization, however, the meetings are open to attendance by the public to learn about our organization and consider application to join.

    An Adobe PDF copy of the New Membership Form may be downloaded, saved, and reviewed by clicking the New Membership Form image or thehighlighted text. If you are considering joining because of your interest in railroading and/or model railroading, then you should read the instructions on the back of the form and bring the completed form to the next business meeting. The Adode PDF form features data entry text fields that should help you to complete the form using a smart phone or a computer prior to printing the form.

Work Nights

    Work nights are suspended due to closure of the Museum.
Typically voluteers meet at the Museum each Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. to perform routine maintenance of the Museum such as vacuuming, cleaning track, servicing locomotives and rolling stock, and cleaning displays.

Museum Open Houses

    Open houses are suspended due to closure of the former Museum location at the Staunton Mall.
Typically, members are assigned to one of three teams on a rotating schedule for open houses. Typically voluteers meet at the Museum each Saturday 1:00 to 5:00 pm, and additional days during Thanksgiving through Christmas.

Special Events and Community Displays

    The Museum is occasionally invited to display model layouts, train equipment and slide shows at local events. Volunteer membership assistance is customarily requested to move, assemble, staff, operate, disassemble, and store these exhibits.

    These events include:

- The July 26-30th layout display during the Augusta County Fair held at the Augusta County Expo Event Center.
- Coordinated business organization requests for Holiday Exhibits around the Christmas Holidays.
- Special community requests for historic presentations on Augusta County Railroads or slide programs.
- Our May 7th, 2023 Train Show to be held at the Augusta County Expo Event Center.

Contributions

    The Augusta County Railroad Museum is chartered as a public charity (501)c3 based in Augusta County, Virginia. In fulfillment of its mission, its volunteers provides free access to the public of exhibits and information related to Augusta County Railroad history. Funding to provide these resources comes from public donations, proceeds from its Annual Trainshow, and dues collected from its membership. The Museum's expenses include, public exhibit rent space, secure artifact storage, lights, heat, and toilets incurring public utility fees, liabitility insurance, web site hosting fees, historic organizational memberships, model railroad organizational membership, and cultural investments to create exhibits and showcase Augusta County heritage to the visiting public.

    Like most public charities, the Museum is intensely reliant on funding for continuation of services and subscription to cause. We ask you to make further inquiry into our activities and consider a possible donation, ...of Augusta County related historical materials, historically significant model railroad materials, monetary support, or even volunteer time to support this goal.

    We thank you, either for your interest in railroading, model railroading, or your community support for this educational resource in Augusta County.

Our Contact Information

    We do our best to keep up with correspondence, but in honesty our volunteers monitor our mailboxes on an infrequent basis.

    All written correspondence should be addressed to:

       AUGUSTA COUNTY RAILROAD MUSEUM
       PO BOX 806
       WAYNESBORO VA 22980-0593

    Please allow a week or more for USPS delivery.

    If you feel email is more appropriate, correspondence should be addressed to:
       contactus@acrrm.org

    Please be specific in your inquiry so it can be properly routed to the correct volunteer respondent.
    Please allow additional time if you seek caucused inputs at a business meeting to allow the Museum to formulate an organizational response.

Copyright (C) 2023, Augusta County Railroad Museum, All rights reserved.