NEWS
Wheels Museum seeks $3.5M-$4M to add new wing at Rail Yards
Expansion into former Babbitt and welding shops would allow museum to house more exhibits, events
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Two-year-old Abigail Cook and her 3-year-old brother, Henry Cook, stood inside the Wheels Museum, watching model trains slither through fictitious New Mexico communities.
"Wows" could be heard as they smiled and pointed at the trains.
Children love the museum. When they leave, many cry because "they don't want to go home," said Leba Freed, the museum director.
The model trains are among the many transportation-related artifacts in the museum's collection. Other highlights include a 1942 Seagrave firetruck, a 1915 Ford Model T Roadster and a homemade wooden airplane suspended from the ceiling.
But Freed said there's one problem: The museum needs more space.
The museum, which opened in 1994, has occupied its 21,000-square-foot building at 1100 Second SW since 2007. It is housed in what the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway once called "The Storehouse," a long, narrow structure built in 1914.
"We're being offered very rare antique automobiles that we cannot exhibit," Freed said Monday. "It breaks my heart when someone comes in and says, 'I have six antique cars I want to give you that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,' and I can't take them."
She said the museum reached an agreement with the city of Albuquerque to use the former Babbitt and welding shops at the Rail Yards that have been vacant for over 50 years. The shops were built in 1921 and 1922, according .
The museum is seeking $3.5 million to $4 million to renovate the buildings and use them to house additional exhibits.
"The buildings are about 5,000 square feet and were very important to the development of the railroad here," Freed said.
Museum volunteer Richard Pyrel said the former Babbitt building could be filled with model and full-size vehicles.
Freed said the collection would include vehicles from every era, including electric models, to show how transportation has evolved over time.
"How have we evolved from walking and riding horses to outer space? From buggies to electric vehicles? What is coming next?" she asked. "From Route 66 to jet planes 鈥� what do we do as a civilization to make life better, easier and more productive?"
Pyrel said the former welding shop could become an expanded children's area.
On Nov. 14, the Wheels Museum will host a fundraising dinner in the Rail Yards' former Boiler Shop building 鈥� soon to become home to Central New Mexico Community College's New Mexico Media Arts Collective 鈥� to help raise money for the project.
"The city is giving us a year in good faith (to raise the money)," Freed said. "If we make progress in the first year, we'll have five years to complete the project. We're hoping it won't take that long."
Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.
