Details:
WEDNESDAY JUNE 18TH, 5-7PM
Located inside the museum, the traincar gallery that presents the history of the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway has undergone a nearly year-long restoration, rehabilitation, and enhancement. Now it is time to celebrate! Join us for this opening reception with complimentary food, beverages, and brief speeches. Admission is free to attend.
More about this project, and excerpt from the upcoming edition of The Junction magazine, a quarterly newsletter for members of the museum.
By Corrie Hackbarth
The Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range (DM&IR) History Car refresh was a difficult project; we wanted to make changes but remain respectful of the original exhibit and Frank King, the man who created it. The easy decisions were replacing the threadbare carpet and the dark green wallpaper in the exhibit cases. Both seem pretty easy, but finding historic-looking commercial carpet and washable wallpaper was much more of a challenge than we thought it would be. Luckily, we were successful with both, adding a wonderful, warm feeling to the car.
The other main component of the car was to add brand-new lighting. To combat the dark space, we added new track lighting as well as LED lighting bordering each exhibit case. Now it is easier to see the exhibits and highlight the original woodwork in the car.
Then came the new interpretation of the exhibit. Kayla Sullivan took the exhibit labels and made them understandable to the average visitor who does not have a railroad, mining, or logging background. We added a new section on architecture along the DM&IR line. We combined a couple of sections so there would be less empty space. To round it out, we added a timeline, because who doesn’t love a good timeline, and a nod to Canadian National and their new signage that honors the heritage of the DM&IR.
What’s next? We need to celebrate the car and the history it holds. Join us on June 18th from 5-7pm at the Grand Opening! Next, the work starts on the other exhibit case in the car. That exhibit is going to focus on the workers on the DM&IR. If you have pictures of family members working on the railroad and you are willing to donate or allow us to scan for use in the exhibit, please reach out to Corrie@lsrm.org or Katie.Witzig@lsrm.org.
All of this work on the car couldn’t have been done without the donations from our members and the hard work and dedication of our volunteers. We had several content readers come in and proof exhibit labels. Volunteers installed all of the new lighting in the car. We even had volunteers come and help clean the car before we opened the doors to the public. Thank you again to all who helped along the way.
