Harris Tower railway museum, located at 637 Walnut St., Harrisburg, PA is open for visitors Saturdays from end of May through October 9:00 AM—4:00 PM. During the past winter, the building has undergone significant repair to include window and floor restoration, and revamped displays.
Admission to the museum, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is free.
Centerpiece for this 1930’s structure, acquired from Amtrak and restored by volunteers in the 1990s, is the original—but computer-driven—interlocking machine and model board. Visitors, under guidance from volunteer docents, are welcome to “throw” switches while watching train movements on the lighted model board. Tied into the system is a 1940s Teletype machine that prints out Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train movements during World War II. Period railroad artifacts and train models are on display as well.
The tower is also a safe viewing and photography point from which visitors can observe close-up, Amtrak and Norfolk Southern train movements.
Harris Tower is a major project of Harrisburg Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). The chapter, a nonprofit educational organization, is one of over 149 NRHS chapters located throughout the United States as well as England, Canada, and Japan.
www.harristower.org