Rail City Museum Home Page

Rail City Museum was the first steam-operating railroad museum in the United States.
Located at Sandy Pond on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in the Town of Sandy Creek, New
York, Rail City offered visitors an opportunity to view an extensive collection of actual railroad
locomotives, rail cars, streetcars, interurbans, buildings, structures, and equipment that
included 16 full-size steam locomotives. The highlight of the museum was a 1.5 mile train ride
with No. 11, a 2-6-0 Baldwin locomotive formerly from the Bath and Hammandsport Railroad,
at the head of the train.

The history of Rail City is a fascinating account of how an eccentric visionary, Dr. Stanley A.
Groman from Syracuse, NY, single-handedly saved a score of locomotives, railroad cars,
trolleys, track, original buildings and structures from the scrap heap. The December, 1995
issue of TRAINS magazine stated: "Stanley A. Groman's museum in upstate New York was a
pioneering example of railroad preservation. The railroad museum field is booming today, with
scores of attractions welcoming millions of visitors each year. But back in the 1950's, as the steam
era faded fast, it took people like Stanley Groman and a few other visionaries to begin the work of
saving locomotives, cars, and structures for generations to come. Rail City gave thousands of
people a taste of steam railroading"

This website is dedicated to the memory of Stanley A. Groman, MD and his passionate
obsession to create a living memorial to the steam age of railroads - Rail City Museum.

Visitors to Rail City wave
from the top of a 50,000
gallon RR water tank from
Lowville, NY. Engineer,
Ray Owens and Fireman,
John Miller are in the cab
of "Old 38" from the
Huntingdon and Broad Top
Mountain Railroad,
Huntingdon, PA. Old 38
made the Final Steam
Passenger Run in New York
State on the NYC RR while
enroute to Rail City on
June 6, 1954. [RCHM Photo
Collection]