NRHS Awards $150,000 in Heritage Grants

The grant program furthers the NRHS mission—to “help preserve railroad history in all its forms.”

“The NRHS Heritage Grants program supports preservation and restoration of historic railroad structures, locomotives, railcars, photos, and archival documents,” NRHS Heritage Grant Chairman Charles Webb said. “The program has made a lasting impact: Since 1991, the NRHS has awarded 429 grants totaling over $1,403,000 to NRHS chapters and other organizations in support railroad historical preservation efforts.”

“I’d like to acknowledge the significance of donations by our membership toward this program: Thanks to the generosity of NRHS members and other donors, NRHS is distributing a total of $150,000 in Railroad Heritage Grants this year,” said Tony White, President of NRHS, which was founded in 1935 and has more than 100 chapters and close to 4,000 members who are interested in railroads and railroad history. “These grants will help enable 31 non-profit organizations to continue to preserve America’s rich railroad history.”

Below is a list of the 2025 recipients:

1. “Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Association, Mount Pleasant Iowa: $5,000 toward restoration of Rio de Janiero car 1779.
2. Lafayette County Historical and Genealogy Society, Darlington, Wisconsin: $3,000.00 to complete restoration of a 1937 steel caboose.
3. Army Transportation Museum Foundation, Fort Eustis, Virginia: $10,000.00 to restore an Army 1952 Brown Hoist steam crane.
4. Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Boonton, New Jersey: $5,000.00 to cosmetically restore Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad GE 44 ton locomotive number 700.
5. Harrisburg Chapter-National Railway Historical Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: $5,000.00 to install a fire and burglar alarm system in the preserved Harris Tower.
6. Connecticut Electric Railway Association, East Windsor, Connecticut: $2,837.00 for exterior repainting of New Orleans Public Service car 836.
7. Kittitas County Railroad History Association, Ellensburg, Washington: $2,000.00 for the addition of 1/8th scale railroad structures and 2,800 feet of 7 1/2 gauge track at Rotary Park.
8. Fox River Trolley Association, South Elgin, Illinois: $3,561.00 to complete the exterior restoration of Soo Line caboose number 130.
9. Whitman County Historical Society, Colfax, Washington: $5,000.00 toward the exterior restoration of 1946-vintage Northern Pacific coach car 508.
10. Friends of Historic Finlayson, Finlayson, Minnesota: $5,000.00 applied to the total restoration of Finlayson’s 1909 Northern Pacific combination depot.
11. Old Dominion Chapter-National Railway Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia: $10,000.00 for exterior paint renewal of RF&P heavyweight passenger car 706 and Southern heavyweight passenger car 1006.
12. Navajo County Historical Society, Holbrook, Arizona: $5,000.00 toward restoration of Apache Railway RS36 800.
13. Wichita Falls Railroad Museum, Wichita Falls, Texas: $3,562.00 to repair and repurpose a World War II troop sleeper car into a community meeting and event space.
14. Missouri Pacific Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri: $3,000.00 for the digitization of 200 large format locomotive drawings.
15. Garner Area Historical Society, Garner, North Carolina: $5,000.00 for interior restoration of early 1950s Southern Railway bay window Caboose X771.
16. Friends of The Harrisville Depot, Harrisville, Michigan: $5,000.00 for restoration and renovation of historic doors of the Harrisville depot.
17. Friends of the East Broad Top, Upper Marlboro, Maryland: $5,000.00 will provide archival-quality shelving for EBT archives located in a new archives headquarters building in Mount Union, Pennsylvania.
18. American Industrial Railroad Society, Eldridge, Iowa: $5,000.00 toward restoration of Indiana Northern 4, a 1913 standard gauge 0-4-0 steam locomotive.
19. The Milwaukee Road Historical Association, Antioch, Illinois: $2,575.00 to create a web database for images showing Milwaukee Road equipment, facilities, structures and people.
20. Center for Railroad Photography and Art, Madison, Wisconsin: $5,000.00 to acquire a new digital photo printer to create prints for traveling exhibitions. This is grant awarded in honor of long-serving NRHS Heritage Grants committee member George Hickok.
21. North Carolina Railway Museum, New Hill, North Carolina: $5,000.00 for procurement and installation of boiler tubes for Steam Locomotive 17.
22. Burkburnett Historical Society, Burkburnett, Texas: $5,000.00 to repair or replace thirteen windows in the Burkburnett depot.
23. Hoosier Heartland Trolley Company, Russiaville, Indiana: $4,915.00 for restoration of the wooden batten strips and window sills of Indiana Union Traction interurban number 429, “Noblesville.”
24. The B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland: $5,000.00 for restoration of the interior of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad observation tavern car number 3316. This grant is awarded in tribute to the memory of NRHS Heritage Grants committee member Carl Jensen.
25. Niagara Frontier Chapter NRHS, Tonawanda, New York: $5,000.00 for restoration of Standard Elevator GE Erie 25-ton locomotive number 1.
26. Electric City Trolley Museum Association, Scranton, Pennsylvania: $5,000.00 to be used toward restoration of brass window on Scranton Transit number 505, a 1929 Osgood Bradley trolley car.
27. The American Passenger Train History Museum, Charles City, Iowa: $5,000.00 for restoration of windows and exterior and interior painting in an Illinois Central diner lounge car.
28. Erie Lackawanna Railroad Historical Society, Avoca, New York: $5,000.00 will assist with the purchase of archive quality shelving to allow ELRHS to properly store, catalogue, digitize, and preserve primary source materials.
29. Friends of the New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn, New York: $4,550.00 for digitization of color slides depicting New York City’s rail transit system.
30. Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation, Irvine, Kentucky, $5,000.00 for restoration of office and shop facilities at Ravenna shop.
31. United Railroad Historical Society, Boonton, New Jersey: $5,000.00 will be used to return New Jersey’s longlost “Merci Train” boxcar back home to New Jersey.”

In mid-November, NRHS will begin accepting applications on its website for the 2026 grant program.