Railroad Museum Facing Eviction, Looking For New St. Paul Location

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- The Twin City Model Railroad Museum's popular night train exhibit is scheduled to start Nov. 7, and the group's president says they'll likely honor that commitment at its current home in St. Paul's Bandana Square.

"I think that's safe say," said Rick Moore, the president of the museum. "I'm going to be optimistic."

This comes as the museum's landlord served them with an eviction notice.

"It's true, they have done that," Moore said. "More as a way to bring it to a head and have a discussion. I'm confident that we can work through our current situation with our landlord."

The two sides plan to meet before the end of the month. Moore said the museum's lease at Bandana Square runs out in 2017, and that the "primary objective" of talks with the landlord is an early release so the museum can relocate.

"Things like lease, rates and expenses gradually creep up," Moore said. "Our visitorship has come up a little bit, but it's been fairly steady. It's just been harder and harder to keep up."

The model railroad museum dates back eight decades and has been operating its display at Bandana Square since 1984.

They are looking at several sites for a new location, one of them in St. Paul's midway area.

Moore said the night train exhibit makes up a large part of the museum's annual revenue. It's scheduled to run through the last Saturday in February.

"We need to do that, and our landlord understands that," Moore said. "It's in the best interest of everyone that we proceed with that. That's part of the discussions we'll be having."

The museum also operates what is called a "toy train" division in a building adjacent to Bandana Square. They are on a month-by-month lease there with a different landlord, who wants to sell the building.

Moore said it's going to cost a lot of money to move the display.

"Probably in the $250,000 range," he said.

That would include cutting the platform section by section, including all the wiring, and then reassembling and rewiring at a new location.

"I'm confident we can get through a move and continue to be a part of the St. Paul area and the metro," he said.

It appears the trains are going to run on time at the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum, even though the organization is having some problems paying rent.