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Wheels Museum

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Storehouse
1915, Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad. 1100 2nd St. SW, roughly bounded by 1st and 2nd Sts. to the west and the BNSF rail line to the east.
  • DSC_2895 (Photograph by Regina N. Emmer)

Built with poured-in-place concrete, the storehouse is a humble cousin of the more monumental machine and boiler shops. The building is oriented north-south with a concrete loading dock measuring 68 x 1,000 feet that runs the length of its west facade, with sixteen bays that allowed for easy receiving and distribution of the over 35,000 maintenance items used at the rail yards. Inside, the building housed office and administrative spaces at the north entrance side, open storage space in the center, and an oil cellar at the south end, accessible only via exterior doors.

After the City of Albuquerque purchased the AT&SF Locomotive Shops complex in 2007, it contracted Los Angeles-based Eric Owen Moss Architects and the developer Samitaur Constructs in 2012 to redevelop the site. The storehouse houses the Wheels Museum, a collection related to Albuquerque’s transportation history, and is one of only two rail yard structures currently open to the public.

References

Dodge, William A., Maryellen Hennessy, Edgar Bolson, and Petra Morris, “Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Locomotive Shops,” Bernalillo County, New Mexico. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 2014. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

Moses, Nalina. “Going the Extra Yards.” AIArchitect, August 8, 2014.

Threinen, Ellen. Historic Architecture of Albuquerque’s Central Corridor. Albuquerque, NM: Task Force of Albuquerque Center, 1977.

Wilson, Chris. “The Historic Railroad Buildings of Albuquerque: An Assessment of Significance.” Prepared for the Redevelopment Division, Planning Department, City of Albuquerque, 1986.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Regina N. Emmer
Coordinator: 
Christopher C. Mead
Regina N. Emmer
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Data

Timeline

  • 1915

    Built
  • 2007

    Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

What's Nearby

Citation

Regina N. Emmer, "Wheels Museum", [Albuquerque, New Mexico], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NM-01-001-0091-04.

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