WHEELS Museum
Fall 2023 Newsletter
Coming Events
Saturday and Sunday, September 30 and October 1.
One of the nation’s largest operating steam locomotives, former Santa Fe 2926, will be on the move and park next to the Albuquerque Rail Yards on Saturday, September 30 through Sunday, October 1.
WHEELS will have a booth at the site. Please come and visit us.
Enchanted Lens Camera Club
Wednesday, September 20, 9AM to 12 noon. Enchanted Lens Camera Club will be meeting and photographing at WHEELS. The public is invited, free admission. For more information about the club go to https://enchantedlens.org/ .
Headset Dance Party
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Time: 2PM to 4PM
WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW, phone
Admission Free, but donations are gratefully accepted.
Dance wearing headsets to a great variety of musical choices. More information will follow.
WHEELS Museum Entertainment and History Event
“The Great Wheels Museum Train Robbery!”
Saturday, October 21, 2 PM to 4 PM
Admission Free: Donations gratefully accepted.
WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW
Phone: (505) 243-6269 to RSVP
Dr. Ronald Lah of the Wheels Museum with a group of local history reenactors will present the program. It will include:
• Screening with discussion of the 1903 film, “The Great Train Robbery,” and the “Lawmen Train Cars” that were developed for rapid deployment after a robbery.
• Discussion of the historic Socorro and San Marcia, New Mexico train robberies, and the accuracy of train robbery depictions in movies like “Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid.”
• Reenactment of an Old West train robbery staged in and around the Wheels Museum’s train coach car - which itself is part of cinematic history, being made for a prequel to the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - and conducted by history reenactors in period outfits.
• Donors to the Wheels Museum Fundraiser are encouraged to take a seat in the train coach and present your donation when the "Train Robbers" go through the car. Visitors are encouraged to wear some period style Old West apparel like bowler and feathered hats and bonnets, pin-stipes, vests, and boots.
Only non-functional firearm props will be used in the re-enactment.
Albuquerque History Challenge: Education and Fun
Speaker: Roland Pentilla, Albuquerque Historian
When: November 4, 2023 at 2:00 P.M.
Where: WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW
Admission Fee: Free. Donations Encouraged
Roland Pentilla is an Albuquerque historian who frequently conducts downtown walking tours on behalf of the Albuquerque Historical Society and Historic Albuquerque, Inc.
The Albuquerque Historical Society and Historic Albuquerque, Inc. created a series of history questions and answers to be used on the ART stations as a fun and educational treat while riders waited for their bus. Roger Zimmerman, Diane Schaller and Roland Penttila worked to find interesting factoids in a question and answer format with photos. These Albuquerque history factoids are now available as a fun and educational game. Come to experience our own “Jeopardy” version of Albuquerque history complete with raffle prizes for the correct answers. This presentation is brought to you to support the Wheels mission at the Albuquerque Railyards.
Roland previously received rave reviews when he spoke to a WHEELS audience on the topic of “How Railroads Were Responsible for Standard Time”
Roland Pentilla
“A History of Albuquerque Comedy or How I Got My Kicks on Route 66””
Speaker: Ronn Perea, Albuquerque Historian
When: November 4, 2023 at 11:00 AM
Where: WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW
Admission Fee: Free. Donations Encouraged
Ronn Perea, a WHEELS docent, is a regular speaker at WHEELS about various aspects of Albuquerque History. Ronn is also known as the Godfather of New Mexico Comedy, and is celebrating over 30 years in the Comedy Club business! Ronn has been a proud member of the Southwest Writer's Club for decades. His presentation will give you a unique insight into a part of Albuquerque
Culture and we promise you that you will laugh out loud throughout his talk.
Author/Speaker event
“Walter steps up to the plate” A book for children and teens;
Speaker: Sue Houser, Author
When: November 25, 2023 at 10 AM
Where: WHEELS Museum, 1100 Second St. SW
Admission Fee: Free. Donations Encouraged
Twelve-year-old Walter wants to spend the summer of 1927 watching his beloved Chicago Cubs play baseball. Instead, his life is upended when his mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Walter must leave everything he knows and loves to accompany his mother to Albuquerque, New Mexico, a place he has never been to live with relatives he has never met. To help with expenses, Walter gets a paper route. But the situation gets worse when his mother is admitted to a sanatorium and needs expensive surgery. A chance encounter with the gangster, Al “ Scarface” Capone might change his mother' s fortunes and get her the surgery his mother needs.
What’s New at WHEELS:
WHEELS is expanding our social media presence. We now have an Instagram and YouTube account, in addition to our Facebook account. You are welcome to follow both at:
IG: @thewheelsmuseum
We are also open to ideas for content for both! If anyone has any video filming or editing skills, we would love to have their expertise and volunteer assistance in crafting WHEELS related video content.
WHEELS welcomes Jess Merritt to our staff. Jess has a background in arts and cultural non-profit management. She started volunteering for WHEELS in late 2022 as one of the volunteer grant writers. She has now moved into Janet's old position, where she assists Leba in promoting the museum, assists in event coordination and continues to write grants.
1947 Kurtis Midget Racer. WHEELS was fortunate to have this beautiful midget racer formerly on display at the now closed Unser Museum. If you were lucky enough to attend races at old Speedway Park in Albuquerque, you saw this beauty race and win. Come and see this remarkable machine and learn about the racing culture in Albuquerque in our racing exhibit.
1965 Mustang 289. If you love vintage cars, come to see our newest addition – a 1965 Mustang. A true classic recently donated to WHEELS.
Oppenheimer: The Atomic Bomb and New Mexico Trains, Planes and Automobiles.
Visit our temporary exhibit and find answers to unique stories not told in the movie.
Who was the mystery man who traveled incognito on the Santa Fe Chief to deliver important warhead material to Los Alamos? What was the Enola Gay doing at Kirtland Air Field prior to the bombing mission?
See a N scale model railroad under beginning construction for our newest model train layout.
The Rio Grande Chapter of the TCA has partnered with the Wheels Museum to help with the operation of the O gauge display in the museum. We are dedicated to the preservation of toy trains and the history that these items preserve. We also enjoy the operation of those trains both old and new. This year we have decided to provide some additional support to the Wheels Museum via our annual Pumpkin Meet Raffle. We have a brand-new Lionel Polar Express train set (retail value $400+) to be given away to some lucky winner. Donations are $2 per ticket, 6 tickets for $5. Tickets will be available at the museum. The drawing will occur November 12th 2023 at the RARG train show held at the Pilots Pavilion, Balloon Fiesta Field.
If you would like to join us in operating trains at the museum, the Rio Grande Chapter will meet Saturday October 14, 2023 at 9:30 am.
WHEELS Museum is a non-profit, volunteer run organization.
Address: 1100 Second Street SW, Albuquerque N.M.
Phone: (505) 243-6269
Mailing address: Wheels Museum, PO BOX 95438, Albuquerque, NM
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to noon. Saturdays 10AM to 2 PM. Summer months: Sundays 10 AM to 2 PM.
We very much would like to be open for more hours, but we need more volunteers to be able to do so. If you are interested call Leba or Jess at (505) 243-6269.
The Wheels Museum, Inc. is a 501C3 non-profit community organization whose mission is to create a transportation museum at the downtown Albuquerque Steam Locomotive Repair Shops.
We provide educational programs, tours and presentations for the community in our 21,000 square foot historic building located at 2nd and Pacific, SW (1100 2nd Street, SW)