On Tuesday, November 8th through Saturday, November 12th, Georgia State Railroad Museum will host the 2016 Association for Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums Fall Conference, an internationally attended meeting of the minds focused on railroad preservation. The topic will be “Realizing The Diversity In Our Field: Broadening Our Vision."

"Hosting this conference marks a milestone in the development of Georgia State Railroad Museum,” said Terry Koller, Coastal Heritage Society’s Director of Railroad Operations. “Decades of work by Coastal Heritage Society and The City of Savannah have turned this once abandoned and crumbling facility into one of Savannah's premier attractions and one of the countries most significant historic railroad sites. We now have the opportunity to showcase and share this historic edifice with other railroad museum professionals from across the U.S, Canada, Mexico and the UK."

The Association of Tourist Railroads and Railway Museums is a new organization, born from two venerable associations with a combined history of nearly 100 years. After several years analyzing their many similarities and goals, the Tourist Railway Association and the Association of Railway Museums merged to form ATRRM in 2013.

The ATRRM conferences are held in Spring and Fall each year and have been hosted in a variety of cities across the U.S. The conferences include interesting train rides and tours, a full educational program, and many social events for networking and getting to know colleagues and peers. Additionally, the Fall conference features exhibitions, with a chance to see new products and services and visit with suppliers to tourist railroads and railway museums.

ATRRM's Annual Meeting will also take place during the Fall conference, which provides an opportunity to meet the association's leadership, hear firsthand reports of association activities, and take an active role in the organization’s future direction.

The next two conferences will take place on April 27-29, 2017 at the Great Smoky Mountain Railway in Bryson City, NC and on October 5-7, 2017 at the Minnesota Streetcar Museum in Minneapolis, MN. For more information about the ATRRM conferences, or to register, please visit: www.atrrm.org/index.php/conferences.