Eastern Railroad Discussion > Train Museum Insurance

I'm a member of a railroad museum that might be interested in putting on a little display of switching, coupling, uncoupling, hand signals, etc. We may or may not want to offer cab rides. This would be a slow speed operation on our own track, traveling less than 100 yards. One thought is to have a designated viewing area, securely roped/fenced off for visitors to watch. What type and cost of insurance would we be looking at? What can those of you who currently work with similar operations tell me about what you did? Is there an insurance company that is used to dealing with situations like this?

If you are already operating trains, you should have a
policy in place. Check with the agent to see what is
covered, and what is not.

We run a guest engineer program, which is an additional
rider to the original policy. You should be able to add
the required coverage to your primary policy. Regardless
of what you end up with for coverage, require liability waivers signed by anyone riding, or participating in operations.

Z

I do know the NRHS has an insurance program through a company in California and that company is railroad/museum friendly. The NRHS' information is located at http://www.nrhs.com/insurance_program.htm . Might try calling the listed company if you find no other sources of info.

Hope this helps.

J. Lilly, Dir. of Internet Services
National Railway Historical Society