Wheels Museum Gets $545,000

By Harry Moskos

Of the Journal

Sunday, April 20, 2003

The Wheels Museum received a boost this month when Gov. Bill Richardson signed measures providing $545,000 for planning and exhibit acquisition.

The museum is proposed for a Downtown tract that once housed the Santa Fe Railway repair shops along Second Street SW. The 27-acre parcel includes 350,000 square feet of space in several buildings once used to service Santa Fe's steam engines.

The idea originated in 1998 with Leba Freed, whose family operated the Freed Co. imports store on Central Avenue for 80 years.

The Urban Council of Albuquerque Inc., a nonprofit organization, purchased the tract from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad for $2.5 million in 2000.

"The redeveopment plans would have the Wheels Museum as a component in the development of that site," notes Alan Vincioni of Berger Briggs and vice president of the Urban Council.

"As with any big project, everything is not as simple as it should be," says Freed, the Wheels Museum president. She noted that difficulty in raising funds has pushed back the museum's original opening date by two years, to 2007.

And there have been some conflicts with the Urban Council, which may be headed for mediation.

Joe Craig is vice president of Wheels and Alan Clark, who worked 30 years for the city's library system, is executive director.

Clark says the goal of Wheels is not just a museum but a source of economic development highlighting "our history and culture."

There are many details yet to be worked out. One, for example, is whether an existing building will house the museum or a new structure. A new structure would be in the shape and design of the old Santa Fe Railway roundhouse, which was demolished in the 1970s.

Clark points out that the railroad and Route 66 changed New Mexico.

"The history of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway is the development of the West," he notes. "In the '20s, '30s and '40s, one-fourth of the people here worked on the railroad in one aspect or other."

Plans call for about 60 percent of the museum's space to be allocated for permanent exhibits, with the remaining space available for touring exhibits.

"In that mix, I think we will be looking at all sorts of transportation," says Clark.

Freed says Wheels hopes to become home to three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser's racing memorabilia.

"This would be a world-class exhibit and a major drawing card," says Clark. "This would be the story of auto racing told in one family and in one individual. This could be one of the deepest and best exhibits."

Clark said there is a wealth of transportation material linked to Albuquerque's past.

Other items for exhibit in the Wheels Museum include:

  Santa Fe's famed No. 2926 - the steam locomotive that had been on exhibit in Coronado Park for years. Restoration of this historic engine, rusted by the elements, is under way.

  A 1942 Seagraves fire engine that is being refurbished by volunteers working out of the Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Fire Department.

  An 1890 milk truck that was used in Albuquerque and rescued from a property in Corrales.

There are plans to restore other historic old locomotives and bring them to Wheels, including those currently stored outdoors at Madrid and Las Vegas, N.M.

Clark thinks no fewer than 600,000 people a year will visit Wheels, which will mean more people staying longer in Albuquerque. "This loop - Wheels, Rio Grande Zoo, the BioPark, Albuquerque Museum, the National Hispanic Cultural Center and other cultural activities - hopefully will get people to stay longer. It develops the tourism exposure.

"If we can get 20 percent of the visitors to stay one more night, that's a big phenomenon. That will be a big economic boost. We intend to be a part of a big push in tourism."

The museum's next fund-raiser will be a dinner, dance and antique vehicle show on Aug. 23 at the city's new Alvarado Transit Center at First and Central. Information about Wheels can be obtained by calling 243-6269.