Art Train No Longer Traveling on The Railroad?

[rrdude]

Wow, I saw this when I clicked on a link from one of Ryan's posts (Auto Train / Themed Trains) and the news is old (last year) but I think it's just plain sad. From what I can tell, they are ditching the rail part completely, and moving to "MMU" (Mobile Museum Units) basically customized semi-trailers.

Anyone have an update on this? Art Train's Web Site. The trucks cabs are so prevalent on their home page, I wonder if they received some funding from the trucking industry. I know it's good to get the art to more people. But I would have thought they would have kept both options, not ditch the rail one.

News Release.

"...Over the next several months, Artrain will transition into a series of state-of-the-art semitrailers for all future exhibitions. Known in the industry as Mobile Museum Units (MMU), each unit can provide approximately 1,000 square feet of gallery space while on location, while continuing Artrain's long-standing tradition of replicating museum facility standards for environment and security. ..."

 

[Devil's Advocate]

“We are excited about this change” said Debra Polich, Artrain president/CEO.“Moving to the road affords us the ability to visit any city in the country and the

flexibility to set up in a variety of locations such as city squares, parking lots, fair

grounds or soccer fields. We could only reach 30 percent of the country on the rails.

“It’s a bittersweet move that we are making as we have had such a wonderful

association for so many years with the railways. However, it became apparent that a

change was necessary when, as demand for Artrain visits increased from communities

across the country, the shipping demands on the rail carriers precluded their ability to

transport Artrain.”

As much as I love trains, it's hard to argue with that position. I'm not surprised they simply gave up on America's rail systems.

 

[rrdude]

Agree Dax, but the original premise was ArTRAIN.

I guess if you look at the intent of the organization, it's to bring ART to the masses. The train was just a vehicle to do so. But I think there was still a certain percentage of visitors who came to the exhibit because it was art on a train.

Oh well, "Good luck ArTRUCK".

Email reply from ArTrain today:

:...Hi Jerry,Thank you for the inquiry. The MMU's are not on the road yet. We have a fewprojects in line that we are hoping to announce by the end of the year. TheMMU's will then likely launch in 2011. You may check out our website(www.artrainusa.org) for more information. Please let me know if you haveany other questions........"

 

[PerRock]

I can tell you that Artrain sold the majority of it's fleet a number of months ago; they still have an observation car on their siding here that they use for an office. I however have not seen their new truck fleet, they are bound to have it parked somewhere here in town, I just don't know where yet.

peter

PS; just remembered I believe the cars have been sold actually; as they are no longer on their siding. And they were up for sale for quite a while.

 

[rrdude]

I can tell you that Artrain sold the majority of it's fleet a number of months ago; they still have an observation car on their siding here that they use for an office. I however have not seen their new truck fleet, they are bound to have it parked somewhere here in town, I just don't know where yet.

peter

PS; just remembered I believe the cars have been sold actually; as they are no longer on their siding. And they were up for sale for quite a while.

They need to rename the project ArTRUCK. See what kinda press that gets them.........