San Diego Model Railroad Museum

The San Diego Model Railway Museum will partner with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative and Balboa Park Learning Institute to fabricate, evaluate, and launch a Centennial Garden Railway Exhibit. The exhibit will be part of EDGE2015, a yearlong festival of technology, art, commerce, and culture honoring the historic 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The exhibit, built through traditional model techniques and 3D and laser printing, will transport visitors to Balboa Park as it appeared in 1915. Entirely solar powered, the model garden will use fewer than two gallons of water weekly, reinforcing the museum’s role in promoting emerging technologies. Visitors will be able to operate model streetcars and electriquettes (wicker-bodied electric vehicles), building lights, and sound through a mobile application. The exhibit will educate visitors on Balboa Park’s accomplishments over the past century, innovative transportation developed for the exposition, and entrepreneur John Spreckel’s contributions to the success of Balboa Park and San Diego’s railways.