Amtrak’s iconic departures board is heading to the Railroad Museum of PA as soon as January.
The antique Amtrak Solari board
DAVID WILSON / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission expects to take ownership of the world-famous Solari board as soon as January 2019. The model, which flips individual panels each time a train’s status is updated, providing that classic “clicking” sound familiar to travelers around the globe, is considered an antique.
An official agreement hasn’t yet been signed, so the transfer date is subject to change. But Howard Pollman, spokesperson for the historical commission, is pretty certain he’ll receive the board in late January or early February.
At that point, the sign will move 60 miles to its new home: The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.
And it’s not a moment too soon, per museum site manager Patrick Morrison. They’ve been negotiating an agreement with Amtrak for more than two years. Morrison is thrilled to acquire what he calls an “electromechanical wonder” and incorporate it into an existing exhibit.
Amtrak officials, who are expected to replace the analog board with a digital one, repeatedly declined to comment.
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‘An amazing time capsule’
Display panels of this type are named for the manufacturer Solari di Udine, of Udine, Italy. They grew in popularity in the 1950s, and were installed en masse in airports and train stations worldwide. Even early seasons of game shows like Family Feud used them.
Now, they’re nearly extinct in the United States. To mixed emotions, New York Penn Station got rid of its Solari board two years ago. The entire Metro-North transit system replaced its network of Solari boards by 2014.
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