Artrain USA

Artrain is an organization devoted to promote art and culture. The organization used to operate a traveling art museum on a train, which is no longer in service. It consisted of three gallery cars, with two more cars in support, and traveled widely in the United States, operating in a different region every year. It was intended as a short lived program but was active for over 30 years due to popular demand.

Artrain USA is believed to have been the longest running special display train in the United States (the Freedom Trains traveled more widely but were special purpose exhibitions, first in the late 1940s, and then for the United States Bicentennial celebration in the late 1970s). Though it was intended as a short lived, statewide program, the Michigan Artrain welcomed 191,000 visitors in 28 cities in the first year, 1971. Soon after, it expanded its focus to nationwide touring. Artrain began in 1971 as a project of the "Michigan Council for the Arts", and initially toured Michigan, visiting small towns that did not have their own museums. Throughout the summer of 1971 Michigan Artrain toured across the state of Michigan with over 191,000 visitors in 28 Michigan communities visiting the train's vintage baggage car converted to a studio car where 2 resident artists that travelled with the train demonstrated and explained the many different types of art processes and mediums. Soon after, thanks to popular demand, a separate foundation was set up, and the tour area was broadened to the entire United States with the help of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The first tour beyond Michigan commenced in 1973. Since then, it has hosted 15 or more different exhibitions. Funding of about US$1.5 million annually is through private donations and government grants. In addition, significant in kind support from the railways it travels over helped reduce funding needs. refn|group=note|All 4 Class I railways moved the train for free and provided siding space as needed. Several members of the foundation board are railway officials. The value of this in kind contribution is considerable.

Artrain USA consisted of several exhibit cars with walk through galleries (1940s vintage Budd passenger cars, rebuilt to remove windows), a studio/gift shop car in which staff and visiting artists give working demonstrations, and crew quarters, which, as of June 2006, consisted of a caboose but were slated to be changed over to a former New York Central Railroad round end observation car. The number of exhibit cars was constrained by the total train length restriction (longer trains require longer sidings, reducing the number of sites that could host the train).

A touring staff traveled with the train. It was divided into a facilities staff concerned with mechanical operation and equipment, and an arts staff. Artrain USA provides fellowships to young artists (most staff members were in their 20s and 30s) willing to travel with the train and demonstrate their talents. The staff also collected tickets—admission was usually free but tickets were used to track attendance. The staff often gave tours to interested railroad personnel as a way to help build understanding of the train's mission and increase service responsiveness.