Bay Area Rapid Transit is officially in Suisun City. Just not quite the way you might expect.

Composed of three retired BART cars, the all-new interactive exhibit is dedicated to the preservation of the Bay Area's innovative rapid transportation.

Home to Suisun City's Western Railway Museum, organizers invited visitors Friday for opening day and a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event marked by jumbo scissors and a crowd of giddy BART execs.

Aboard A Car 1164, B Car 1834 and C Car 329, visitors stepped into BART's Legacy fleet for a "blast from the past," walking through an assortment of iconic memorabilia dating back to the organization's opening day on Sept. 11, 1972 — also marking the company's 54th anniversary since its first operational public ride.

"Look at what Legacy has made possible; take a moment," said Princess Washington, Association Administrator for the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association.

Encouraging attendees to take in the transformative pieces of BART history around them, Washington spoke to the museum's commitment to preserving the organization's Legacy fleet.

"There is a tremendous responsibility that comes with preservation. When something becomes a part of our collection, we aren't simply taking possession of it. We're committing to care for it, interpret it, and make sure its story remains accessible to the public long after all of us are gone," she said. "Today, we proudly make that commitment to BART history and its legacy."

The effort to bring the fleet to Suisun City has been seven years in the making, with BART committee members working to create the space that not only established a permanent home for the cars, but also appropriately showcased their evolution.

Committee members include Bob Simon, a multifaceted team leader and project manager involved in BART engineering; Jay Bolcik, a retired BART manager of schedules and services and former BART train operator; Andy Payne, exhibit curator and historian; Dan Parris; Bob Immergluck, a retired BART rail vehicle engineer; Pavel Turovski; and the late John Holt, one of the museum's earliest supporters and described as a "Legacy BART car preservation champion."

"I worked for BART, retired from BART," said Simon. "The appreciation I have for the system, the technology, the test track, what went into the whole revolution to commuter rail — it just deserved, and rightfully so, this type of exhibit."

Outside the exhibit are functioning fare gates, an "add fare" machine, and station signage. Inside, the cars' original aluminum walls surround displays, videos, and historic memorabilia, all aimed at preserving some of the system's most innovative achievements.

To mark the opening, BART General Manager Robert "Bob" Powers shared remarks with the crowd.

"I think here, we're going to see that history isn't just something that you read about, but actually step into," he told the crowd. "The public, our riders, and the leadership — in this facility right here — the decision to preserve these cars was absolutely the right one."

From now through Sunday, the museum will host its BART Legacy opening weekend, inviting locals to board a slice pf rapid-transit history — ironically at a time the system faces potential uncertainty regarding its future.

On November's ballot, Senate Bill 63, also known as the "Connect Bay Area Act," aims to raise the sales tax by 0.5 percent in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, and by 1 percent in the city and county of San Francisco, to fund public transit.

While Solano County is not included among the bill's target counties, Washington expressed a need for continued advocacy for BART.

"The Bay Area does not move without BART, and it's really important that we not only think about the history but also its future moving forward," she said.

Reflecting on the event, Washington described the appreciation that radiated throughout the opening and the pride organizers felt in seeing years of work come together.

"I hope that this really shows people the importance of our Bay Area Rapid Transportation System because we'll crumble without it. So I love that today we got to see all of the hard work pay off and the smiles, the joy, and pride that it brought to the executives from BART and their staff," she said. "And I'm just so grateful that the museum gets to house that."

© 2026 Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.).
Visit www.timesheraldonline.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.