The Bay Area Electric Railroad Association and Western Railway Museum will celebrate the opening of the museum's new Rapid Transit History Center on Sept. 11, marking the preservation of three cars from BART's original fleet.

The center will feature A Car 1164, B Car 1834 and C Car 329 — a three-car train that represents a rare surviving piece of BART's earlier history.

Of the 669 cars that made up BART's original fleet, the three preserved at Suisun's Western Railway Museum are the only complete three-car train from that fleet known to be preserved at a museum.

The new exhibit is intended to do more than just display older rail cars. It hopes to offer visitors a rare opportunity to see and understand the technology, design, and ambition that was behind the iconic Bay Area transportation system — key in reshaping how people traveled.

The Rapid Transit History Center will officially debut with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, hosted at the museum.

According to the museum, BART representatives, regional elected officials, transportation leaders, volunteers, and community partners are expected to attend the ceremony.

The event plans to include remarks from BART, BAERA, and regional leaders, as well as the unveiling of the exhibit and recognition of the committee and partners who helped make the newest preservation project possible.

Attendees will have an opportunity to view the restored BART cars, take photographs with the museum's BART car nose display, and take a train ride on the museum's bridge unit.

For the museum, the exhibit adds to its mission of preserving the history of electric railroading in California and the West, as well as preserving transportation legacies.

When BART debuted in the 1970s, the system was unlike anything else in the region. The original trains were built at a time when transportation technology was rapidly changing. Its automated trains, sleek design, and fresh approach to transportation became symbols of technological innovation.

More than five decades later, those early trains offer a passageway to that movement.

The hope is that their preservation allows visitors to see firsthand the equipment that helped introduce a new era of automated and technologically advanced public transportation to the Bay Area.

Today, BART is a familiar part of the region's landscape. But inside the preserved cars at the Western Railway Museum is a reminder of how new — and revolutionary — the system once was.

The Rapid Transit History Center is intended to preserve that story, giving future generations the chance to step aboard a piece of the technology that helped shape transportation.

The museum and its partners say the new center will help ensure that the story of BART's early years — and its influence on transportation in the Bay Area — remains accessible to future generations.

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