The museum is owned by an incorporated society, the National Railway Museum of New Zealand Incorporated. The society is a registered charity. Alan Spooner is the current president of the society.
To raise funds, the NRM runs its own bookshop, mainly selling books and magazines relating to railway topics in New Zealand.
Exhibits
The museum owns one electric locomotive from Wellington, one electric multiple unit also from Wellington and three wagons with a leased diesel shunter. The museum will display other NZR and bush locomotives from the Canterbury Railway Society. The museum will also display other rolling stock including a turntable from Auckland and any other suitable railway material. The museum is under construction with the turntable in place. An NZR C class (1873), rescued from a dump in Buller Gorge, was moved from the Westport Railway Preservation Society to NZRM in 2024.