(The following article by Jim Butler was posted on the Bryant-College Station Eagle website on November 7.)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Former President George Bush joined other dignitaries Monday morning in cutting the ribbon for “Trains: Tracks of the Iron Horse” exhibit at his presidential library and museum.
About 200 spectators stood in the plaza as library director Warren Finch opened the ceremony, calling the exhibit the “most fabulous” ever hosted by the facility.
Finch detailed several highlights, including model trains from Frank Sinatra’s private collection and the couch from President Lincoln’s funeral car.
Patricia Burchfield, the museum curator who put the collection together, recalled watching a circus train unload animals when she was young and riding trains in New York in hopes of meeting her favorite movie actor, Cary Grant.
Bush urged spectators to visit Union Pacific’s newest locomotive, which is on display near Kyle Field. It’s painted to mimic the presidential airplane, Air Force One, and is titled the 4141 Express.
“I took 4141 for a quick spin after you left,” Bush kidded Union Pacific CEO Dick Davidson. “But I don’t think I damaged anything.”
The locomotive was introduced several weeks ago and will pull a special train to Dallas on Nov. 19-20.
Davidson said emissaries from the library came to Omaha, Neb., a year ago and presented Union Pacific with an opportunity that “was too good to pass up.”
“I knew this museum would be the perfect place to tell the story of the railroad,” Davidson said. “For 140 years, Union Pacific has played a critical role in the growth of Texas and America.”