(The following story by Tim Johnson appeared on the Daily Nonpareil website on April 18, 2010.)
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is gearing up to usher visitors into the golden age of passenger trains.
The museum is creating a new, permanent exhibit called “America Travels by Rail” that will occupy the south side of the museum’s top floor, said Beth Lindquist, executive director of the museum.
“The goal is for visitors to see it and feel like they know what passenger travel was like in its prime – the mid-1940s to the early 1960s,” she said.
Installation of the exhibit will begin in early June, Lindquist said. Opening is tentatively scheduled for June 26.
“The walls and fabrication are being done in Chicago by the exhibit fabricator,” she said.
The setup will feature a series of vignettes showing mockups of a coach, diner and lounge car, Lindquist said.
“We have a lot of audio going on so people have a sense that they’re going into a passenger car,” she said. “It really has to do with being able to sit in some of the train car chairs, experience the atmosphere in the coach, dining and lounge cars.”
In one part of the exhibit, historic photographs will be flashed on the walls, she said.
“We’ll have eight different projectors shooting photos on the walls and film on the walls,” she said.
Along one wall will be a myriad of artifacts, including photographs, advertisements, glassware, china, silver and other items, Lindquist said.
“There’s a whole list of items we have in the UP collection we’re trying to bring to the public so they can see the large collection that is actually housed here,” she said. “We have several hundred thousand photographs, and we have several thousand artifacts. We’re trying to do what’s called ‘visible storage’ so people can see our artifacts.”
An old library case will be used to hold travel materials, such as menus, schedules, tickets and other items, Lindquist said.
“There’s probably 40 to 50 drawers in these people can pull out and see,” she said.
There will be a comparison among trains, planes and automobiles.
“The nice thing about passenger travel at that point was you could get up and walk around,” Lindquist said.
There will be a section dedicated to the Rails to Trails program, she said. Iowa was one of the first states to start converting rail beds to trails, and the Wabash Trace is one of the longest trails.
A fundraising campaign conducted by Friends of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum has been chugging along and is approaching its destination, said Dick Miller, chairman of the campaign. More than half a million dollars have been raised, and another $40,000 is needed.
There will be a ticket office with video monitor and a doorway dedicated to large donors at the entrance of the exhibit, Miller said. “As you enter the exhibit, you see the donors that gave $1,000 or more,” Lindquist said.
The Friends received a grant from the Iowa West Foundation, a large anonymous gift and money from the transportation endowment of the federal government, Lindquist said.
“This is a railroad town, and I can imagine a lot of people want to put something in memory of their loved ones,” Miller said.
Museum officials have worked on conceptualizing and designing the exhibit and raising funds for more than two years, Lindquist said.
“We actually started with a concept and kind of switched gears about a year ago,” she said.
Railroad fans will have a chance to try out the real thing in November, Miller said. People will have an opportunity to ride a steam train to North Platte, Neb., and ride back on a diesel train.
Everyone who donates $2,000 or more to Friends for the exhibit will be offered two round-trip tickets. Passengers will be served a meal on board and return the same day. The steam locomotive used for the journey west will be engine No. 844.