Extended hours for Thanksgiving weekend

The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District and Railroad Museum will offer free admission and extended hours for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The railroad museum development project will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, November 27 and 28.

In addition, the Railroad Museum Store will be open be the same extended hours. The store features the vintage Ironhorse 1355 t-shirt, a variety of historic district logo items perfect for holiday presents and stocking stuffers; along with a selection of railroad books, including the Sioux City Railroads book authored by Dr. Rudy Daniels.

The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District is home to Sioux City’s landmark steam locomotive, Great Northern Railway No. 1355. The recently restored steam locomotive will be open to the public for cab tours and photo opportunities.

Visitors to the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District are advised to dress appropriately for the weather and to be aware of vehicle traffic through the complex. The new Civil Engineering and Model Railroad Exhibition Center is under construction. When completed, this new 4,000-sq. ft. facility will feature exhibits on railroad engineering and will display the HO-scale “Nebraska Central Railway” model railroad diorama.

Volunteers with the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association will be available to provide tours and to answer questions about upcoming construction projects for the 2010 construction season.

About the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District

Nationally recognized by the White House and the National Trust for Historic Places, the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District is designated an “official project” of the Save America’s Treasures Program. The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District is located at 3400 Sioux River Road in Sioux City’s north Riverside neighborhood along the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway, Iowa Highway 12 – approximately 2 miles south of Stone State Park.

Built in 1917, the Milwaukee Railroad Shops are one of the largest remaining steam locomotive-servicing and rail car facilities left in existence within the Midwest. The Siouxland Historical Railroad Association purchased the 31.5-acre site in 1996 and opened the facility as a historic district in 1998. Over the past eight years, more than 35,000 people have visited the historic district. The renovation work is recognized as one of the region’s largest historic preservation projects involving an industrial railroad landscape. The Milwaukee Railroad Shops have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and were instrumental in helping Sioux City gain certification as a Preserve America Community by the Bush Administration.

SHRA launches t-shirt fundraiser

The Siouxland Historical Railroad Association announced its first annual t-shirt fundraising event to benefit the redevelopment of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District as an industrial heritage and science museum.

Special limited edition “Ironhorse 1355” t-shirts are now available at the historic district’s gift shop and feature a four-color screened “Sioux City’s landmark steam locomotive No. 1355” graphic on the front of a forest green t-shirt. T-shirts are available in adult and youth sizes, including extended sizes for adults.

The vintage t-shirts commemorate the 100th anniversary of the steam locomotives construction and placement into rail passenger service in 1909. The steam locomotive had a distinguished career spanning 46 years pulling many named “signature” passenger trains operated by the Great Northern Railway, including the Oriental Limited, Pacific Fast Mail, and Empire Builder.

All proceeds from the sale of the t-shirts will help fund building renovations and operations of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District. The Siouxland Historical Railroad Association has a goal of selling 1,355 t-shirts within the next 101 days to help finance the next round of building construction at the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District. Currently under construction is the new model railroad exhibit center. In early spring construction will focus on rehabilitating the machine shop building and summer construction activities will include the installation of a new permanent restroom facility.

To order the t-shirt through the mail, please remit $24.95 per shirt (includes USPS Priority Mail postage) to the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association, P O Box 1355, Sioux City, IA 51102-1355. Please state the size of the t-shirt needed. Please allow ten days for delivery.

Halloween at the Roundhouse event attracts 3600 visitors

Unseasonably warmer weather led to larger crowds for the “Halloween at the Roundhouse” event at the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District held on Saturday, October 31, 2009.

The railroad museum development project reports that attendance topped 3600 visitors over the four-hour special event, which was about 1200 more visitors than the event drew last year.

For the event, children donned costumes and enjoyed the Halloween-themes activities such as pumpkin bowling, pumpkin painting, a screaming contest, motor car train rides, and tours of the City’s landmark steam locomotive No. 1355.

As part of the festivities, hobos, witches, and goblins roomed throughout the 31.5-acre historic site, engaging in storytelling ranging from ghost stories to railroad lore. These story tellers helped bring the past to life with stories such as Kate Shelling.

According to Jon Wagoner, president of the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association, “this event continues to attract an audience that is more diverse than the railroad museum’s overall attendance. Typically, we see more low-income and minority families attend this event than they do our other public programs, particularly inter-generational families, continue to be an important part of the railroad museum’s audience, with 57.5 percent of visitors accompanied by children under 18. According to visitor registrations, over 95 percent of the families attending the Halloween at the Roundhouse event were accompanied by children under 18.