Santa's Whistle Stop Tour at the Roundhouse

Santa will be making his 2011 Whistle Stop Tour at the Roundhouse on Saturdays, December 3rd, 10th, and 17th. Children and adults can drop-in, visit Santa and take part in arts and crafts between 1:00 and 3:30 pm during the 2011 Whistle Stop Tour.

Admission to the railroad museum will be free during Santa’s Whistle Stop Tour. If weather and temperature permits, motor car rides may be purchased for $1 per person during Santa’s Whistle Stop Tour. Visitors are encouraged to dress warmly for colder weather and to wear appropriate shoes for walking.

Santa will arrive at 1:15 p.m. and will be in his special decorated roundhouse stall from 1:30 to 3:30 to greet visitors. Santa will depart at 3:45 p.m. Visitors are welcomed to take photos of Santa and his young believers as they sit with him in the special room in Bay 1 of the Roundhouse Building. Students participating in the Kristin Polley Memorial Scholarship program will take pictures for $5 each for those who do not have a camera and wish to have a photo print before they leave the railroad museum complex. Children will have the opportunity to design and personalize their own photo frame.

The Conductor is accompanying Santa this year and he will read stories from Polar Express to the young-at-heart in the specially decorated train caboose. Following the storytelling, The Conductor will pose for pictures with the children. The Kristin Polley Memorial Scholarship program will provide visitors with refreshments.

There are many other arts and crafts activities including making ornaments. Games will include Reindeer toss, Santa’s grand prize ball game, fish ring toss game, snowman bean bag toss game and some others. Children are asked to bring a donation of a nonperishable food item or paper product such as paper towels, toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste etc. All items donated will be distributed to Western Iowa Tech students in need with any extras going to the Food Bank.

While visiting the railroad museum, grownups and children will have the opportunity to enjoy Small Trains, an HO-scale model railroad exhibition featuring the Nebraska Central Railway. This exhibit was previously on display at the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and features several operating scale model trains. While the exhibit is currently under restoration, visitors can check out the progress of work.

The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District gift shop will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on these Saturdays. The railroad museum complex is located at 3400 Sioux River Road, along State Highway 12 – Loess Hills National Scenic Byway – in Sioux City.

To get a sneak peak at some of the decorations the volunteers have been making for this special visit check out a video "Deck the Stalls" by clicking on the link to our You Tube site which can be found just to the right side of this article.