Santa's Final Whistle Stop Tour is This Saturday, Dec. 20th

If you have missed your visit with Santa this year or forgot to tell him earlier about that little extra someting you may be hoping for. You have one more chance to visit with him this Satuday Dec 20th. Santa will arrive via a 1913 built wood caboose pulled by a 1943 built diesel locomotive at 12:30 PM and he will depart just 3 hours later at 3:30 PM the same way he arived via the 101 year old wood caboose. Admission to the Railroad museum is free for this special event.

What is there to do? Take a look.

Car Shops building: Visit Santa and have your picture taken with him. If you don't have a camera we have a photograher that will take your picture and print it out on the spot for only $5.00. Also, we have kids activities for the kids to make popcile stick Christmas tree ornaments and Santa's Elf's construction paper hats. There is also our volunteers sponsored Bake Sale. 100% of the money raised at the bake sale goes into our Building fund to continue the restoration efforts of this 1917 built railroad locomotive and railcar repair facility. Just outside of the Car Shops building is one our friends selling funnel cakes, hot dogs and other hot tasty treats.

 

Civil Engineering Display Hall - While we are still working on the design and building of our railroad Civil Engineering displays it doesn't mean the building is not busy. We have 3 operating model railroads in O, HO, and N scale that are in varoius stages of completion for you to enjoy and discuss with our volunteers. Maybe you can take home some tips on how to build your own railroad empire at home.

 

Outdoor Stage - Here you can take your picture with some Christmas settings or go around back and throw snowballs at some snowmen.





The Roundhouse - Explore Sioux Cities pride and joy Great Northern (GN) Railway steam locomotive #1355. Take a tour of the cab and ring the bell on this beautiful locomotive from the romantic rail travel days of the past. This is the sole surviving locomotive of the Class H-5  steam locomotives of the GN. It is also historically signicant to the industrial history of the United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic places. You can also visit the gift shop for the rail fan in your life. And of special note; have a seat in the orange Milwuakee Road caboose sitting in Bay 3 at 1:00, 2:00, or 3:00 for your own personnal reading of the book the Polar Express by none other than the train conductor from the Polar Express itself!  Do you believe?


Are you getiing tired of walking? You can take a free ride on our hay rack ride and see the railyard or try out our motor car winter express ride for only $1.00 each. This 10 minute ride is our version of a good old fashioned horse and sleigh ride (without the horse and sleigh). It's a great way to have fun, and get a geat big family cuddle going to stay warm.


This is a lot of fun for the entire family. We have had 1,700 visitors so far the past 2 Saturadays so don't miss out!

WEATHER ADVISORY:  Many of the buildings are still under restoration  and some have little to no heat in them so please dress appropriatley for the outside weather conditons.

SANTA'S WHISTLE STOP TOUR IS ALMOST HERE!

Here are some pictures from last years visit. We are excited to see you.

 

 Santa and the Polar Express Conductor are waiving at the cars

passing by on Iowa Hwy 12 as they approach the Railroad

Museum's roundhouse complex located on the north end

of the Riverside neighborhood in Sioux City, Iowa

 A crowd of visitors greet Santa and the Polar Express Conductor

as the arrive at the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historict District

roundhouse located at the Railroad Museum, Sioux City, Iowa 

 

 The Polar Express Conductor reading from the book The Polar Express

to a bunch of eager listeners both young AND young at heart.

 

Our 1943 General Electric diesel engine and 1913 Northern Pacific

wood caboose are all decked out in Christmas cheer awaiting

the arrival of Santa and the Polar Express Conductor.

 

 Santa waiting for the girls and boys to file in and have a talk.

 

Excited and eager childern are axiously waiting in line to see Santa.

Most of the buildings have little or no heat so please dress

appropiately for the weather of the day. 

Our wonderful volunteers have been baking their fingers off to help

save you a little time this holiday season. Stop by the Bake Sale tables

and pick up some holiday goodness for your family or business get togethers.

100% of the money raised goes directly into the building fund to continue our

restoration efforts of these railway shop buildings that were originally built in 1917.



Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Halloween at the Roundhouse is now two Saturdays long!

Save the date(s) it's almost here! The best, free, Fall family event in Siouxland is now on two Saturdays and is 6 hours long each day.  We can't wait to see you! Spread the word!

Touch a Truck or Train Event is this Saturday Oct. 4th

The first annual Touch-a-Truck-or-Train community event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., this Saturday, October 4, in the rail yard of the Milwaukee R...ailroad Shops Historic District in Sioux City.

General admission to the event is $10 per family. Bring the entire family out and enjoy sitting in these trucks, trains and vehicles; learning about what they do, how they work, and how they benefit our community.

Name a child who wouldn’t love to climb aboard a fire truck, big rig, or train engine! Touch-a-Truck or Train provides a unique opportunity for children to explore vehicles of all types – public service, emergency, utility, construction, military, railroad transportation, delivery, and just plain cool – all in one place.

The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District, home of the community’s landmark Ironhorse steam locomotive, will be celebrating Touch-a-Truck-or-Train with railroad demonstrations, helicopter landing and takeoff, and the exhibition of transportation-related vehicles. This mini transportation expo will allow kids and adults to sit inside, touch, and learn all about vehicles and train equipment they usually don’t have the opportunity to be up close with. Vehicle drivers and operators will be on hand to educate the public about their vehicles and its importance to the world of work.

Event vehicles will vary from a semi-tractor rig to diesel railroad locomotive. There will be a large tow truck displayed by Meier Towing, a semi-tractor rig exhibited by I State Freightliner, a police car demonstrated by the Sioux City Police Department, and a Fire Truck shown by Sioux City Fire Rescue. Other Siouxland businesses and agencies will have a variety of vehicles on hand for kids and adults to explore, including the Mercy Air Care Helicopter, a Siouxland Paramedics Ambulance, and military vehicles from the Army Reserve. Travel Plus Limousine will exhibit their Trolley Bus and a limousine, and GCC Ready Mix will display a cement mixer.

Railroad equipment displays will include the outdoor exhibition of Sioux City’s Landmark Steam Locomotive, a restored wood Northern Pacific Caboose, a railroad center cab diesel locomotive, and the 400 truck used by railroads in the repair of rail cars.

During the event, there will be two railroad demonstrations involving the switching and movement of equipment. At 10 a.m., the Railroad Museum will pull the steam locomotive and wood caboose out of the roundhouse and position the historic equipment for outdoor exhibition. At 3:15 p.m., the equipment will be returned to the roundhouse. During both movements, there will be a turntable demonstration.

Touch-a-Truck-or-Train is a community event that allows families to take photos near railroad equipment and other transportation vehicles in a safe environment. Families and amateur photographers are welcomed to Bring Your Own Digital Device to pose and photograph family members near the train, truck or vehicle displays. This unique opportunity will allow parents and grandparents to dress children in railroad attire and pose them next to Sioux City’s landmark steam locomotive and other railroad equipment in an outdoor setting; using the sun and the backdrop of the historic buildings, rail yard, train displays, and the Loess Hills Bluffs to help frame your photos.

The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District is located adjacent to the Big Sioux River and Loess Hills National Scenic Byway in Sioux City’s north Riverside area along Iowa State Highway 12. Built in 1917-1918, the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District is one of the largest remaining steam locomotive-servicing facilities in the Midwest. The 31.5-acre site consists of a roundhouse with turntable, machine/blacksmith shop building, car/carpenter shop building, sand drying house with wood sand tower, engineer’s tool shed and a water closet building. This historic site also contains eighteen other historical remnants, including foundations of the water tower, boiler house and coaling tower.

Touch-a-Truck-or-Train Event Schedule

10:00 a.m. Railroad Switching and Shunting Demonstration – pulling out of steam locomotive and wood caboose from roundhouse building

1:00 p.m. Landing of Mercy Air Care Helicopter – exhibited until 2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m. Take off of Mercy Air Care Helicopter

1:00 p.m. Arrival of Fire Truck and Military Vehicles – exhibit until 3:00 p.m.

3:15 p.m. Railroad Switching and Shunting Demonstration – returning of steam locomotive and wood caboose inside the roundhouse building
 

TOUCH A TRUCK OR TRAIN TRANSPORTATION EXPO

 

 

The Railroad Museum Sioux City is now in the process of gauging interest and planning for our inaugural “Touch a Truck or Train” Transportation Expo to be held on Saturday, October 4, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

We are seeking local busin...ess, public agencies or organizations that would be willing to display their big rig trucks, construction equipment, or military vehicles for the public to view, climb aboard, and blow the horn. Please see the attached information; which is displayed as a picture file.

If you are associated with or know of a company or organization that would be interested in participating, please send an e-mail along with your contact information to shra@cableone.net to request a copy of the letter and flyer. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we may partner together to make this event happen.

We would like to have about 50 big rig trucks, tow truck, military vehicles, vintage trucks, construction equipment, etc. on display with our railroad locomotives and rolling stock. Please read the attached image files for more information.

We are also looking for financial contributions to help with underwriting the event costs. If you would like to help sponsor the event, please e-mail asking for sponsorship information.

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12th Annual Ag-Rail Heritage Festival is Almost Here!

 

Want to exhibit your vintage iron (tractor), truck, or classic car at Ag-Rail?
Contact the Railroad Museum's executive director, Matt Merk, for more information.                         E-mail shra@cableone.net.

 

 

Archeology Dig to Unearth The Railroads Past

Wow, we are getting national attention with our planned archaeology dig scheduled to start in August. The archaeology team coming in from the University of Iowa are also looking for 30 volunteers to help.
These volunteers will work side by ...side with the archeologists doing some digs, and sifting through the dirt, looking for any type of historic artifact. If you are interested or know of someone that would like to help please contact us. No special skills are needed to volunteer. Interested volunteers can email the Milwaukee Railroad Shops at: shra@cableone.net or call: 233-6996.

 

For more information about the dig and volunteering for it please click on the links below.

 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a094daaaf2e5-sioux

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/23/artifact-dig-planned-at-sioux-city-rail-museum/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS#.U9Ex5c6bq8E.facebook

Pictures Needed of the Rounhouse Complex and its Employee's

The Siouxland Historical Railroad Association is seeking old photos from area families of the Sioux City-based Milwaukee Road Railroad Shops and its railroad workers in search of pictures that can assist with an archaeological dig or can accompany the nomination to list the historic site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Larry Obermeyer, railroad museum president, said they would like to include photographs donated by local Milwaukee Road families of themselves or their relatives working at the railroad shops complex. “The images of the workers, buildings, etc., provide a historical overview of the functionality of the site. We would like to be able to show the worker perspective by including their photos in with the historical documentation,” Obermeyer said.
Individuals who have photos may bring them to the Railroad Museum, where staff will collect the photos and information for sresearch team. After scanning, the research team will return the originals to the owner.

For those unable to bring the photos to the Railroad Museum, digital photos may be e-mailed. These photos should be scanned at a dpi of at least 300 to provide good reproduction. The photos should be e-mailed by August 5th to shra@cableone.net. Along with the photos, contributors will be asked to provide the railroad worker’s name and occupation.
Photos will be used for the National Register nomination and may be used by the field archaeologists studying the site from August 6 to August 29. The photos may also be permanently exhibited in a display at the railroad museum.

The Railroad Museum is located on the grounds of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District at 3400 Sioux River Road in the North Riverside Neighborhood of Sioux City. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and Noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Families contributing photos to the Museum’s historical study will receive Free Admission.

During this holiday weekend, July 4 – 6, the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association will hold its Heritage Giving Weekend, a three-day online giving initiative to raise funds to construct the Sioux City & Dakota Grand Scale Railroad, a fun and educational railway ride exhibit to illustrate the history and importance of the railroads to Midwestern culture.

The intent of this project is to improve mobility and accessibility for children and their families while providing a train ride experience during visits to the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District. Photos and videos of the train being built can be viewed at GiveToMuseum.com or TrainProject.org. Donations of $10 or more can be made by visiting GiveToMuseum.com.

The crowd funding initiative seeks to raise $60,000 for the purchase of the train set and track building materials as part of a multi-phased project to build and install a park-style Miniature Railroad at its museum campus, located at 3400 Sioux River Road in Sioux City, Iowa. The Miniature Railroad will feature a classic-style 3-inch scale miniature park train that will run on a 1.5-mile rail line constructed with 15-inch gauge tracks.

This miniature railroad will be capable of running a three-car train set consisting of a vintage reproduction of the historic F-7 diesel locomotive with a four motor drive system and phoenix sound, two twelve-passenger economy coaches, and an ADA-compliant observation car. The train set is currently under construction at the Swannee River Railroad shops in Fort Worth, Texas.

Help us expand on our railroad experience by donating at GiveToMuseum.com today! 

Volunteers needed for Big Sioux River flooding preparation and cleanup. Museum will be closed through July 1st.

Hello all,

If you follow us on Facebook, then you've seen our post asking for help with preparing for the upcoming cresting of the Big Sioux River and the adverse effects it could have on our museum.

The crest of the Big Sioux River, as predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is expected to reach 110.3’, the highest crest since 1969. This crest could leave multiple areas of the museum with standing water and damage to valuable artifacts and exhibits.

Volunteers can help with tasks such as sandbagging, relocating gift shop items, preservation gallery materials, tools and other contents of the museum, wrapping buildings in sandbags and plastic, and general cleanup both before and after the cresting.

The museum will be completely closed to non-volunteers through this weekend, June 20-22. If you need to contact the museum regarding rescheduling of visits, questions about the reopening, etc., please call (712) 233-6996, and a staff member will return your call as soon as possible.

If you would like to aid in the flood preparation and cleanup process at any point, please contact Matt Merk at (712) 253-7531, or call the museum for more information.

Thanks for your help and support during this time. We're doing our best to protect and preserve our museum and its history. 

Rail Walk 101 - Telling the Story



In association with the Western Iowa Technical Community College (WITCC) Lifelong Learning Program we will be hosting Rail Walk 101 on Saturday, June 7th from 10 am - Noon. If you are interested in participating please contact WITCC to register for this unique walking tour of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District.

RAIL WALK 101:

Telling the Story

Saturday, June 7; 10 a.m. to noon
Location: Meet at the Milwaukee Railroad historic district, 3400 Sioux River Road,
Iowa Hwy. 12, two miles south of Stone State Park.
Fee: No charge Max: 50
Lifelong Learning membership required
Guided tour with walking
Course #14/FY-CPDV-2371-02
A Tour of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District

Join fellow Lifelong Learners for a private guided tour of this unique railroad historic site. You’ll

discover how the railroads built their infrastructure to transport people and goods across North America and hear about the fascinating information that came to light when the rail yard was being nominated for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The story of the Milwaukee Road Roundhouse complex in Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood is the story of the railroad industry and how it shaped Sioux City into the nation’s tenth largest railroad center during the 1920s and early 1930s. When the complex began operations in 1918 as the Sioux City Engine Terminal and Car Repair Shops, its design was revolutionary, combining all the

railroad’s cutting-edge facilities in one place.

This walking tour will give you a chance to view the surviving buildings and structures and learn about the architecture and their functional design. You will also be able to visit the ruins of over ten other buildings and structures.

The complex was built in 1917 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company, more commonly known as The Milwaukee Road. It was the second largest shop complex in the Milwaukee’s system. In its heyday, the site covered more than 50 acres of land and included more than 25 buildings. It employed over 500 people and served an average of 72 trains per day. The complex was finally closed in 1981when the railroad went bankrupt. It only employed two people when the doors were shut for the last time.

Over the following years the complex was converted into a salvage yard and all the buildings fell into disrepair. In 1995 the City of Sioux City awarded the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association a grant to purchase the complex and clean-up/restoration work has been ongoing ever since. Thanks to federal, state, and local grants and donations from businesses and visitors the past few years have

seen unprecedented building and grounds restoration. On this tour, you will see the progress that’s been made to date and learn about ambitious plans for the future.

 

 

Note: Please dress appropriately for weather. Please wear protective shoes – no open toe or high heels – for walking and slacks to protect your legs. Tour proceeds rain or shine.

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT ATTENDED THE RAILS & COCKTAILS FUNDRAISER

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that attended and supported our Rails & Cocktails fundraiser Thursday night May 15th at the Sergeant Bluff Community Center. The entertainment provided by Matt D, Garie Lewis, and Mike Langely was spectacular. A very special heart felt thank you goes out to these three individuals for volunteering to donate their time and talents to help us out. If you ever hear of any of these very talented gentlemen performing near you; they are definitely a MUST SEE performance. You will be so very happy that you went to see them.

A good time was had by everybody in attendance and those that participated in the auctions were rewarded with some truly amazing great deals. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, this entire event could not have happened without the wonderful support and generosity of our community business'  that provided auction items, food, and beverages.

WalMart, Rays Midbell Music, Vac Shack, Complete Nutrition, Cookies BBQ, Glazer's, Sioux City Bandits, Sioux City Explorers, River City Amusements, Jolly Time Popcorn, Thinker Toys, Palmer Candy, Awesome Biker Nights, Indigo Pallet, Hannel Cellars, Odell & Dorothy Overgaard, Two Rivers Golf Club, Whispering Creek Golf Club, Braungers Meats, Jiffy Lube, Rocket Auto Wash, Hamilton Touchless Auto Wash, Carmike Cinemas, Scheels, Greenberg's Jewelers, Aggies Restaurant, Direct PC, Bush Cleaners, Roosters Harley Davidson, Fareway, Subway, and Massage & Body.

The next time you stop in and visit any of these wonderful sponsors please tell them how much you appreciate their help of our museum and give them a heart felt thank you for us. This museum is a result of each and everyone in our community lending a hand and pitching in. Whether it is though volunteer labor, visiting as a paying customer, or supporting us through donations and good will gestures such as this fundraiser we are all making Sioux City a better place to raise our families and enjoy our free time together.

Please be sure to keep checking back with this blog site for the latest updates and news about The Railroad Museum, Sioux City and checkout our web site for a list of upcoming events and more information about the museum and the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District at www.milwaukeerailroadshops.org


Here are some pictures from the event for you to enjoy.


Here's the room almost set-up and ready to go.



Matt D started off the evening with a fantastic set.



Some of the crowd enjoying the nights entertainment.



Garie Lewis cracked up the audience with his comedic wit and also played a couple tunes with Mike Langley

 Iowa Music Hall of Fame inductee Mike Langely had the crowd clapping, tow tapping and singing along to the music. A fantastic way to end the evenings entertainment.