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.

SAVE THE DATES! SANTA IS COMING TO THE ROUNDHOUSE.

Jolly old St. Nichoals, better know as Santa Claus to many, has announced he will be making three stops at the Milwaukee Railroad Historic Shops and Museum this December. The dates scheduled for his visit's are all Saturdays on December 3rd, 10th and 17th. He will arrive at noon and depart at 4 pm each day.

We are so excited that he has added us to his busy schedule. The volunteers will be busy in the coming weeks preparing the Bay 1 display room located next to the gift shop into Santa's home away from home.

So, save the dates and make your plans to come see and talk to Santa before Christmas Eve arrives.

Stay tuned to this blog site for more details about this great event coming in the very near future.

May you all have the happiest of holiday seasons.

Over 5,100 People Have Halloween Fun at the 3rd Annual Halloween at the Roundhouse Event

That's right! 5,139 people attended the 3rd annual Halloween at the Roundhouse event this past Saturday, October 29th, 2011. And there were plenty of new attractions this year to please everyone that attended. Trick or Treat bags were handed out to the youngsters as they entered the the gate. Ten candy stations were located throughout the complex for the kids to get their treats. The 1913 Northern Pacific wood caboose was transformed into a haunted caboose complete with animatronic ghouls, black light cob webs, strobe lights, fog, spiders, rats and an old pirates coffin. At times through out the event the line for this attraction snaked all the way out the back door of the roundhouse and was viewed by many people numerous times. Other new attractions to this years Halloween event were the Petting Zoo and Pony rides which both saw non-stop lines all day long also.

A first time special fund raising event "Tea at the Track Side" offered guests some private time with Special Guests Sir Topham Hatt and his wife Mrs. Jane "Lady" Hatt over tea (fruit punch) cupcakes and pretzels. According to eye witnesses at the event, all was going fine until a group of unruly witches crashed the party and poisoned every ones tea. As Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Conductor were trying to reason with the witches Dorthy and Toto burst in with super soaker squirt guns and began melting the witches until they flew away. Glenda, the Good Witch of the North, had put special powers into Dorothy's ruby slippers that allowed her to reverse the poisonous spell on the tea and allowed the event to continue.

Three hay rack rides moved people throughout the complex. One shuttled people in the parking lot to and from their cars and the main gate while the other two moved people throughout the complex.

A great time was held by all. Not only the guests but the volunteers as well. I would like to take this time to publicly thank the more than 60 volunteers that gave up their time, came together and worked this event to make it the huge success that it was. Without them, none of this would ever be possible.

Another, milestone was also completed at this event. This event pushed us over the 20,000 visitor mark for this year. That's a 58.8% increase over the total visitor count for last year and we still have two more months to go! A hardy well done and a very warm thank you, once again, goes out to everyone in our fantastic 100% volunteer organization. You are all amazing and a complete pleasure to work with. Thank You!

Now that this event is over, what can we possibly do next? Well, I will give you a hint. It will probably cover the first three weekends in December and Ho, HO, HO will be a popular theme.

Stayed tuned to this site for further updates!

HALLOWEEN AT THE ROUNDOUSE, Saturday, October 29th, Noon to 4 PM

Ironhorse Day's: More than 1,100 people say Happy Birthday to Old Ironhorse

On Saturday and Sunday October 15 & 16 the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District & Museum in Sioux City, Iowa and over 1,100 quests celebrated the 102nd birthday of Sioux City’s landmark steam locomotive, Great Northern Railways # 1355 or better known to locals as Old Ironhorse.

The two day event featured seminars about the history of GN1355 and steam power. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad had a representative showing videos and discussing railway safety and how trains and automobiles can co-exist safely through its Operation Lifesaver program.

A special drawing was held for a free GN1355 t-shirt and that was won by Mr. Jim Residorff of David City, NE. Congratulations!

Guests were also treated to roundhouse turntable rides and motor car rides/tours. A good time was had by all in attendance. Thank you all for your support.

Ironhorse Days Oct 15 & 16

Save the Date: Ag/Rail Festival Aug 20 & 21

Make your plans now to attend our 9th Annual Ag/Rail festival coming up on Saturday and Sunday August 20th and 21st. This is our only two day event of the year and we are pulling out all the stops for your family enjoyment. A family and community celebration of the close working ties between agricultural and the railroads this event will help bridge the gap between the generations.

All sorts of extras and goodies are added to please everyone of any age. We will have live music, kids activities, motor car rides ($1.00 each), other railroad displays and of course agricultural displays of all kinds. See antique tractors not only on display, but competing in a tractor pull both days, and see, smell and hear them as they participate in the tractor parade each day around the complex. See the old belt driven threshers hard at work in fields behind the rail yard. See some of the old steam driven machines that used to be commonplace in the family farm homes to make things go and help make life a little bit easier.

Check out the amazing progress our volunteers have made restoring the 75 x 15 foot HO scale Nebraska Central Railroad. Currently running up to 4 trains at a time with more to come. Located in our brand new Civil Engineering Exhibit Hall this is one stop you won't want to miss. Also, new this year an operating Lionel train set located in the Milwaukee Road orange Ronald Rungee Memorial Caboose located between the Car Shops building and the Civil Engineering Exhibit Hall.

Speaking of the Car Shops building, stop on in for hot food and cold drinks supplied by the WITCC Trio Group. A non-profit group that donates it's proceeds to scholarship funds and other worthy charities.

There's much, much more happening than can be listed here so make your plans now and bring your family and friends.

Admission: $5 for adults, $3 for kids 12-18 years old, Free for kids 0-11 with the paid admission of an accompanying adult.

Attention All Currently Serving Military Personnel and your Families: We are a proud member of the Blue Star Museums group and thank you all from the bottoms our hearts for your selfless dedication to our wonderful country. By presenting your Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), A DD Form 1173 ID Card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID Card, which includes active duty military Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserve and their immediate family members your admission is FREE.