Another Attendance Record is Broken!

Wow! We have broken another attendance record and we still have 12 more weeks to go until the end of the year. Here’s a quick glance at our Visitor count comparisons.

Scheduled Visitor Tours 2011 = 485 kids and adults (year-end total)

Scheduled Visitor Tours 2012 = 967 kids and adults currently to date (We have many more scheduled tours on the books before the end of the year)

 

Over all Visitor Count:

2008 = less than 3,000

2009 = 6,000 +/-

2010 = 12,740

2011 = 31,000 +

2012 = 32,000 + to date (based on last year’s attendance numbers for the final 3 months of the year we are calculating that another 16,000 visitors can be expected between now and the end of the year)

We wish to thank all of our visitors for coming out and experiencing the railroad museum and the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District.  We truly enjoy having you stop by and visit and learn about our regions important history and the vital link we provide in the economic and industrial growth of our great nation. And more importantly to hear the stories of our ancestors that used to work for the railroads and being able to experience their workplace, shops and working conditions. We hope that a visit to our complex leaves you with a wonderful sense of pride in your own family’s history after getting a better feel for how our families worked hard, supported each other and provided for our futures.

Most importantly we would like to thank our exceptional and awesome volunteers. Their selfless dedication and desire to pass on our history’s lessons to our children and future generations is simply humbling and heartfelt. The time they spend with the visitors and the stories and lessons that are passed on. The countless hours of not only working at the complex itself, but the unseen hours and hours spent at home researching, designing, contemplating and building upon ideas for displays, interactive learning and the stories of the railroad workers and the lives that they touched.

Thank you to one and all! And please pass the word on about us and check out our web site’s upcoming events (www.milwaukeerailroadshops.org) for the exciting and fun family events that are still  planned for the rest year.

Ironhorse Days Saturday & Sunday October 13 & 14

Come help us celebrate Old Chief Ironhorse's 103rd birthday this weekend. The railroad museum complex will be open from 10 am to 4 pm both days. Come learn about the sole survivor of a class of 14 locomotives that was originally built in 1909. Great Northern Railway Steam Locomotive #1355 is a National Landmark and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. This locomotive helped settle the American West and was instrumental in the growth of our great nation. Old Ironhorse was given to the people of Sioux City by the Great Northern Railway as gift and a reminder of it's strong relationships with the railroad.

After sitting on display outside near the Sioux City Auditorium from 1955 until 1984 the City of Sioux City granted ownership of this locomotive to our organization and it's restoration process was begun. Originally the restoration concept was to bring GN 1355 back to life and to steam again. Unfortunately though, financial and insurance constraints along with operational limitations due to its friction bearing design caused us to change the concept from operational to a cosmetic restoration. GN 1355 was completely stripped down, cleaned, fixed and loving restored to it's original 1920's and 30's passenger paint scheme. The volunteers spent countless hours researching and scanning old photos of the locomotive. It has been restored just as if it were to be an operational locomotive. Past engineers and firemen of this great locomotive have complemented us on it's restoration and it's completeness. Countless volunteers, tens of thousands of volunteer man-hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars from grants and donations and a lot of tender loving care have brought this beautiful locomotive back from near oblivion and into the public eyesight once again.

This years event will feature:
* A continuous running slide show of the restoration efforts of the steam locomotive provided by Odell Overgaard.
* Railroad history presentation given by Mr. Francis Serr of Yankton at 11am and 2pm both days in the Preservation Gallery.
* Old Ironhorse GN #1355 will be pulled out of the roundhouse and placed on the turntable from 10am to 3pm on Saturday (this will be the last outdoor display of this locomotive for the year) but it will stay inside the roundhouse on Sunday so folks can go into the cab.
* Steam engine tours.
* Turntable demonstrations will be performed every hour on both days.
* On Sunday we will use our 1943 GE 45 ton diesel locomotive for the turntable demonstrations.
* A courtesy table will be setup to serve coffee, cookies and popcorn.
* We will be continuing to raise funds for our Vision Iowa grant through the train hat donation promotions.
* Motorcar rides will again be available for $2 per ride.
* All of our exhibit buildings will be open
* We will have an Operation Lifesaver display on hand provided by Ryan Schooley of the BNSF Railway.
* The Lionel trains will be running in the orange Milwaukee caboose and the HO scale Nebraska Central Railroad will be in full operation in the Civil Engineering Display Building.


 Grab your friends and relatives and come on down, we can't wait to meet you!

1st Annual Rock N Rails Music Festival - Recap

WOW! That's really about all we can say. WOW! What a spectacular day. We had perfect weather, awesome bands, excellent music and a fantastic crowd. Matt Merk, Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District Executive Director said, "We had about 800 people come out to the event and for many of those this was their first time visiting the railroad museum complex. Between the regular museum display's, the beautiful weather and all the great bands all of our visitors were very impressed with what we have to offer and were very excited about coming out and many said they would definitely make a return visit in the future." Merk also continued saying, "I am so proud of our volunteers. Their friendliness, professionalism and just plain pride and excitement in showing off all their hard work to the community is very contagious and the visitors pick up on that honest we're-glad-to-see-you feeling and it just makes the entire experience that much better for our guests."

Along with the great music, food and refreshments many visitors were treated to a ride on the 90 foot roundhouse locomotive turntable. While it is not a very fast ride many were thrilled just the same and impressed that this 95 year old piece of railroad history is still alive and well.

Thank you to everyone that attended our first ever music festival. Because of the initial success of this event there are already talks underway for repeating this next year and excitement about adding other such events to next years schedule. We love the Siouxland area and it's families and are trying hard to become a family fun-spot for many more of our communities cultural events.

Again, thank you for your support and we can't wait for you to stop by and say hello.

1st Annual Rock & Rail Festival. This Saturday, September 15th

Can you feel the excitement in the air? The buzz is going around town and folks are getting excited about our new event happening this Saturday, September 15. The event is our 1st Annual "Rock n Rail Festival". This awesome outdoor event is being hosted by Kool 99.5 FM radio and will feature 6 of Sioux Cities best musical acts. The event stage will be set-up in our courtyard area between the Machine shop and the orange & maroon Milwaukee Road Diner Car. The stage will be facing south so will be be plenty of green space and shade to set-up your lawn chairs or throw out a blanket. 3-4 food vendors will be on-hand and we will have a beer garden set-up also for your cool refreshments and enjoyment.

Admission to this event is only $5.00! The admission fee not only covers the 6 hour concert but allows you full access to all the buildings on the railroad museum grounds. The museum will remain open it's normal hours 10 am to 4 pm during this event. Railroad motorcar rides will also be available from 10 am-4 pm for only $2.00.

Noon-1:00 - Kelly Glasco
1:00-2:00 - Mike Langley
2:00-3:00 - Mat D
3:00-4:00 - Blue Moon Band
4:00-5:00 - Old School
5:00-6:00 - Premium Draft

This will be a one hot Rock n Rail day to remember. Stay tuned to our Blog and Facebook pages for more updates and as the event nears and keep an ear open to Kool 99.5 for future announcements.

10th Annual AgRail Festival draws nearly 3000 happy visitors

After a slow damp start due to the rain lasting all of Saturday morning 688 people braved the cooler temperatures and wet grounds in the afternoon and came out for a wonder visit. On Sunday with the warmer and dryer weather 2,239 people came out for a great day of music, railroads and tractors.

During the event on Saturday local radio personalities Larry & Don from Nostalgia Theater on KSCJ Talk Radio 1360 AM were once again broadcasting live from the event from 9:00 until 11:00 AM and a new comer to the event, Cowboy Bob from 101.3 FM Y Country Radio was also on hand and broadcast his show live from the museum complex from 10:00 am until 1:00 PM. Many local country and bluegrass bands performed live all weekend at the Car Shops Stage filling the air with wonderful music for all to enjoy.

Golf carts and a hay rack ride were used to provide transportation around the 31 acre complex for visitors and a staff of over 30 volunteers eagerly greeted and treated all of our guests. Hundreds of families enjoyed the leisurely 10 minute ride on the motor car experiencing the “feel” of the track that only railroad Maintenance of Way (track workers) get to experience as they travel the rails to their work-sites. Some riders were even treated to a race with a hand car as our Hobo actors were having a tough time trying to get a ride to Omaha.

The muddy conditions caused by the rain forced the cancellation of the tractor parade on Saturday, but with dry sunny conditions on Sunday even more tractors showed up and a great tractor parade was enjoyed by all. Along with a full scale antique tractor pull a favorite event for the kids was the scaled down pedal tractor pull event which had many young competitors battling for ribbons and ice cream bar prizes.

Thank you to everyone that came out we truly enjoyed having you out for a visit!

The 10th Annual AGRAIL Festival is this weekend Aug 18th & 19th

Call your friends and family and make your plans for the 10th Annual AGRAIL Festival happening this weekend August 18 & 19 from 10:00 am till 4:00 pm both days. This annual festival celebrates the close relationships between the farmers and the railroads and their interactions to get goods to and from the market. During this special two day event local farmers bring out their antique tractors and threshing machines and put on live demonstrations throughout the day. Each day a tractor parade is held as all the tractors make their rounds throughout the complex prior to their antique tractor pull demonstration. Many other pieces of farm equipment and displays of smaller machines that were state of the art at making life easier will also be on display.

Food vendors will be on hand to satisfy your appetites and live music will be performed throughout the day from our outdoor stage. Pull up a seat under the trees, enjoy a cool breeze and listen to some good old toe tapping, foot stomping country and bluegrass music. A petting zoo and small pony rides will also be available for the youngsters to learn about farm life and the animals of the prairie farms.

Our rail yard characters will be out to entertain you as well. Our Hobo’s always get a laugh and the youngest members of your family will enjoy meeting the Polar Express Conductor, and Mr. Conductor and Sir Topham Hatt from the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends stories.

Turntable demonstrations will be performed throughout the day so you can witness the operation of our 1917 turntable and see a locomotive drive on and get positioned to a different track.

Bring out the whole family. Compare where we were then to what we have now. This is a great way to visit the past and learn about the future. Come to the railroad museum where history gets back on track to the future. We can’t wait to see you!

2012 AgRail Heritage Festival Schedule

Railroad History Presentation (11am and 1pm Saturday Only)
In the Preservation Gallery ~ Roundhouse Bay 1

Motorcar Rides – All Day
Tractor Parade – 1:00pm
Antique Tractor Pull – 2pm
Pedal Tractor Pull – 2pm
Turntable Demonstrations - 11am, 1pm, 3pm
Music – All Day
Food - All Day
Model Trains – All Day

Antique Farming Demonstrations West Field
(threshing, plowing, shelling)

Two New Events Added to This Years Scehdule!

Two great new events have been added to our schedule that will be sure to please one and all and young and old alike. These new exciting events are:

August 12, Sunday - Noon- 4 pm
1st Annual "Crusin' to Sioux City Show & Shine Car Event"
- We invite all classic car collectors to take advantage of this event to bring your vehicle to the Sioux City Railroad Museum for a great photo opportunity…your classic car alongside our classic steam engine, or any of the other pieces of railroad history on the grounds. This is a special day for camera hounds, and a fun day to capture images of your classic car and family around the many train displays.

Bring the whole family, ride the motorcar, enjoy some music, and take advantage of great photo opportunities. And if you bring your classic car to our event, you can take advantage of FREE admission to the museum for the entire family. So come on out and take new pictures for generations of America’s past.

Tell all your car collector buddies about this event. If you have any questions, please call Denny Anderson at 712-251-8266 or Matt Merk at 712-233-6996.

This event is open to all types of antique, vintage and collector cars, trucks & motorcycles.

If you don't have one of these types of vehicles come on down a check them out there are sure to be some fantastic cars, trucks and motorcycles and lots of photo opportunities for you and your family to enjoy.

September 15, Saturday - Noon- 6 pm
1st Annual "Rock n Rail Festival"
- This Rock concert event will be held in the Railfield Recreational Area behind the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District. This awesome outdoor event is being hosted by Kool 99.5 FM radio and will feature 6 of Sioux Cities best musical acts.

Noon-1:00 - Kelly Glasco
1:00-2:00 - Emily Johnson and Mitch Martin
2:00-3:00 - Mat D
3:00-4:00 - Blue Moon Band
4:00-5:00 - Old School
5:00-6:00 - Premium Draft

This will be a one hot Rock n Rail day to remember. Stay tuned to our Blog and Facebook pages for more updates and as the event nears and keep an ear open to Kool 99.5 for future announcements.

Mark your calenders! Tell your friends! We can't wait to see you!