COUNCIL BLUFFS -- A campaign to raise money for a major new exhibit at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum has reached its goal.
The Friends of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum has received a verbal commitment from the City of Council Bluffs to contribute $15,000 over a two-year period, said Dick Miller, committee chairman.
The donation would put the campaign total at $42,000 just over its goal of $40,000.
“It was just wonderful of them to do that,” he said. “It not only helps us reach our goal but, if there's any left over, we can put it toward the next exhibit.”
The committee also received a donation of $10,000 from a former high-ranking Union Pacific executive, Miller said, and letters mailed to past supporters prompted a lot of donations.
“We were very pleased with the initial response,” he said.
The exhibit is “America Travels by Rail,” Miller said.
“It's a beautiful way to travel,” he said. “I think historically it's very significant, because that was the major mode of transportation, and I think the younger generation is going to have a chance to see how it was historically. It's a wonderful way to show it to the children.”
The exhibit, which will focus on passenger train travel during its golden age -- the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s -- will occupy the south side of the museum's top floor.
The setup will feature a series of vignettes showing mockups of a coach, diner and lounge car. An audio component will help create the atmosphere of an actual railcar.
In one part of the exhibit, historic photographs will be flashed on the walls.
There will be a myriad of artifacts, including advertisements, glassware and china. An old library case will hold travel materials such as menus, schedules, tickets and other items.
The walls to enclose the exhibit are being built in Chicago.
Before the committee asked museum supporters for help, more than $500,000 was raised, primarily through a grant from the Iowa West Foundation and money from the federal transportation endowment.
Installation of the exhibit is on track to begin in early June. The opening is tentatively scheduled for June 26.
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