Are you ready for Railroad Days?

CLICK HERE to learn more about Railroad Days venues via videos courtesy of CBTV17 and Iowa Western Community College.

 Passenger trains will be the stars of this year’s Railroad Days.

The annual “celebration of all things train and track” will take place Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, 200 Pearl St.; RailsWest Railroad Museum, South Main Street and 16th Avenue; Historic General Dodge House, 605 Third St.; Durham Museum, 801 S. 10th St., Omaha; and Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft St., Omaha.

The 2010 theme is a celebration of passenger travel, when riding the rails was king. Each venue will offer a variety of family-friendly activities, in addition to the venues’ ongoing programs and exhibits.

At the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, visitors will get a glimpse of the new “America Travels By Rail” exhibit, said Patricia LaBounty, outreach director for the Union Pacific and RailsWest railroad museums and the Dodge House.

“It’s the first opportunity to see the new exhibit,” she said.

More than two years in the making, “America Travels by Rail” brings to life the travel and destinations Americans enjoyed from the 1930s until passenger service was transferred to Amtrak in 1971. Visitors will be able to put themselves in a dining, lounge and coach car; walk a Rails to Trails site; and see thousands of artifacts on display, including Union Pacific’s extensive railroad china and silver collection.

The U.P. Railroad Museum chronicles the race to build the transcontinental railroad and how Union Pacific became the country’s east-west artery, transporting passengers and freight across the American wilderness. Hands-on exhibits allow visitors to experience everything from a telegraph to being an engineer on a locomotive simulator.

Visitors to the Dodge House will meet Cpl. Jack Provines of the Union Army and get a feel for what it took to be a Union soldier. The Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War will represent soldiers from General Grenville M. Dodge’s unit, the 4th Iowa. Also, visitors will see soldiers fire a real Civil War era cannon. Throughout the day, there will be old-fashioned gunfights with cowboys from Wild West Creations.

“Council Bluffs was the frontier in 1869,” LaBounty said. “This really was sort of the last outpost of civilization at the time. We’re reliving Council Bluffs’ Wild West past.”

Inside the Dodge House, visitors will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of the Civil War in the new “Letters Home” exhibit highlighting Dodge’s Civil War experience through letters written by him from 1862-64. The Dodge House will also feature tours of the 1869 Victorian home of Dodge, who was chief engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad.

The RailsWest Railroad Museum, housed in the historic Rock Island Depot, illustrates Council Bluff’s railroad history. The Rock Island is the last remaining passenger depot in Council Bluffs and was built in 1899. Visitors experience real railcars and locomotives in the outdoor exhibit and enjoy the extensive HO-scale model train display inside.

“The coolest thing at the RailsWest right now is the rail-viewing platform,” LaBounty said, “because it’s the safest way to watch locomotives and freight trains on the Iowa Interstate Railway, which operates on the track closest to the depot platform.”

Visitors will see what people in the past may have seen from a passenger train – bison, deer and other animals of the Great Plains (or likenesses thereof).

Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha’s Botanical Center, features more than a dozen outdoor display gardens on a 100-acre site, along with a visitor and education center. Also at the garden is Kenefick Park, which features two Union Pacific Railroad locomotives – Centennial No. 6900, one of the largest and most powerful diesel-electric locomotives ever built; and Big Boy No. 4023, one of the world’s largest steam locomotives.

Visitors are invited to hop on board a trackless train as it rolls through the garden or check out the inside of the Mobile Nobles Train. Lauritzen has a model railroad garden buzzing with seven train lines and Omaha landmark building replicas created with from natural elements like twigs and leaves.

Children can watch a model train display running and make a train engineer hat to take home, and families can listen to railroad-themed music by the Union Pacific Railroad Chorale.

Activities at The Durham Museum this weekend will include create your own travel postcards and pack your suitcase races. Visitors can view a display of Union Station artifacts, historic train travel documentaries and historic automobiles from the 1940s and ’50s. Yesterday’s Kids barbershop quartet will also perform this weekend.

The Durham will host Union Pacific’s No. 2010 during Railroad Days. Created as a tribute to the Boy Scouts’ centennial celebration, the No. 2010 honors Scouting’s 100-year impact on the nation and the many Scouting enthusiasts in Union Pacific’s work force and communities.

Omaha’s Union Station was extensively renovated by The Durham Museum to capture the character of its glory days – when 10,000 passengers would pass through the station daily. Today, visitors can explore exhibits that preserve the area’s history, including a train car exhibit with steam engines, a Pullman car, lounge cars and a caboose. There is also a 100-foot model train layout representing Union Pacific’s double-track main line during the 1950s.

Railroad Days is made possible by the support of the Union Pacific Railroad and a grant from the Iowa West Foundation.

A family pass is $10 and includes entrance into all five venues for the entire weekend. There is free parking at all the locations, and a family pass provides bus or trolley service between locations. Additional details are available online at www.omaharailroaddays.com.

Wild, Wild West Day set for July 24 at The Durham Museum

OMAHA - Saturday, July 24, has been proclaimed the National Day of the American Cowboy by
Gov. Dave Heineman. To celebrate, The Durham Museum is teaming up with Wild West Creations will host
Wild, Wild West Day. Visitors can take part in some Old West fun throughout the museum!

10 a.m. - The cowboys from Wild West Creations will be available at the museum entrance
for photographs
10:30 a.m. and High Noon - Just like in Deadwood, visitors can see old-fashioned gun fights on the museum’s parking deck!
11 and 11:30 a.m. - Visitors can stop by the Swanson Gallery and see cowboys reinactors portray
favorites such as Wyatt Earp, Sam McQuade and Curly Bill. They will learn about these famous cowboy exploits as they sit around the campfire!
1 p.m. - There will be a special train robbers’ presentation in the Stanley and Dorothy Truhlsen Lecture Hall. With great expansion and settlement of the West also came something a little more undesirable; the Outlaws. As soon as the tracks were laid bad guys began turning their attention from robbing banks to the railroads crossing vast open country carrying money, goods and passengers, with only the train’s crew as defense. Everyone has seen them in the movies, during this session visitors will learn the real story about these Outlaws and those who pursued them!

Visitors will also have an opportunity to explore the museum’s exhibition, Lives of Tradition. This series of beautiful photographs from Charles W. Guildner focus on the lives of people living and working in the heartland of rural America, including several Midwestern cowboys. Museum admission applies for Wild, Wild West Day and this event is FREE for Durham Museum members!

About The Durham Museum

The Durham Museum, making its home in Omaha’s beautiful art deco Union Station, is home to permanent exhibits that preserve Omaha’s vibrant history, traveling exhibits covering subjects ranging from history and culture, to science and industry, and many entertaining, educational, family-oriented activities. The Durham Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and has strong ties with the Library of Congress, National Archives and The Field Museum. Admission is free for members and children age 2 and under; $7 for adults; $6 for seniors; and $5 for children 3-12. For information, visit the museum’s website at www.durhammuseum.org.

Summer fun with photos!

Are you out and about doing fun things this summer? Be sure to take your camera and click away! We want to showcase the best photos area readers take this summer - whether it be around town or while you’re on vacation! Best of all, there are prizes!

To visit the contest website to learn more, click here.

Railroad Days 2010 recall era of passenger travel

On Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18, Lauritzen Gardens, The Durham Museum, the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, the RailsWest Railroad Museum and the Historic General Dodge House are coming together to celebrate Omaha and Council Bluffs’ rich railroad heritage during Railroad Days 2010.

The 2010 theme is a celebration of passenger travel, when riding the rails was king! Each participating venue will offer a variety of family-friendly activities in addition to the venues’ ongoing programs and exhibits. A family pass is only $10 and includes entrance into all five venues for the entire weekend. There is free parking at all the locations, and a family pass provides bus service between locations.

The participating venues are open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. during the festival. Additional details are available
at www.omaharailroaddays.com. Railroad Days is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Union Pacific Railroad and a grant provided by the Iowa West Foundation.

LAURITZEN GARDENS
100 Bancroft, Omaha, NE 68108
(402) 346-4002
www.lauritzengardens.org
Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha’s Botanical Center, features more than a dozen outdoor display gardens on a 100-acre site, along with a visitor and education center housing an indoor fl oral display hall, café, gift shop, classrooms and a horticulture library. Also at the garden is Kenefick Park, which features two of the greatest locomotives to ever power Union Pacific Railroad - Centennial No. 6900, one of the largest and most powerful diesel-electric locomotives ever built, and Big Boy No. 4023, one of the world’s largest steam locomotives.
Visitors are invited to hop on board a trackless train as it rolls through the garden or check out the inside of the Mobile Nobles Train. No one will want to miss a stroll through the enchanted model railroad garden buzzing with seven train lines and Omaha landmark building replicas created with exquisite detail from natural elements like twigs, leaves, bark and seedpods. All can learn about passenger travel and its exciting destinations while viewing remarkable train memorabilia on display. Children can watch a massive model train display running and make a train engineer hat to take home, and families can listen to railroad-themed music by the Union Pacifi c Railroad Chorale while enjoying food from the café. This is a truly unique way to experience man and nature where botanical meets mechanical.

THE DURHAM MUSEUM
801 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68108
(402) 444-5071
www.durhammuseum.org
Making its home in Omaha’s former Union Station, The Durham Museum is one of the country’s best examples of art deco architecture. Union Pacific Railroad donated Union Station to the city of Omaha in 1971, and four years later the museum opened its doors. Omaha’s Union Station was extensively renovated by The Durham Museum to capture the character and glory days - when 10,000 passengers would pass through the station daily. Today, visitors can explore exhibits that preserve the areas rich history including an extensive train car exhibit with steam engines, a Pullman car, Lounge cars and a caboose. There is also an impressive 100-foot O gauge model train layout representing Union Pacifi c’s double track main line during the 1950s.
During Railroad Days, visitors will receive a ticket to take their own trip around Omaha’s Union Station to discover firsthand visitor amenities while meeting memorable passengers along the way. Activities for the whole family throughout the museum include create your own travel postcards, pack your suitcase races, view original Union Station artifacts, watch historic train travel documentaries, see historic automobiles from the 1940’s and 50’s and enjoy musical performances by the Yesterday’s Kids Barbershop Quartet.
The Durham is pleased to host Union Pacific’s No. 2010 during Railroad Days. Created as a tribute to the organization’s centennial celebration, the No. 2010 honors Scouting’s 100-year impact on the nation and the many Scouting enthusiasts in Union Pacific’s work force and communities. A very rare honor, Union Pacific has created only 14 commemorative locomotives in its nearly 150-year history. The Boy Scouts-themed locomotive is decorated with a series of four distinct graphics:
• The national Boy Scouts of America logo;
• The BSA’s 100th Anniversary logo;
• The words “100 Years of Scouting,” and,
• Ten emblems representing stages of Scouting and an 11th emblem for the 2010 National Scout Jamboree

UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD MUSEUM
200 Pearl St., Council Bluffs, IA 51503
(712) 329-8307
www.upmuseum.org
Visitors to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum enjoy a trip through 140 years of railroading in the United States. The museum chronicles the race to build the transcontinental railroad and how Union Pacific became the country’s east-west artery, transporting passengers and freight across the American wilderness. Hands-on exhibits allow visitors to experience everything from a telegraph to being an Engineer on a locomotive simulator. Visitors discover how Union Pacific helped lead America’s technological revolution at the Union Pacific Railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is housed in the beautifully restored Carnegie Library in Council Bluffs’ historic district.
Over two years in the making, Union Pacific Railroad Museum’s new exhibit, America Travels by Rail brings to life the travel and destinations Americans enjoyed from the 1930s until passenger service transferred to Amtrak in 1971. Visitors will be able to put themselves in a dining car, a lounge car and a coach car; walk a Rail to Trail site; see thousands of artifacts on display, including Union Pacific’s extensive railroad china and silver collection.

HISTORIC GENERAL DODGE HOUSE
605 Third Street, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
(712) 322-2406
www.dodgehouse.org
Visitors to the Historic General Dodge House will meet Corporal Jack Provines of the Union Army and get a feel for what it took to be a real Union soldier. Visitors can meet the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War including decedents of the soldiers from General Dodge’s own unit, the 4th Iowa. Also visitors will see soldier’s fire Civil War Era real cannons! Throughout the day there will also be old-fashioned gun fights with cowboys from Wild West Creations.
Inside the Dodge House, visitors will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of the Civil War in the new “Letters Home” exhibit highlighting General Dodge’s Civil War experience through letters written by him from 1862-1864. The Dodge House will also feature open-house tours of the 1869 Victorian home of Grenville Dodge, Chief Engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. Inside the home, visitors will see several authentic steamer trunks in various phases of preparation.
RAILSWEST RAILROAD MUSEUM
16th Avenue & South Main Street, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
(712) 323-2509
The RailsWest Railroad Museum, housed in the historic Rock Island Depot, illustrates Council Bluffs’ rich railroad history. The Rock Island Depot is the last remaining passenger depot in Council Bluffs, and was built in 1899. Visitors experience real railcars and locomotives in the beautifully restored Depot and enjoy the extensive HO-scale model train display. Council Bluffs’ railroad past comes alive at the RailsWest Railroad Museum.
Visitors to RailsWest Railroad museum will see what people in the past may have seen from the window of a passenger train car! Bison, deer and more were all seen by travelers passing through the Great Plains. Visitors can also see real moving freight trains from the museum’s new rail viewing platform. Iowa Interstate, BNSF and UPRR all still operate along the lines next to the Rock Island Depot.

World Team Trials return to MAC

The wrestling World Team Trials will return to the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs on June 11-12. Click here for details.

Roses in Bloom at Lauritzen Gardens

Roses usually begin blooming at the end of May, however the prime time to see them flower is early to mid-June. Lauritzen Gardens Plant Records Curator Sara Straate gives insight on the historical flower and on the types of roses in the garden’s rose garden.

Rose in Bloom

The rose is one of the most popular flowers to enrich the garden. To ensure roses are healthy and full of blooms, there are a few guidelines to follow. Roses will bloom the best if they are planted in full sun. One should make sure when planting to not overcrowd the area with other plants; proper air circulation is a must. By giving them space and watering properly, it will help control diseases like powdery mildew and black spot, which occur in damp conditions. Roses typically require one to two inches of water per week. To control diseases, wetting the leaves and watering late in the day should be avoided. Sometimes foliar diseases will become apparent when summer humidity is high. Fungicides may be used to treat them.

It is best to deadhead roses to keep the plants tidy and to encourage more blooms. The best route to take when deadheading is to cut the spent flowers off at a 45-degree angle just above the next set of five leaves. Roses will benefit from regular fertilizing every four weeks with a 10-10-10 fertilizer applied according to the package directions.

The rose garden at Lauritzen Gardens contains an assortment of hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora, shrub and climbing roses-nearly 2,000 individual plants in all. If one is interested in low-maintenance roses, there is a bed of shrub roses hybridized by the late professor Griffith Buck of Iowa State University. These roses have good cold hardiness, pest and disease resistance and often bloom all season. Roses leave a lasting memory and add beauty and elegance to any garden.

On Sunday, June 6, from 1:30 to 5 p.m. the Omaha Rose Society presents a rose show and photo contest at Lauritzen Gardens in celebration of Rose Day. Anyone is welcome to enter the contest the morning of the event. Visitors may stop at the “Rose Talk” table to get answers to frequently asked questions about roses. Detailed information about the event and how to participate may be found at www.omaharosesociety.com.