Thursday, August 26, 2010

Trains on the Plains

The Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is my friend Blair's favorite museum. And who can blame him? This article in the Journal Star makes the Railroad Museum look like a lot of fun!

Curved walls flash archival photos from eight video projectors while audio tracks pipe the sounds of train bells, steam hissing from locomotives and random calls of "All aboard!"

Visitors can sit in period train seats installed in a simulated coach car. They can check out the UP-branded glassware used by railroad bartenders in lounge cars. And they can see real menus listing four-star meals prepared by the original iron chefs.

I wish trains were still like in the old days, like in Strangers on a Train, or in those murder mysteries you always see on AMC. Amtrak is somewhat less romantic.

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