Static Railway Display Tours at Stuhr Museum

Static Railway Display Tours
11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Monday - Saturday
3:15 to 4:15 p.m. Sunday

GRAND ISLAND, STUHR MUSEUM - All aboard! This summer, Stuhr Museum offers something new to visitors interested in what it would be like to travel through the Nebraska prairie on board a passenger rail car.

The museum's static rail display, which includes a steam engine, passenger rail car and caboose, will be manned and open for tours between 11:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. and 3:15 and 4:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 3:15 to 4:15 p.m.

Specifically, the static rail display includes three pieces - the Union Pacific Engine No. 437, the Bosselman Family, Hoch Family, Union Pacific Boarding Car and the Ann and Dennis Vanosdall, Union Pacific Caboose.

Engine No. 437 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1901 as a C-57 class consolidation, which was the mainline power of the Union Pacific at the start of the 20th century. The C-57 class remained the mainstay for the mainline freight on the Nebraska division through the early 1920s when they were demoted to branch line service by the need for larger power on increasingly heavier trains. In working order, the 437 weighed 172,000 pounds. The engine was retired in 1956.

The Bosselman Family, Hoch Family, Union Pacific Boarding Car was built in 1872 and not much is known about the car's history. The car was donated to Stuhr Museum by the Union Pacific in the early 1960s, residing first in Railroad Town and later moved to join the Static Train Display in 2002. The original ceiling over the dining area was exposed to show the original design of the car, along with other remnants of its former glory.

The Ann and Dennis Vanosdall, Union Pacific Caboose was built in September of 1912 by the Pullman Car Company for the Union Pacific subsidiary railroad, the Oregon-Washington Railway and Navigation Company. As built, the caboose carried NO. 313 until August 1916 when it was renumbered 3601. Between 1926 and 1931, Union Pacific reinforced most of its wooden cabooses with a steel under frame for crew safety. The caboose resided in Railroad Town and was moved in 2002 to its present location.

For more information, call (308) 385-5316.