A visit to a railroad museum you may have never heard of

A Burlington Ten-Wheeler built in Lincoln, Neb., is one of two steam locomotives on display at the RailsWest Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Jim Wrinn photo.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – It is hard to be a railroad attraction in the Omaha area. There is a lot of competition. Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4024 and DD40X No. 6900 sit on a hillside overlooking the Missouri River. The Durham Museum in Omaha’s Union Station has a complete basement full of displays. Union Pacific’s own museum, a nicely done interpretive museum, occupies the former Carnegie Library in Council Bluffs. The zero milepost – where the first transcontinental railroad started west – is in town.

Not far away is the unremarked RailsWest Railroad Museum that contains a landmark steam locomotive, a substantial depot, passenger cars, and a gigantic model railroad. It’s in an industrial area, and there are even active tracks out front – BNSF and Iowa Interstate trains glide by from time to time.

An industrial switcher and Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 814 share space at RailsWest Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Jim Wrinn photo.

Behind a fenced rolling stock yard, Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 814 is the prize here; a sister to the much more famous No. 844, still in UP hands and currently under restoration, this 4-8-4 has been on display for 50 years and shows the signs of a withering locomotive long facing the elements without a cover. There’s also No. 915, a Lincoln, Neb.-built Burlington Route 4-6-0, which is rusting badly, too, needs a headlight lens, and paint. Several significant passenger cars, a caboose, a small switching diesel, and a boxcar round out the rolling stock collection. The museum itself is in a brick 1899 depot that once belonged to the Rock Island. I dropped by the museum one hot summer Saturday afternoon recently and visited with Museum Coordinator Carla Borgaila and volunteer Eric Gonzalez. I walked around the museum, saw a gigantic HO model railroad in one section, toured the rolling stock display, and even climbed into the attic to see a small apartment that the operator had access to years ago. The depot is the last of a half dozen depots that were once found in Council Bluffs. Today it is part of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County and sees 12,000 to 15,000 visitors each year. Funding comes through admissions, donations, and small grants. There’s no government funding.

UP 4-8-4 No. 814 has seen its share of winters outside in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Jim Wrinn photo.

The rolling stock sits outside uncovered and, as I mentioned before, the weather and the years are taking their toll. Currently, the museum is restoring a 1949 Chicago & Northwestern dining car. Says Borgaila: “Once this car is done it will have heat and electricity. It will not only be part of the static display but also give us a place to host events, rent out for birthdays and other parties and provide a covered area for families to enjoy a quick bite to eat. The monies raised from renting the car will go directly into the restoration of the other rolling stock.”

I asked her about getting a roof for the rolling stock, which is certainly needed. “A roof would be nice. I do have mixed feelings on one. I like that the cars can be seen from [a nearby] viaduct — that helps drive people in. If it were covered I would prefer a building, like a maintenance shed with murals painted on the side and roof to help showcase our history. This would also allow for better winter enjoyment and could be opened up in the summer for nice airflow. Unfortunately I do not see us coming into that much money any time soon.”

I can’t help but think that this is a struggling museum that deserves a better future in an area rich with railroad history, a thriving railroad presence today, and UP’s corporate office not five miles away across the Missouri River in downtown Omaha. No. 814 and the rest of the rolling stock would look much better in fresh coats of paint with a canopy sheltering them from the wind, the rain, and the snow that blows across the plains.