When Amtrak ran National Train Day events, the Museum was well represented. Longtime volunteer and board member Dennis S. tabled the National Train Day event at Portland’s Union Station back in 2010.
All aboard for National Train Day! Started in 2008 by Amtrak, National Train Day celebrates railroads and their role the Saturday closest to May 10th. The Northwest Railway Museum will be getting into the Train Day spirit by operating our steam locomotive, Northern Pacific 924. But why is May 10th important to National Train Day?
“East and West Shaking Hands at Laying Last Rail” by Andrew J. Russell. Original photo courtesy Yale Collection of Western Americana.
The completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 was a historic day for North America and the United States. This was the first time rails connected the Pacific Ocean to the rest of the country. Two companies built the first Transcontinental Railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad built east from Sacramento, California, and the Union Pacific Railroad built west from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The surveyors and graders working past each other in northern Utah prompted Congress to select Promontory, Utah as the site the rails would meet. Both the Central Pacific and Union Pacific agreed that May 8th would be the date of the “wedding of the rails”. However, bad weather and a reported labor dispute delayed the Union Pacific train for two days. Thus, it was the morning of May 10th, 1869, that finally held the ceremony, listened to by the whole United States via telegraph.
Join the Museum’s crews this National Train Day for a ride behind Northern Pacific 924! Volunteers David O. and Aiden S. are getting the 1899-built steam engine ready for the season.
For those interested in joining the Northwest Railway Museum and Northern Pacific 924 for National Train Day (and Mother’s Day!), tickets are still available through our website!
