Union Pacific Museum

Our museum features more than 150 years of American railroad stories told through unique artifacts and immersive interactive games. Admission is free.

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Not a terrible lizard, but this “Big Boy” is certainly a dinosaur!
Built in 1941, UP 4019, was one of the world’s largest steam locomotives, but “went extinct” (scrapped) in 1961.
Famous image of UP 4019, underway, 1942, UP chief Photographer Bill Coons.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

1939 Golden Gate International Exposition and World’s Fair held in San Francisco, California, on Treasure Island, celebrating the opening of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. The theme was “Pageant for the Pacific.”

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

The “City of San Francisco” streamliner service crossing the Great Salt Lake over the Lucin Cut-off, 1953.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Employees in front of Southern Pacific locomotive, SP 2779, at Walnut Creek, California, circa 1950.
Lower left is conductor Kenneth Stuart. Upper left is brakeman Don Clark. Upper right is brakeman Ted Reece, and lower right is fireman Roy Newell.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

May 18 is International Museum Day! The Union Pacific Museum opened in 1921 at UP Headquarters but has been in Council Bluffs, Iowa, since 2003! Share your pics and stories of visiting this iconic museum! Outside UP Museum wing at UP Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, circa 1940s.

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Railroad employees like this passenger conductor and brakeman relied on accurate timekeeping to deliver passengers to their destinations!

Learn more about railroad time at the Union Pacific Museum today!

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Andy McPhie, engineer for Union Pacific Railroad, inside a UP 4000-class steam locomotive, or a “Big Boy.”

There is no date on this image in the catalog – any ideas?

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On this day 157 years ago, May 10, 1869, the last rail of the First Transcontinental Railroad was laid, completing its construction and connecting the nation. This image, taken by Andrew Russell, shows the crowd gathered to watch the ceremony.

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Happy Mother’s Day!

A mother bear and two cubs at Yellowstone National Park.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Interior view of two workers in Dupo, Illinois, freight car repair shop, May 1979.

Check out the automobile rack car getting lifted with the autos still loaded!

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

In commemoration of America’s 250th birthday, this summer on select Saturdays we are hosting special tours!! We are kicking it off on May 16th with Mapping Mile 0: The Nation Before the Railroad. Get your tickets now and find the full schedule at https://t.co/c66P7sbPDU

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Do you know what this signal maintainer is measuring?

Ogden-Echo, Utah area, July 1980. [Please stay 25 ft away from all track!]

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May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!

Chinese workers at the Secret Town, California, Trestle, 1872. Taken by Carleton Watkins.

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Here, Lois Thompson (from Moscow, Idaho), Ranger Frank Sissby, and Julie Pressen (from Chicago, Illinois) view the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. They are sitting at Artist’s Viewpoint, looking out at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Wyoming.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Taken in 1907 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, car shop employees grouped around the end of a “solarium” type observation car. Looks like they had some late snow that spring!

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Hang tight!
Head brakeman and fireman discuss train orders from the interior of a steam locomotive cab, circa 1950.
Our records don’t say which locomotive this was, do you have an idea? Please share details!

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

The Spring or Vernal Equinox is today!
California poppy fields with wild sand verbena and Joshua trees, circa 1965.
Share your destination flower photos below!

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Did you know that a great many of the original construction workers hired by Union Pacific to complete the first transcontinental railroad were Irish immigrants?

Learn more by checking out the museum!

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Streetside view of Portland, Oregon’s iconic Union Station in 1927.

[Union Pacific Museum @UPRRMuseum]

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, and the 115th anniversary of the holiday! Here is Vera Lichty, a wartime telegraph agent, at work in Walnut, California, 1944. Did you know by the end of 1945 about 250,000 women were working for the railroads in the United States?