On Presidents' Day we decided to go up to Ogden to visit the old Union Station train station, which houses the Utah State Railroad Museum and the John Browning Rifle Museum. Both museums were fascinating, but I definitely preferred the train museum.
We learned about the history of the transcontinental railroad, saw model trains, got to climb on a handcar, and received a tour of a hospital car and a post office car. I was particularly interested in the hospital car and the post office car.
They used the hospital car during World War II and retired it some time after. The bunks were three beds high. Seeing the train reminded me of one of the worst nights of sleep I've ever had, prior to having children, that is. I was on a sleeper car traveling from Vienna to Rome, and even though I was perfectly healthy, I tossed and turned all night. Of course, those soldiers were coming back from the front. So, perhaps the train was luxury in comparison. I suppose traveling on the sleeper car was luxury for me, too. After all, I was studying abroad. At any rate, the hospital car interested me. I wanted to know all the stories of the veterans who returned to their homes on that car.
The Post Office Car was less interesting to see because there wasn't much inside except mail bags, but I was surprised to learn that the U.S. Postal Service used to have moving Post Offices on trains. They sorted the mail on the train and left it in towns along the way without even stopping the train. Yes, they just pushed it out the side of the train for postal workers in the town to pick up. To pick up the mail, the traveling postal workers would use a metal hook to grab the mail bags left hanging from a metal pole in towns along the way. The Postal Service did this until it became common practice to deliver the mail via airplane.
Here are some pictures of the day:
Matt and Kirsten on the caboose.
That is a great pic of you and the girls.
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