Last Chance: Train Day Celebration in Downtown Kirkwood

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Kirkwood Police will participate in "National Train Day" Saturday, at the by having safety information and handouts for children and adults focusing on staying safe around railroad tracks and crossings. The event is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Special displays at the Amtrak Station Open House will include displays from the , , Kirkwood Police Canine Unit, Union Pacific Railroad Police Special Agents, Missouri Operation Lifesaver, Big Bend Model Railroad Club, National Railway Historical Society, American Association of Railroaders and the among others. An operating model train layout will be on display along with a telegraph display and demonstration from The Morse Telegraph Club. 

Food will be available by donation from the Kirkwood American Legion Post 156. Live music will be performed after 10 a.m. Amtrak will also have a drawing for two sets of tickets to Chicago or Kansas City or points in between.

History of National Train Day

National Train Day has been sponsored by Amtrak for the past five years and this year marks Amtrak's 41st birthday. National Train Day marks 143 years of connecting travelers coast to coast and commemorates the day the first transcontinental railroad was created. On May 10, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, the golden spike was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, transforming America by creating the nation‘s first transcontinental railroad.  Further information is available at the National Train Day website.

Also, Union Pacific Railroad also celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2012. Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of July 1, 1862, creating the original Union Pacific Railroad which now operates the former Missouri Pacific Railroad through downtown Kirkwood. Further information is available at the Union Pacific 150 website.