Inside an 1800s Railroad Depot | History Traveler Episode 75 

I like your videos. Makes it feel like I'm traveling to during quarantine.

Where my G-mother was born, her parents from County Kerry. Later UPRR became my client and one of their employee's a dear friend. (Miss you Monnie Jo, may God bless your Soul with Eternal Positive Energies). Much love to Omaha and Council Bluffs.

The Club Car was where riders could purchase food and drinks. The car often featured large windows and comfortable seating to create a relaxing diversion from standard coach or dining options. In earlier times (and especially on the "name" trains), a lounge car was more likely to have a small kitchen, or grill and a limited menu. Food was prepared to order and often cooked, though items such as club sandwiches would have usually been part of the offerings. People have always been able to bring their own food on board a train, but it's cold food, sandwiches, etc. No one ever brought food on a train and cooked it themselves.

What wonderful museum with such rich history. The craftsmanship in these older buildings is just amazing. Thanks for taking us along with you on your travels!

LOL Been there done that! Works Great! Long ago in America, the Train Engineers would throw candy at us as they passed, it was great, nobody got hurt. Amazing! Such a clean community.

What a fascinating place to visit. Thank you. I would also think in Council Bluffs, you could get a pretty good steak if you're so inclined.

My grandfather and great grandfather worked on mail trains, awesome to see what those cars looked like.

From not hearing from someone for months to years... To telegraphs making it possible to get word within a week.. To now TALKING (texting lol) 24 hrs a day at 1000 miles apart. Wild. Interesting

I live in Omaha, and never heard of this place. Thanks!!! I'll buy you coffee!!!

At one time, if you wanted to get somewhere, you took the train. Eventually improved roads and aircraft took over as the way to travel. Trains were the peak of luxury. At one time, not sure when it ended, bars had 2 rooms. One for men on their own and the other for ladies and their escorts. When I was about 10, we stopped at a place similar to this. Was out that way this year and everything is just as it was and that was 55 years ago! Same locomotive, cars and station. It was like looking back into the past again. One day, I hope I'll be able to stop in again and walk in my childhood footsteps.

I've only traveled by train once, but it was a fun experience. My then 3 year old daughter and I traveled from Dallas to Chicago. Other than my daughter picking up impetigo from the train seat, I loved it. My Mom and Pops traveled by train a lot in the 40's. Mom still talks about how much she enjoyed it. Thanks for these interesting videos. Blessings all!!!!!

Wow! Jeez what a super video. Each one gets better then the last. An the last one was great. Who doesn’t like trains. Thanks.

My Grandpa worked on the Railroad during World War II. He actually lived through both World Wars. He was to young for the first and to old for the second. So these two videos have been very interesting for me. I enjoyed seeing Big Boy in the last video and in this video it was neat to see the caboose because my mom was born in 1939 (don't tell her I told you her age😉 ) anyway, they lived in a caboose during the time my grandpa worked on the railroad during World War II in New Mexico. So yeah I really enjoyed these 2 videos. Thank you for sharing.

You have a very interesting and informative way of presenting you subjects. Thank you very much.

My dear friend & adopted grandmother Toni Edward's was a telegraph operator for the railroad out of Keddy, California when the California Zephyr train was in operation; she used to keep a lot of her old telegraph equipment in her house & she had two lamps in her house made from old railroad stop & go lights

Such a really cool place to visit. Such a Beautiful building that was thankfully preserved. The trains are really cool too . Thank you for posting and sharing . Stay safe on your travels good sir .

What a neat station the beautiful wood work.I got to ride in a dining car in Arkansas.They served us lunch and we rode for about 2 hours.It was wonderful and the wood work was all original and gorgeous. They tale Fall Folage trips.Thank you so much.😊❤💓😚

Another wonderful video through an old train station, also enjoyed the added trip through the train. Have one question: at 4:40 in the video you filmed a small stool and it was described as a step stool. Looked a good bit more like a shoe shine stool? Fascinating.

Any trains are always fascinating. But old steam enigines are awesome

On my bucket list someday is to do a trip like this following as best as can be in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark on the Missouri river. Can't really find anything sponsored trips except on the Columbia river portion.

Think about working in a depot and all the people you would meet over the years...how cool!! Thanks for the video , good job as always

That was pretty interesting about the trains. I have been to council bluffs Iowa many years ago but I don't remember anything if they had a train museum. Just a lot of covered bridges. But I Love trains the railroad and I love the history about it thank you for sharing this.

I enjoy the classic journey’s you share with all of us. Incredible moments of forgotten history and humanity’s evolution to modern travel 🧭 Fascinating ! Travel safely Good Friend 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

!I really do love your channel. It is so interesting, and you explain all that your showing us so well. Thank you for making your video's!

Thanks for these JD.

I have a collection of railroad things. 2 glass insulators used on poles, a few spikes, and one I painted with gold metallic paint, one tie plate and a 1940's conductor's lantern I restored to it's original condition, I had to find online the original kerosene tank with a wick fount. It also has a cylindrical red glass lens.

Nothing like climbing around on a bunch of rail cars. They did a great job restoring the station. Thanks for another interesting video. 👍

The trains are huge and very nice. I would think a ride on them would be alright. Your photography is excellent.

@3:55: That's the train conductor's uniform @4:35: Shoe-shine stand. I grew up in Nebraska, both Beatrice and Omaha, and I've visited this depot many times.

This is all reminding me of the show "Hell On Wheels" Definitely one of my favorite TV shows of all time

I am 73 yo and have learned a lot from you. I am a dyed in the wool southerner. I do believe the stand in the station was not or women to get on the train with but was a shoe stand for a gentleman to put his feet on for a shoe polish. Thanks

I choo choo choose this as my favorite History channel , another fine job and i thank you ! Can't wait for the next one.

Great presentation. At a time when we’ve become so wrapped up in the humdrum of daily life (especially with CoVid) it was refreshing to take a step back in time. My first train was on my way to boot camp in Chicago during the Viet Nam War and hadn’t been on one again until an AMTRAK ride from N.C. to Washington and my how it had changed. I think everyone should ride one at least once. It’s so,peaceful and comfortable now. Thanks for the reminder of this rich history.

Love it keep them coming your world War 2 videos was great keep up the great work ....

On my dad side the family was all railroaders. My great grandfather and grandpa road on the caboose. Ice would have been 4 generation if i choose to work on the railroad

Really are some awesome videos you are putting out! An item in the men’s waiting room in this episode caught my eye. The red diamond above a doorway says Railway Express Agency. Several of generations of my family worked for this company.

I really like and appreciate the knowledge you have and share! Learning a lot

This is so interesting thank you I really enjoy watching your videos

These old rail museums, especially the old cars are very interesting. We have one in Pine Bluff Ar. Very cool.

Well done, wonderful to see and hear the stories behind what made America. Thank you.

Loved this.. Very interesting piece of history...

very cool! Thanks for sharing!

Really nice Tour thanks😊👍

I are amazing with the history you find. I enjoy these sagements very much.

Who the hell downvotes your videos? You do such a great job. Love this channel. I hope the rumors of Deadwood videos you're making are true

Very interesting learning about the separate waiting rooms . Things sure have changed 😯I enjoyed this video 🤩

Another awesome video. Thanks for you efforts. If you ever get out to Denver, Colorado, check out the Richthofen Castle. You'll love it!!

The different colored brick reminded me of the different colored brick at Fort Jefferson. But that is a totally different History Underground trip. Thanks for the travels...

Thank you for your nice video tour

I think my great grandfather worked there. He lived in Council Bluffs and worked for the railroad.

Very cool. Thank you

The Railroad Musuem in Sacramento, California is the biggest in the US & there is so much to learn there, tou should check it out

This is a beautiful video.

the closest we will get to a time a machine. i swear anyone who tries to destroy these items deserve to be put in jail. dont mess with history!!!

I love your videos so much information I'm a History buff too!

Your video excellence continues. 🙂👍

In the 1960’s, I helped with the railroad and the RPO, Rail Post Office.

Very cool Thanks

That steps tool looked like a shoeshine station. Private club cars had a cook who prepared the food.

Nice video as always. I wonder if you made it farther west to North Platte Nebraska and went to Golden Spike tower over looking the largest rail yard in the country. Very interesting place.

This is quite interesting to me. I grew up mostly in Sacramento at the other end of the Transcontinental Railroad and know nothing of the eastern part. My dad worked for Southern Pacific Railroad as a ticket agent until Amtrak took over passenger service. After retirement he volunteered at the California State Railroad Museum specializing on the Railway Post Office car. His great Uncle worked on one but I'm not sure of the time frame.

That is either the Union Pacific Big Boy or Challenger two of my favorite engines in history. That is an Extended Vision Caboose. My recenly late father loved cabooses and there are different kinds. Bay window, Barber , Extended vision. You should try to go to the Straudsburg rail road museam in PA

loves history good to go back into the peast

*I WORKED AS A CONDUCTOR FOR THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILWAY on the MIDDLE DIVISION FOR 20+ YEARS. I worked as a Passenger Train Baggage Man, also; and we did not weigh Passenger's Luggage; however we did weigh carry-on freight and items not considered Baggage. However, I am not sure how AMTRAK does it. By the way, Railway Post Offices were excellent. On the Santa Fe we would stop to unload and load mail unless it was a small bag. That item that you showed next to the track was most likely a Train Order Rack and I do not remember U.S Mail being racked that way because it would be almost impossible to reach out of an RPO Car to snag it. INJURIES ARE SOMETHING THAT RAILROADS DO NOT LIKE. PRESIDENT NIXON CANCELED THE MAIL CONTRACT WITH THE AAR and SINCE THEN MAIL COSTS MORE TO MOVE AND IT TAKES MORE TIME. I live 35 miles from Newton Kansas and if I mail a letter there it goes to Kansas City then to Wichita and then to Newton! If I go 10 miles West, that same letter would go to Wichita Kansas and then back to Newton! UNBELIEVABLE!*

i asked you a couple months ago about youtube algorithms and why your videos were getting to me. We both kinda determined better late than never. Wellp....there it is in your cup holder ....Jocko lol Peace and thanks for all your videos...great stuff

When I was a kid I always wanted to ride in one of those cabooses that was trailing at the end of the train.

Very cool 😎

Weighing the luggage helps conductor keep total gross weight of train & cargo within requirements to go around corners without tipping over. Or, crossing bridges & not collapse under weight

Studies and Statistics claim that the Rolling Railroad Postal System was considered one of the most efficient ways to distribute the mail. Those Trains then could fly on those tracks which were maintained by an army of Track Walkers. That Train was at the peak of Rail in the USA. Great. Thank you.

excellent.....

IIIIIIIIIII Love it, so interesting thank you

I got to see a train pickup mail at a post office gen store in Wilson wva when I was younger

08:20 -- "We're gonna go up here and just take a quick look"... How do you take a quick look at an old choo-choo?! lol It cant be done. These Iron Horses are fascinating. Anyone who has been up close and touched one without being significantly moved has no soul. I know, you had to keep the video short. But I'm talking to the readers of the comments here. Folks, if you ever have a chance to examine one of these old engines, dont pass it up. Especially if you have kids. Get out of your car and take the time to walk around one. Examine the engineering it took to build it. The work and craftsmanship. Appreciate the work that went into it. You'll never forget it.

Suggestion: visit the Durham Museum in the former Union Station in Omaha found at 801 South 10th Street. It's impressive.

I love the railroad

Tried pausing to read the card on that stool and couldn’t make it out. However I’m certain that, that wasn’t used to board a train it was used by a shoe shiner. The shiner would carry it with them to the customer. The metal brackets are where the customer would put up their feet for better accessibility for the shiner to reach the shoes.

Nice. Could you visit the old Minot Train Depot in ND?

Your steps reminds me of a shoe shine stand. On the Santa fe rail road in Newton , kansas. Fred Harvey company prepared meals to load on the train. Women went along to serve the meals. They were called Harvey girls. 1940's time frame.

Great vid, as always... one correction if you don't mind, that looked like part of a shoe shine stand.

That is not a step stool but the stand for shinning shoes. There was a seat higher for the man to sit on and place his dad shoes on the iron forms for the shoe shine.

I think that the newspaper headline is a reference to the coach - Omaha

That was a shoe shine stand that was said to be a "step stool"

I rode one of the last passenger trains that operated in the late 1960s. Of course it was a diesel electric by then.

Ever thought of visiting the Casey Jones museum in Jackson, TN?

Come to New Bern NC!

Also the silver was probably dinner ware for the first class dining car.

The "men's room" ...thee original man cave!

Was the luggage weighed or was the scale used for freight?

That wasn't a "stepstool". That was a footrest that would be used by "Boot-blacks" to shine shoes. They were still in use in the 60s in a lot of train and bus stations.

He's in IOWA!!!! YA

You made several mistakes, even granting that I have experienced passenger rail service and my Husband worked on passenger trains. You did not bring your own food to the club car or the dining car; and the rear brakeman and freight conductors did not stick their heads up into the cupola of the caboose; there were seats facing both ways up there. As Mr. Stewart pointed out, that was a shoe shining stand, and would have been in the station, not on the train itself. The telegraph instruments in the Depot would have been for communication with the Dispatcher first of all; and also for sending messages between members of the public secondarily. The Dispatcher would send messages to the train crews by train numbers and even engine numbers: "C&E Train 35. Engine 450: Meet train 30 at Mile 452. Train 35 take siding" for example. Such a message had to go to Conductor and Engineer on Train 35, Engine 450; and a lot of times the Station Agent had to hand up the orders to the Conductor and Engineer using a specially made stick, called an order hoop as the train went by. Minor point of interest.

Oh ya, sneak a little JOCKO in there. You two should hook up and chat, that would be a awesome discussion.

I adore old train depots. I hate to fly. Wish rail travel was still an option.

Looks like Galveston depot

*The TRAIN OPERATOR ALSO CALLED THE ENGINEER, DID NOT WEAR A UNIFORM. THE CONDUCTOR and FLAGMAN WORE UNIFORMS like YOU PICTURED! CHAIRCAR ATTENDANTS AND PORTERS ALSO WORE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF UNIFORM as DID THE DINING CAR STEWARDS!*

Very interesting that the men and women were split up before boarding the train! Did the men and women get back together on the train?

im familiar with this place. its where i pay off my bounty's in Red Dear Redemption.

I don't think that was a step stool. It looks like itwas something to shine shoes on.

I live 5 minutes from this place. Each year they have railroad days. Takes you though 5 different museums with travel provided for about 20 bucks a family. Look up omaharailroaddays.com. Pretty fun

*PASSENGERS DID NOT COOK FOOD, the RAILROAD SUPPLIED COOKS and STEWARDS; in fact, PASSENGERS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED IN THE KITCHEN AREA DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF INJURY!*