SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Eight months after it was devastated by a flood, the Sioux City Railroad Museum has reopened.
The museum reopened on Saturday, March 1, and is currently open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Its website notes that restoration and renovation is still continuing.
“It’s been a long eight months since the flood,” T.J. Obermeyer, the museum’s executive director, told KTIV-TV. “It’s significant to us as we look to turn the page on a lot of new things.”
Most of the museum’s buildings were damaged by up to 4 feet of standing water after the adjacent Big Sioux River flooded in June 2024, cresting more than 6 feet above its previous record height [see “Iowa railroad museum shut down by flood damage,” Trains News Wire, June 24, 2024]. The museum, located in a former Milwaukee Road engine terminal and car shops, sustained almost $2.5 million in damage.
“We not only had to spend a lot just to get on our feet,” Obermeyer told the station, “but a lot of the momentum we had last year on some things, we lost. We also lost out on not having people here for that long.”
As part of fundraising for its ongoing restoration effort, the museum is now offering memberships ($5 per month or $50 per year) that will include member-only events as well as gift shop and rental discounts. More information is available here.
Wonderful news indeed! More power + Best of good luck to such a great little museum management!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün