Union Pacific Museum

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!

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!

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!

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

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?

Two signal maintainers with en route diesel locomotive, UP 2456, in the background, near the Ogden-Echo, Utah area, July 1980.

February 23 is recognized as Diesel Engine Day. Rudolf Diesel received the patent for his invention on February 23, 1893. Engineer in front of GP-9 units at East Los Angeles Yards in California, February 1960.

This photograph was taken 107 years ago today, February 22, 1919, showing Union Pacific’s machine shops and yards in Cheyenne, Wyoming. What do you notice about the contents of this photograph?

Have you ever wanted to get behind the controls of a UP streamliner? Journalist and railfan writer, Lucius Beebe, manning the controls of UP’s “City of Los Angeles” locomotive, LA –1, on November 2, 1939. Los Angeles’ Union Station was opened earlier that year in May 1939.

92 years ago today, February 18, 1934, this photograph was taken of the crowd surrounding the brand-new M-10000 streamliner at the passenger depot in York, Pennsylvania. Photography by J.W. Wolf.

February 13 is recognized as World Radio Day, commemorating the invention of the radio and the many ways it has improved the lives of humans across the globe.

Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science! Edwina Justus, a UP locomotive engineer, the first African American woman to do the job, shown in the interior of a cab. Taken in North Platte, Nebraska, 1976.

The Holiday season has passed, but the mail never stops! This image shows the inside of Southern Pacific Mail Facility in Oakland, California, taken during the December 1961 holiday season rush.

Locomotives next to a large coaling station or “chute,” unknown date and unknown location. From the F.M. Gill Collection. Most of the F.M. Gill collection was from the PNW – can you name this location?

Look through the eyes of the engineer in the Union Pacific’s “City of Portland” locomotive.

143 years ago today, on Jan. 12, 1883, the last spike was driven on a bridge over the Pecos River, completing Southern Pacific’s “Sunset Route,” the nation’s second direct transcontinental route. The border of Mexico can be seen behind the bridge across the Rio Grande.

Winter is in full swing, but hopefully no one is experiencing this level of snowed in! Southern Pacific employee during a blizzard in the Sierra Nevada, California, circa 1938.

Sometimes trekking to work is no small feat. Here, a Southern Pacific signal crew used snowshoes to get to a downed line. But then they still had to dig it out of the snowbank! February 1938.

“Lighting the Way to a Brighter Future.” Union Pacific World War II era holiday poster highlighting ways communities can contribute to the war effort.

Christmas with a Conductor on the Los Angeles Limited open-platform observation car No. 2578, circa 1930s. Wishing everyone safe travels!