A new exhibit is being featured at a western Iowa museum that’s focused on the railroad-related history of U.S. presidents. John Bromley is spokesman for the Union Pacific Railroad which is hosting the exhibit at the U.P. Railroad Museum in Council Bluffs.
Bromley says "We cover all the way from John Quincy Adams, who was the first U.S. President to ride on a railroad all the way up to the first President Bush. We have a lot of behind the scenes anecdotal material, telegrams, letters and so forth." Bromley says it’s a must-see exhibit for history buffs and train lovers. He says the exhibit tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the presidents and the trains they used for travel and campaigning.
He says "Of course the most famous one was Truman with his 1948 campaign but the other presidents did an extensive amount of travel by rail. Hoover did a lot of traveling by train, Roosevelt certainly did and on into the Eisenhower era and even more recent Presidents." The exhibit will be in Council Bluffs for four months and is called "Dark Horses, War Horses and Iron Horses." Admission is free.