CINCINNATI – All aboard! Saturday, May 12 is National Train Day, and we have just the place for you to celebrate. Union Terminal, of course! Cincinnati Museum Center along with Amtrak and dozens of venues around the nation are celebrating the 143rd anniversary of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad completion in Promontory Summit, Utah.
Built as a train station in 1933, Union Terminal once served as many as 20,000 passengers a day during WWII. Now a National Historic Landmark and home to three museums and an OMNIMAX Theater, Union Terminal still houses a working Amtrak station.
Here’s how you can celebrate National Train Day with us:
Take a free tour of Union Terminal. During a 45-minute tour, docents explain the construction, architecture and art of one the finest examples of the Art Deco style. Hear details about the world-famous mosaic murals and visit the Cincinnati Union Terminal President’s Office, today’s Amtrak waiting room and Rookwood Tea Room. Complimentary tours are held Saturdays at noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m. and Sundays at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
Explore Cincinnati in Motion in the Cincinnati History Museum. It is the nation’s largest full motion, S-scale urban layout and includes 17 miniature trains. Visit each of the neighborhoods and see how transportation changed from 1900 to 1940. You can also journey through the history of transportation as you hop aboard our historic streetcar, check out our WWII-era Crosley vehicle and explore a replica 19th century steamboat
Stop by Tower A, the original control tower for Union Terminal. Get a bird’s eye view of the tracks still in use today and explore the vast library of artifacts relating to Union Terminal’s rich history. Open on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, noon to 4 p.m.
Watch Rocky Mountain Express in our five-story OMNIMAX Theater at special 2 and 6 p.m. screenings on Saturday, May 12 only! In this journey through the Canadian Rockies on a steam train adventure of a lifetime, you’ll experience the human drama and epic engineering involved in building a railroad through some of the most demanding and breathtaking landscapes on Earth. Join passionate engineers as they work to reignite the fires of the Age of Steam and restore a champion locomotive.
Tours of Union Terminal and visits to Tower A are free. For museum and OMNIMAX ticket information, visit cincymuseum.org