The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is an excellent place to see the vast and storied history of the railroad. This beautiful building was the public library built in 1904 before the UP took it over. This museum has everything one would want to see about railroad work in the past. Theres a really cool simulator that gives one an engineers eye view driving the big engines. Theres photos, re-creations, and equipment that was in use on the railroad. Appropriately, this museum is about a mile away from mile zero where the Union Pacific starts its way West.

Really great place to experience what Omaha was like in the 1800s. Beautiful place with great friendly knowledge staff! Just look at the picture’s and go there for your self really worth the stop and it’s free! But stop a small 5$ donation for them is what we did

Gorgeous antique collections. I really appreciate all of those.

Excellent museam especially for rail enthusiasts. The displays where all informative and well maintained with interactive exhibits scattered throughout to help entertain the kids (and some adults). The staff was friendly and eager to talk and it was a very enjoyable visit.

Optional $5 donation per person for this fun attraction. They have actual historical items, modern train simulator, and history from the Civil War to today! Volunteers are kind and helpful, parking is mostly street-based but readily available.

This former Carnegie Library has been beautifully converted to a museum format. The exhibits are different enough to hold everyones interest. It might be best enjoyed by those 10 years and older. There is an elevator once inside but not sure where a handicap accessible entrance is located. Parking meters on the street require $.50 per hour or the parking app on your phone. If reading most of the explanations is your thing, expect to stay longer than one hour.

Nice and fun stop on our train trip. AC was great and elevator helped. Enjoyed all 3 floors.

Cool and informational museum on the history of the railroad. Had some fun interactive activities for children (or the adults who are always young at heart) throughout. Fun picture spots with a staged train car at the start, fun displays, and a train engineers chair. Small gift shop that was mostly toys over souvenirs, but great postcard selection and some nifty trinkets. Fun activity that can be a quick walk through or a long, educational time.

Very informative. Lots of information and history. Interactive displays. Old movies. Meters only good for 2 hours. Plan on spending that much time.

Thats good place to learn how railroad dedicated to America.

Great museum. Very informative and interesting.

Great for kids and adults. 1-2 hours of information and entertainment. Its free, but there is a suggested donation amount when entering. If you live in the area is worth a visit.

Touch history here. Eastern beginning of the great transcontinental train project. Ramp and stairs access. Enter beneath the stone stairs to old library main doors. Good elevator serves three floors. Building built by Carnegie and his special glass to permit outside light to shine in.

This place was surprisingly cool! Tons of information and artifacts from railroad and CB history. Being in the old library brought back so many memories of my childhood. Its a good way to spend an afternoon. And its free! I recommend going.

Very interesting and very hands on museum. The kids loved it!

Fun attraction for railroad buffs. Many historical artifacts and displays. Well stoked gift shop and very helpful volunteer staff. Located downtown. On street parking only, though.

Wonderful little museum. Worth the stop

Such a great place to visit with family from out of town or with the kids on a relaxing afternoon. The museum is always clean, well staffed and has interactive exhibits.

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum has a little bit of something for almost every taste; theres lots of memorabilia for fans of train trivia, interactive exhibits for children, and a wealth of educational and interesting info on luxury trains from history.The museum has 2 floors (with an elevator for those who need to or choose to skip the stairs). Visitors can watch videos and read plaques and displays which provide information about the history of railroading in America. I found this museum a very informative and interesting place to visit and would recommend it highly to anyone who loves trains and/or wants to learn more about them :-)

We love this beautiful place. UP colors run pretty deep in our family so we are all about visiting and enjoying this museum ever time we are in town. Must see if you are in Omaha vacinity.

The building is beautiful.

I didn’t expect much when we decided to go to this museum. After all, how great can this be in the small town of Council Bluffs Iowa?? Well boy was I wrong. This museum had fabulous displays for adults and incredible interactive displays for kids....or “adult kids”. There was an entire room devoted to Abraham Lincoln and how he was connected to the Union Pacific RR. I must apologize to the city of Council Bluffs....it was a wonderful city filled with history and friendly people.

Amazing history here. And a dinosaur footprint to boot! Worth a look!!! Free will donations. Check the hours first!

Cool place but not a ton to do for younger kids.

So much information in one place! Family activity night was pretty exciting too!

Nice Museum showcasing Union Pacific Railways history. Plenty of kids friendly exhibits and family night is great.While visiting during regular hours is fun, take the time to look up their family night events. Kids get to learn about more than just UP history, such as local nature preserves showing off local animals, kid friendly activities and crafts, and various organizations give kid friendly information.

A great place to see!

Surprising great museum. Though some feeling of corporate propaganda, still very enjoyable. Elementary aged kid loved the interactivity. Free with suggested donation.

Lots of historical information. I had no idea of the importance of the rail system on our country then and now. Need 1.5 to 2 hours at least to enjoy

Great with history. Life size train features. Plus an old map of where railroads were across the nation. Iron rails ruled before highways were paved.

Great history of the UP. Lots of neat exhibits. A must stop for railroad buffs.

This is a well kept secret. This was a good value for a donation. a lot of railroad history and interactive items to do while in the museum. Very well done.

Nice museum with interactive activities for children. Very clean. Volunteers nice and knowledgeable.

Great little museum with lots of history of the railroad.

Wonderful museum, glad we stopped on our travel. Our family enjoyed it very much. Thanks

It was a good experience. The first floor is great the second floor is a little less cool. I spent 1 hour and 30 minutes there.

My daughter and I enjoyed this museum...a lot of great local history! The folks who work and volunteer there are very knowledgeable and friendly!

Very nice museum. No charge. Exhibits were interesting.

Great fun for whole family! Interactive exhibits and historical information about the railroad. Is “free” but they ask for donations (well worth it!)

From the Wild West to modern Train technology, its a cool place. And I dont really dig historical museums.

Very nice. Filed with interesting exhibits. I learned that Robert Todd Lincoln took over the Pullman company after Pullman died.

Closed due to covid19

Closed due to covid-19

Great place for kids with a free will donation.

My son loved this place. We went for Railroad Days. Definitely will go back.

I didn’t expect much when we decided to go to this museum. After all, how great can this be in the small town of Council Bluffs Iowa?? Well boy was I wrong. This museum had fabulous displays for adults and incredible interactive displays for kids....or “adult kids”. There was an entire room devoted to Abraham Lincoln and how he was connected to the Union Pacific RR. I must apologize to the city of Council Bluffs....it was a wonderful city filled with history and friendly people.

What a waste of time for a retiree; look I cannot predict when I have a good day and when a museum is only open on Thursday-Sat well that’s not cool. Oh bring money CB charges for parking (coins only).

This museum’s is great and the last time I was there was when my Grandpa take me there and he was a volunteer and he did work for Union Pacific railroad, his name was Gene Waldmann

An awesome little museum providing historical information on the western progression of the US Railway System.

Very nice museum in a historic building. Well kept, exhibits are upkept and clean. Lots of history and information about trains and Union Pacific. Theres a section for some hands on learning and a train table for the littles.

Free admission, very informative. If you read every exhibit you could probably spend 4 hours there easily.

Interesting history, but not overwhelming. Fun interactive activities even for adults. Gift shop not great though

Very nice lots of early railroad stuff.few years agohad funeral train that president or generaldodge was transported to final resting place.very entertaining place to visit

Great place to take the kids and for adults. The exhibit located on the 2nd floor changes out so it is a good place to goto often.

I had a great time! The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Lots of photo ops!

Great place for children to learn about the Union Pacific. My dad worked there for 34 years.

Kind of full as we were there for the Big Boy showing in downtown Omaha, but was very very nice, there was an atrendant who was a 5th generation descendant from the OMAHA tribes and we had a great conversation with him about heritage as we come from an island that has TAINO blood, which by the way he knew about as well.

Very well done! Exhibition set up to entertain and inform all ages.

This was a great stop on our vacation. Shared a lot of educational information in a fun way. We have two eighteen year olds and they enjoyed it. There was a daycare group when we went and the kids were having a great time. Bonus was the great air conditioning!!! Highly recommend!

Very educational and people were very pleasant. If you like trains a must see!!

Nice exhibits and UPRR history. Best for teenagers and adults as younger children might find it not interactive enough. A true gem in CB that gets overshadowed by so many other items in Omaha. Worth the trip to visit.

Gift shop could offer more variety pertaining to museum specifically

Really well done museum. Great kids sections and great artifacts collection for adults.

Great small museum for a short visit while in the Omaha area. Can do the whole museum in under 2 hours. Interesting and well designed exhibit on the history of the Transcontinental Railroad. Another floor devoted to the history of Union Pacific (though some of it feels like propaganda for train travel)

Its nice but part of it is closed, and it was my favorite part.beautiful museum though.

Very nice. Fun quick trip.

One of the best RR history museum focusing on the Transcontinental RR and as RR buffs we have visited many across the country.

Great place to visit and get history of the area

My kids absolutely LOVED this museum. Its a perfect mix of interesting historical information and hands-on things for kids to do. And its free!

Great place! You should actually spend the time to go through the entire thing. There is a ton to see and learn. This is a jem of Council Bluffs! The staff were highly knowledgeable and were just fantastic. There is a lot of history and its amazing how much ties into the Union Pacific Railroad! If youre reading this and in Council Bluffs you should get yourself over there as soon as possible!!!

Beverly did a great job informing us about life on the RR ...the artifacts were very interesting and it really painted an accurate picture of the men and women that lived it!

In an old Carnegie Library that houses some real deal Union Pacific history. The staff is friendly as can be.

Great place with lots of information and kid friendly.

Wish we would have had the grandkids with us. Very nice.

Good exhibits that are well-maintained and informative. Many exhibits are staged and look artificial, such as an old-fashioned school room with florescent lights or a log cabin display with concrete floors. But overall, it is well worth the time to visit.

What a wonderfully neat Museum. Took three small children with us and they loved it. So much to see. So much history Done in such a neat and captivating way. I can not say enuff good things. It was free admission. Although donations were excepted. Worth it

Amazing collection of historical railroad objects presented with the great technology tools.

Great museum, lots of interesting and interactive exhibits

A very awesome place for vista and alot of places.

It was great. Thank you

A surprising little gem. Way bigger than it looked from the outside. Great use of the technology that made wonderful interactive displays. So much fun we forgot to take very many pictures. The people there are obviously in love with the place, great fun for all ages.

A really great (and free!) train museum. My 5 year old son loves going here, and there are plenty of interesting displays for me too.

Liked it alot and it was free

Nice museum for the historical Railroad. Nice facility, and excellent displays.

Great place to see the history of the Union Pacific Railroad!

Clean, quiet, and thorough exciting display of both history and present railroads

It is free to go here and you can walk around and read the history behind the different exhibits and the history of the railroad its self. I spent about an hour here and got to see pretty much everything. There is a gift shop as well but I didnt include a trip there on this visit

Very beautiful museum with lots of great history and artifacts. Some neat simulators and picture taking opportunities, too. Free admission, but recommend bringing $ to donate. Workers are volunteers, but eager to be there and answer questions. Love this place!

Love this better than the Durham! I highly recommend this station with the next visit being the squirrel jail!

Unexpected, high quality, worth the visit! Plenty to do and see for all ages. Cost is donation only, very appreciated by our large family.

Cool place to see union Pacific railroad history museum

Fun and interesting Family experience

I enjoyed visiting this museum. Only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday. No charge for admission, donations accepted. If you like trains, stop by.

Very cool and free other than donations

An absolute gem of a little museum right here in town. The displays were interesting and though I went with two teenagers, they both had a good time checking everything out. Love the old dining cars and just seeing the golden age of train travel.

Awesome place a lot of history. Coming from CSX on the Eastern side of the United States I got to learn a lot.

The Big One The RR is huge on big power 4-8-8-4 & 4-6-6-4 Oil Steam Locomotives restored to new and made better with upgrades. Yellow is this RR running color very visible and striking. People make it the nations big operator it is and was back from the beginning. A wonderful place to visit, if a rail fan then its a must !

Great Railroad history center.

Even the slightest UP fan must visit at least once.

Fun family activities when we wentKids had a good time