National Parks Celebrate National Train Day

The National Park Service joined the first-ever National Train Day this past Saturday, with wide-ranging events at a number of national parks across the country and at Amtrak stations in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Amtrak selected May 10th as National Train Day to honor the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory on May 10, 1869 – today’s Golden Spike National Historic Site. The event joined 1,776 miles of track laid by Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads.

“National Train Day is the perfect time for us to launch ‘Railroad Connections’ on WebRangers, our very popular children’s web site,” said Director Bomar. “Many children have never been on a train so we developed ‘Railroad Connections’ to provide the stories of the growth of national parks and the development of railroads.”

“Children are going to have a lot of fun as they learn,” Bomar said. “Youngsters will learn to run a steam locomotive, decode telegraph messages and learn about national parks to solve train and national park mysteries.”

 ‘Railroad Connections’ (http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/) features videos made at Golden Spike National Historic Site and at Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania.

Since 1994, Amtrak and the National Park Service have promoted train travel to national parks. The Trails & Rails Partnership Program places park rangers and volunteers on trains to share park information and to point out natural and cultural highlights on several regional Amtrak routes across the country (http://www.nps.gov/trail&rails).

The largest National Park Service presence was at Union Station in Washington, D.C., with park rangers and volunteers from the National Park Service Trails & Rails Program as well as rangers from Greater Washington National Parks. There was a special National Park Service booth for children that included the world premiere launch and demonstration of ‘Railroad Connections’ on WebRangers, a program supported by the Best Buy Children’s Foundation through the National Park Foundation.

National Train Day highlights train travel as an energy efficient “green” mode of transportation and promotes rail travel across American. A website has been established for the campaign (http://www.nationaltrainday.com).

The following national park units took part in National Train Day activities:

• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, Missouri – Trails & Rails onboard education program on one of the Missouri corridor trains and the St. Louis to Kansas City route. Illinois Trails & Rails program from St. Louis either to Springfield, Illinois or Chicago.
• Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, Oakland, California – In partnership with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, interactive children’s displays and Trails & Rails and area national parks information at the Los Angeles Union Station. Trails & Rails onboard education program on the Coast Starlight train between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, California.
• Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park – Model trains display and children’s activities at Edmonds, Washington, depot.
• Mississippi River National Recreation Area, St. Paul, Minnesota – Trails & Rails and area national parks information at Chicago Union Station. The traveling Trails & Rails display will be set up here.
• New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, New Orleans – National Train Day program on Friday, May 9th, at the park visitor center. Volunteer Bob Foy provided information about regional Amtrak routes and the park-sponsored Trails & Rails program aboard the City of New Orleans. The program culminated with a performance of train songs from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. by the musical rangers, Bruce Barnes and Matt Hampsey.
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, San Antonio – Historic maps display including old railroad maps.
• Saratoga National Historical Park and Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site and Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor – Trails & Rails and area national parks information at New York’s Penn Station. Trails & Rails volunteers were onboard trains Saturday offering commentary of the region‘s history and attractions.