Leaving Minneapolis, we headed east through Wisconsin to Green Bay. We stayed at an Indian Casino that had electric and water hookups. The receipt for our site said to come into the casino in case of dangerous weather. We came under a tornado warning, so we went to the casino. The weather became more and more threatening and while outside we could hear a tornado warning siren in the distance. A big blow came and we went inside and got in the bathrooms (safer in a small space than in the big open area of the casino). As soon as we did an alarm sounded in the building and a recorded message from the Casino announced that there was a dangerous situation in the building and to evacuate the building. OH NO, we’re not evacuating the building during a tornado. The crisis passed and we went back to the coach.
We stopped in Green Bay to visit the National Railroad Museum. Again, thank you for your tolerance, Irene. The museum houses one of the rare Union Pacific “Big Boy’s.” Twenty five of these giant locomotive were built between 1941 and 1944 of which only eight remain in various railroad museums. These locomotives are so long that the chassis had to be articulated to round curves. They were used by the UP in the Wyoming Division to haul long freights over the Wasatch mountain range.
George was intrigued to see a GG-1 electric locomotive that he used to ride behind as a boy on trips to the northeast between Washington DC and New York on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s electrified line.
He was also nostalgic seeing a sleeping car from the original Empire Builder passenger train of the Great Northern Railway that ran between Chicago and Seattle.
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