Taking the family on a vacation can be expensive, especially with gas prices as high as they are.
As part of our special series, Trips on a Tank, I visited Green Bay.
The National Railroad Museum has called Green Bay home since 1956.
"There was a local group of businessmen who wanted to preserve a single steam locomotive and they were able to preserve it, but they were also able to collect over 80 rolling stock that we currently have on our grounds," says Jacqueline Frank, Executive Director of the museum.
Each train has its own story and provides visitors with an opportunity to not only see them but learn a little bit about the locomotives.
"We have a big boy locomotive where you can go inside the cab and see what it's like to work in one of the biggest locomotives in the entire world, you can also have the chance to tour many of our trains," she says.
Like the Eisenhower.
"What's really exciting about it is that it's sister train, the Mallard, is exactly like this one, reached the world speed record of 125 miles per hour in the 1930s, so this is the fastest locomotive there is in the world," says Frank, " It was General Eisenhower's headquarters, so it's exciting when you go in there, you can go where General Eisenhower was sleeping, where he held his meetings.
Not to mention you can take your family on a train ride.
"We also have a train ride that goes around several times, that goes around the grounds, movies, as well as special programming," she says.
But when you leave the museum at the end of the day, you'll find that you walked away with so much more than just an understanding of the trains.
"This is a great bonding experience for families, sometimes we have adults coming in here with maybe children or grand children and they come here and they're talking about their experiences that they had, that they were helping during World War II, they see the Eisenhower, and they start talking about how that connected to them," says Frank.
Prices:
$9.00 for adults
$8.00 for seniors
$6.50 for children
Hours:
Monday through Saturday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sundays 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
