3201. Go to Union Station in Kansas City

 While scrolling through Twitter before we left, I noticed the Big Boy Engine would be in Kansas City while we were there. It was arriving into Union Station Monday night and leaving Wednesday morning. Even though we saw the Big Boy the other year, it's always impressive to see. The hubby agreed we should go see it again.

We parked at Union Station ($10 for 4 hours) and asked the attendant where the train was. She was kind of vague. So we went inside. The great hall of Union Station is impressive. It is your typical large city train station -- lots of marble, polished floors, high ceilings, and long hallways.

Even though we didn't find the Big Boy inside, we did stumble into a room full of model trains. I told the hubby that was too make up for the train museum in Hannibal being closed. 

I also walked out to the viewing platform where you can see the rail yard. This is where I got my first glimpse of the Big Boy.

We headed back outside and figured out how to get down below to the Big Boy. The nice thing about it being in Kansas City for a full day (and it was raining), there crowds weren't too bad yet. We were able to get up as close as they allowed us to. 

After we saw the Big Boy and spent some time at the World War Museum across the street, we were headed back to our car and the hubby was like look at that old train car. Out front of Union Station was an old boxcar. I told him it's probably from Auschwitz since there is a big Auschwitz exhibit at Union Station that we did not check out due to time restraints and not knowing about until a week before when my cousin mentioned it. I was right, it was a railcar transport from Auschwitz. I've read enough historical fiction and am familiar with using the cattle cars for transport BUT I was not prepared for how small these railcars were. I can't even begin to fathom how it would feel to be crammed inside with virtual strangers for days on end knowing you could be headed to your death. *Shivers*

Union Station is worth checking out even if it is just for the dinosaurs. 

It is short walk down the (very evil) hill from the World War I Museum. And if you ever get to see the Big Boy steam engine, I would recommend checking that out too.