Some Idaho Railroad History

A nice, simple blog entry this time but we like it. Hope you do too.


We've been wanting to take in the local Nampa Historical Train Building for some time and so we dropped Katie off to get groomed (which takes a couple of hours) and headed a few miles into town.

As the Oregon Short Line railroad originally bypassed Boise, Nampa has the fanciest of many railroad depots built in the area.

Nampa began its life in the early 1880s when the Oregon Short Line Railroad built a line from Granger, Wyoming, to Huntington, Oregon, which passed through Nampa. More railroad lines sprang up running through Nampa, making it a very important railroad town. As the Oregon Short Line railroad originally bypassed Boise, Nampa has the fanciest of many railroad depots built in the area.

It's a beautiful building, inside and out. Let's look at some of it....

This was not in the original building...don't know it's history.

The Oregon Short Line Depot shortly after construction in 1903.

1903 Original building 

The building was eventually donated to the Canyon County Historical Society by the Union Pacific Railroad. It was partially restored and converted into a museum by the Canyon County Historical Society and dedicated July 3, 1976.

We decided to join the historical society so we could come back many times for the one-time fee (only $30 for the two of us). There's too much inside to take in for one trip.

Inside, we were greeted by two friendly and extremely knowledgeable ladies, both volunteers. One took us around the inside and gave us more insights and information as to what we were viewing....like....

This is the entrance and the ticket booth where you would purchase your train ticket.

This is where the railroad person would be on the other side. Those copper "pointy things" in the background are from the roof of the building. You can see them in the outside photos.

Here's something interesting for you: To the left was the Ladies waiting room and bathroom. To the right was the Men's waiting room and bathroom. This was because, in those days, it was not proper for ladies and children to overhear "business talk" from the men !!

Men only !

A sensational collection of keys and locks donated by one of the family members. In order to be a locksmith for the railroad company, you had to have special registration. Not any locksmith credentials would do.

They had two railroad trains running while were there. So much detail.

This is what was used in the dining car when travelling on the railroad. Imagine getting this today on an airplane??!!

Nice milk bottle collection, except only two were local.

This is a child's set of cooking ware. It's tough to see the scale but it's tiny.

A large collection of wedding dresses from many decades.

I guess people are really into bottles. Seems like there's a collection in every museum we visit. This one is unique because one of the old bottles still has the original beer in it ! 

Ladies waiting room converted into the museum.

A gorgeous piece of furniture from Europe.

I was opening a few of these very thin drawers when the lady told be it was a dentist's cabinet. I quickly retreated.

Looks like my new wheelbarrow after I'd been using it.

My new chainsaw. This one must've made a LOT of racket.

Adjoining building that we never went through. Next visit.

Check out this donated tricycle. A local person completely restored it and it letting the museum display it. It was built in 1937 ! 

They have to keep it up high so children won't jump on it when they see it. I held the camera above my head to get this shot.

 Nice, nice place. There was much more but we've bored you enough.



Now, on to the cute stuff....

After working outside, I like to get in our $25 Wal-Mart pool and cool off. Katie likes to lay on her float at the same time.

This is her spot !

Helping plant roses in our garden.

Katie likes to look at the rabbits at our local hardware store.

Yes, we watched the eclipse. We were just about 30 miles to the south of Total, but got good viewing anyway. It almost went total.

It looks like we are each looking at a different sun ! "It's over here!....No, it's not, it's over here!"

Kim is proudly showing off her Official Eclipse paper.

That's all for now...glad you visited.

kim/katie/steve