This is not exactly current news but should still be of interest to fans of the CB&Q or old railroad stations in general. Last October, ABC’s Omaha affiliate KETV completed a restoration of Omaha’s Burlington Station into a state of the art broadcast center and began broadcasting from there last October. Omaha’s Burlington station is the prototype for Walthers Union Station kit. I grew up in Omaha and revisited it about 3 years ago. Omaha’s Union Station just north of Burlington Station had been meticulously restored and is now the home of the Durham Western Heritage Museum. I was greatly saddened to see Burlington Station had become nothing more than an empty shell and faced an uncertain future. Hearst Television rescued it by purchasing the property later that summer to become the home for KETV’s studios.
Thanks for sharing this information. If I get back to Omaha some day I’ll have to drive by the building.
My Union Station terminal building is the Walthers kit although I did not position it as the protoype Omaha station is positioned.
Train-related or not - it’s always great to see an older building rehabbed, get a 2nd (or 3rd) lease on life, and its heritage preserved. I heard that the Michigan Central (MC) station in Detroit is finally getting some well-deserved attention. With all the financial problems that city has had in recent years, I never expected to see that happen. Hoping the old NYC Buffalo Terminal will get some love and attention in the near future, as well.
Tom
OMAHAAA, OMAHAA, SET. Wait I think we will be hearing that on Sunday.
Even though my railroad is a fictional eastern road I did configure mine similar to the prototype station with the pillars trackside and the concourse emerging from under the pillars. I have some pictures of it but right now I am unable to post them because my USB cable is damaged.
I originally bought the kit without even realizing it was a very faithful slightly compressed version of the Burlington Station. When they came out with the butterfly platforms with the Omaha sign on the end I realized it was the Omaha station but was further confused because while they called it the Union Station it is actually a model of the Burlington Station. Adding to my confusion was a pictorial book of the Burlington railroad showing a train at the Burlington Station which the caption erroneously identified as Union Station. The concourses for the Union and Burlington stations were at one time connected with a slight bend where the connection was made. Amtrak still stops at the Burlington Station site but they have built one of their standard little rectangular stations just east of the Burlington although they still use the old platform.