Et cetera : CP Historical Society 2012 theme to focus on trains

The Center Point Historical Society theme for 2012 is called “All Aboard” and features trains and railroading. New train exhibits will be added to the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern Railroad displays already permanently shown at the Museum.

The Museum season opens Sunday, May 6, with a program at 2 p.m. by Steve Swenson of the Linn County Conservation Department. Steve is the Department’s go to guy for history of the W.C.F&N whose right of way between Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls has become the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. He will give a free slide show on when the Trail was rails about the beloved old Interurban line.

Depot Museum admission is free and the museum will be open from 1 to 4 every Sunday afternoon May through October. Because May 20 is CPU graduation day, however, the Museum will be closed. Anyone wanting to visit the Museum May 20 after graduation may call 721-6948 to have it opened.

Other activities on the Museum timetable for the summer are: free mini-train rides for little kids on June 3 with a rain date of June 10; a program on the role of railroads in shaping rural Iowa by Dr. Peter Jaynes of Cedar Rapids on June 24, and the annual band concert by the Vinton Community Band, with bake sale, on July 22.