Kansas City, Mo. ? Union Station will get $1.3 million for a dinosaur exhibit, historic railroad pieces and a renovation effort to reopen its planetarium after the Bistate Commission approved spending the money Wednesday.

The money is the last of $119 million voters in metropolitan Kansas City — Missouri and Kansas — approved in 1997 to renovate the historic rail station.

Of the funding the commission approved, $550,000 will pay off most of a loan the station took out recently to buy 11 rail cars and 200,000 pieces of rail memorabilia from a Milwaukee collector.

Some of the antique rail cars are expected to open for tours as early as Thanksgiving.

Another $500,000 will be used to build an exhibit at Science City, Union Station’s main attraction. The exhibit, being produced in conjunction with Kansas University, will allow visitors to watch a 60-foot dinosaur skeleton being reconstructed, starting next spring.

The remaining $500,000 needed for the dinosaur project is expected to be raised in private funds.

The remainder of the spending approved Wednesday, $250,000, will be used to renovate and reopen the planetarium, which was closed last year because of a lack of visitors. That could reopen around Christmas.