A visit to the Illinois Railroad Museum

Our current location is at Union, Illinois, about 30 miles east of Rockford/60+ miles north of Chicago. Union is the home of the Illinois Railroad Museum - and it is special, especially if you are a railroad buff. We spent about 4 hours at the museum on Sunday. Sure to go back because it is only 5 miles from the campground and we weren't able to see all of it in one visit.

One of several trains in service during our visit. The rides are not long, but even once around the museum property is nearly a mile.

East Union did not exist until the museum created it. The station house, however, is from Union. It was moved to the museum site and restored.

Not all trains are open for inspection every day. They alternate which are open so you can see something different each time you come. Pat never did get lunch.

In addition to trains, there are also street cars. This is an electric streetcar that runs around the grounds every few minutes. Small crowd when we were on it.

One of the events of the day was a pulling demo by a local dog club. These are pretty huge dogs, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, weighing right at around 100 pounds. They can pull up to 5000 pounds! I think we discovered a whole, new subculture we were never aware of before.

The car beside us is a work cart used by track workers. It's powered by a small gasoline engine, has a clutch, gear shift, etc. Some railroad buffs collect these, restore them, and then travel around the country to meet other collectors and run their carts on outings on tracks that are made available to them.

We'll be seeing other things, and going other places as the summer progresses. Look back often.

We're easy to find, and we'll be in Union until mid-September. Let us hear from you.