Am visiting Galesburg, Illinois, in late September... In addition to the Railroad Hall of Fame, there -- anyone familiar with additional sights to check out while I'm there (2 days). Thanks
I was not aware that the Hall of Fame was up and running; it was announced with great fanfare a few years ago. There is a railroad museum next to the downtown Amtrak Depot, is that it? A preserved caboose, RPO, Pullman and CB&Q 4-6-4 are there are well. Across the street is a BN caboose at a children's museum.
The platform of the depot is a good place to watch trains. So is the Thirwell bridge that goes over the yard. You can park on the bridge but walk with care as traffic really flies over it. It has views of the engine house and service facility to the north, and the hump yard bowl to the south.
Peck Park is located where the former Santa Fe main goes under the former BN(CB&Q) Mendota Sub (and where the Barstow sub to the twin cities splits off). It has gravel parking and, usually, a port-a-potty but no other amenities so bring a chair.
To the west of town is Cameron where the ex Santa Fe Main goes over the BN/CB&Q line to Burlington Iowa. Lots of action as a rule.
BN main is 161.385; ATSF main is 160.650. Yard is 160.385 and some other channels are used as well.
Non rail points of interest include Carl Sandburg's boyhood home, and the Knox College building which is the last remaining structure that hosted a Lincoln/Douglas debate. If you are an artist or know someone who is, the Dick Blick outlet store has some excellent bargains in the "back room." The Packinghouse restaurant near the depot is a former Swift building that was rail served back in the day and still has old interior decor relating to the meat business. The food is OK too.
If old wood depots are your thing, the line to Peoria features the Yates City depot and another preserved caboose. Not much traffic on the line however. The old Victoria depot of the Galesburg & Great Eastern still stands -- off of the Mendota sub just a few miles north of Galesburg itself. Take highway 34 along the Mendota sub to Watago, then IL 167 east to Victoria. If you do a bit of searching on Google satellite view you might even find the old water tank and engine house of the G&GE south of Victoria, but it is a little like Camelot -- sometimes you find it and sometimes you can't, very mysterious.
I see that a similar inquiry got lots of conversation years ago, found here:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/197055/2162332.aspx
Dave Nelson
Illinois Railway Museum is 3hrs away in Union, Il. They have quite a large collection. http://www.irm.org/
I had never heard of the Railroad Hall of Fame. I certainly hope the OP will tell us what he discovers when he visits.
Ed
7j43kI had never heard of the Railroad Hall of Fame.
Neither did I, but here's a link: https://www.nrrhof.org/
I had already visited the site before I made my comment.
I found the site a bit odd.
Also, I looked up the address. It's an office on the fifth floor of an office building.
7j43k I had already visited the site before I made my comment. I found the site a bit odd. Also, I looked up the address. It's an office on the fifth floor of an office building. Ed