2249. Go to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union

 Conversation I had with the hubby earlier this year
Hubby: Where is the Illinois Railway Museum?
Me (after confirming with Google Maps): Union, IL.. about 3 hours from here. Just over the border from Lake Geneva
Hubby: They have this Union Pacific Turbine Engine.. only one of two still around. We should go see it.

Mind you, I have been telling him about this place for years since Stacy and her family regularly visit. It never made a connection until he saw something on Twitter that interested him. We made plans to go over the 4th of July weekend. 

Illinois Railway Museum is located in Union, Illinois literally in the middle of corn fields. It is open May-October on Weekends (Sundays in April) and weekdays Memorial Day through Labor Day. The museum opens every day at 10 and closes at 4 or 5. There is plenty of free parking. Admission is $20.weekend and $14/weekdays. Kids save $2. It includes unlimited train rides. Depending on the day of the week/time of year, depends on how many trains are running. 

You can get tickets online ahead of time or day of. We opted for day of. I would suggest getting there about 10:15 to avoid the massive line of every one checking in/getting tickets especially on the weekend. Even if you get your tickets ahead of time, you still have to check in.

There are two buildings right next to the gift shop. One was a museum dedicated to Milwaukee Road Railway. It was had a lot of neat artifacts especially for someone who grew up knowing about the Milwaukee Road like the hubby did. 

The second building was their model railroad set up. It was quite an impressive set up especially the scenes of Wisconsin. 

Since the trains did not start running until 11, we wandered in to the train buildings. I would have liked to see all the trains but the hubby wasn't interested in it all (too much walking). We did check out one complete train barn. You couldn't go in any of the trains but they did have some unique pieces.

As we headed towards the depot for a train ride, we saw the Union Pacific 18 -- the massive turbine engine. It was similar to a jet engine and had a tender to carry the special fuel for the turbine engine. They did not last long as the fuel price skyrocketed. It was a mighty beast though. 

Then we decided it was time to ride the rails. Since it was the 4th of July Weekend, they had an expanded schedule of trains operating. Normally 1 electric train and 1 steam and/or diesel engine running on weekends. There was the electric train, diesel engine, steam engine, and a caboose train all running. 

The first train we took was a the electric train. It was a Chicago Transit Authority Train that was built in the 1920s. We road the train about 15-20 minutes in one direction and then headed back. With the electric train, the engineer was able to just switch to a different engine compartment on the other end of the train on the way back. It was a nice ride.

When we got back the steam engine was also getting ready to go so we hopped on that. It takes travels the same route as the electric train except when you get to the end of the line, the engineer drive the train in reverse to get bac to the depot. It is a straight track so it was a pretty easy to navigate. You could tell you were on a steam train with the herky-jerky movements. 

We took a break from the trains for a bit and road the trolley. Unfortunately they had to break to lunch so we did not get to do the whole loop.

The last train we rode was the Chicago and North-Western Bi-Level Train. We opted to sit upstairs. This was a new experience for us. Sitting up higher, you could really feel the train move. Like the steam engine, it only went one direction so it went backwards for half the journey. 

Three train rides on the same track was a lot. We were starting to get sick. We both felt another train ride would not be good. I guess I will have to wait to get my caboose ride or go to the Minnesota Transportation Museum. 

There is plenty to see in the yard as well. Signs, crossing signals, and various trains. 

We ended the day with a short electric bus ride. The bus was fun but the ride was way too short. 

The hubby can't stop talking about our visit. He says we need to go back. There is still stuff we have not seen and I still need to ride on the caboose. It is definitely worth the $20. We spent a good 4-5 hours there which is a long day for us in one place. I highly recommend checking it out if you or your kids have an interest in trains.