Train Adventures: Monticello Railway Museum

 The hubby recently woke his buried love for train and trains rides. He really wanted to go to Boone County Iowa for their train museum but schedule conflicts forced us to pivot our vacation plans. With Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky on the docket, I had went in search of a train museum for the hubby. My original plan was to go to Whitewater Valley Railroad in Connersville, IN but another schedule conflicted forced me pivot again.  Monticello Railway Museum fit in the plans and was on the way home.

Monticello Railway Museum is located in Monticello, IL about 30 minutes southwest of Champaign. It is open on weekends May-October 10:30-3:30 plus it offers a Polar Express ride in November and early December. There is also a bunny train around Easter. Admission is $15/adults and $8/children. 

You can pick the train at the museum at the Nelson Crossing Depot or the Wabash Depot in downtown Monticello. We picked it up at Nelson Depot. We initially board the train in a passenger car. 

The train stops at the Wabash Depot. We got off and looked around the small museum at the depot. If we chose, we could have walked around downtown Monticello. Due to time constraints, we didn't but it also didn't look much around downtown to keep us occupied for a good hour. 

We saw there was a caboose at the end of the train. I wanted to ride in the caboose. We had a very enjoyable ride to the end of the line before headed back to the depot. From Wabash Station to the end of the line, the train went backwards so looking out of the back of the caboose we actually felt as we were going forward.

Once we got back to the Nelson Depot, the hubby wanted to go up in the Stair Tower. The stair tower is a replica of a railroad interlocking tower that was found a railroad junction to control the signals and lights along the line. The docent was very informative and I learned a vital part of the railroad. The hubby even got to pull the levers that controlled the lights and signals. They were heavy.

We hurried our way through the train barn. It had many of the same trains as other train museum

A Mail Car

A Sleeper car that seemed not a very comfortable way to travel. I'll stick to cars and hotels.

There was a display on Railroad Express Agency that not only carried mail and packages but also in the time of war, bodies of soldiers. This is something we never think of but had to be done.

I wish we had more time to explore the train yard but we had to get on the road. 

The Monticello Railroad Museum is definitely worth the stop. The train ride was enjoyable. The museum was well done. 

I wonder where our next train adventure will take us. Stay tuned.