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Places
The heyday of the ‘‘lron
horse” is becoming more of a memory
every day—except in Union, 111. (pop.
576), where America’s largest collection
of railroad vehicles keeps the glory days of
train travel and transportation alive.
More than 400 steam, diesel and electric
locomotives, streetcars, trolleys, and
passenger and freight cars are on display on
60 acres at die Illinois Railway Museum.
Visitors travel back in time as they' tour
six huge display bams, three restoration shops, an 1851
depot, a restored pre-World War II roadside diner and a
demonstration railway constructed of vintage materials.
Founded in 1953 and relocated from Chicago in
1964, the museum also has had its equipment “star” in
television commercials and movies, including A League of
Their Oun. The Untouchable*, and Groundhog Day.
“We're trying to recreate the railroading that we
remember as kids," says Bob Heinlein, 70, the museum's
head of weekday operations, riding along with visitors
in a swaying streetcar over five miles of restored track.
Heinlein, of Schaumburg, 111., hopped rapid transit cars
•and streetcars all over Chicago as a teenager and had a
grandfather who worked as a steam engine fireman on
the Milwaukee Railroad.
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Bob Heinlein, who hopped streetcars as a youth, now
serves as the museum’s head of weekday operations.
The sights, sounds and feel of riding a classic railroad
vehicle, often for the first time, can spellbind visitors. “I
loved seeing my children's eyes get as big as saucers when
thr wind was in their hair and they' felt the click-clack of
thr trolley moving down the tracks," says Brent Edwards
of Yorkville, 111. “Their smiles could be seen for miles.”
Visitors also are amazed to discover that the museum is
staffed and operated almost entirely by volunteers, with
only a handful erf paid employees. Two hundred and fifty
volunteers, such as Heinlein, some commuting from
southwestern Wisconsin and northern Indiana, keep the
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museum in motion April through October, paid only by
the satisfaction of doing something they love. When parts
or materials must be purchased, many volunteers become
fund-raisers and even dip into their own pockets.
Barbara Lanphier, 68, of Harvard, 111., the volunteer in
charge of publicity, was a rail commuter at age 5, riding
the North Shore Line connecting
Chicago and Milwaukee to and from
grade school. She also volunteers
as a curator for the museums off
site Strahom Library for railroading
research.
Chicago resident Tom Schneider,
66, a volunteer tor 34 years, who took
over as head ot die museum’s steam
department 25 years ago, has loved
trains since childhood. “My dad was
always interested in steam,” he says,
"and we used to go over and look at the engines in the
Chicago yards when coming home from church."
Schneiders department has some hefty rebuilding
projects underway, including removing the out
of-alignment wheels of a World War I-era Frisco
locomotive—not an easy task when dealing with a vehicle
that weighs 120 tons and relying on volunteer labor.
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“In order to drop the w'heels out from under the
locomotive, we had to put in what we call a drop
pit and drop table," Schneider explains. "We bought
the drop table from a junkyard and then we had
to rebuild it, which was about a 12-month project
when you only work one day a week."
Conductor Herald Wind collects
streetcar tickets from Dennis Dren
nan and grandson Teddy Hynstram.
locomotive thunders dow'n the track. "Tins," Smessaert
says, “is a dream come true for me." ★
Story by Ami Hattes of Hartland, I Xis.
Click on this story at americanprofile.com/articles
for a link to the Illinois Railway Museum website.
Page 8
Vintage locomotives are
among the classic rail equip
ment on display at the
Illinois Railway Museum.
4
Roger Smessaert. 64, of
McHenry, 111., began volunteering
at the museum in 1965, helping
iastall the facility's initial vintage
track and overhead streetcar wires.
Now an engineer behind the
controls ot one of the museum s
diesel locomotives, he basks in
the feel of the throttle, the throb
ot the engines and the ooh’s and
ahh's of visitors who line up to
watch him pass. He grins as his
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