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Re: [BRHSlist] Milwaukee Road #261 Steam Excursion to Galesburg RR Days

To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [BRHSlist] Milwaukee Road #261 Steam Excursion to Galesburg RR Days
From: "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@y...>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 20:57:44 -0700 (PDT)
In-reply-to: <afausd+j1pb@e...>
Bill
June is the sixth month of the year. Just pulling your
leg a little! Nice letter. Thanks
John D. Mitchell, Jr.
--- bill_og <haywarb@b...> wrote:
> My 9-year old daughter and I travelled on the MILW
> #261 steam 
> excursion to Galesburg RR Days last Saturday
> 07/22/02. We boarded at 
> Naperville Rt 59 station. Our coach was the 3rd car
> back from the 
> last tender; we could hear the whitsle quite nicely.
> I had never 
> ridden the rails to Galesburg before so it was a
> real treat to make 
> the trip. 
> 
> Many folks out in the country and towns to watch the
> train pass. 
> Outside of Aurora, an airplane was pacing the train
> with video 
> cameras. Does anyone know of any of the RR video
> companies making a 
> tape of these excusions or of Chicago 2002 steam
> excursions? I 
> really enjoyed seeing Princeton, Buda, Neponset, and
> Kewanee from the 
> rails since I have relatives in these towns. 
> 
> The refreshment car on the #261 train had hot dogs,
> candy, snacks, 
> and various hot & cold beverages (we had dogs on the
> train). They 
> also had #261 souveneers like hat pins, videos,
> posters, hats, etc. 
> The unexpected find was original CB&Q posters of the
> "Parade of 
> Progress" calendar drawing that they sold for only
> $10 (the catalog 
> from Historic Rails recently listed this item for
> $30). 
> 
> We detrained at 1:30PM. This was also my first
> attendance at 
> Galesburg RR Days (GRRD). We had snacks and food
> from the vendors by 
> the depot (dogs, hamburgers, pork chops, barbeque,
> pop, ice cream, 
> etc were all readilly available). We toured the
> Galesburg RR 
> Museum's CB&Q #3006, waycar, RPO, and main exhibits
> in the MEATH 
> Pullman car which were staffed with former rail
> roaders. We picked 
> up some neat T-shirts with Ron Hatch drawings of the
> Silver Charger & 
> #3006, a bear in engineer bibs, and a neat
> pencil-sketch print of the 
> #5632 by Ron Hatch. My daughter was fascinated by
> the sketch, so I 
> introduced her to Ron Hatch who was in the tent with
> his GRRD posters 
> and other art-work. She spent at least 10 minutes
> telling her mother 
> about Ron & his drawings when we got home. 
> 
> We also saw many of the other depot area displays
> from BNSF, the 
> trade unions, and Lionel's layout. Of course, we
> walked through the 
> Nebraska Zephyr, which is one of our favorite
> trains. 
> 
> Due to delays with all the Amtrak and yard excursion
> Metra trains, 
> the #261 train did not leave till after 4PM. I
> finally broke down to 
> my daughter's request to buy her a pair of goggles
> on the train so 
> that she could sit in the open-air car (2nd car
> after the last 
> tender) without getting cinders in her eyes. For
> me, it was too hot 
> to sit outside of the AC. It was also fun watching
> the manic train 
> chasers in cars on US-34 trying to keep up with us
> and wildly passing 
> the non-railfan cars(I think the #261 was doing 60
> mph out in the 
> country). Matt Phalen of Wyanet was also on the #261
> with the NRHS 
> staff; I talked with him for a bit. 
> 
> I had my doubts as to my daughter's interest in the
> trip over 11 
> hours, but we both really liked it. I wish we would
> have had more 
> time in Galesburg. 
> 
> Does anyone else have other reports on the #261 trip
> and/or GRRD? 
> 
> Does anyone have any reports on the #261 trip to
> Rochelle on Sunday 
> 07/23/02 ?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bill H. 
> 
> 


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