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

To: BRHSlist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Milwaukee Road #261 Steam Excursion to Galesburg RR Days
From: "bill_og" <haywarb@b...>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 14:39:28 -0000
In-reply-to: <20020626035744.26312.qmail@w...>
User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82
John,

Thanks for the corrtection. The date was JUNE 06/22/02 for the 
Galesburg excursion and JUNE 06/23/02 for the Rochelle excursion. 

It was such a hot and humid day. Obviously my brain was cooked. I 
must not be hardy enough to ever be a fireman or engineer in the 
summer months!

Bill H. 

--- In BRHSlist@y..., "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@y...> wrote:
> 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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