Watch Now: Monticello Railway Museum Provides Hands-on Experience Into Railroad History | History

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Restoration in process for Chicago Burlington & Quincy 14042 caboose that was built in 1891

MONTICELLO — Growing up on her father's dairy farm in Normal, Donna LaMar and other children would play on the tracks of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, now known as Constitution Trail.

Aside from placing pennies on the railway, they would watch as the occasional handcar — a railroad car powered by riders pumping the handles to move the wheels — would roll by with workers repairing the tracks as they moved into town.

"It just a nostalgic thing for me now, but back then that's what entertained us as children," said LaMar, 77.

In 2016, LaMar and a group of friends made the trip out to the Monticello Railway Museum, where they were offered an opportunity to ride up a mile on the track on a handcar similar to the ones she saw as a child.

Janet Jones, Linda Kobs, Sue Hayes and Donna LaMar set up a handcar to ride up the rails at the Monticello Railway Museum in 2016.

"We were given a special privilege, and I always feel like that was special that they agreed to do that for us," LaMar said. "We all remember that; it was a wonderful day for us."

Located roughly 30 miles from Decatur, the Monticello Railway Museum, 992 Iron Horse Place, is home to over 100 pieces of railroad equipment, including several restored trains and cars that operated in Illinois.

The group, which operates as a nonprofit, hosts a variety of events and train rides from May through October. Its staff consists wholly of volunteers who invest thousands of hours in restoring pieces and operating the day-to-day business of the museum.

"I think it's a very important part of our history in how railroads played an important part, and still do, in moving freight and passengers from place to place and what that journey was like," said museum president George Roadcap, 67. "Railroads basically built Illinois in the Midwest, and our towns are all laid out the way they are because of railroads."

An overhead view of the Monticello Railway Museum is shown.

Founded in 1966 as the Society for the Perpetuation of Unretired Railfans Inc., the group's original goal was to encourage the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad to continue its steam-powered train rides. That effort failed, with the line running its last train in June 1966, but the enthusiasts decided to operate on their own.

Operations moved to Monticello after encouragement from the Illinois Pioneer Heritage Center, which noted that several miles of abandoned tracks from the Illinois Terminal interurban railway were available for purchase.

Once settled, the group acquired its first engine from Montezuma, Indiana, in November 1966. The steam-powered locomotive had been used by the Western Indian Aggregate & Stone Co. The engine dates to 1930 and can still be seen today just outside the museum entrance.

Volunteer Bill Crisp shows off a variety of parts for trains in a shop at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Soon after, they obtained some former Wabash passenger cars and then their second steam locomotive — the former Southern Railway No. 401 — from a limestone quarry in Margerum, Alabama, as well as another steam locomotive — former Republic Steel No. 191 — from Columbus, Ohio.

Southern Railway No. 401 was built in 1907 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works.

The group renamed itself the Monticello & Sangamon Valley Railway Historical Society in 1970 before adopting its present name, Monticello Railway Museum, in 1982.

Today, the collection includes a wide spectrum of pieces: everything from a 1944 Bates & Rogers No. 11442 locomotive crane with a lifting capacity of up 30 tons to a 1918 Quebec Central Plow No. 40065 wooden snow plow that was used in one Illinois winter during the 1970s.

Other pieces include a 1925 Rock Island No. 2541 commuter coach car that spent its time commuting to and from Chicago; a deep blue 1911 Wabash No. 6 "Iowa" office car that was donated by a private owner in near perfect condition; and a 1949 Shedd Aquarium "Nautilus" specimen transport car, which was used by the John G. Shedd Aquarium to transport live saltwater animals from all coasts of the United States inside its gray metal shell.

The Aquarium Specimen Transport car was built in 1949 by Pullman Standard. The car, now on display in Monticello, was used by the John G. Shedd Aquarium, of Chicago, to transport live saltwater animals from all coasts of the United States.

The museum has been taking steps to evolve its operation even further, including plans to install a historic locomotive turntable. Work is underway on some special projects, such as restoration of an 1891 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy caboose made entirely of wood.

Roadcap said he expects the museum's expansion to continue.

"We have a lot of talented engineers and architects that can help out," he said, "and we probably have enough train cars and engines right now, but we will always accumulate more, I suppose."

Volunteer Bill Crisp, 47, said restorers have already started replacing parts of the caboose. They plan to replace every piece of wood that is damaged or rotten.

"This is the oldest piece of equipment on the property," said Crisp, a railway engineer for Norfolk Southern. "Part of the expansion of the United States was because of the railroads, so it's important to be able to preserve items like this and tell that story."

Volunteer Bill Crisp talks about the variety of trains in the Nelson Car Barn at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Another piece close to his heart is the 1960 Chicago & Illinois Midland No. 31 diesel locomotive, which is one of two ever built. He would routinely see it while running newspaper routes in Taylorville as a child during the 1980s, Crisp said.

"I got to ride this thing when I was 10 years old and I was hooked," Crisp said. "I told myself that I was gonna get a job on the railroads and now it's come full circle when we acquired it in 2020."

Bloomington-Normal labor union advocate Mike Matejka said he remembers visiting the National Museum of Transportation and Union Station in St. Louis with his father to see the Texas Eagle passenger train run on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

Matejka's father was a transit worker who operated a trolley car in St. Louis during the 1950s. Each holiday season, the family would arrange a Lionel Train set, ultimately feeding Matejka's interest in locomotives.

When he transferred to Illinois State University in 1973, Matejka heard about the museum and decided to volunteer on weekends.

Volunteer Bill Crisp displays a handcar at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Since then, Matejka said, he has not been as active, but his respect for the museum's care to detail has remained. His perspective of railroad history has also deepened beyond personal nostalgia and into appreciation of its role in creating labor unions during the 19th century.

"Workers had to organize and fight, and really the impetus for workers to organize into unions was very much about safety. They wanted to be able to come home at night and to change the conditions and the law so that they had protection," Matejka said. "Understanding that larger historical context, I think, is something that I really have learned a lot more from and immerse myself into."

Labor unions remain a crucial part of the U.S. rail industry. Companies and workers just last week reached a tentative agreement to avert a nationwide strike that could have shut down the nation's freight trains, causing a massive economic impact.

Detail of the Illinois Central No. 8733, which was built in 1958.

Aircraft mechanic David Parker, 37, who owns a 111-year-old Illinois Terminal Co. sleeper car that was saved from outside a train station in Harristown, said he always knew about the museum but never visited until recently when he was looking for a set of train wheels for the car.

After he found out the museum still had the wheels, he was grateful to learn that he could buy them for $100.

"I figured train parts are hard to come by and they might need the parts off of them for spares to keep other cars running, but either they didn't have a use for it or they just may seem to appreciate that I was trying to save the car," Parker said.

David Parker of Bloomington walks out of an old railroad sleeping car in Harristown on Aug. 10, 2021. He's working to restore the car.

Gary Forshaw, 74, of Edwardsville, spent several years working to restore the train car after purchasing the train in 1966 with his stepbrother, Fred Blue.

The car then ended up at the museum sometime afterward. Even Matejka had a hand in restoring it before it was sent to Harristown, Parker said.

Parker said preservation is a way to honor the people who worked on the railroads, and the stories and legacies shared today between their families who still live in the area.

"At some level we owe it to them to preserve those objects that are so important to their life story," Parker said. "As long as you're preserving that piece of history, then its history isn't over. The story is still going and it's constantly rewritten."

David Parker, front right, ensures a historic train chassis is lowered into place at his Bloomington home. Two train trucks were reunited in June with the sleeper car they once carried.

Though some volunteers have reached an age where manual labor starts to become more difficult, Roadcap said, he remains optimistic about the future of volunteers and the younger generation taking up the reins.

Two of the museum's younger volunteers are Bill Crisp's son Xander and his friend Isaiah Bradford, 16, of Decatur.

Bradford said he started going to the museum to help Xander, primarily cleaning cars. He would occasionally have the chance to photograph some of the pieces in storage or in action.

"A lot of the stuff from Monticello has to do with Illinois and the Midwest and it brings people and families together," Bradford said. "I've always liked trying to do something else with an art, and an art I develop skill in. It's more so having those two pieces coexist with each other and build upon it together."

Bradford said his interest in trains started in 2018 when he would visit the Wabash Depot Antique Center, 780 E. Cerro Gordo St. in Decatur, with his grandfather and watch the trains pass through. Since then, he has started photographing trains traveling through town.

Volunteer Thomas Dyrek, 19, of Normal, said his first experience with trains and the museum was when his parents took him there in 2009. He fell in love with riding on the 1953 Wabash Railway No. 1189 diesel-powered locomotive.

Volunteer Thomas Dyrek, 19, first became enamored with the Monticello Railway Museum when his parents brought him to visit in 2009.

"I started begging my parents to take me here as much as possible, and now I come down here about once a month when I can to help out," said Dyrek, who now lives in Cedar Lake, Indiana. "Once every blue moon you run into a younger guy who is enthusiastic about this stuff, and there are a couple other teenagers that help out this weekend."

Now he gets to work the same locomotive that he first rode. He has even published two photo books, "Central Illinois Train Depots," as well as one on the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway.

Volunteer Thomas Dyrek works to clean up a Wabash Railroad train at the Monticello Railway Museum.

The museum schedules regular weekend fares for diesel trains and hosts special events including dinners, steam-powered train rides, and a wildly popular "Polar Express" train ride for the holidays, which has already sold out this year.

The museum is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Train rides start half an hour after the museum opens.

This weekend, the museum will host Railroad Days, during which families and individuals can enjoy unlimited rides on passenger and freight trains, explore the museum campus, drive a motorcar on the rails or even try out the new Hodge Pedal Car ride.

Railroad Days at the Monticello Railway Museum, 992 Iron Horse Place, in Monticello, taking place Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18, from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. with trains running continuously from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Outside of special events, the museum can handle requests, like the handcar ride, for individuals looking to visit on any given day, Roadmap said. Visitors looking for such accommodations are asked to contact the museum ahead of time at info@mrym.org and provide a donation.

"I have kids that are into trains, and being into trains myself, I like to see kids get all excited to ride them," Roadcap said. "That's one of my primary motivations, just to see people happy and riding the train and having a good time."

Janet Jones, Linda Kobs, Sue Hayes and Donna LaMar set up a handcar to ride up the rails at the Monticello Railway Museum in 2016.

Volunteer Bill Crisp shows off a variety of parts for trains in a shop at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Volunteer Bill Crisp displays a handcar at the Monticello Railway Museum.

An overhead view of the Monticello Railway Museum is shown.

A wooden Chicago Burlington & Quincy caboose, dating to 1891, is undergoing restoration at the Monticello Railway Museum's woodshop.

Detail is shown at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Detail of the Illinois Central No. 8733, which was built in 1958.

Volunteer Bill Crisp talks about the variety of trains in the Nelson Car Barn at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Southern Railway No. 401 is one of two surviving steam locomotives of its type at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Southern Railway No. 401 was built in 1907 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works.

Volunteer Thomas Dyrek, 19, first became enamored with the Monticello Railway Museum when his parents brought him to visit in 2009.

Volunteer Thomas Dyrek works to clean up a Wabash Railroad train at the Monticello Railway Museum.

Contact Mateusz Janik at (309) 820-3234. Follow Mateusz on Twitter:@mjanik99

WHAT: Monticello Railway Museum Railroad Days

WHERE: 992 Iron Horse Place, Monticello

WHEN: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday, Sept. 18, with trains running continuously from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

ADMISSION: Adults are $25 for one day and $40 for the weekend. Children are $12 for one day and $18 for the weekend. Children under 2 years old can ride for free with a paying adult.

Donation and volunteer information is available at the museum's website, mrym.org.

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