Milepost 642
Photo: Bob Caywood
The annual convention of the Nickel Plate Historical & Technical Society was held in Peoria, Illinois, this year and by most all measures was a very successful event. The highlight of the event was a visit to the Monticello Railway Museum on Saturday. The fine folks there have to have one of the nicest collections of railroad rolling stock & other Items that I've ever seen.
Our visit there also featured a trip on their diesel powered passenger train that hauled the convention goers in to Monticello proper with a "lay-over" for lunch. The trip also featured two run-bys for those of us who can't seem to take enough pictures.
The weather was nearly perfect for the trip and the fall colors were just starting to appear so many of us decided to ride the "open air" Wheeling & Lake Erie flat car to take things in.
Our ride in the open air car did afford a little better view of the train's travels but there weren't too many curves to catch a photo of the locomotive in action, so the run-bys were really appreciated.
I'll have more on the Monticello Museum in a future post.
Following the trip to Monticello, the annual banquet was held that night. Tony Koester of ALLEGHENY MIDLAND fame entertained us with some of his favorite model railroading & train watching stories then the main speaker of the evening presented us with a look back at Peoria railroading history. At one time, Peoria was served by no less than fourteen different railroads so there was quite a bit of history to be shared. The annual society auction followed the dinner & program.
Sunday morning the annual membership meeting was held then it was time to say good-by to old & new friends alike and head home. But even the trip home was special as we passed row upon row of wind turbines designed to capture the ever-present breeze and convert it into electrical energy. In one "turbine farm," we counted no less than 81 wind turbines.
And again, fall colors were breaking out all over, making the trip across Indiana and western Ohio really something special.
dlm
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