llinois Railway Museum Trolley Pageant July 4th 2009

From the IRMList on Yahoo Groups:

The Illinois Railway Museum is presenting a new and improved trolley pageant this year for 2009. The pageant has moved from the slow and congested street car line to the open and photogenic mainline area. This year the pageant allows the Interurban to pose along side a traditional mid-western landscape. Equipment that cannot negotiate tight curvatures of the street car line, have a chance to participate in this years pageant. Electric Locomotives will be leading realistic freight trains of their time along with rolling stock sensitive to each background. The rare appearance of pantograph equipment such as the Illinois Central Electric MU "wicker baskets" and South Shore Line Interurban representing the south side of Chicago and Northwestern Indiana. Street cars line up as they did in down town Chicago and the Rapid transit fleet performs with quick de-acceleration and fast acceleration. The past pageant offered each piece of equipment to review while standing still, this year a number of pieces are selected to review during a run by. Certain trains that have been selected to run by will set the scene of the electric era that many have never had the chance to experience. This year on the 4th of July at IRM the videos come to life, the pictures come to life and memories along with stories are seen. Please support the Trolley Pageant and join us at the Illinois Railway Museum for a step back in time. Other attractions - Trolley Buses operate, Street Car Service and Mainline Electric and Diesel Trains operate, also enjoy the West End Jazz Band playing live. Additional information can be found on the IRM website at www.IRM.org

Stan Wdowikowski
Illinois Railway Museum
Electric Car Dept.

Texting Trolley Operator Causes Crash

See the follow-up article too: Crash Spurs Phone Ban

March 2009 Update

It's obvious that life gets in the way of doing the things we enjoy much of the time. Since last May I've been really busy with my business and volunteer activities, and put my railfan passion on the back burner. But enough is enough!

Many railfan video clips have accumulated over the last year that need to go on YouTube. Don't know when I'll find time for that, but it will get done. My business, like many others, is currently in a sort of economic slowdown so I have a little free time now and then. All I need is the energy to get the editing done and upload the results.

In the meantime, in an attempt to get caught up with my email, here are some railfan links from January 2009:

Platform 7 - A Railfan's Blog!: The first journey via Kottayam!
railfan frequencies
Eddie's Rail Fan Page: Southbound Soo Line transfer train ...
Eddie's Rail Fan Page: Looking east on Burlington Avenue, in ...
Railfan: 1924 | Shorpy Photo Archive
Flickr: Discussing Amtrak Photography Contest - Oops, Arrested by ...
Railfan Photos of the Week - January 7, 2009 - TrainBoard.com
Super Size Me: Wednesday's Lunch Shot - RailroadForums.Com
Bring Out The Shovel » Dogcaught: A Railroad Blog
Hello from Sturtevant, WI - RailroadForums.Com
Maine HOn30 Model Railroading
[IRFCA] Indian Railways Photo Gallery - lhb raj
4 Axle Feast! - TrainBoard.com
Union Pacific Stack Train in Victorville, CA, 1/2/09. Video
Eddie's Rail Fan Page: Eastbound Southern Pacific run thru ...
Chicago Odyssey vol1-Part1 | Chicago
CA & AZ Transcon grabs 1-08-09 . . . - SoCalRailFan Forums
Triad Railfan: Welcome to North Carolina
Valley Metro Rail - TrainBoard.com
CC 20324 Hauled K.A 73 Gumarang from Surabaya Pasar Turi on Flickr ...
SOO & IC, Frisco, GN in Tulsa, OK - RailroadForums.Com
Amtrak Cascades in Chicago - RailroadForums.Com
My New Friend at Hill 582 - SoCalRailFan Forums
As I chase trains I wonder if I'll ever get that perfect shot ...
Triad Railfan: Lidell St.
Railfan Jokes | You know you are a Railfan when | Jokes on ...
Inside Obama's Massive Inaugural Train
Alco PA-1 Diesels « Dummidumbwit’s Weblog
Obama's Georgia 300 - The Whistle Post - Model Railroad Forum
The Wandering Railfan: First of the Year
Capitol Limited: Railfanning 1-17-09
Eddie's Rail Fan Page: Central Illinois Railroad EMD yard switcher ...
Roosevelt Metra station on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
BobbaLew: O. Winston Link Show
4 in 20 minutes - RailroadForums.Com
Triad Railfan: Snow Day
Westbound CP Mixed Freight - Tunnel City, WI | Air Cargo News
fish photo: train track photos
Is there a correlation between age and period chosen? - TrainBoard.com
The Bovine Post: What's so bad about being a railroad/model ...
Railfan on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Up1982 - RailroadForums.Com
I was a Teenage Railfan.: Fw: Monday Morning Photo. 26/01/09
Looking for photos of Bakersfield BNSF yard - TrainBoard.com
W&I Grain Train on the P&L - RailroadForums.Com
As I chase trains I wonder if I'll ever get that perfect shot ...
fourtwentymusic.com » Blog Archive » West Virginia Northern Railroad
Cold and snowy Walton, KY - TrainBoard.com
Colorado Joint Line Railfaning Action - TrainBoard.com

February railfan links coming soon! Thanks for all the great contributions!!

First Ever National Train Day

Okay, what's this all about? Turns out it's a celebration of the May 10, 1869 event where the “golden spike” was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad in Promontory Summit, Utah.

The event is sponsored by Amtrak, MasterCard and, of all things, Wheel of Fortune TV show. So I'm not sure just how much of this has to do with trains and how much of it has to do with getting people to spend money.

Anyway, thought you would want to know!