On Sept. 13, Alex and I took a short trip to Monticello to explore the Rail Museum.
The Rail Museum was a great visit with lots of interesting history. The museum covered history from the early Wabash days all the way to today's Amtrak and N&S. An interesting fact included the peak of Illinois rail spanning 12,000 miles, now down to 7,000 miles.
There were lots of impressive railcars, such as ones engineered for snow/ice plowing in Quebec and the Chicago Aquarium car.
Exploring some of the preserved railcars
I was impressed to find the museum itself was free. The train ride from the starting museum to downtown Monticello was $15 for Adults. The (very nice) drive from Champaign was around 30 minutes.
Taking a quick ride on the museum train to downtown Monticello
The conductors of the train were very friendly, and I talked to one of them about Corvettes for quite some time. The entire museum is volunteer-run and non-profit.
Even on a Saturday, the museum wasn't too busy. Overall, the museum was a great visit.
After the museum, Alex and I headed to quickly explore "downtown" Monticello for some lunch. Monticello has a large historic architecture district with lots of history going back to Abraham Lincoln (and his famous nearby debate).
Alex being mischevious
Alex up to his usual tomfoolery
We grabbed a quick deli lunch in the downtown square. Not bad.
We had planned to visit Allerton Park but ran short on time. This concluded my trip to Monticello. I probably won't revisit Monticello, but I will be back nearby for Allerton ASAP.