Railroad Forums 

  • IRM Members Weekend

  • General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.
General discussion related to all railroad clubs, museums, tourist and scenic lines. Generally this covers museums with static displays, museums that operate excursions, scenic lines that have museums, and so on. Check out the Tourist Railway Association (TRAIN) for more information.

Moderators: rob216, Miketherailfan

 #719792  by polybalt
 
After a complete rain out last year, IRM's annual Members Weekend saw spectacular weather last Saturday and Sunday. 62 locomotives and cars took part, including 24 electric locomotives and cars and 38 conventional railroad diesels and cars. In addition 4 trolley busses ran on Saturday. Over 1000 people attended on Saturday alone. A few photos are here.

Highlights included operation of a three-car train of Illinois Terminal heavyweight interurban cars for the first time in many years, the first ever revenue operation of IRM's pair of NYCTA redbirds, and a three-unit 16 car diesel freight train.
 #720290  by byte
 
I'm really quite surprised at the lack of "coverage" this event got. The amount of equipment out was simply staggering, especially given that most of it doesn't get run very often, or at least hasn't been run lately. It seems most of Chicagoland's "usual suspects" were out photographing the Leviathan at Monticello and there aren't any pictures of IRM's event on RP, etc.

I was on the first run of the day (and decade) of the Illinois Central MU cars on Saturday, and I swear, I have never been on another train at the museum where everyone was looking at it as it went by, with an almost jaw-dropping demeanor. The museum's overhead got some work earlier this year and pantograph operation is possible on about half the mainline. Based on the feedback from the crowd it was a very worthy improvement. Also riding the IT business car was great, especially when a cyclist pulled up alongside the train on the road across from the UP tracks which parallel the museum's trackage. He clearly had no idea what this place was, and kept looking over in complete and total confusion at this old orange electric train that was running on the museum's trackage. (In my opinion, most of the fun in railroad preservation is watching the reactions of people who aren't expecting to see and hear old trains actually operating)