My birthday

After I finished putting up the lettuce fence on Sunday, I took a shower and dressed in non-gardening clothes (polo shirt and pants without stains on the knees) for my birthday outing. I had suggested a visit to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL. I’d wanted to go for a long time, particularly to ride the historic train that I’d seen crossing one of the backroads between Harvard and Elgin from time to time. Both the electric and the steam engine were running on June 11. Temperatures were in the 90’s, but there was a wind that made it seem more tolerable.

Mom and Dad had been before; Terry and I had not. We arrived at 1:45 and saved $2 by getting a Family Pass. I’d seen that on the website, but wasn’t sure if it applied to parents with adult children. The steam engine was pulling in just as we arrived.

Steam  engine coming into the station

The next trip would be at 2:30. That gave us some time to look around. A museum for trains necessarily involves big buildings. We walked past the depot and looked briefly through the gift shops, housed in two old boxcars. Terry felt that the railroad museum in Mandan, ND (a tiny place) had better trinkets, but he was not the target audience.

A paved walkway led to a row of pole barns and display yards that started with Display Barn 3. I was not able to discover where Barns 1 and 2 were, unless the gift shops counted. Opposite the barns was a row of benches separated by tables made from cement lion heads recovered from railroad stations.

Lion head tables between the benches

There was also a larger statue of a woman’s head off to the side.

Another sculpture rescued from a railway station

Display Barn 3, Railroad Passenger Cars, was the best. It had a raised walkway so one could see in the trains. The dining car was fixed up with tables and fake food. Some of the cars had mannequins. The sleeping cars were very tiny, with a bench seat that unfolded into a 6-foot bed that took up the entire length and nearly the whole width of the cabin. It may have been possible to pull down the fold-up sink while the bed was made up, but I don’t know how one could have used it. I didn’t try to take pictures because I would have only gotten the flash reflecting in the windows.

A plaque by one car that had not had the interior restored said that it had housed, among other things, a barber shop. This did not seem like a good idea to me. One ill-timed bump and you could lose an ear.

The rest of the barns had paths on the ground, so I could only see the exterior of the trains. There were lots of commuter trains going back earlier than I realized. The first cars were built of wood, like this Rapid Transit Motor Car from 1907.

1907 wooden commuter car

This is a Chicago Aurora Elgin Electric engine from 1923.

1923 Electric engine

Display Barn 7 had some really old cars, such as this cable car from 1882. The car behind it was horse drawn.

1882 Cable car

I liked the little train that ran along the top of this sign.

Train along the top of a sign for the South Shore Line

This engine was displayed in Display Yard 5.

Union Pacific engine

An electric streetcar did a lap around the property at 15-minute intervals, but by the time we discovered it, there wasn’t time to do that before the 2:30 steam train ride.

Passengers were only allowed in the last two cars of the train. We went into the last ones. The stairs were much steeper than would be allowed today. People were obviously more agile back in the day. (I don’t know when the car was built.) The seats appeared to be made of leather on cast iron frames and included a foot rest that went up and down.

Mom and Dad on the train

Detail of the seat

There was space for standing passengers in the front of the car, but of course we were instructed to sit down and remain seated for the duration.

Straps for standing passengers

The ceiling was lined with old advertisements. I heard the conductor explain to another passenger that they had the originals on file; these were copies. There were many soap advertisements, which suggested that laundry was a major concern of women. The advertisements did not, of course, include the date of publication. Lux (advertisement not shown) claimed that it could keep your stockings from runs. HA!

Rinso saves work--saves time, and gets your clothes white! Plus Veribest Corned Beef from Armour.

Gold Dust Washing Powder, according to Wikipedia, was introduced in America in 1889. Its main appeal was low cost and, like so many other products, was supposed to make laundry and other cleaning easier. Note the racist representation of the Gold Dust Twins in the corner. The slogan also seems to question if women will ever get to vote in an election.... Even though Fairy Soap floats, it is unrelated to Ivory. Fairy Soap is still sold in Europe. Who knew?

Gold Dust and Fairy Soap

And from the early days of trans fats, here’s an advertisement for Nucoa. “The hot toast test proves Nucoa best!” The “snowy white” indicates that this was when the butter lobby made it illegal to dye margarine yellow. Mmm, mmm.

Nucoa seems less than appealing to modern tastes

The train started moving with a huge output of black smoke. Maybe that is why they had us sit in the back. 

Smoke from the engine

We backed out of the museum property to the tracks, went forward at a leisurely pace, meeting the electric train on its way back, stopped after 4.5 miles and started backing up. Then we stopped to wait for something. It was hot. Not all of the train windows opened. My back started to hurt. I would not want to take this train to Glacier National Park, let me tell you. The train that actually went to Glacier was open, and passengers would be showered with soot and live sparks, arriving at the lodge with holes in their clothes. Ah, the good old days.

We were finally given the go-ahead, and we made it back. The trip took the better part of an hour. We’d all seen enough. By that time, I was willing to forgo the streetcar ride. We stopped in the depot before leaving the museum. Here is Terry in a historic phone booth.

Terry in the phone booth

Jane had invited us to a birthday dinner at her house. We arrived ahead of schedule and drank water and lemonade to rehydrate before opening the champagne. Terry grilled steaks, asparagus, and foil pack potatoes. Jane sautéed mushrooms in garlic and red wine. Hilda brought brownies for dessert. We ate on the deck. It was a lovely birthday.