Interesting concept…to be located in Galesburg, Illinois.
About time ! about time!
Nice to see an update. But be advised the grandiose brochure linked-to above is merely a fancy, agency-generated Prospectus.
I’m still waiting for those Galesburg folks to explain where the $60 million to fund the project will come from. As an Illinois taxpayer (living in a state with a $3 billion-and-growing budget deficit) it better not come from me.
To me, this is a thinly-disgused effort to build a humongous tourist trap for Galesburg – to benefit local businesses while getting someone else to pay for it. And they have no small plans.
Their intent – to get the nation’s railroads to pick up a lion’s share of the cost – is still a pipe dream.
This topic has already undergone a pretty good chewing here.
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/839097/ShowPost.aspx
I also still think it is a longshot – at best – if they expect the railroads to pay for it. To be honest, it would attract more traffic in a place like Chicago or Scranton or Altoona. Or if the railroads have an extra $60 million lying around, I’d much prefer those monies went into a pool where steam restoration groups could apply for grants. That would serve better to preserve the history of the railroads in America, in my opinion.
PZ
What, if anything, happened in Galesburg to make it a logical location for ANYTHING??? I never heard of the place, and I was once stationed in Illinois.
Strikes me that Chicago, St Louis, Omaha, Roanoke, … would have a more logical claim.
Does Illinois have a railroad museum? If so, where? (Answer, Union, IL, a lot closer to Chicago than Galesburg, and a lot closer to Chicago than Galesburg is.)
Chuck
OKay, I’ll bite. What do you have in a RR hall of fame museum that you don’t have in a regular railroad museum?
It has historical ties to the railroad, with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy) coming to the City in 1854.
Funding for the linking of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy (CB & Q) Railroad came from a Galesburg investor, beginning a rail history that still lives today. The CB & Q later merged with other railroads to form what is now Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Because of that Galesburg investor’s commitment, Galesburg has seven main rail lines coming in and out of the City. Galesburg still prides itself in its railroad history, with several museums and a festival devoted solely to the railroad.
"Throughout much of its history, Galesburg has been inextricably tied to the railroad industry. Local businessmen were major backers of the first railroad to connect Illinois’ (then) two biggest cities-Chicago and Quincy-as well as a third leg initially terminating across the river from Burlington, Iowa, eventually connecting to it via bridge and thence onward to the Western frontier. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad sited major rail sorting yards here, including the first to use hump sorting.
A BNSF train passes through central Galesburg.
In the late 19th century, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected its service through to Chicago, it also laid track through Galesburg, making this city one of relatively few to be served by multiple railroads and even fewer to have multiple railroad depots. (Indeed, it was not until the 1990s that Amtrak finally closed the old Santa Fe depot and consolidated all passenger operations at the site of the former Burlington Northern depot.) A series of mergers eventually united both tracks under the ownership of BNSF Railway, carrying an average of seven trains per hour between them. As of the closing of the Maytag plant in fall of 2004, BNSF is once again the largest private employer in Galesburg."
From a strictly personal point of view, I would prefer this museum to be located at the finest railroad museum in the country…IRM. I have been to many others, and none beats either the dedication of it’s volunteers, the diversity of it’s collection…and their installation of a real ( meaning real buidings versus faux replicas) of a typical mainstreet…the restored diner will be something to see…this in the heartland is where this museum belongs…IRM is buying up property to avoid sprawl from invading it’s setting…I do like the concept however…dedicated to people not things…people are what made these things “go” Someone was complaining about the recent sale of the Virginia Berkshire to Ohio Central…and why they had’nt restored it to operating order blah, blah, blah…The reply was simple. Show me the cash. Suggesting this is with some ambivilence because at IRM they have their hands full as it is…perhaps it’s one of those ideas best viewed on a webpage…but I still like the concept…
I nominate John Barringer…why is he missing?