PARKER SCHOOL HOUSE MUSEUM

GILMAN, IL

Authenticity It's not photoshop, no clever tricks - IC1000 is actually back in its white sill stripe after 17 years. Nothing fake here, it's the real deal. I admit to being skeptical (but hopefully excited) when the leaked photos of the IC1000 came my way recently. Too good to be true, surely! But when I got the heads up 1000 was leading A407 and priming to leave town, seen with its white sill, I knew I had to go out and see it with my own eyes. Still can't quite believe it's real honestly. The yellow reflective tape has plagued the surviving IC fleet - barring a single SD40-3 up on the Iron Range - since 2007 when CN changed over the majority from white to yellow. Although it may be seen as a minor detail and a nitpicky thing, the yellow sill massively changes the appearance of the IC units - and for the worse at that. To see one of the 26 all-black SD70s get its white sill returned to it (the class leader no less! My favourite of the bunch) is just delightful. It was done really well, too - nothing partial or half-assed about it, it's the whole way around the unit and even the steps match! I have no idea why the change was made or what the story is or may be, but the fact the look of the late Illinois Central has returned just makes me a happy fella. Of course, it leading CN A407 on a bright, sunny, cloudless winter day makes shooting the thing... difficult, to say the least. Far from my finest shots, but I am just happy to have shot it already. No telling when it'll come back, or if it will stay in white - I'll take what I can! At North Ashkum, IC1000 (paired with IC1028, still in yellow sill, and IC9608 in CN dress) pulls A407 out of the siding. They had stopped to meet Amtrak 393. Coincidentally, I was far from the only railfan to snap the 1000 here as a whole little group of us met together here, including a few familiar faces I got to chat with for a good while. Though light had fallen by the time the 1000 got moving, it was still a nice way to cap off my first sighting of its "new" look.
Authenticity Credit: Leo Blackwelder

The Parker School House Museum in Gilman, Illinois is a unique and interesting example of local history. The museum was built in 1877 and is located in a three-story brick building. The building originally served as a schoolhouse and was the first school in Iroquois County. Today, the museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the region, displaying artifacts and documents from the area’s past.

The Parker School House Museum offers visitors a chance to explore the history of the area, including the history of the school and early settlers. Inside the museum, visitors can view classrooms, photographs and artifacts. There are also displays on the history of the railroad and the local farming industry. The museum also offers a variety of educational programs, including hands-on activities, field trips and lectures.

The museum also includes a library, which is full of books, periodicals and other resources related to the history of the region. The Parker School House Museum is open to the public and offers free admission. This museum is a great place to visit for those interested in learning more about the history of the area.

PARKER SCHOOL HOUSE MUSEUM is a Uncategorized or General Museum in GILMAN IL. US MID #8401700059

The museum is classed as GMU (Uncategorized or General Museums). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin).

Authenticity It's not photoshop, no clever tricks - IC1000 is actually back in its white sill stripe after 17 years. Nothing fake here, it's the real deal. I admit to being skeptical (but hopefully excited) when the leaked photos of the IC1000 came my way recently. Too good to be true, surely! But when I got the heads up 1000 was leading A407 and priming to leave town, seen with its white sill, I knew I had to go out and see it with my own eyes. Still can't quite believe it's real honestly. The yellow reflective tape has plagued the surviving IC fleet - barring a single SD40-3 up on the Iron Range - since 2007 when CN changed over the majority from white to yellow. Although it may be seen as a minor detail and a nitpicky thing, the yellow sill massively changes the appearance of the IC units - and for the worse at that. To see one of the 26 all-black SD70s get its white sill returned to it (the class leader no less! My favourite of the bunch) is just delightful. It was done really well, too - nothing partial or half-assed about it, it's the whole way around the unit and even the steps match! I have no idea why the change was made or what the story is or may be, but the fact the look of the late Illinois Central has returned just makes me a happy fella. Of course, it leading CN A407 on a bright, sunny, cloudless winter day makes shooting the thing... difficult, to say the least. Far from my finest shots, but I am just happy to have shot it already. No telling when it'll come back, or if it will stay in white - I'll take what I can! At North Ashkum, IC1000 (paired with IC1028, still in yellow sill, and IC9608 in CN dress) pulls A407 out of the siding. They had stopped to meet Amtrak 393. Coincidentally, I was far from the only railfan to snap the 1000 here as a whole little group of us met together here, including a few familiar faces I got to chat with for a good while. Though light had fallen by the time the 1000 got moving, it was still a nice way to cap off my first sighting of its "new" look.
23082405 Illinois Wind Farm
Still Standing At the suggestion that the signals on the Gilman sub were potentially at risk of dropping or having been dropped, I took a little trip to the Gilman sub after work. I wound up timing things just right and shooting a train at Parnell, but I decided to venture north to Roberts as well, just to confirm that nothing new was sitting nearby. Thankfully, no, none of these signals have been dropped since the set immediately west of Clinton in July last year. Parnell and Roberts still retain their US&S P5 signals. I arrived at Roberts just in time for a wonderful sunset, so I had to stop and snap a couple photos of these vintage signals. The more I look at these P5s, I start to wonder what actually is the difference between these and R2s. I'm not the expert, but they do appear about the same to me. Heads can be mounted any way - I've seen photos of P5s mounted like R2s typically are - so the mounting can't be the difference. Maybe there's some miniscule detail, maybe entirely internal, that I don't know about. Would like to know, though. Hard to find resources on that sort of thing. Anyway, ex-IC US&S P5 signals near Roberts, IL at sunset. Feel like I've done this before... hah
Small Town Central The midwest, and the IC by extension, is built up with a plethora of small towns. Buckley is one of them, another drop in the sea of fields. The "Dutchmasters" mentioned by the sign references the towns old organized baseball team, which took the Dutchmaster name somewhere around 1927. It seems they've held onto the name and used it in other places in town, but no doubt a local could tell you more about that than I could. At Buckley, we got our shot of IC1000/IC1021 on A407 blasting past the elevator. From here, we'd sprint hard to Gilman and go for the towers photo, but alas, 407 was a little too quick and I'm not much of a runner these days, so this was about as far as my successful shots got me on that day. Pretty good day, all told.
Blocked At The Last Second Upon sighting the CSX yn2 leader back in Hoopeston, we chased that thing down as best we could, eventually making our way to Watseka. The CSX train had slowed dramatically at Woodland Junction, which made it easier for us to find a nice spot to shoot the northbound freight. However, shortly after finding our spot, we heard horns - and they weren't the right ones. Then came the right one. Two trains! But what tracks would they be on? Suffice to say, it was a UP freight on the closer track (with an RSSX critter trailing, interestingly), one moving significantly faster than our CSX train. Totally SOL. I had a nice shot lined up, too! Gah, curse you, UP. That was a slightly sour ending to an otherwise mostly successful day out. Maybe we'll just have to try that way again sometime.
Wrapping Up Having left the 7561 in Charlotte, BLOL7591 becomes the leader LHF. The former Northern Pacific GP9 and the trailing GP38-2, formerly a T&P GP35, are nearing the end of their northbound trip as they approach Collum via picturesque Illinois farmland.
Luck Bearer At Chatsworth, the Bloomer Line crosses the TP&W using its ex-IC trackage. Todays northbound train saw the LTEX 3802 dropped off at Risk with some 20 cars or so, letting the BLOL7561 lead into town. The GP10, ex-CR (reblt by Paducah in '78) but whose heritage stretches back to NYC6002, passes the R2-derivitive signals that guard the TP&W/BLOL diamond. Chatsworth is home to some of the only signals on the Bloomer, though both dwarfs are a little ways out of frame. I've been trying to shoot the Bloomer for nearly two years now, but I've never had an ounce of luck with them - never knowing what's running and when, and usually if something was running, I was stuck at work. The stars aligned when I had the full week off of work to make time to bring my girlfriend over to the US from England. We had been wandering a bit aimlessly when scanner traffic suggested the Bloomer might be up to something. A little more wandering and before we knew it, we were following the train out of Gibby and northbound. I think she's my good luck charm now!
The Perfect Kiss The IC trio we'd been chasing made its way to Gilman and past the aging, and infamous, Gilman coaling towers. With the information that there was a far easier way to access the towers, Tal and I made the quick hike to the north end to catch the three deathstars pass by the towers and one very shot-up switchstand. You know, if I was funnier, I'd find some great way to make a proper pun out of the lyrics of the titular song. "Now I know the perfect kiss is the kiss of death..." ...stars. Or a joke about the bullet holes that are in the switchstand. Or something. Hey, why did the album version of TPK omit the titular lyrics? The whole third verse, actually. Seems like an important thing you wouldn't want to cut out, or, you know, the climatic ending that the whole other seven minutes of music are building towards... Not important at all, no... Oh, wait, this isn't a review of New Order singles, is it? With A407 past the towers, that was our chase done for the day. I think it made for a fine way to introduce my girlfriend into this ever-so-strange hobby I'm too deep into. Well, I mean, it must've been, or else I wouldn't have had that song pop into my head...
Sinking in the Snow The remnants of the 2022 snowstorm(s) left us some large snowdrifts along the tracks, which were still just thick enough to take on, say, the weight of one guy. Mostly. CN L585, with its captive SD70M-2, came rolling on by before too long, and it's a good thing it did, too, as my feet started to sink in just a little too much for comfort... A wise place to stand? Perhaps not. But, hey, it worked this time.
Cross The Line I just happened to go out at the right time to find IC1005 and IC1022 about ready to head north out of Champaign, so naturally I opted to follow them. I wasn't planning on heading over to the Gilman towers, but as the train had to slow in town - and I was well ahead of it then - I decided to make the trek. Didn't I tell myself I wouldn't try this again unless I had a bigger car better suited for that track they dare call a road? Maybe. Am I also talented at making questionable last moment decisions? Certainly. I hear the cemetery makes for better access. Maybe I'll try that next time...
Invisible Sun Led by IC1000/IC1037/BNSF735, CN A407 makes use of the newly raised speed limits for manifests - up to 50mph now. A small change from 45mph that makes a world of a difference. Of course, that difference is moot when a southbound Amtrak causes the train to park in the siding for half an hour, and the sun only has half of that time left on its clock... Well, twilight was all I was gonna get. Still, could be worse.

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PARKER SCHOOL HOUSE MUSEUM
807 S CRESCENT ST
GILMAN
IL
60938

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PARKER SCHOOL HOUSE MUSEUM Information

MID # 8401700059
Name PARKER SCHOOL HOUSE MUSEUM
Alternate Name
Classification Uncategorized or General Museums, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
NTEECC
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM)
INCOME 0
REVENUE 0
LAT/LONG 40.75887, -87.994394
CODES FIPS State Code: 17
FIPS County Code: 075
US Census Tract: 950600
US Census Block: 3063