MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

DECATUR, IL

Making the Quota I was chatting with a friend about roadrailers, sharing photos and the like, when I realized I almost never actually photograph the things. I had a look through my folders and have consistently only shot them once a year. This is frankly absurd considering the the things run within spitting distance of home. What have I been doing the last five years? For once, I actually went out and sought the elusive Triple Crowns out. After already meeting my yearly quota back in January, it seemed like snatching a roadrailer would be a good way to spend a day. I got more than I bargained for when the day was said and done, but more importantly, I did find the 255. At Milmine, NS 255 makes haste on its westward journey to Kansas City. NS7676 had quite a lengthy train of trailers on it today, and pairing that with warm temps, clear skies, and even a friendly wave from the conductor, I don't think I could complain about anything here if I wanted to. Nice day out!
Making the Quota Credit: Leo Blackwelder

The Macon County Historical Museum in Decatur, Illinois is a unique cultural and educational institution dedicated to the preservation of local history. Founded in 1971, the museum has grown to include over 30,000 artifacts and archival materials, making it one of the largest county museums in the state.

The museum is home to a permanent exhibit that chronicles the history of Macon County, from its earliest days to the present. Visitors can explore the lives of the earliest settlers, learn about the development of the county and its towns and cities, and study the history of its people, places and events.

The museum also features a variety of special exhibits and programs throughout the year, including lectures, workshops, and educational programs. Visitors can explore the museum's collections through interactive displays, interactive computers and multimedia presentations.

The museum also offers a variety of educational services, including tours, field trips, and student research projects. Guided tours are available on a regular basis, providing visitors with a comprehensive overview of Macon County's history.

The Macon County Historical Museum is open to the public free of charge and is located at the Decatur Civic Center. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and Saturday from 10:00am to 2:00pm.

MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM is a Historical Societies, Historic Preservation in DECATUR IL. US MID #8401700367

The museum is classed as HSC (Historical Societies, Historic Preservation). It comes under American Alliance of Museums (AAM) region: Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin). Total revenue from most recent IRS 990 Form: $ 182,599 from tax period 201212 (YYYYMM).

Making the Quota I was chatting with a friend about roadrailers, sharing photos and the like, when I realized I almost never actually photograph the things. I had a look through my folders and have consistently only shot them once a year. This is frankly absurd considering the the things run within spitting distance of home. What have I been doing the last five years? For once, I actually went out and sought the elusive Triple Crowns out. After already meeting my yearly quota back in January, it seemed like snatching a roadrailer would be a good way to spend a day. I got more than I bargained for when the day was said and done, but more importantly, I did find the 255. At Milmine, NS 255 makes haste on its westward journey to Kansas City. NS7676 had quite a lengthy train of trailers on it today, and pairing that with warm temps, clear skies, and even a friendly wave from the conductor, I don't think I could complain about anything here if I wanted to. Nice day out!
Clinging to Life Chasing a train on the Lafayette District is no easy task since the roads and rails rarely parallel nicely - I always like to say it's because Pythagoras is a dick - but yet, I found myself doing it anyway. NS 255, one of two roadrailer trains left in the country, was led solo by the Monongahela heritage unit NS8025. Never an easy chase with a speedy train like the Triple Crown, but it was hard to say no. These roadrailers were meant to go away last summer, but yet they're still plugging along. I'm sure time is running out, but they continue to cling to life a little longer. Though codeline is by and large obsolete and no longer serving practical use, chunks of it remain along the tracks, such as here just outside of Bement near CP Wiggins. Trackside codeline has become something of an endangered species over the years as technology moves on and swaths are cleared out, so it's always nice to see some good looking poles still hanging on trackside.
Sneaking Around Last year, I shot Pierson while work was still in its earliest stages on the elevator and track upgrades alike. A year later and we come to find there's been a lot more work done to say the least. In preperation for handling some of the grain at the nearby elevators at Bement/Milmine, Pierson saw renovation to allow the DREI to do some loading there. These changes are now visible in the form of a significant track realignment around the loading tracks. The last time I was here, that curve didn't exist, which made for a bit of a surprise when I pulled up here! Speeds seem to be a bit faster, too, which is always nice. DREI 101, led by GP59 5909 and SD45s 4236 and 4240, comes rolling straight through the realigned trackage, with still quite a ways to go before the day is yet over.
Golden Opportunity I never seem to shoot the DREI very often despite it being pretty local to me. My opportunities to do so typically fall on weekends that I don't usually like waking up very early on, but here and there I make the effort, especially when I'm basically invited out there. Can't argue with that much, but the timing was good, so hey, off I was. The Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad is undergoing a power shuffle presently. The leaser fleet, made up of HLCX and FURX power of various colours and models, is going away, now replaced by power taken from the WSOR and by the freshly shopped WAMX 5909. Built as the NS 4616, this rare GP59 is new to the railroad, but far from a new locomotive. It's one of just 36 of its type, all built for Norfolk Southern in 1989, but NS pruned its roster of the remainders of the class in 2020, selling them to PRLX. In 2022, Watco purchased ten of the units and had them sent to Metro-East Industries for refurbishment and paint. It joins two SD45s - derated to SD40-2s - in todays train, the 101. I arrived in Decatur just as the three locomotives were starting to pull out of the yard, giving me just seconds to grab my camera and snatch a quick photo. With golden morning light on my side, it'd be hard to lose here. A fine start to a much needed day out.
Waiting at Wiggins NS 15Q came into the Tolono siding via Martin to around NS 255 some hour and a half earlier, where it too had to wait for CN to clear up. 15Q was given a green to cross the diamond simultaneously with the roadrailer, though the latter got the main all the way into Bement. Meanwhile, 15Q got sent to Sloan. After having shot the 255 back at Milmine, I was planning to head up the Bloomington District, but radio chatter suggested I had 15Q leaving the Sloan siding shortly, so I opted to find a spot for that. The answer: Wiggins. Which may not technically be the name of the elevator here, that might actually be Piatt, possibly. Hey, it's close enough to CP Wiggins that I'm calling it Wiggins, damnit. The elevator here is like many that line the tracks these days - unused and mostly abandoned, serving as little more than simple but recognizable landmarks in an other unnoteworthy landscape. A few of these tall and thin elevators are dotted along the Lafayette District, but I've never shot one. It took a little hike down the right of way, but I found a convenient little mound of concrete and scrap metal to stand on. It almost appeared like an old signal post or something, but I don't know. At any rate, 15Q was almost on me and booking it pretty hard. It was after 15Q had flown mostly by that I decided it was actually time to visit the Bloomington. So, a little hike back to my car later, and off we go...
Triple Crowned Pans are fun, and I rarely take them, so I've started practicing that a little bit. NS 255 is one of only two roadrailer trains left in the US - and I think the world, frankly - and its classic Triple Crown trailers make for a great subject to try and pan.
Rebound NS 255 got hit with some bad luck twice over - first getting stuck at Tolono for well over an hour, and then getting stuck at Veech (Bement) for a good 45 minutes or so. First it was CN blocking the Tolono diamond, and then it was NS blocking themselves. Decatur is so backed up that stuff sits out on the main for miles, creating a bottleneck near here, at Milmine. After a pair of eastbounds flew past, NS 255 was greenlit west - but not on the track that it had been waiting on. I'm not really too sure what they were waiting on if they weren't even going to take that track, and ATCS still showed occupied tracks ahead, but... I won't question it too much. I gave up chasing 255 here - I had originally planned to snatch a photo at Sadorus, but got greedy with a train on the CN and had to play catch-up - not an easy task when the "angle" of the Lafayette and Illinois roads have you battling Pythagoras! And they said we'd never use that knowledge outside of class... With a wave from a friendly crew and a heavy gust of wind from the speeding roadrailer train, I was left there standing wondering what the hell I was gonna do for the rest of the day now that the roadrailers were gone and the A-trains on CN had long-since departed. Say, I wonder if there's anything going on in Gibson City...
Old Influences Milepost 267 is located at just another minor crossing in the middle of nowhere on the DREI, a typical midwestern scene we all know and love. Aside from the crossing, though, the mileposts on the DREI still hail from the B&O - not the signs themselves, but the numbers. The Decatur Sub was formerly part of the B&O Indianapolis Division, with all mileposts westwards from Cincinnati, Ohio. Just between La Place and Casner in Illinois, we're 267 miles away. It's a line you can't take by rail anymore as abandonments and split up ownership have separated things, but little details like this are certainly neat reminders of the past, and their little influences on things today. Meanwhile, DREI 101 is fast approaching as the sun continues to give us just the right amount of gold early (ish) in the morning. Even though most would complain about the line being pretty much arrow straight from here on, that does work nicely in our favour as the sun climbs into the eastern half of the sky. Never anything wrong with light on the nose, eh?
It Ends Here While I would have loved to follow D36 and its ex-SP duo around some more, that just wasn't going to happen. Once the train slowed to a stop at CP Veech, we grabbed a few more shots across the soybean fields, and headed back towards home. We had plans that night, and we needed to get that check engine light we'd acquired back at Lodge checked out. The good news? It was nothing! A knock sensor warning, one I've had before and one that is meaningless considering the hard bumps and rough roads from the day. With that clear, we both agreed it was a successful outing. Too bad that was our last one for a while, but, international borders and such... Some interesting notes on these two SP motors is that neither originated from SP. 2690 was built as a PRR SD45, the 6202, and it moved through PC and CR with that number until it was sold to the CNW as the 6527, and then rebuilt to SD40M-2 spec for SP. Numbered SP8614, it lived into UP as the 2690, and keeps that number today after changing hands to NREX and now HZRX. The 2676 went through equally as many names. Built as an SD45 as ACL1024, it quickly joined the SCL as the 2000, then the Seaboard as the 8900, then CSX, and wound up in VMV with the same number. It follows the same pattern as the 2690 after that - rebuilt as an SD40M-2 and numbered SP8600, then UP2676, NREX, and now HZRX. Reportedly, both of these motors are going to Hach Equipment in Painesville, OH. After that? who knows!
Always at the Last Second After such a narrow catch at Lodge, the race was on for D36 - albeit with a modicum of caution once that pesky check engine light came on. We were just at the tail end as we came out of Monticello, and the race to the Bement intermediate signal was a close one, when I realized that neither shot option there was very good. Poor light on one side, telesmashed would provide no view of the trailing power, and the side with light had weeds far too high to be worth shooting from. So, at the last second, I made a snap decision to head to the next crossing down the line. That modicum of caution was out the window as D36 was approaching fast, but that next crossing was just what we needed - open, with only a little vegetation in the way. Of course, at the last second as I was lining up my photo, I learned - unsurprisingly - we were in fact not the only ones out to see this unique power arrangement. Of course, they didn't seem to really notice or care I was doing this shot. Such it is as it goes. Hey, still saw the SP units, so that's something, eh?
It's A New Dawn The DREI's Decatur-Chrisman train, 101, gets out of Decatur pretty early most days - and today was no exception. Despite a slight delay, our newly certified engineer got the SD40-2 triplet underway pretty quickly as light takes hold of its surroundings finally. The DREI is a young railroad, born from a struggling CSX line. Remnants of its CSX - and previously even B&O - past still linger along the way, such as the no trespassing signs at the bridge over Lake Decatur, still lettered for CSX. Signs of fall are beginning to appear as the leaves turn and the sunrise (and sunset) change their times, which allowed for some fine golden morning light to shine across the scenery. Nice start to the day.
Everything's Different DREI 101 climbs the slight hill at Pierson, powered by three former SD45s with newly certified engineer Blake Dooley as the hogger for the day. He invited me to come and shoot the days train as it was his first official train after getting certified, so who was I to say no? Having been nearly two years since I've shot the DREI, this was my first time back in Pierson in a good while. The elevator there is seeing some major reconstruction as Topflight prepares it to load trains once again. Bement and Milmine will see some of their grain trucked down to Pierson to be loaded on the DREI, who is also performing a construction project of their own - a new section of mainline right beside the old one. Despite being new, it's not expected to be ran above 10mph, which is the current speed limit here.

Contact MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
5580 N FORK RD
DECATUR
IL
62521-1859

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MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM Information

MID # 8401700367
Name MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Alternate Name MACON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Classification Historical Societies, Historic Preservation, , Midwest
Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) 237084124
NTEECC A82
Tax period of the latest return filed (YYYYMM) 201212
INCOME 192,967
REVENUE 182,599
LAT/LONG 39.84568, -88.869972
CODES FIPS State Code: 17
FIPS County Code: 115
US Census Tract: 002300
US Census Block: 1042