Dave and I drove out to Freeport, Illinois and using his GPS took us right to the Silver Creek and Stephenson Railroad's Silver Creek Depot. I walked over to the tracks and saw the train coming and quickly got Dave before we set up for pictures.
The 3:00 PM train returned to the Silver Creek Depot on the Silver Creek and Stephenson Railroad.
Heisler 2 was built in 1912 and is celebrating 100 years of service.
The engineer of the 3:00 PM run.
Another view of Heisler 2. I walked around to the other side of the station.
The train in front of the Silver Creek Station.
Three views of Heisler 2.
Milwaukee Road Caboose 991909 built in 1941.
The train in front of the Silver Creek Station.
Silver Creek and Stephenson Railroad 14264 was built in 1889 for the Hannibal and St Louis Railroad and is reported to be the oldest caboose in the state of Illinois.
Open Car came from the Fiat-Allis Company of Springfield, IL.
Open Car was a Union Pacific Flat Car 904493.
The rear of our train and where I would be riding.
GATX 5D.
Silver Creek and Stephenson Railroad 3.
Davenport 44 Cat Diesel 007.
Open Car from USA Army Flat Car 5359.
Chicago Central Illinois Central Caboose 199002 built in 1948.
Three views of Heisler 2.
Heisler 2 builder plate.
Two more views of the Heisler 2. From here I boarded the caboose and sat down out in the fresh air on the rear porch.
Two views of where we would be backing north up the line.
The fire crew had to come out through the switch to reach the mainline and then realign the switch before they took off to run the line ahead of us.
At 4:00 PM the Heisler 2 blew its whistle and we started our trip back up to the end of the line. We went by the semaphore signal on the railroad.
The semaphore blade.
Views as we backed down the tracks. Next we run through the area of the line where the Terror Train has the event in October.
The event uses these buildings.
We passed the station of Mayhem.
We came to the end of the building used for the Terror Train.
Views of us backing up the line.
Whistle Post for the Yellow River Bridge.
Our train crossed the Yellow River.
The Whistle Post for the Yellow River Bridge from the north.
Views as we backed towards the end of the line.
A red barn out east of the route.
We were nearing the end of our route.
This is a far as our train ran. Now we would run south with Heisler 2 pulling us back to the Silver Creek Station and I relaxed all the way back. Back at Silver Creek Depot we thanked the crew before Dave and I left but we had one more thing to take a picture in Freeport.
The Freeport Illinois Central Station. From here we drove back to Dave's house and Cathy cooked excellent steaks before I wrote all of the stories from today. I want to thank with all my heart Dave for the very special day we spent together today riding these three train trips.
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