Choo Choo Boom Boom
With the Fourth of July festivities continuing through the weekend, the fireworks show du jour for Saturday, July 6th was in Amboy, IL. Amboy was chosen specifically for the proximity of the Amboy Depot Museum, and specifically the steam locomotive, to the fireworks. The Depot Museum used to be the division headquarters of Illinois Central Railroad's original mainline from Galena to Cairo. The Charter Line has direct ties to Abraham Lincoln, but got subsequently downgraded after the IC built a branch line to a sleepy little town named Chicago. Renamed the "Gruber Line" in it's later years, the line was abandoned in the early 1980s.
Meanwhile, the steam locomotive that now resides here is one of the last operating steam locomotives in everyday revenue service. Now on static display, ole' 8376 is an 0-8-0 built in 1929 as a switcher for the Grand Trunk Western RR.
When it and her sisters were sent to scrap at Northwestern Steel and Wire in Sterling, IL, they liked them so much they decided to keep them. The steamers remained operational until late 1980, when the fires were dropped for good shortly after the passing of NWS&W's owner. This particular locomotive was brought out of storage, restored, and officially re-commissioned in 1976, as NWS&W #76, making it the last steam engine to be commissioned for regular freight service (industrial switching) in America.
Choo Choo Boom Boom
With the Fourth of July festivities continuing through the weekend, the fireworks show du jour for Saturday, July 6th was in Amboy, IL. Amboy was chosen specifically for the proximity of the Amboy Depot Museum, and specifically the steam locomotive, to the fireworks. The Depot Museum used to be the division headquarters of Illinois Central Railroad's original mainline from Galena to Cairo. The Charter Line has direct ties to Abraham Lincoln, but got subsequently downgraded after the IC built a branch line to a sleepy little town named Chicago. Renamed the "Gruber Line" in it's later years, the line was abandoned in the early 1980s.
Meanwhile, the steam locomotive that now resides here is one of the last operating steam locomotives in everyday revenue service. Now on static display, ole' 8376 is an 0-8-0 built in 1929 as a switcher for the Grand Trunk Western RR.
When it and her sisters were sent to scrap at Northwestern Steel and Wire in Sterling, IL, they liked them so much they decided to keep them. The steamers remained operational until late 1980, when the fires were dropped for good shortly after the passing of NWS&W's owner. This particular locomotive was brought out of storage, restored, and officially re-commissioned in 1976, as NWS&W #76, making it the last steam engine to be commissioned for regular freight service (industrial switching) in America.