Monticello Road

[BOK]

My railroad is based on the Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois. I have been a life member there for fifty years and at one time owned a Soo Line caboose which I kept there and followed me around the midwest as I worked for other railroads.

The real museum railroad is 8 miles long has a wye at both ends, has a 90' turntable which is awaiting installation and connects with the NS/NW/Wabash old Chicago main in Monticello. They also occasionally store freight cars for customers close by and the have a great variety of beautiful, operating locomotives, passenger cars and freight cars. It's not as big as the Illinois Railway Museum up in Union, IL but is a well run, immaculate property.

After working fifty years as a railroader I wanted a simple around the walls, HO railroad which was easy to construct, maintain and operate (I had originally been in N scale for 40 years) in retirement. While the plan I posted in error shows the sceniced portion of the railroad and the guest room extension and balloon track the real addition is attached here which shows the loops and off stage trackage for the main line connection.

My railroad is not an exact copy of the Monticello museum and in my version does serve a few industries with a freight short line but it's close and allows me to enjoy modern railroading with vintage equipment at times.
Enjoy,

Barry

[davefoxx]

Modeling a museum is genius!  There's no such thing as an anachronism at a museum, and you can run whatever you want.  Brilliant!

DFF

[nickelplate759]

I visited the Monticello museum in the 1980s, and rode in the cupola of a red wooden caboose.  Don't recall the roadname. Was it yours?

[BOK]

George by the late 80s early 90s my caboose was up in Minnesota and then Wisconsin leased to another railroad museum. Maybe you rode on another wood caboose at MRM?

Attached are a couple of photos the first of my caboose ready to leave MRM in Illinois for the north country on its wheels and the second after it was sold to a private party and trucked back to MRM in the late 90s. It now is stored in one of MRM's steel building by the private party.

Enjoy,

Barry

[BOK]

Thanks, Dave.

Yes modeling a portion of a railroad museum with a modern freight short line does allow things like a few modern industries plus museum photo freights with steam engines.

A few photos of each.

Enjoy,

Barry

[nickelplate759]

George by the late 80s early 90s my caboose was up in Minnesota and then Wisconsin leased to another railroad museum. Maybe you rode on another wood caboose at MRM?

Attached are a couple of photos the first of my caboose ready to leave MRM in Illinois for the north country on its wheels and the second after it was sold to a private party and trucked back to MRM in the late 90s. It now is stored in one of MRM's steel building by the private party.

Enjoy,

Barry

@BOK It probably would have been summer or spring 1984 that I rode whatever caboose it was.  Definitely not later.

[BOK]

George, then you might have ridden on the 99110 if back then before the caboose move to Wisconsin.

Barry