I'm off to the Midwest next week for a meeting at and tour of the National Railway Equipment Fabrication Building. I'm flying into Saint Louis Tuesday evening, and driving back to STL Thursday afternoon/evening.

If we get done in in time on Thursday, I hope to drop by the Museum of Transport in Saint Louis, but other than that, is there anything interesting to see in Mt. Vernon or along I-64?

Greg

I lived in Mt. Vernon in 1988-89. I'm not sure how much has changed, but back then there was a whole lotta nothin' between Mt. Vernon and St. Louis on I-64. Mt. Vernon itself was pretty fascinating with NRE being right there (it was Precision National back then) and CSX, NS, and UP all passing through town. There were at least two stations in town, with the one on the north end of town containing a very small railroad museum. Non-railroad attractions in Mt. Vernon include a pretty nice art museum (Mitchell Museum) and a historic building which Lincoln gave a speech in during one of his presidential campaigns. Centralia about 30 or so miles north has some interesting railfanning possibilities including an Amtrak stop and Illinois Central 4-8-2 #2500 on display in the local park. I think BNSF has a main line somewhere nearby, too.

The Lebanon (IL) historical society owns a small single truck trolley, recently moved indoors to winter quarters. They also operate and maintain a building where Charles Dickens once stayed and penned some prose.

In the St Louis area lots of right-of-ways to explore and chase including the many electric lines, notably the Illinois Traction System. One of their depots is still in use as police HQ, in Collinsville or Carlinville. Always get those towns mixed up.

Bob Kutella