Ok, maybe the title shouldn't be so breaking-news-like and maybe now this doesn't look like a big deal but it was much more exciting sitting in the first car right after the engine when a loud bang pierced the relative quietness (most of the loud people usually get off the train a couple of stops earlier). Judging by the noise, the amount of leaves and wood chips that shot past the windows of the car - what you see stuck to the cowcatcher* is only a small part of what we hit.
* Cowcatcher ( the pilot, cattle catcher) - is the front part of a train that supposed to deflect foreign objects on the track and prevent derailing.
One can take a ride on the Nebraska Zephyr, which operated from 1947 to 1971 and now the only surviving EMD E5, an A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive. Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois. #illinoisrailwaymuseum
Or hop on a tram (or streetcar or trolley car) and go around the campus of the Illinois Railway Museum. Union, Illinois. #illinoisrailwaymuseum
Among the exhibits of the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) is railroad snow removal equipment. There are giant wedge plows and oddly looking rotary snowplows, like this one. #illinoisrailwaymuseum
There are rows of locomotives, cars, and streetcars in the train-sheds of the Illinois Railway Museum. One of them is the Milwaukee Road 265 - a 4-8-4 "Northern"-Type steam locomotive. #illinoisrailwaymuseum
The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the United States. Its hangars shelter numerous displays of old railroad equipment. Union, Illinois. #illinoisrailwaymuseum
Ladder 2737 from the Grayslake Fire Protection District. Model: 1999 Pierce Dash, pump: 2,000 gpm, tank: 500 gallon. Found in McHenry, Illinois.