A Visit to the Illinois Railway Museums Happy Holiday Railway Union, IL 11, 26, 22

Finally had the opportunity to go to the Illinois Railway Museum s Happy Holiday Railway which runs on weekends from Thanksgiving weekend to midDecember. While I have been here many times it was my first visit after dark. My wife and I arrived not long before sunset to walk around a bit before boarding our train at 5pm. CNW 411 normally pulls the train but was undergoing some work so BN 3 (E9AM) had the honors. The 4 CNW bilevel coaches that the museum owns plus a retired Metra bilevel and a handicap accessible bilevel from Metra (leased to the museum for the event) make up the train. I was able to get my first look at the museum s newest acquisition CNW 7009 (SD50 built 11, 1985) which is the first SD50 to be preserved at the museum which is home to 4 other CNW diesels (CNW 411, CNW 6847, CNW 1518, and CNW 1689). A couple of the museum s streetcars were featured, and we also checked out a couple of the museum s display barns as well as some equipment decorated in lights outside. I didn t