Frisco 1630 makes her first run of 2018. After backing to the west end of the line, the Illinois Railway Museum's big Decapod #1630 makes her first run down the main line as a caboose hop, with lots of volunteers on board. After completing her Annual Inspection earlier in the day under the watchful eye of a Federal Inspector, the museum crew elected to take the engine out on the main line for a series of test runs, just to check everything out and verify that the engine would be ready for her first day of revenue service, the following day. After verifying that everything was in good working order, the crew finished the day making a couple of passes to give each of the volunteers a little supervised throttle time as a reward for their efforts.
Astute observers might note the cross-arms on the poles next to the track and wonder if the line is electrified. In fact that is the case. The IRM is perhaps the largest railroad museum in the US, with a very impressive collection of not only steam engines, but vintage diesels.....and more classic interurban trolleys than I have ever seen anywhere else. During normal operating days, the regular diesel or steam excursion trains alternate on the line with some of the interurban cars, so yes, this line is indeed electrified.
