Howdy from Havana ,Illinois.

I'm debating marking some more off my bucket list withing this next month or the one after.  A change of cities and scenery will do me good and probably deal with alone most likely so I can clear my head.  Anyhow i'm sort of got my eyes on Quincy and Hannibal as well as Beardstown and Jacksonville.  In Quincy I'd love to nail the Burlington Junction Railway then go to Hannibal not just for  the railroads but some of the Mark Twain Sites Dad used to take us too and they have a rocking view off the River from a cliff up there as well as the cave. Since I like the RMS Titanic history there is also a birth home of Molly Brown there we went too in the late 1990's. It wouldn't be just railfanning  if I go to Hannibal.  That is why I'll go alone so I can tackle various things. Hannibal debating on spring though alot of outdoor walking and it depends on the temperatures. I hate cold.  It's a beautiful city though and I miss it down there. I know one of th...

I need to get my mind off of other crap so i'll just make a blog on the Monticello Railway Museum.  Back on October 7, 2017  went down to Monticello after railfanning a bit in Bloomington then swinging on over to Gibson City I  head down to Monticello. Not knowing the area in Clinton grabbed a slice of pizza to eat and something to drink at a gas station then asked for directions for it since I do not know these roads at all.  I jotted down some directions but i failed to make a better note of how to get to Monticello since i focused on other areas. Silly woman.  Anyways I eventually got there but wouldn't you know it it would rain.  Some parts spent in the car to avoid getting too wet then after a while just said screw it and went walking around.  I filmed  a train there and a bunch of cabooses, cars, equipment and even a wig wag. It's a cool little place but I didn't have the luxury of good weather, or daylight left to really enjoy it or explore...

According to The Fulton Democrat an area newspaper, a friend on one of the railroad groups and someone who brought up the subject apparently The Scrap yard south of Canton has reached a deal where they will be able to use rail service from the siding south of the IH Plant grounds.  For Canton this is progress.  To some small but if you live in this town it's big deal. I'm not sure how many jobs it would add or the whole details on how they are going to go about this but if they do it shows me the town and it's new mayor is willing to be more open minded towards railroads atleast the railroad here which is Keokuk Junction Railway. I wondered a while back if there was going to be anything else put in place on the Old International Harvester property besides Cook medical. If this happens then it will take up the south end. I wonder why Cook Medical never  wanted rail service or kept an open mind about that. The city before this new mayor seemed dead set on removing crossin...

I think every county has one or two if not a bunch like Fulton County does where  the weeds are overgrown, it rarely sees visitors and the stones get broken or sink in from either weather or idiots who think it's cool to destroy things. I used to do genealogy and would walk these cemeteries looking for graves of relatives of the past.  I'd even walk some of the old ones where I didn't have relatives just for the historical aspect of it.  The earliest Graves found in this county dates back to the late 1830's and early 1840's even though people came to Fulton County a decade or two before that.  I'm not including the Indians who lived here hard telling how long they were here up to 1818 when Fulton County became a county. Anyways over time people moved here, lived and farmed here and  eventually died while making a new generation. These people were either buried in Old family cemeteries on their property or old organized cemeteries near or in towns.  This cou...