Silver Creek & Stephenson Railroad & Museum — Attraction in Illinois

This is a great way to spend a weekend day, and one may take all day here and see some great things. I started with the train ride, which was done on a small diesel switcher, although they do also run a steam engine. It travels at a very leisurely pace for a little bit of time in a straight line along a former branch line with a good amount of woods and view of farm fields on either side. The train then reverses back to here. The docents were all very friendly and told us about the museum, the area, the history of the railroad which originally owned the track, and the cars we were riding on. It was definitely a group of people who enjoyed what they did.

The museum is quite a place! There are two levels with many rooms having themes of views of places from times gone by. There is an incredible amount of history of the Rawlings Company, which seemed to make a lot of everything you could possibly think of. A lot of bottles and examples of their products were about that one could look at.

There is also quite a detailed model railroad here, and quite a nice wall painting of Freeport in one of the rooms adjacent to the front door.

We spent two hours here, and we saw a good amount, but definitely could have spent more time here. It was quite an...

Very unusual, wood fired locomotive. Out and back about 1.5 miles. Sit in caboose or open air cars built from flatcars. Lovely station building, equipment well maintained. Museum of rural life across the street really well laid out, each room a theme. Out behind is a building housing a hugh Corliss engine and a good sized assortment of antique engines, some manufactured in Lockport. Did not run, but YouTube has vids of it running, look up Corliss Lockport. Talk to staff, great stories of acquiring ant disassembling, moving, and assembling the Corliss, and discussing aspects of each engine.

Place is a real gem in...

This is a decent way to spend the afternoon. Cash only, no credit or debit cards. The train takes you on a fairly straight path through the wooded area in an open train car with bench seating (3 cars). The train then reverses, and takes you back to the station. Some old train cars and a steam engines to explore. The big kids were disappointed the train didn't go faster, but still...