Filling the Frame at Illinois Railway Museum

It’s been a while since I participated in the Lens Artists Photo Challenge but when I saw Anne’s choice of subject for this week, I realized I was working on something that would easily Fill The Frame.

Welcome to The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. It is the largest of its kind in the United States. On our most recent trip a few weeks ago, we got to walk through five display barns and took a ride on a streetcar and an electric train. Although I’m not exactly a train buff, I enjoy any opportunity to take pictures and this was one of those times. It was a lovely day, not too hot, so just right for walking around and, if you want to see everything, there is quite a bit of walking involved, outdoors as well as inside.

I was intrigued by these two stone sculptures that I took to be from some now defunct station in Chicago but I couldn’t find anyone who could tell me where they originated. If anyone from the Chicago area has any ideas I’d be interested to hear.

There are elevated walkways in between the carriages in the display barns so you can get a good view of the inside of the cars. I haven’t traveled in anything other than the Metra and CTA trains in our area, and it’s been many years since I enjoyed my favorite mode of transport in the UK, so I can’t speak for rail travel in general, but these interiors certainly looked quite luxurious.

The streetcar ride took us on a loop around the museum and although it wasn’t what you’d call a scenic tour, it gave us a look behind the scenes at some of the old stock that wasn’t on display and other odd items like the London Transport bus.

The display barns are full of carriages, locomotives and all kinds of rolling stock, some dating back to the late 1890’s. There are over 500 pieces of equipment at the museum which covers 100 acres of land.

Our ride on the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin electric train took us on a 40-minute round trip on the several miles of track that the museum owns in the surrounding countryside. Nearly all the people who work at the museum are volunteers and are very knowledgeable about the railway and its history. They were a cheerful group who answered all our questions and shared their love of trains with us. The Museum was founded in 1953 and moved to Union in 1964.

My eldest daughter and her husband are real railway enthusiasts and last year attended the IRM’s annual fundraiser at the Sanfillipo Estate in Barrington, where they won a prize in the raffle. My son-in-law got to ride in the engineer’s cab in one of these beauties.

It’s not hard to see why IRM relies in large part on fundraising events. Restoration work on pieces like this costs thousands of dollars. In 2016 IRM purchased a 130ft turntable for $10,000 that will be used to store their steam locomotives.

Our family does have a history with the railways in the UK. My 2nd great-grandfather started out as a plate-layer for the railway in 1853. He went on to become a railway guard, then stationmaster and at the time of his retirement was a railway inspector. When I researched his history I found that at the time of his marriage in 1853, he was unable to write his name in the registry, so I thought his rise through the ranks from plate-layer to railway inspector quite impressive. I couldn’t help wondering what he would have made of some of these displays.

It’s not always easy to give an indication of just how enormous some of these locomotives are. The wheels on some of them were taller than my 5ft 3in height.

Before we left, we stopped in at the hobby shop where they had a grand layout of model trains and shelves full of items for sale.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – One Story, Lots of Images.

OK, I know this is not what Ann-Christine had in mind for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week but if you really want to see an interesting take on the One Image/One Story theme you can do no better than visit her website. I already had a story to tell but it comes with rather more than a single image. The thing that I most wanted to see while we were staying in Duluth was one of the big cargo ships going under the historic aerial lift bridge. We checked the shipping schedule and hurried down to the harbor early in the morning on our second day in the hopes of catching the arrival of ‘American Integrity’. There had been a storm the night before so it wasn’t surprising that the ship was quite a bit behind schedule and we passed the time walking through Canal Park, up to the lighthouse and along the waterfront.

After a couple of hours, the Integrity appeared, a speck on the horizon, but having made its way towards the harbor, it slowed to a halt and remained tantalizingly at anchor, two miles out. We waited for what seemed like an age, and then, not knowing how long it planned on staying there, we decided to take a chance and go for lunch at a nearby restaurant. It must have been a fairly long lunch because by the time we got back to the bridge, the Integrity had already come in. To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. Even the sight of a seagull doing a dance routine on the jetty failed to raise my spirits.

Since the bridge plays such an important part in what I was hoping to see, this would probably be a good time to say something about it. According to Wikipedia, it was originally built as a transporter bridge in 1905 and was converted to a vertical lift bridge in 1929. The bridge can be raised to its full height of 135ft in about a minute and is raised approximately 5,000 times per year. The American Society of Civil Engineers designated the bridge a National Historic Landmark in 2017.

Although I enjoyed the rest of our stay in Duluth, I couldn’t help ruminating on the fact that I’d missed my opportunity to see one of the big ships. On our final day, we took another look at the shipping schedule which showed that the Hon. James L. Oberstar was due to leave port that afternoon. Although we’d already seen the bridge being raised for several sight-seeing boats, this wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind. But this was more like it!

With warning signals clanging, the bridge began its ascent as spectators hurried to watch the ship make its approach. As the Oberstar cleared the bridge, the ship sounded its horn, which was loud enough, but when the bridge horn sounded a reply it was absolutely ear-splitting. Long-short-short is known as the Captains Salute but on November 10th, the anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the Lift Bridge exchanges a special salute, long-long-long-short-short, with the SS Arthur M. Anderson in honor of the Fitzgerald and her crew, all 29 of whom were lost. The Anderson was the last freighter to have contact with the Fitzgerald before it sank and was the first on scene to search for survivors.

I couldn’t help thinking about the Edmund Fitzgerald as I watched Oberstar churning out into the waters of Lake Superior. It’s difficult to imagine, on calm days, lake waters being rough enough to sink a ship of this size, but the Great Lakes can be treacherous. It must have been the sea-faring genes in me (both my grandfather and great-uncle were sailors in the early 1900’s) but I felt quite choked up as the Oberstar pulled away.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Interesting Architecture

This week, Tina is looking for Interesting Architecture as the theme for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I have featured the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett, Illinois in previous posts but when I think of interesting architecture my mind automatically goes to this place and I can’t help but refer back to it. The Mandir is so unlike anything else that we see here in the Chicago area.

Apart from the beautiful design and incredible craftsmanship of the structure, it’s interesting to see how its appearance changes with the light, depending on the time of day or even year. There are moments when it looks mellow and mystical and at others, when the midday sun beats down on it and the air is sharp and clear, the white exterior is almost blinding.

Hand carved in India from Italian marble and Turkish limestone, the sculpted pieces, 40,000 in total, were then shipped to Bartlett where they were assembled on a 27-acre lot over a period of 16 months. The Mandir was officially inaugurated in 2004.

In 2004, the complex was awarded the Chicago Building Congress Merit Award and has been recognized by The American Institute of Architects as one of the 150 Great Places in Illinois. The Mandir, previously closed because of the COVID pandemic, has now reopened its doors to visitors.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – A Day In My Week

Amy is asking us to choose a day in our week for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The busiest day in my week spent visiting Duluth was when we took a train ride along the north shore, but first we decided to check out the city from a more lofty elevation. Enger Tower, perched high above Duluth on the scenic Skyline Parkway, gives a grand view of the surrounding area. This 80-foot tall, 5 story observation tower was built as a tribute to Norwegian businessman and philanthropist, Bert Enger, and was first dedicated by Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha of Norway in 1939. It has undergone some restoration work since then and it is now open to anyone willing to climb the stairs. I made it to the top and was rewarded with a panoramic view of the Twin Ports including the aerial lift bridge and further, towards North Shore.

At the foot of Enger Tower lies Enger Park and within that is a small Japanese Garden featuring a Peace Bell, the gift of Duluth’s sister city of Ohara-Isumi.

After our tour of Enger Park we drove back into the heart of the city to the historic Duluth Train Depot. The station was built in 1892 and served 7 different rail lines. It now houses the Lake Superior Railroad Museum which was opened in 1973. From here you can take a ride on one of the scenic railroad excursion trains, but more on that in a bit. First we checked out everything in the museum, inside the trains and out.

We ended our day with a 90-minute ride, with drinks and nibbles, in the observation car of the Duluth Zephyr, along the shoreline to just past the Glensheen Mansion. The trip, made at a sedate pace, gave plenty of opportunity to see the sights in comfort.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Weird And Wonderful

This week, Ann-Christine is looking at the Weird and Wonderful as a theme for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I guess I’ve seen some weird and wonderful things in my time and the following artwork could possibly qualify for Cee’s Photographing Public Art Challenge too. The first place that springs to mind is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. The exterior and interior are decorated with crop art murals made from corn husks and other natural materials.

Closer to home, in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, officially titled Cloud Gate but more affectionately known as The Bean, could definitely be classified as weird and wonderful.

But the prize for the most weird and wonderful, from my perspective, has to go to House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin. This place is truly awesome, with it’s fantastic and bizarre collections carefully displayed for maximum effect. Here is just a sample of what you might see there, from the Infinity Room to dolls on carousels.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – The Ordinary

This week, guest host, I. J. Khanewala, is looking at The Ordinary as the topic for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Whilst walking round the track at our local gym last week, I couldn’t help thinking that this ordinary piece of exercise equipment bore a strong resemblance to the praying mantis in our garden, only on a much larger scale. Once the idea got into my head, it persisted until finally I had to stop and whip out the phone to take a picture.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Seen Better Days

This week, Tina is looking for things that have Seen Better Days for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The first two images were captured in Marion, Illinois. Some parts of the city definitely looked like they’d seen better days, as had the sink in the jail at the Williamson County Illinois Historical Society Museum.

An old wheel outside the cabin and a rusty piece of farm equipment at Spring Valley Nature Center must have seen better days.

I took this picture on a whim as I was walking through a parking lot. It seemed like it might come in useful for a photo challenge, and it did.

Finally, a picture, taken recently at the Duluth Train Museum, of an engine that had probably seen better days.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Feet And Shoes

This week, Ann-Christine has chosen Feet and Shoes as the subject for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. There was some fancy footwear and footwork at the 63rd Annual Chicago Powwow In Busse Woods, Illinois.

For those of you who are interested, the 68th Annual Chicago Powwow will be held on October 8/9/10 2021 at Schiller Woods, Chicago. If you’re in the area and are looking for something to do, I can highly recommend seeing this event.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Black and White

This week, guest host, Anne Sandler, has asked us to look at the world in Black and White for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. She also asks us to describe the process by which we convert our pictures to black and white images, so I thought it might be helpful to show both the original picture and the processed image. I don’t have an expensive camera or a lot of fancy software for doing this kind of work but what I have seems to be sufficient. For the first two b/w images I opened the originals in Microsoft Digital Image, converted them to black & white then made lighter and darker versions of both pictures. After that I sent them over to Canon Digital Photo Professional and put them through the HDR processor then sent the resulting images back to Digital Image for a final spruce up. Do I really know what I’m doing? Heck no! But I like the results. I find that the lack of color helps to focus the eye on the bold lines of the architecture.

The next two images were converted solely with the Digital Image software. I’ve used this program for years and it’s done the job remarkably well. Of course there are some things that it can’t do but I can live without all those extra features.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Large to Small in Chicago

This week, Patti is challenging us to pick a color and go from large to small for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I decided on blue for the color and took Chicago as the setting. Plenty of blue in the big city beginning with blue skies reflected in the waters of Lake Michigan.

Overlooking the lake, on Michigan Avenue, the Roosevelt University building really stands out in the crowd.

Next up, the Evening Star, built in 2001, part of the Shoreline Sightseeing fleet, offers Architecture and Classic Lake Tours on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.

If you have ever visited the Art Institute in Chicago, you will probably have seen Marc Chagall’s ‘American Windows’ which debuted there in 1977 and were made famous 10 years later by an appearance in the film ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’

The skies may not have been blue the last time I went to the Air & Water Show downtown but there were a few blue umbrellas to keep the rain off.

It’s always nice to see a swath of blue in the Lurie Garden at Millennium Park. I’ve really missed my trips downtown this past year but I’m hoping to make the trip again soon, once I figure out how the trains are running now that things are slowly returning to pre-COVID conditions.

No piece about The Windy City would be complete without mention of the Chicago Cubs and cubbie blue. Even long- time rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers, were decked out in blue.

I’m now down to the smallest blue items for this topic which are paperweights at the Chicago Art Institute, some of the 1,400 paperweights in the Arthur Rubloff Collection.