will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/segment/pf2007-03-15-a WILL Public Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Series Segment Illinois Culture/History, Railroads, Travel, Monticello, WILL Custom Prairie Fire Subject Headings The Monticello Railway Museum is another reason I love living here in central Illinois. How amazing that a group of volunteers has resurrected railroading one train at a time. The volunteers here are tireless in their efforts to keep the museum going and in their love of trains.  When we shot the story in 1997, we saw how much work it took to run a mini railroad ... laying track, mowing the track, restoring engines and cars and entertaining school groups from around the area. But the payoff is great. Where else can grown-ups fulfill their dreams of being a train conductor or engineer? When I’ve visited the place with my own kids it is incredible to see their eyes light up as a train enters the station. There is a mad scramble as all the kids try to get a seat in the caboose ... but every car is a great experience. Volunteers at the museum are still acquiring new cars and engines and returning them to mint condition. For the past 15 years they have been working on a former Southern Railroad engine that had to be completely rebuilt. It is set to debut on the tracks the summer of 2007. Tim Hartin and I got to fulfill one of our fantasies as filmmakers while we were taping this story. We set a shot at one of the museum line’s cross streets in Monticello. Then we got to cue the train to go in front of our camera so that we could get the perfect shot ... we felt like Steven Spielberg! Over the years this story continues to be one of our most popular and we are very proud to pay this tribute to this incredible place. Abstract Magazine PBCore Genre Picklist Is Part Of http://will.illinois.edu/prairiefire/episode/pf2007-03-15 Illinois, Indiana Spatial Intermediate (grades 7-9)|High School (grades 10-12)|Primary (grades 1-6)|College|Post Graduate|General Education|General TV-G Alison Davis Wood Producer WILL-TV, University of Illinois Copyright Holder Publisher © 2008 University of Illinois 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 video/x-pn-realvideo http://willmedia.will.uiuc.edu/ramgen/pf2007-03-15-a.rv Moving Image RealSystems Real Media 9 42066 00:08:08 eng pf2007-03-15-a.rv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 video/mp4 http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/mpeg4/pf2007-03-15-a.mp4 Moving Image MPEG video MPEG-4 00:08:08 eng pf2007-03-15-a.mp4 WILL Public Media, University of Illinois 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 2007-03-15T09:35:00-06:00 video/x-flv http://willmedia.atlas.uiuc.edu/flash/pf2007-03-15-a.flv Moving Image Flash Video Flash Media 8 00:08:08 eng pf2007-03-15-a.flv WILL Public Media, University of Illinois