A Visit to the Illinois Railway Museum's Happy Holiday Railway Union, IL 11/26/22

Finally had the opportunity to go to the Illinois Railway Museum's Happy Holiday Railway which runs on weekends from Thanksgiving weekend to mid-December. While I have been here many times it was my first visit after dark. My wife and I arrived not long before sunset to walk around a bit before boarding our train at 5pm. CNW 411 normally pulls the train but was undergoing some work so BN 3 (E-9AM) had the honors. The 4 CNW bilevel coaches that the museum owns plus a retired Metra bilevel and a handicap accessible bilevel from Metra (leased to the museum for the event) make up the train. I was able to get my first look at the museum's newest acquisition CNW 7009 (SD50 built 11/1985) which is the first SD50 to be preserved at the museum which is home to 4 other CNW diesels (CNW 411, CNW 6847, CNW 1518, and CNW 1689). A couple of the museum's streetcars were featured, and we also checked out a couple of the museum's display barns as well as some equipment decorated in lights outside. I didn't