Steam & Excursion > Southern 401 in Monticello Today

Here are a few photos taken during the first day of steam operations at the Monticello Railway Museum for 2023.

1. The train approaches the edge of town, seen from the parking lot of a church on the main highway out of town toward Savoy.

2. Southern Railway #401 passes Republic Steel 0-6-0 #191 with Stair Tower in the background.

3. The 1907 Consolidation passes behind Stair Tower and the Rankin motorcar barn.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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4-6.  Earlier in the day, Illinois Central GP11 #8733 was pulling a donut train into Monticello.  The restored I.C. diners are standouts in service on these and dinner trains.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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7. #401 in downtown Monticello.  The 10mm lens came in handy!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Thanks for the pics of the 401.  It's always good to see them.  The 401's brother - the 400 - is a legend on my home district

Thanks Mary.  Looks like a beautiful day.  401 is a little sweetheart.

Thanks, Mary!  Many options this weekend there and IRM, but my friend and I went to Pullman Days.  She'd seen PVs frequently on 58/59 and here was a chance to board and tour three.

Great pics. Thanks for posting. Working on getting EST grandsons out to see this operation. Thanks again!

Randy in PHX

Posted from iPhone

Interesting stuff.👍

The IC diners. Are they restored to as in service on the IC, or were they gutted at one time?

TIA.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Diners have been restored to as in-service on the IC, including having custom made carpet manufactured to match what was in the cars after IC's last interior refresh. Neither of them had been gutted. The 4110, (Shadrack Bond), was in an almost untouched condition from it's IC service, having been purchased from ICRR directly out of service by the Pacific Railroad Society of San Dimas, CA., then stored at their facility in Commerce, CA. Their membership had done a lot of cleanup work to the interior and kitchen, but the stars had never aligned for them to allow getting the car back in service.

4112 (not a named car on the IC, and was purchased second-hand from the Chicago & Eastern Illinois) was more-or-less intact, with the previous owners having removed some storage and a freezer from the kitchen to install an HVAC system for stationary use to make the interior tolerable in the Louisiana summertime. 4112 required substantial structural floor repairs in the dining room and hallway. It currently needs dining room chairs recovered in the correct color material, and some dining room trim replaced with something more closely approximating what was in the car. It is otherwise fully functional.

The museum currently operates about one dinner train per month, utilizing a local restaurant (Holly's Country Kitchen) as caterer and servers. Details on the Museum's webpage- mrym.org, and Facebook page.

Kent

Great photos of how a Southern freight engine is supposed to look.