Saturday, Craig surprised me with a jaunt up to North Judson for a ride on the Pumpkin Train!
He knows how much I love trains and thought I might enjoy it. He was so right!
The train yard in North Judson is closed and has been made into a museum, but in the past, over 125 trains a day came through here!
There was a large crowd ready to board - it is quite a popular attraction!
Our open air car was a former flat car that had had benches and a roof added.
My train buddy (who has lost 75+ pounds since the end of January!)
The scenery was pretty typical Hoosier stuff - trees and shrubbery. It may be a bit mundane, but it's home!
This old, two story barn is falling apart; I'll bet it was really something in its heyday!
Look in the upper right window. See the lady waving there? Our tour guide says she comes to the window and waves every time the train chugs by.
We trundled over the Kankakee River.
See that yellow colored water right behind the trees? This is the confluence of the Kankakee and Yellow Rivers. You can sure see why it's called "The Yellow River" and tell which water it brought to the joining by the sickly yellow water.
You can see that yellow water a little bit in this picture of the bottomlands.
This is an abandoned railway that ran parallel to our tracks. I think it looks beautiful.
Our trip first went to the rivers and back, through the station, and then back out of town to the pumpkin stop where we could all get off the train and stretch our legs.
This is the car we were riding on.
Craig and I didn't get any pumpkins, but we sure had fun watching those who did!
Our engine and the front caboose.
The "Illini" car (apparently it was from the Illinois Central Railroad) and the other caboose.
Me!
Craig deboarding at the end of our ride.
After our trip was over, we stopped for lunch.
There weren't too many choices in North Judson, but the Wooden Nickel, quirky as it looked, was delicious.
I hope we do this trip again!
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