STEAM IN THE STATE LINE. The Stephenson County Antique Engine Club operates a preservation railroad on the southeast side of Freeport, Illinois. The power is a 1912 36-ton Heisler geared locomotive. With the Illinois Railway Museum's steam locomotives undergoing work required for their next boiler inspection, the Silver Creek and Stephenson is the only railroad operating steam in the State Line.


The club purchased a short stretch of the Racine and Southwestern when the Milwaukee Road abandoned most of its branch lines in northern Illinois. The Milwaukee had to remove its tracks to preclude any continuing liability, but it was not obligated to remove bridge girders and culverts. Once upon a time, the Southwestern Limited and priority beer and auto-parts trains out of Milwaukee used this line.


There will be additional opportunities to explore this steam line, as preparations are under way for the Hallowe'en trains October 20-21. (There will also be "Sauerkraut and Bratwurst" days October 21-22, which intrigues.)


The Antique Engine Club also operates a regional history museum in the old County Farm building, which in 1900 was home to "sixty-two paupers, twenty-six of whom are crazy, five who are weak minded and three who have fits."


Today: nuggets about Freeport, site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, that call for a return visit. There's much to explore in the northwest corner of Illinois.