The last weekend in June, thousands of people from all of the country head towards Central Illinois to enjoy a common interest. Railroad Days is a festival in Galesburg Illinois that celebrates the great history of the city and the railroads that run through it.
Starting the week before, photographers begin showing up to take photographs of trains as they come in and out of the local train yards and across the many intersections with roads inside town. The bridge at the south end of town has an extra lane for those who want to pull over and take pictures of the rail yard from above. Many people take advantage of this in the summer.
The carnival starts on Thursday and includes a Ferris wheel as well as many other rides. Kids of all ages spend the next four days riding carnival rides and playing carnival games.
Besides the carnival, there are many other reasons that train lovers travel to Galesburg. There are bus tours of the rail yards every half hour. In the past, the bus tour has cost as little as $1 and included a 45 minutes trip into and around the BNSF rail yard.
If you prefer to skip the bus, you can actually ride an Amtrack train through the rail yards and back into town. Lastly, if you prefer not to move at all, but want to learn more about trains, you can go into any one of several trains taht are open for people to walk through.
Galesburg is also the home of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Museum. This new museum will have special exhibits and lots of interesting things to keep bringing travelers back to the Galesburg area.