Here's a page of pics from a winter run at the new Western Illinois Railroad. This run on December 6th 2003 marked the grand opening of the new mainline after almost a complete rebuild of the railroad.

Click on thumbnails to see a larger picture.

Here's Lee bringing his double header for its first trip around the new mainline.

Here's a shot of Lee pulling a string of freight along the canyon wall.

Mike and his family completing their first loop on the new railroad. What an amazing amount of work has been completed on this beautiful mainline.

Here's a shot of Lee from the WIRR traffic chopper. You can also see the dimensions of the 40' bridge from this angle.

Lee is returning to the yard while the 9700 heads out.

Here are the two trains for today clearing the far loop on the new mainline. This is a dedicated bunch of railroaders willing to brave the frigid temperatures to run trains.

The equipment parked in the main yard awaiting orders after a problem-free afternoon of running the new mainline.