Geoffrey Baer Drives a Steam Train
Clip: Special | 2m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
At the Illinois Railway Museum, a dream comes true for Geoffrey Baer.
The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the country. Geoffrey Baer stops by for a close-up look at vintage trains and gets the chance to drive a steam train.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Chicago Tours with Geoffrey Baer is a local public television program presented by WTTW
Geoffrey Baer Drives a Steam Train
Clip: Special | 2m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
The Illinois Railway Museum is the largest railroad museum in the country. Geoffrey Baer stops by for a close-up look at vintage trains and gets the chance to drive a steam train.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Chicago Tours with Geoffrey Baer
Chicago Tours with Geoffrey Baer is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
(gentle music) (bells clanging) - As many abandoned railroads have become trails, a lot of abandoned trains have been saved from the scrap heap by the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, the largest railroad museum in the nation.
Virtually every kind of train we've learned about in this show is here for you to see, touch, and ride on.
And the biggest showstopper of them all here, year after year, is steam.
Not only are they gonna let me ride in this steam engine.
They tell me I'm gonna drive it.
Howdy.
- Hello, good morning.
- Morning.
- Good morning.
- Welcome to the Illinois Railway Museum.
- [Geoffrey] It's a little hot in here.
- So I'm the fireman.
- [Geoffrey] Okay, which doesn't mean you put out fires.
- No, I'm the kind that makes fire.
- Makes fire?
All right, if I'm gonna drive this thing, where's the gas pedal?
- The closest thing to the gas pedal is this lever.
This is the throttle.
You pull it back.
But before you even do that, you gotta put it in gear, right?
Like a car.
And that's what this bar is.
So when you wanna stop- - Which I will.
- You'll make a set with this stand.
(steam whistling) - Whoa!
This is complicated.
- It's more to it than you would think.
All right, you ready to do this?
- Ready as I'll ever be.
- All right, trade spots with me.
- Oh, man, okay.
- Take a seat.
- I've been waiting to do this my whole life.
Okay, what do I do?
- First things first, take this bar and push it all the way forward.
- All right.
- Pull this twice.
(whistle tooting) (bell clanging) Okay, so pull it back a little bit.
- [Geoffrey] Whoa.
Oh, we're moving!
- [Blake] Steam's starting to come out.
- We're moving!
- There you go.
- We're moving!
- We're moving.
- It's 120 degrees in here.
We're covered in soot and grease and breathing fumes, but I'm having the time of my life.
I'm driving a steam train.
(train clattering) (bell clanging)
The Caboose: A Home Away from Home
Video has Closed Captions
Geoffrey Baer tours an old freight caboose at the Illinois Railway Museum. (5m 24s)
Chicago’s Bygone Downtown Train Stations
Video has Closed Captions
Chicago once had six majestic train stations downtown. (4m 46s)
The Days of Cable Cars in Chicago
Video has Closed Captions
In the late 19th century, Chicago had the largest cable car network in the nation. (5m 3s)
The Delightful Nostalgia of the Streetcar
Video has Closed Captions
Kenosha, Wisconsin, is home to a nostalgic array of streetcars. (3m 32s)
The Early Days of Chicago’s Loop
Video has Closed Captions
A little bit of Chicago-style palm-greasing went a long way in getting the Loop built. (3m 31s)
The Forgotten History of Chicago’s Yellow Line
Video has Closed Captions
Chicago’s Yellow Line is all that remains of an old high-speed rail line. (2m 9s)
Go Inside an Intermodal Rail Container Yard
Video has Closed Captions
Visit the impressive CSX intermodal rail terminal near Midway Airport. (3m 25s)
How the Railroads Standardized Time
Video has Closed Captions
Once upon a time—time wasn’t standardized. And that was a problem for the booming railroad industry. (2m 59s)
How Trains Carried the Great Migration
Video has Closed Captions
Trains played a big role for Black Americans traveling north during the Great Migration. (2m 37s)
The Innovation and Invisible Labor of Pullman Railcars
Video has Closed Captions
As George Pullman expanded his rail car empire, he hired formerly enslaved men as porters. (3m 59s)
Video has Closed Captions
The South Shore Line is the sole survivor from the days of interurban railroads. (3m 4s)
May Theilgaard Watts and the Rails-to-Trails Movement
Video has Closed Captions
A Chicago naturalist helped propel the rails-to-trails movement. (3m 50s)
Riding in Style: The Golden Age of Rail Travel
Video has Closed Captions
In the first half of the 20th century, railroads exuded a sense of glamour. (4m 39s)
Riding the Rails with Geoffrey Baer – Trailer
Video has Closed Captions
Lifelong train enthusiast Geoffrey Baer explores how railroads shaped Chicago. (1m 1s)
Video has Closed Captions
It took a band of robbers only 30 minutes to pull off America’s biggest train heist. (4m 9s)
Video has Closed Captions
Rail enthusiasts gather at a busy railroad crossing in Rochelle, Illinois. (1m 50s)
Untangling America’s Busiest Rail Intersection
Video has Closed Captions
Geoffrey Baer visits America’s busiest and most frustrating rail intersection near Chicago. (2m 49s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
- News and Public Affairs
Top journalists deliver compelling original analysis of the hour's headlines.
Support for PBS provided by:
Chicago Tours with Geoffrey Baer is a local public television program presented by WTTW