- Before highways and planes, the fastest way to travel was on steel.

It's a journey remembered with a big engine, mailings and lots of displays.

There will also be wines, great food, games, children.

- Gonna put out the fire.

- And axes.

All that and more on Backyard Journeys with me, Deann.

Why is travel such a hassle?

First, scour the internet site afters site looking for the best deals, packing enough clothes so as not to use the laundry.

Then there are lines.

Lines to check in, lines to lose your shoes and to be scanned.

Then hours squeezed in a metal tube to arrive where the signs are confusing, and the food, who knows what you're ordering?

What if I told you there are places nearby with history, culture, great food, unique stays and plenty to do?

I'm Deann, and we're going to do all of that in our backyard.

(upbeat music) Galesburg was home to one of the largest divisions of the CB&Q, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

Now part of BNSF, there were concerns its history could be forgotten.

Hence, that building housing the collection of the Galesburg Railroad Museum.

Inside, displays not only relate the history of the line, but also some of the various jobs within the company.

Ralph Linroth is the director at the museum and a retired conductor.

So the CB&Q advertised itself as everything west.

What does that mean?

- Well, it went as far as Billings, Montana.

It went to Alliance in Denver, and it radiated likes spokes on a wheel.

And then out of the Chicago area, Minneapolis-St. Paul was as far as it went.

It went quite a ways west.

- After the 1900s, trains were usually crewed by five people.

- That's correct.

- Everyone knows about the engineer, but what was the job of the brakeman?

- There was a rear brakeman and a head brakeman, and they were under the direct supervision of the conductor.

Around 1900, they were still having to go up on top of the train.

The engineer would blow for brakes with his whistle.

The two brakemen would get up on top and start tying the hand brakes, and there's a wheel over here in our display case.

Then they would go to the next car and maybe the next car was a flat car.

They'd have to go down the ladder, do the flat car, go to the next car and climb up.

So it was a very dangerous occupation.

- So how did that job change when the air brakes were introduced?

- Then the crews didn't have to go up on top anymore.

Each car had a brake and was actuated by the engineer using a brake valve, and that would cause all the brakes to set and the brakeman would not have to get up on top.

In the caboose, which we call the waycar, the brakeman would sit on one side.

The conductor would sit on the other, where he had an air valve, and that's how he stopped the train if something was wrong, someone was getting assigned to that hot box.

No radio in those days, so they had to use the air valve and stop the train with the air valve.

- What do you mean by a hot box?

- The old type of bearing was called a friction bearing.

It had a housing and it had a brass on the top to hold the axle in place so it wouldn't vibrate.

And then down below there was a reservoir.

There would be a mophead, we called it, yarn mophead put in there, and they'll fill up oil.

The mophead would absorb the oil and it would lubricate the axles that went around.

Once in a while at terminals, they forgot to re-oil cars, and when that car got 100 miles down the road, the lack of oil or sometimes there'd be a crack in the housing and leak out the bottom, then it would run hot.

And when it got hot enough, it would set that yarn mophead on fire and you'd have flames shooting out of the car.

Now back then you had mostly wooden cars, so it was very vital that you got up there quickly and got that backing out of there.

- Did the conductor just punch tickets?

- On passenger trains, that was his primary job, but he also had to make sure that all the passengers were lined up for the stops.

On freight trains, it's a whole different story.

The conductor is given a stack of paper sheets to have each car on them.

They're in order from the head to last.

He has to hand write a list of his train one car at a time from those way bills, and then that allows him to know where the cars are in the train, and there's some cars that have to be set out.

He knows exactly where they're at.

And also the rule book says the conductor and engineer were responsible for the operation of the train jointly, because we had train orders in those days.

Everything was on train orders.

They told you where to take siding.

They told you how far you could go.

They would tell you there's a slow track here, you have to slow down to 25 because it was a rough track, or it could tell you things like this track's out of service, the signing's no longer available.

So you had to go through all those.

Plus, the timetable told you where you had to get out of the way of superior trains.

So you had to watch the timetable the whole time to see if there was a superior train coming against you.

You would have to get in the clear.

You were responsible for doing that.

- Communication was important, and in the time before radios, there was Morse code traveling through wires strung along the rails.

The telegraph office was the important information center of the day, passing along conductor's reports of cars, freight and schedules.

This is the type of telegraph key most people are familiar with, but its constant up and down use would sometimes cause carpal tunnel syndrome, so later, some operators switched to the sidewinder model.

Another problem was where was the information coming from?

Hubs like Galesburg could have eight or more lines dit-dotting away, but by punching holes in a tobacco can and placing it over the receiver like so, it made a distinct sound.

Changing the whole pattern changed the sound, thus creating different ring tones for each wire.

Many railroad museums have a locomotive on display, and here is no exception.

Steam engines were designated not by their size or weight, but by the wheel configuration.

This has two sets of pilot wheels up front, six drive wheels and four trailing wheels, making this a 4-6-4 engine.

It's a configuration nicknamed the Hudson because it was developed by the New York Central Railroad, who needed a more powerful engine for hauling freights and passengers.

The CB&Q ordered 12 of these engines for its operation.

Steam engines at certain distances during a run need to load more coal and water.

During those stops, passengers would debark to dine in the depot.

The conductor would have taken their orders earlier and had them telegraphed ahead to the depot restaurant.

Behind the engine is something most railroad museums do not have, an RPO, or railroad post office in dressed condition.

Mail picked up at depots were sorted in this car and dropped off at stations along the line.

But what if the train was not scheduled to stop at a certain depot?

Mail for delivery could simply be tossed out the door, but in order to pick up a mail sack, the operator moved to the other side, raised this hook, grabbed the bag tied to the pole, brought the bag in and started the whole process over again.

It was a process that lasted until the 1960s.

The new interstate system and trucks replaced the need for RPOs.

With the loss of RPO, rail lines didn't run as many trains, so passenger service started to disappear.

When that happened, old Pullman cars like this one were converted into bunk houses for the track crews.

Fun fact, the Pullman Company named each of its cars.

Isn't that adorable?

When this one was made in 1930, they were using names of counties in Ireland.

But where's the caboose, you may be asking.

It's at the end of the program.

For now, let's chug out of Galesburg and head to Peoria Heights to enjoy a meal.

- I am Hugh Higgins, owner of Hearth Restaurant.

We started the restaurant November 12th of 2013.

11/12/13, not by accident, by intent.

It's something I always wanted to do.

I was a cook for the early part of my life, but I enjoyed cooking, found out that I had a passion for wine, continued that road of wine exploration, and when I had enough of the restaurant business and wanted to start a family, I found a new career selling wine and spirits for a living.

I dealt with restaurants every day of my life for 32 years selling wine and spirits and saw great places run well, saw great places not run well and said I can do that, and I wanted to do it and felt like I had to.

Our menu choice, again by design, was a void in the market.

That classic American food with a touch of the south, particularly some New Orleans things, but classic comfort food that was like stuff your grandmother made.

Our meatloaf, our collared greens, some of those things are just touchstones.

And then when you get to the New Orleans side of it, the food takes you there.

So when you have the charbroiled oysters or where you have the barbecue shrimp, it takes you to that place.

If you've ever been there, it's like oh my gosh, I had this when I was at such and such a place.

So it transports you, it takes you there.

- I'm Seth Higgins.

I'm executive chef at Hearth Restaurant.

I'm gonna be making our jambalaya and our duck breast.

Jambalaya will start with six shrimp.

Our jambalaya mix, which I already have made up ahead of time, just like many other Cajun dishes.

It all starts with a rue and the holy trinity.

It's celery, onion and pepper.

The timing on your rue is everything.

If it stays blonde like this, that's how you do our jambalaya.

For a gumbo, you darken your rue much more 'til it's almost black.

I make our own Andouille sausage here as well.

Six gulf shrimp.

We like to use gulf shrimp here to keep things relatively local as we can.

The gulf is closer to us than Vietnam is.

Have that going, I'll be heating up our veg of the day.

- We use local eggs, local cream, pork from particular farmers.

When you can support local people, it's great.

It helps support families in a greater way.

Plus the food is fresher, and when it's fresher, it's better.

- Local farms when we can, local farms first is what we like to say here.

I'll be getting our duck breast ready.

It's a Maple Leaf Farms duck breast from Iowa.

It's nice, already cleaned up very nicely.

You will score the skin.

You want it to go through the skin but not into the meat.

Salt and pepper.

And before your pan is hot, the duck goes in.

We have features changing every week and our menu changes seasonally.

I started cooking I think I was five making scrambled eggs on the stove top with my dad, who I now work for.

- My son is my chef, makes me proud every day.

My daughter also is a host on the weekends, so it is a family affair, and the people that work for me, they're family too.

- [Seth] On the duck breast, I'm looking for a pretty hard sear on the skin.

I want the skin to be already as crispy as I want it when I serve it.

So that'll take about three minutes just of a sear.

- Whiskey selection is a big thing here at Hearth Restaurant.

We have over 300 whiskeys from around the world.

I had the chance to travel quite a bit to Ireland, to Scotland, the Bourbon Trail from Tennessee through Kentucky.

I enjoy it, it's something that I can speak to very firsthand.

Russell's Reserve, 10 year old bourbon.

They make a wonderful rye whiskey as well.

Single barrel can only produce about 200 bottles, so there'll be a little variation sometimes between it.

Beautiful sweet note of caramel, just absolutely delicious, and it's something that's really very tangibly on fire right now, so to be the place in Peoria that has this amazing selection is an attraction as well.

- [Seth] We have made a lot of our sauces to pair with wine.

Duck breast we like to pair with Pinot noir.

This is a blueberry red wine and shallot sauce.

- The future's very bright.

The Heights is an amazing place to do business.

The village is wonderful, so pro-business, so easy to work with.

There's a new corridor plan coming for the Heights.

Traffic up here is going to change.

It's gonna get a little slower.

The sidewalks are gonna get bigger.

Bike lanes are coming.

It's just going to become a more wonderful place to do business, so I'm working on passing the torch.

My son is my chef.

My daughter works here as well, and I have hopes that one of my grandchildren will be here, too.

- [Deann] From Peoria Heights, we travel a few miles to Peoria for two types of fun in one building.

(upbeat music) - [Sarah] Hi, I'm Sarah.

- [Matt] I'm Matt.

- [Sarah] We are.

- [Matt] Gone Axe Throwing.

- [Sarah] Gone in 60 Escape Games started in 2017.

- [Matt] You can enter from the front of the building or the back, so there is a back entrance.

That's our handicap accessible, and then there's stairs in the front.

- [Sarah] More often than not, people book online and then they come in and check in at the front counter with our staff, let us know that they're there.

They can hang out at the bar and get a drink if they want while we get their room ready for them, and then their game master or axe master will come greet them.

- When we moved to this building here where axe throwing is, we started off with new rooms.

We started off with The Reactor, which is based off of the Chernobyl event.

- The Reactor, yes, was very inspired by the Chernobyl story, which we thought was very interesting and wanted to have a room.

(suspenseful music) The younger generation doesn't know how to use it.

- Yeah, they don't understand Morse code, which I think that's a lost communication tool.

So them trying to figure out how to decode the message and then put it into the telegraph machine to open the puzzle, it can be very challenging.

- [Sarah] The Reactor can fit up to eight, and I would say that one's really designed more for smaller groups.

- [Matt] Four to six is where the sweet spot is for that.

- Our Cemetery Room is a 90 minute room.

It's a little harder.

It's better for bigger groups.

The cemetery can hold up to 10 people, and that sweet spot would probably be like six to eight is a really good sized group.

We went to New Orleans and were able to see the cemeteries down there, and that was a huge inspiration for creating and building the cemetery.

- Yeah, we took a lot of time with the cemetery.

It took us a lot longer than we wanted it to, but we did a lot of attention to detail in that room and when you go into the room, a lot of people feel.

(upbeat music) Creepy.

- [Sarah] And we have a really cool tree in there.

- [Matt] Yes we do, and there's a texture aspect, so when you walk in there and you first step in the room, there's AstroTurf on the ground and people don't expect that, so you're walking on what feels like grass, so you've got that too, and then there's sounds and background music that kind of ties it all together.

- [Sarah] Gone Axe Throwing started in 2019.

- We also go to a lot of trade shows, and at the trade show there was an axe throwing booth that was there, and we were like, you know, that's not a bad idea.

- [Sarah] I was like, that looks fun.

That would be a great addition to our little family here of entertainment.

Every group that comes in gets an axe master assigned to them.

We go over safety with you so you understand all the rules.

We instruct you how to throw, and we are there with you the entire time making sure you have a good time by hosting games and just basically being your host or entertainer for the entire time.

If you're two people coming in for date night, we're gonna suggest half an hour or so, but if you say have a bigger group like 12, we're gonna suggest that you throw for 90 minutes so everybody gets a good amount of throwing in.

(axe thumping) The axe master's in charge of your games and keeping score for you.

So yeah, there is a point system value.

The outer rings of course, it goes in one, two, three, four.

Now there's a five.

Right besides the bold is six.

There's also two small little blue dots called kill shots, and those are worth eight.

- [Matt] It's also a common misconception that you have to throw really hard.

You do not need to throw hard.

It's just a basic lob to get it to stick.

- [Sarah] Just one rotation.

We're just proud of the Peoria area.

We really chose downtown Peoria for location.

We really wanted to see downtown come back to life as natives ourselves, and be a part of that revitalization that you see going on down here.

(upbeat music) - My name is Tina Simmermaker.

I'm the managing member here and co-owner.

We are local, local, local.

Everything we get grape-wise is either grown at Ratio Vineyards, which is our vineyard, or up in Mockingbird Vineyard.

We are very laid back.

The big push here is customer service.

I know that some folks have a very set idea about what they'll drink.

Some folks will not drink Illinois wine, and then we have to do some reeducation there because it really has come light years in the last 10 years.

Your winemakers are more educated.

They have a broader perspective on what they actually drink, so they also know what the customer would look at or would want.

We have, I would say customer service, walking people through what we have and what's available, taking time to give the background.

Even with our music we tend to be fun, but it's a little more laid back.

I think that's what people see, and again, the push for customer service.

Not everybody who walks through the door is looking for the same thing.

When we started our business, we had the terrible task of visiting all the wineries that were then in Illinois or local, and one of the things with the business plan they told us was that sweets paid the bill and then everything else was gonna be on top of that, and we have found that to be true.

Again, I do think you see a broadening of pallets within folks in Illinois, but the sweets do sell and we have a blackberry sangria that people will drive miles and miles for, have shipped to, just so they can have blackberry sangria from West of Wise.

I think right now, because of course everything changes based on the vintage, we have a bourbon barrel Norton, as we talked about when we were in production.

I think it's great in the sense that it's very dry but it's very complex.

It's from our Norton from 2019 and it's in Four Roses barrels, so we hit both spectrums.

We just finished harvest and we'll go out and pick grapes.

We have picking parties, so once you pick the grapes.

(relaxed music) (upbeat music) - Over there is the Galesburg Railroad Museum, and across the street keeping with the theme is the Discovery Depot Children's Museum, and place that tricks children by creating an environment where they learn while playing.

Inside there are several areas where kids can engage in role playing, pretending to work in various occupations, such as a grocer or firefighter, or they make their own creation using the giant blue blocks.

Plus there are things parents can learn about local history.

This display where children can change the colors, lights and patterns is a reminder that George Ferris, creator of the carnival ride bearing his name, was born in Galesburg.

Trained as a bridge engineer, his ride was first unveiled in 1893 at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago.

There is also science.

This device demonstrates Bernoulli's Principle, which was about fluid dynamics, but it can also be applied to airflow.

Engineers use it to calculate the lift of airplane wings.

But who cares about that?

The ball floats.

This is a place where things get sucked up and spit out again, where water changes course and objects fly.

It's a place where kids can create or just run around to various stations and explore.

There's even a caboose guests can enter that has a radio in it that is tuned to the nearby rail yard, and I can't think of a better way to end this trip than at the end of the train.

(camera clicking) (exciting music) (camera clicking) (camera clicking) (camera clicking) (camera clicking) (exciting music)