Tour A United Airlines Boeing 727-100

This airliner is hanging from the balcony in the museum near the New York Central #999, that's amazing!!!

The 727's tail wing.

You can stand next to a jet engine and see how its internal parts work! There is also a neat video playing
of how this plane was donated and moved to the museum!

The cockpit of the 727. The chair set up sideways was for the 3rd crew member that is no longer normally found on most commercial flights. The 727 required a Flight Engineer who also flew in the cockpit with the Pilot and First Officer (Co-Pilot).

The coach seating area of the plane complete with video monitors in the headrests!!!

What I've shown you here on these last few pages only BARELY scratches the surface of what this museum has to offer. You can also tour a German U-505 Submarine, and visit a great area dedicated to space travel. This museum truly has something for everyone no matter what you like! If you'd like more information about this museum, I invite you to check out their official web site at www.msichicago.org. After spending a good part of the day at this museum, I took the CTA #X28 bus back to Union Station. Upon arrival there, I picked up my bags (cost a total of $12.00, the daily max to store them) and walked over to the Metra Ticket counter to purchase tickets to use Metra Commuter Rail to get out to Aurora, and return on Tuesday back to Chicago. I took Metra Train #1239, the express run out to Aurora which left Chicago Union Station on Track #2 at 3:18pm. I sat across from 4 people from Columbus, OH who were in town to visit family. We all had a very nice conversation, and they got off the train before I did. Aurora is the final stop on this line which uses he BNSF Aurora Sub. This was an express train as I mentioned earlier. It made stops only in Downer’s Grove, Belmont, Lisle, Naperville (station is also used by Amtrak), Route 59 and finally Aurora. Upon arrival in Aurora, I walked down the platform to get a picture of the train only to find out I would have to walk all the way back down the platform in the other direction to get off the platform due to construction! There is a former CB&Q Caboose on display at the station which is nice also. After dragging my bags around the station, I walked over to the Comfort Suites hotel located conveniently near the station. This hotel has a railroad theme and thus has photos and railroad relics all over the place! I had a room with a king-sized bed and the room was nicely done! There are no fast-food restaurants near the hotel and considering it’s been almost 2 days since I had a good night sleep, I didn't want to venture away from the hotel, so I called a local Pizza Hut and had some Pasta and a Personal Pan Pizza delivered! I backed up my pictures taken over the past day and would end up calling it a night early because by now I was beyond deliriously tired!!!

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009:

I woke up around 7am and proceeded to write more of this travelogue. I would get the 9:20am Metra train back to Chicago so as to get in some railfanning at Roosevelt Avenue. I checked out of the hotel and dragged my 2 suitcases and camera bag down the platform to the Metra train #1262, the 9:20am train making all intermediate stops between Aurora and Chicago Union Station. I had a chat with another passenger who was riding also to Chicago, we mostly discussed sports. I then listened to my iPod the rest of the way. We arrived in Chicago at about 10:45am. I proceeded to get a picture of the train as I walked towards the station only to be told by someone from Metra that photography wasn't permitted in the station. After some research while putting this travelogue together, I come to find out that the station is owned by Amtrak and under Amtrak's photo policy, if you are a ticketed passenger (which I was at that point for Metra and later that day, Amtrak) you may briefly take a photo when boarding or alighting from your train. I took one picture (before I was told I supposedly couldn't) and proceeded inside to the Metropolitan Lounge. I dropped off my 2 bags at the lounge as I was now officially a sleeping car passenger on today's Texas Eagle which would leave at 1:45pm. After dropping off my luggage, I headed down to Roosevelt Avenue to go railfanning! In the below link, you'll see some photos I took during my railfanning outing there this year, check it out...