This image was made inside Illinois Railway Museum’s East Union Depot which was built in 1851 by the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, the first railroad built west out of Chicago.

Originally this building was in Marengo, the next town west of Union. An addition enlarged the depot in the late 1800s, by which time it was owned by the Chicago & North Western Railway, and it remained in use until after World War II. The depot was moved from its original location in 1967.

Outside the window is Illinois Railway Museum’s Nebraska Zephyr. The Zephyr is an articulated streamlined train built entirely of stainless steel. The train is known as the “Train of the Goddesses” because each of its five cars is named after a classical deity. It is the only complete Zephyr train from the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad in operation today.

The Nebraska Zephyr was constructed by the Budd Company of Philadelphia in 1936.