This little gem of a museum is worth the trip if anyone is in Central Illinois. Lots of Railroad and Automobile exhibits along with some notible horological attractions...

Museum info can be found at:

Wheels O' Time website

Here's old 886 from the Rock Island Line

Mike Miller

An exhibit on watches and clocks has a lot to offer, especially in the wall, mantle and grandfather clock category...

Mike Miller

One of the most interesting attractions is the restored tower cloch from the Peoria County Courthouse...

Mike Miller

Here's a closer view of the clock...

Mike Miller

Now those are some wheels of time!

Mike Miller

Mike,

That's some VERY cool stuff! My old next-door neighbor (now deceased) worked as a fireman for the Rock Island Railroad for 50 years! There's a good possibility he may have shoveled some coal into old #886 there (and he could still ride a bicycle backwards when he was in his mid 80s)!

On an entirely different note, would someone with access to the August 1973 "Bulletin" take a look at the clock on the right side of page 1305, and tell me if it looks like it could be the same one that's in the middle of the front store window in the second image above? In 1973, the clock in the "Bulletin" was in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, but that's not really too far from central Illinois, and it IS a rather unusual clock. I think I know who made it, but I couldn't be absolutely certain without seeing it, or a much better image of it.

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Steve Maddox
President, NAWCC Chapter #62
North Little Rock, Arkansas
IHC Charter Member 49

Steve,

Don't have the Bulletin, but have a little better image of the clock in the window. It's a hotel timeclock that rang rooms. It didn't say where it came from at the exhibit

Mike Miller

Mike,

Thanks for the reply and the additional image, which makes it conclusive: that is definitely NOT the clock that's pictured in the "Bulletin" article I mentioned above. Even so, when one compares the first image above with that from the article below, there is a strong similarity……

The clock in the "Bulletin" article is a "hybrid" electro-mechanical model, which appeared in an "Answer Box" inquiry, and at the time, no one knew much about it. I'd sure like to know who has it now, and be able to converse with them about it. I think it may be the work of Stefan Pavky, but without a better image of the movement (and/or perhaps seeing it in person), I'd sure hate to say for sure.

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SM