Many bed and breakfasts enjoy a strong connection to the railroad. Some are close to railroad museums or narrow gauge lines now used for scenic trips. At least one includes accommodations inside converted cabooses.
Knox Station Bed and Rails, found in Knoxville, Illinois, is an anomaly among bed and breakfasts. Most B&Bs promote themselves as a quiet escape from the din of the world. At Knox Station, most guests look forward to the noise -- the noise of locomotives moving along a busy stretch of railroad within a stone's throw of the inn.
Innkeeper Rita Hatch, who runs the inn with her husband Ron, graciously agreed to share their story with us.
"We've been open since May 1997. I've had extensive experience in the food and beverage business, from waitressing to managing a country club restaurant. I then settled down to being a housewife for a few years. While I appreciated being at home, I also wanted to get back into some sort of business venture. It was about this time that I noticed the growing popularity of bed and breakfasts across the country.
"We originally bought our home with no idea of opening a B&B. My husband is a train lover, a model railroader and a nationally recognized railroad artist. The home was bought because of its rural location (my requirement) and its proximity to the railroad.
"There is also a bit of history to the location. We didn't come up with the name Knox Station; at one time there was a little flag-stop station called Knox at our location, and our house is built in part upon the foundation of what at one time was the station agent's house.
"The first few years we lived here, some of our railfan friends would visit or even spend the night. After a few hours of watching trains, listening to the sound of country silence, or watching the birds at the feeder, they all had the same sort of comment: 'Do you realize how many people would pay for a day or two of this?'
"That's when the whole idea started coming together. We attend several train shows each year, so we started shopping the idea around (market research!) and everyone seemed to think we had a winner. We even had a few calls for bookings long before we were open.
"It almost didn't happen. While we were still in the planning stage, my husband Ron got news that he was being transferred (he has a day job). When the house went on the market, the realtors all told us we had a lemon, being as close to a busy mainline as we were. Ron's transfer was cancelled at the last minute and we went full steam ahead with plans for the B&B, thinking, 'Let's show those realtors how to make sweet lemonade out of our lemon!'
"Our house is not what one would typically think of as a B&B. It's a 25-year-old contemporary quad-level. It's not filled with antiques, but rather is decorated in what my husband calls a 'country eclectic' style. The furnishings invite our guests to come on in, sit down, relax and make yourself at home. One of our guests even commented that, after four weeks on the road, it felt 'good to be home.'
"We currently have two guest rooms. The trackside room has a king bed, while the 'quiet' room has a queen bed. Both rooms have comfortable chairs for quiet, private moments and reading lamps next to the beds. A single bathroom is shared by the guest rooms (we have our own bath). Upon checking into their rooms guests will also find a bottle of Knox Station Blackberry Limited wine, made by a local winery.
"The main attraction is, of course, the trains. We are 100 feet from, and a little above, a hot double-track mainline, the former Santa Fe (now BNSF). The speed limit for trains here is 65 mph, and we get anywhere from 30 to 50 trains in a 24-hour period. A large open deck faces the tracks, a great place to watch trains. Nearby is Galesburg, Illinois, which is a major yard and juction point for the railroad with lines fanning out in seven directions.
"Most of the rail traffic by our place is intermodal (piggyback trailers, containers and such), along with automobile and auto parts trains, plus a few general merchandise trains rounding out the scene. Amtrak no longer runs by our house, but Galesburg is served by three Amtrak trains each day, each way, three hours from Chicago.
"The majority of our guests are, therefore, railfans. Wives usually can be enticed to come along by the unique shops along Galesburg's historic Seminary Street district or by the many antique shops; that is, if they can pry their husbands off the deck for a while. Serious railfans are equipped with gear that would rival many fishermen or hunters: at least one good 35 mm camera, probably a camcorder, and definitely a scanner tuned to the local railroad frequency to detect when the beasts are near.
"We tend to spend more time with our guests than many innkeepers do, just bacause of our common interests. In fact, we've made many friends in the short time we've been open and have had several 'repeat offenders.' We've had guests from 20 states, England and Germany. And we've had fun."
Note: Since this article was first published in 1999, Knox Station Bed and Rails has closed.
