All aboard!

GALESBURG, Ill. -- Waiting is nothing new in this western Illinois city where more than 100 trains a day set off flashing lights at nearly 40 street-level crossings, throwing cars into idle and motorists' schedules out of whack.

Now, residents also are waiting for trains to trigger an economic rebound from the devastating closure of two factories over the past two years, which eliminated nearly 2,000 of the region's highest-paying jobs.

Organizers unveiled plans last month for a $60 million National Railroad Hall of Fame, a high-tech museum they predict could draw at least 200,000 visitors a year and pump an estimated $18 million into an economy still smarting since Maytag and Butler Manufacturing left town.

"As mayor of Galesburg, I don't mind waiting on trains. I don't hear the ker-plunk, ker-plunk. I hear the ka-ching, ka-ching," said Gary Smith, first-term mayor of the city of about 33,000 people between Peoria and the Quad Cities.

Organizers of the proposed museum, with floor space equaling two football fields, are inspired by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Special effects and multimedia productions have helped the Springfield museum draw about 600,000 visitors in its first year, doubling attendance forecasts.

"We want something that's equal to or exceeds the Lincoln experience. That, for us, has really defined what we want to bring to Galesburg," said Jay Matson, chairman of a local board that has been planning the rail shrine for more than a decade.

The group recently raised $250,000 locally to hire a Tennessee-based museum planner whose projects include the Louisville Slugger Museum in Louisville, Ky., and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, facilities that each attract more than 200,000 visitors a year.

Organizers are seeking another $250,000 in local donations to hire an executive director who would lead a national fundraising drive to build the museum. If successful, the facility -- featuring a towering six-story atrium to lure travelers from nearby Interstate 74 -- could open as early as 2009.

Matson said the $60 million campaign aims to draw the bulk of donations from the rail industry, which takes in tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year.

A spokesman for the Washington-based Association of American Railroads, which represents companies that carry 90 percent of the nation's rail freight, declined to comment on whether its members might pitch in to help build the museum.