Welcome
to
2013
A Collection of Wanderings: Part Two
So we survived the trip back from the gulf coast, it
was a rainy trip. I was glad that we could travel and see all the sights. But, that
was the first trip of July. The last week of July, we headed east on Interstate
70 and then north on Interstate 57 to the Village of Park Forest, Illinois. The
Village as part of the agreement with Canadian National Railroad’s buyout of
the EJ as it’s called up there, built a railroad park sitting alongside the
newly opened CN Matteson connection. Mrs. Shuttletrain and I would be part of
the Grand Opening from the park the next day. We met with the Village’s park
and recreation director, who took us on a quick visit of the RailPark. We then
headed to the Fossmoor Brewing Company which is
located in Fossmoor, Illinois in an old METRA
commuter station. We were met by the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors
Bureau director and public relations director. We had a great dinner and
learned a great deal of their plans for the Chicago Southland Rail Trail. We
also got a VIP tour of the brewery.
The Chicago Southland Convention
and Visitor Commission director (far left)manager of the Fossmoor
Brewery(second from left) Mrs. Shuttletrain (second from right), and your’s
truly(the tall guy).
The CVB director felt that he needed to take a
picture so his public relations director could get into the shot.
We
After talking for over three hours about what the
Chicago Southland was doing or planning, and offering our insights to their
plans and giving them ideas of other cities to visit, we left and headed to the
hotel. The next morning started early as the Chicago Southland public relations
director met us at the hotel and then gave as tour of the Rail Trail sites: http://www.chicagosouthlandrail.com/rail_site/illinois_central.cfm.
We
visited most of the sites, Blue Island, Illinois which the day we were there
was closed because of major, major track reconstruction. The Pullman Historic
District was a great area, It had some building that
were redone back to the glory days and others that had a long way to go. We
stopped in Homewood, Illinois and visited the railfan viewing platform and
walked through the tunnels leading to the platforms. The station itself was
closed because it was not Amtrak time. We did manage to see a couple of trains
while we were there.
Homewood also has some great murals on a lot of
their buildings in the downtown area. We left Homewood, and went back to our
hotel to get our car and then headed over the Park Forest RailPark for the show
and grand opening. The opening was held right as the Let’s Talk Trains program
went on the air. We spoke with the mayor, parks and recreation director and the
CVB public relations director. The show ended and we packed up, said our thank
you to everyone and headed northwest for Aurora, Illinois. We had heard that an
old roundhouse was being used as an entertainment area, so we just had to see
it for ourselves. It was pretty nice alright. No pictures allowed though. We
then head to our next hotel in the town of Sycamore, Illinois. The next morning
we traveled back one of my favorite places, Rochelle, Illinois for a two meet
and greet. We saw about six trains in those two hours two. Then on to a family
function with relatives in the Sterling area. We bedded down for the night in
Morton, Illinois then back to Washington, Missouri the next day. It a great
trip, meeting fans is getting easier.
