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  • Hinsdale, IL

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Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in the American Midwest, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas. For questions specific to a railroad company, please seek the appropriate forum.

Moderator: railohio

 #400573  by Gilbert B Norman
 
For those with access to The Wall Street Journal's subscription site, here is article appearing today regarding "trainspotting". That is a term used overseas for railfanning.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117953013498608127.html

Here is a "brief passage' regarding Hinsdale, IL, or one municipality to the East of mine. I guess living by the so-called "racetrack", one can get blase':

  • Hinsdale, Ill.
    This vibrant suburb 15 miles west of Chicago is on the city's busiest commuter train route. The three-track Burlington Northern Santa Fe "Raceway" also hosts Amtrak long-distance passenger trains and more than 50 freight trains a day. Visitors can watch the trains from a landscaped commuter train station near restaurants.
Also of interest, The Journal's transportation reporter, Daniel Machalaba, 'comes out":

  • Long before I started writing about trucks, ships and railroads for The Wall Street Journal in late 1983, I had an attachment to trains. Since my early years growing up a half block from an elevated train line in Queens, N.Y., I have enjoyed watching and listening to them. In my late teens and 20s I'd go to country areas with busy freight tracks, sometimes camping with friends near tracks in northeast Pennsylvania. There was the quiet and solitude, then the amazing rush of energy and noise when a huge train broke the silence. Then the silence returned, and the anticipation built up for the next rush.