MAY 28 - MAY 31, 1999

If you have already read my news section, you already know that I took a trip back home to Villa Park for Memorial Day Weekend to see my grandparents. We arrived around 6:00 PM or so on May 28th. The first thing I did was go over to the station after I said hello to my grandparents. I was so excited to get back to the station! I wasn't really expecting a chance to go to the station after arriving that night. The fist thing that I noticed was that new signs had been put up saying the town name and platform number, etc. I saw only 2 or 3 trains that night and only one a Metra. It was Metra 145. We didn't stay too long because it was getting dark. We came back to my grandparent's house. The next day we went to the station for a while, saw a few trains and came back to visit my grandparents some more. We later went back to the station and much to my surprise, there were 2 men taking video of the trains, like we did previously on our last trip to Villa Park. I can't honestly say that I remember ever seeing any other actual railfans at the station, just people passing by and people waiting to board Metra. We were at the station for a while and my dad had started to get thirsty. He decided to go over to the nearby White Hen Pantry, like we did in the past, years ago when we were kids. I knew a Metra had to pass since it seems like they always passed when he is at the pantry. I looked down the tracks towards Elmhurst and sure enough, here came Metra 156 running route 505 on schedule. It seemed as though everything was normal

and Metra was going to pass and I'd take it's picture like I normally did. I started to position myself to get a good shot of the locomotive as it passed when all of a sudden, I saw someone dart out in front of the train! He could not have been more that 10-15 feet away from this fast moving engine, from my point of view. I could not believe my eyes! I was frozen in disbelief as I

stared. I knew it was real when the engineer layed on the horn non-stop for approximately 5 seconds. I felt quite a bit of sympathy for this engineer as he passed by. I'm sure he was scared. By going to the station all these years, I've always feared seeing an accident. Fortunatelly for this dare-devil, he made it across safely. It must have been the thrill of trying to beat the train that made him do this. The next day, which was Sunday, I saw another guy run across. This was in front of a freight train. Fortunatelly, he also made it safely across. Very many times I see people walking the tracks as I watch for trains. I understand why there are so many fatalities involving trains. Later on, Metra 151 running route 520 was passing through but had stopped to allow passengers to board at the station. I had already taken a picture of the train and was walking down to the end of the platform to get a shot of the engine as it headed to Chicago in it's normal reverse method. Before I got to the end of the platform, my dad hollared for me to look so I turned around and looked at him and he was pointing at the train. I looked and the engineer was literally hanging out of the window! He wanted me to take his picture. I guess he must have liked the fact that I was taking his picture and so he took the oppurtunity to get in the picture. He commented to me that it was better

for me to be doing that than to have me running out in front of him like all the other "punks" (which is what I think he said) do. I yelled for him to look at the back of my shirt, which was my red Metra shirt but unfortunatelly he couldn't see it. By this time, it was time for the train to start moving again. I ran down to the end of the platform to get a picture and he gladly waved for the camera. The picture is posted here.

Soon we left but returned to the station a few hours later. We were waiting for some trains but they weren't running too much. I didn't have my schedule with me so we asked a woman on the opposite side of the tracks if she knew when a train would be by. Fortunatelly she did know and she asked us if we'd like to have a schedule. I took her up on her offer and met her on the opposite side of the tracks, in front of the depot. She handed me the schedule and I asked her if she was sure about not

needing it and she reassured me that she was and I thanked her. As I turned to walk away, she noticed my Metra shirt and asked where I got it. I told her and then preceded to tell her "my story" about how I came to like Metra. I then returned to my bench to look at the schedule. I was glad to have that schedule and I am sure I couldn't have explained to the nice lady how glad I was.

Being that the trains weren't running much, we decided to leave and come back later that evening. That night there was still not very many trains passing by but I knew that if I waited long enough I would see Metra come through running route 528. Sure enough, right on schedule, here came Metra. I took a picture of the approaching train headed for its home in Chicago as it was stopping to board the passengers. A few short moments passed and the engineer slid his window open while looking at me. I knew he was about to say something to me but what it was, I did not know. To my surprise he asked me if I was the "one with the website." I told him that I was. Being that the trains are loud and that the engine was very near me, it was extremely hard to hear him. He said something to me but I couldn't quite hear him. I asked him what he said and he repeated himself to me but unfortunatelly I still couldn't hear him the second time. I felt a sense of disappointment in myself at that very moment, not knowing what he said. Fortunatelly mad dad heard him and he told me that he said he is going to e-mail me.

I'd not gotten any e-mails from an engineer before, that I knew of. A strange feeling came over me. I remember my childhood days of watching Metras pass by day after day and admiring those engineers and what they did and wanting them to know how much I admired them and wanted to

someday be in the same profession as them. All of a sudden a Metra engineer recognized me. It was like a sense of accomplishment for me in a way; that I've finally gotten to tell Metra about my appreciation for them. It was an experience I will never forget. Overall, this was the best visit back to my "home" that I've had yet. This was the first visit I've had since I've started my web site. I feel as if I have come a long way since my last visit to Villa Park, perharps (almost) a part of the Metra family, where I've always wanted to be....

1999 Lisa M. Schlottman