I was born in fall of 1979. I was raised in Villa Park, Illinois by my parents and cousins. One time, my dad took us kids over to the Villa Park station to have something to do and to watch the trains pass through. I loved those trains. I had to go back and soon it became the thing for us to do in the evenings after school when we were bored. Since it was the late evening when we would go to the station, we would see a lot of Metras come through from Chicago due to it being rush hour. We would often go to the White Hen Pantry between trains to get an ice cream or a soda, especially during the hot summer days. Sometimes we'd sit in front of the station to watch the people get off of the trains and sometimes we'd sit on the opposite side on the stairs and draw on the cement with rocks while wating. Going to the train station was one of my favorite things to do in life. This is what I remember most about my childhood in the 1980's. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I got my first ride (and only ride so far) on Metra. It was exciting to me because I never thought I'd be on a train. I can remember looking out the window and seeing the blur of freight trains passing us by. We rode to Geneva and spent a few hours there and got some ice cream. Then we borded to come back to Villa Park. I didn't like the ride back to Villa Park as much as the ride there because I remember traveling backwards since the trains was Chicago bound. We were in the car furthest from the engine and I remember standing up and looking out of the front window and thinking how cool it was to feel as if I was the one in control of the train. I'd wanted to be an engineer for the longest time. Soon our train ride was over. I'll never forget the day I got to ride on Metra. In March of 1990, our family moved from Illinois to Indiana. I remember thinking about how I was going to miss the train station and "my" trains. I still miss them a lot to this day and I look forward to any chance that I get to go back home to Illinois to see my grandparents so that I can visit the Villa Park station. I had old memories come back to me in January of this year (1999). It was the first time I had been to the station since I moved in 1990. I was amazed at all of the changes that have happened since I was there. Villa Park now owns the station and the actual depot has been re-roofed. They have added many more things. Since then there has also been a law passed that you cannot walk on the rails. (Just in case anyone doesn't know that, I wouldn't want to see you get a fine.) I'd also wondered why I couldn't remember being able to tell if the distant oncoming trains were freights or Metras. It now was so obvious to me when a Metra was coming because you can see it's flashing lights for as far as you can see. I'd wondered how I could not have notice this when I was a kid. On the way home from my Memorial Day (1999) vacation I was looking through my picture book, particularly at the captures of the old films shot during my childhood and I noticed that there were no flashing lights on the locomotives back then. This really surprised me. It's just another example of how Metra has progressed since the 1980's. I hope this somewhat explains to you how I have come to have such an affection with Metra and that you enjoyed reading my story. Below is a picture of a place I call "home."

The "new" Villa Park depot

1999 Lisa M. Schlottman

mariahmania@prodigy.net