diesteldorf
Lead Service Attendant
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2006
- Messages
- 372
As I sit somewhere between Milwaukee and Columbus, heading back to La Crosse, I decided to do a short and brief recap of my time in Chicago this weekend, a combination of having a cheap hotel in the 'burbs for a couple of nights and some vacation to burn some by the end of the year.
During my trip down to Chicago, I also had the chance to meet up with Jackal and the_traveler on their loophole trip from Columbus, WI to Chicago and onto the Cardinal. It was a sort of mini gathering in the diner that day. To rrdude: You are indeed, wise when you recommended the black-bean veggiburger. It was very tasty.
As I waived goodbye to the_traveler and Jackal from the Metro Lounge, I waited a few more minutes before catching #383 to Naperville.
Now, some brief background information, a couple years ago, during our Gathering in LA, I had the good fortune to meet MrFSS, a man who has certainly enjoyed his share of railfanning. During one of our conversations, I was taken aback by his enthusiasm for an old and often traveled line between South Bend, Indiana and Chicago, IL. Though, at the time, it was a mystery to me.
Our 1st Gathering in Chicago was a great success and everyone knew we would surely head East or West the following year. The tide, I thought would surely turn East as the Bostonians and New Yorkers prepared to do battle for city supremacy. Yet that battle would never take place.
Aside from MrFSS, it was my encounter with an individual I shall refer to simply as the 'One With the Fez' Outside of select circles his Christian name must never be spoken. Like Moses speaking to the Israelites, his voice was heard: "Come to the City of Angels, You Must. Eat French Dip and ride trains we shall." Well we listened and a potential Armageddon was avoided.
I knew then that when OWTF spoke, his words were to be heeded without question. So just recently when we were sitting on a train to Kansas City, I spoke of that conversation between MrFSS and myself many years ago. "Ah, the South Shore Line you speak of from Chicago to South Bend it goeth. Seek it you shall for the whistle of the train runs strong within you."
Now for those that don't know, the journey begins in Millennium Station, predating the city itself, so named because it has stood for a thousand years.
Now MrFSS, whose years I imagine don't extend quite as long, spoke of a trip he made nearly 40 years ago on between Chicago and Indiana on the great South Shore. The train, it seems had a very peculiar habit of leaving the tracks and continuing on the very roads often traveled by cars and pedestrians. I had never heard such a thing, yet it was clear to me that I too should ride the South Shore as MrFSS and OWTF had before me.
That time was now and my adventure was just beginning.
During my trip down to Chicago, I also had the chance to meet up with Jackal and the_traveler on their loophole trip from Columbus, WI to Chicago and onto the Cardinal. It was a sort of mini gathering in the diner that day. To rrdude: You are indeed, wise when you recommended the black-bean veggiburger. It was very tasty.
As I waived goodbye to the_traveler and Jackal from the Metro Lounge, I waited a few more minutes before catching #383 to Naperville.
Now, some brief background information, a couple years ago, during our Gathering in LA, I had the good fortune to meet MrFSS, a man who has certainly enjoyed his share of railfanning. During one of our conversations, I was taken aback by his enthusiasm for an old and often traveled line between South Bend, Indiana and Chicago, IL. Though, at the time, it was a mystery to me.
Our 1st Gathering in Chicago was a great success and everyone knew we would surely head East or West the following year. The tide, I thought would surely turn East as the Bostonians and New Yorkers prepared to do battle for city supremacy. Yet that battle would never take place.
Aside from MrFSS, it was my encounter with an individual I shall refer to simply as the 'One With the Fez' Outside of select circles his Christian name must never be spoken. Like Moses speaking to the Israelites, his voice was heard: "Come to the City of Angels, You Must. Eat French Dip and ride trains we shall." Well we listened and a potential Armageddon was avoided.
I knew then that when OWTF spoke, his words were to be heeded without question. So just recently when we were sitting on a train to Kansas City, I spoke of that conversation between MrFSS and myself many years ago. "Ah, the South Shore Line you speak of from Chicago to South Bend it goeth. Seek it you shall for the whistle of the train runs strong within you."
Now for those that don't know, the journey begins in Millennium Station, predating the city itself, so named because it has stood for a thousand years.
Now MrFSS, whose years I imagine don't extend quite as long, spoke of a trip he made nearly 40 years ago on between Chicago and Indiana on the great South Shore. The train, it seems had a very peculiar habit of leaving the tracks and continuing on the very roads often traveled by cars and pedestrians. I had never heard such a thing, yet it was clear to me that I too should ride the South Shore as MrFSS and OWTF had before me.
That time was now and my adventure was just beginning.
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