I grew up in Franklin Park, Illinois which is a small Chicago suburb on the Milwaukee Road west line going toward Elgin, Illinois. We had a nice little wooden station that I could ride my bike to and hang out watching the trains. There were many trains to see from the benches since there were 4 main tracks. Freight and passenger trains were frequent. A few steam engines were still running and were unforgettable. I even rode my bike to the Bensenville yards to see the action and especially liked the diesel shops which were fascinating to a boy that loved all the complex machinery, tools, and engines that occasionally had hoods or doors off or open allowing a view of the innards.
For a couple of summers before I could drive, my friend Jack and I took the train to Itasca, Illinois to caddy at a golf course. The train fair was 31 cents each way and we might earn, i f we were lucky enough to get a golf round, $3 for a single bag and $6 for two bags for 18 holes. And if we got two rounds in a day we felt like Rockefeller. This was for carrying the bags on our backs, no carts. This was pretty good money for the day even after figuring in the train fare. Of course it was always a thrill to ride in an old heavyweight passenger car. The 3 or 4 spittoons in the men’s smoking room were just an added attraction, I sometimes wonder were all the country’s spittoons went to. Gosh, they were truly disgusting. The acceleration of the Milwaukee’s EMD F units were exciting as were the rumble and guttural sounds emanating from the huge and beautiful diesels.
I was also lucky enough to occasionally see and feel the New York Central EMD E units in Lasalle Street Station in downtown Chicago when my aunt from Vermont would come to visit. These trains were true classics compared to the old Milwaukee trains that I rode to various jobs. Several times I was able to walk through the NYC cars before my aunt would leave for home and I could experience the elegance, comfort, and style of a world class train before I had to get off and re-enter the real world of a train shed that seemed a mile long and hear the wonderful sounds of many prime movers in the E7 or 8s. Each engine having at least 2000 or more Horsepower compared to my Dad’s Plymouth of about a hundred.
In high school I worked a few summers loading 40 and 50 foot boxcars on the Milwaukee Road with televisions, stereo consoles, and radios for Zenith Radio and Television. If you have never loaded a boxcar, you can never imagine just how incredibly huge they are. I mean HUGE.
So these are a few remembrances of my early connections to trains and the mighty railroads that did so much to build this great country.
Rich Hane
