(The following story by John K. Ryan appeared on the Southtown Star website on May 14, 2009.)
CHICAGO — Homewood doesn’t hide its affinity for trains.
A drive past the Metra and Amtrak station near the village’s downtown is a monument to Homewood’s love of trains.
On one side of the tracks sits a train-viewing platform for rail fans to check out train traffic as it heads into and out of the nearby Markham train yards. On the other side of the tracks is the recently completed Homewood Railroad Park featuring vintage Illinois Central Railroad equipment.
“It’s a busy place train-wise,” said Joe Skrabutenas, an East Hazel Crest resident who grew up a train lover in Homewood. “The Markham yards once stretched from Homewood to Harvey. A lot of railroad employees live in Homewood.”
The area’s enthusiasm for all things railroad will come together this weekend during the sixth annual Homewood Railroad Heritage Days, known by most as “rail fest.”
The two-day, free event, sponsored by the village of Homewood Railroad Heritage Committee, will be split between a multimedia digital slide show Saturday and a more varied celebration of railroads at several sites Sunday.
Saturday’s slide show in the gym at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 17949 Dixie Highway, will feature the works of seven specialized photographers who mix various media to entertain and educate visitors about several aspects of railroading.
Dan Gunderson, co-chairman with his wife, Sharon, of the rail fest, said one particularly fascinating segment of the slide show will feature night photography by Nick Suydam.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable pictures,” Gunderson said. “The lighting is a combination of ambient light and flash photography, used to highlight locomotives and other rail cars against interesting backgrounds.”
Sunday, the fest moves across the street to the H-F Park District Auditorium, 2010 Chestnut Road. While most of the activity will be in the auditorium, visitors can visit the rail park, the rail-watching platform or hop aboard Canadian National’s “Lil Obie” safety train pulling kids around the area. Children can also learn about railroad safety through Metra’s Operation Lifesaver.
“Part of the goal of the fest is for kids to learn not only the history of railroads, but being safe around them,” said Tom Grant, a Homewood resident and member of the rail committee.
New to the railfest this year will be historical artifacts from historical societies of the IC, Canadian National and Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroads.
Another first will be a “how to do it” display of a 21-foot model station and tracks modeled on train stations around the Chicago area. The “in progress” model station is the work of Skrabutenas, who spent the past eight months building it at his hobby store, Park Lane Hobbies in Dyer, Ind.
His meticulously crafted station includes working lights, six sets of tracks and dozens of miniature people in the midst of doing typical activities around a train station. The tracks are occupied by passenger cars from the IC, Rock Island, C&NW and Milwaukee Road railroads.
“It will register with people from a certain era for sure,” Skrabutenas said. “The idea of the ‘in progress’ model is to talk about the construction of it.”
Attendees can check out four model railroad layouts in the auditorium, while another will be next door at the fire station. A giant Lego track layout and train will be set up in the council chambers at the Homewood Village Hall, 2020 Chestnut Road.
The Blackhawk Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society will be setting up a train simulator in the auditorium.
, where authors, industry displays and 16 vendors can also be found. The event is funded through the vendor fees and sales of the fest’s T-shirts, Gunderson said.
This year’s shirts feature pictures of three historic locomotives: the Casey Jones steam engine, the 1936 IC Green Diamond and the chocolate-and-orange IC passenger diesel engine.