RAILROADS

Union Pacific yards in Portland, OR 1996
When I was very young I could still hear the whistle of an occasional steam engine in the rail yards somewhere in Chicago. I don't actually remember having seen a steam engine in regular service though.

I also have vague memories of electric locomotives as my family went on a trip to Louisville , KY by train. The Illinois Central was down the street from several places I lived at in Chicago and most of the trains I saw there were the suburban services of the IC and the South Shore and were electrified.

I always felt a special kinship with the railroads. I had an uncle (Howard Bakeman) who worked in the yards for the Chicago Burlington and Quincy . Every year he brought in a new CB&Q calendar. I loved going through it looking at all the shiny trains.

In the early sixties my grandfather, Harvey Council Summers, founded the Circus Club of North America with an emphasis on tours primarily by rail from Chicago. Our first tour was by train to Madison , WI and then by bus to the then brand new Circus World Museum in Baraboo , WI where we saw a Ringling Bros. circus train.

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