Homewood's 5th Annual Rail Heritage Weekend

Homewood's 5th Annual Rail Heritage Weekend is coming right up, this weekend, on May 17-18, 2008. This year we have a great line-up of activities planned and I hope everyone will mark us down in your calendar. As usual, the cost of admission to all venues is a whopping FREE.

As of right now we do have our Multi-Media Slide Show (a lot of which is now digital, but you get the idea) lined up pretty nicely for 7-10 PM Saturday 5/17 at the St. Paul Community Church at 18200 Dixie Highway in downtown Homewood. Here is a list of presenters and their topics:

• Chris Lastovich - The Iowa Interstate Railroad
• Ian Contreras - The Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern
• Nick Suydam - Nighttime Rails
• Special mini-feature: "BNSF: The Pride of Nebraska"
• Kevin Sadowski - The Best of Chicago
• Mike Riha - The Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern
• Paul Burgess - "Let's Get On With the Past" - A look at 21st Century Steam

Every presenter this year is a member of Illini Rail, a first for our event, and Homewood is proud to welcome them!

Sunday 5/18 will be our big Train Show at the Village Hall & Fire Station (corner of Dixie and Chestnut in downtown Homewood) from 9AM - 3 PM, with plenty of operating layouts, prototype equipment on display from CN/IC on the adjacent mainline (line-up will be posted as soon as I know it), lots of vendors, historical societies, and much more. I will give a complete line-up and schedule as we get closer.

Also, we will have "hosted railfanning" with free coffee and doughnuts at the Homewood Railfan Platform from 6 AM to 9 AM Sunday. The morning finds the main quite busy and you can expect to see CN, IC, GTW, NS, UP, and Amtrak, as well as Metra's busy Electric Line. Members of the Homewood Rail Committee will be out & about there to meet, greet, eat doughnuts, and answer questions. Homewood has (count em'!) eight tracks running through the heart of downtown and there is always plenty to see! Our restored IC GP10 and caboose will also be open. We will also be unveiling some new railroad murals in our downtown pedestrian tunnel.

Homewood is located in the south suburbs of Chicago in the heart of the Chicago Terminal. If you like trains, and you like cool free stuff, put us on your calendar! We are easy to reach via Amtrak or Metra, I-80, I-57, or PACE bus service from anywhere in the Metro area. If you come in from out of town (Welcome!) there are plenty of choices for nearby lodging and other amenities.

Homewood's Annual Rail Heritage Weekend is a free event sponsored by the Village of Homewood Rail Heritage Committee, a municipal all-volunteer committee charged with keeping Homewood's railroad history and future alive! Come out and see what we've accomplished so far, and have a blast while you're at it.