48, as a Railfan I am young, I have lived about a mile from the tracks of the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, in Richmond IL (Northeastern IL) for about 10 years. Having had a few chances to see the colorful machines of the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad, I was naturally drawn to them as subject matter to practice my pitshure takin' (photography) skills on.

It's a little deeper than that, I've always enjoyed the sound of a train whistle and the sight/image of a train going by, but up until about April of 2008, I had have to admit, I had not bothered to learn anything more than the name of the railroad.

Which is a lot more than the general public, in this area of the world, anyway. Today, at least I can answer some of the questions in my own mind, like where is that train going? Where did it come from? What's in those black tank cars? What's in those hopper cars? Why did they stop here?

The WSOR, through this area, is mainly a night shift operation, daylight appearances are somewhat rare, so it wasn't long before I followed some late morning trains into southern Wisconsin with my camera. Of course, I started to think about other railroads in the area.

I only wish I had thought more about rail fanning earlier in life, in high school (1976-77) I used to take and pick-up my Dad at the CNW in Barrington all the time, and for about 10 years I worked at a chemical plant in Lake Zurich IL that shipped/received by the EJ&E! (that's how I knew the difference between a hopper and a tank cart) I saw their trains a lot! Oh well.

Thanks to those who have been doing railroad photography for many years, if it wasn't for you a lot of visual history would not even exist. and if you're just starting out, you gotta keep this going, who knows what changes we will see over the years.

And thank you, to the vast photographic railfan community for helping me prove to the wife that there are lots of people out there taking pictures of trains, and there-by is a legitimate hobby, completely normal and enjoyed by many.

This also makes it OK that if I hear a train and I pick up my camera and leave I don't have to explain much.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!