Park for Rail Fans

ROCHELLE, Ill. - New York has the Statue of Liberty. New Orleans has Mardis Gras.
 Phoenix has sunshine. Capistrano has the swallows.his blue-collar city has freight trains.
 Lots and lots of freight trains, rumbling through the center of town at up to 45 mph with
 whistles blasting, tying up traffic for those unfortunate motorists caught far from the town's
 only overpass.
"When you've got over 100 trains a day going through your town, pretty soon you start
 cussing trains," says Ken Wise, economic development director for the city of some
 8,800 folks.

 It's little wonder, then, that local residents have traditionally raised an eyebrow at the
 steady stream of locomotive lovers who treat their town as a Midwestern mecca for
 train-watching. For years, these self-proclaimed "rail fans" parked on neighborhood
 streets and gathered at a single picnic table next to a diamond-shaped intersection
 where the nation's two biggest railroads, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern
 Santa Fe, cross tracks on their paths between Chicago and points west.

But instead of running the curious out of town, Rochelle has decided to turn them into
 tourists. Last fall, the city opened a free public railroad park just east of the track
 intersection, complete with a raised observation platform at the center of the action.

PARK FOR RAILFANS:
Wise says he began promoting the park idea after stopping at the tracks one night
 to see what the fuss was about and meeting train-watchers from as far away as
 California and New York.

"I said, `Wait a minute, these are not bums. These are real people,'" Wise recalls.

They're the kind of people who might stay at a local motel, buy gas and eat a meal
 in town if they were treated right, he thought.

So the city secured a state grant and added a motel tax to raise the $300,000 for
 the project.

Where once there were dilapidated houses and a decades-old "hobo jungle" of
 brush and debris used by scruffy train hoppers, now there are public restrooms,
 soda machines, picnic facilities, a paved parking lot and a gift shop with railroad
 memorabilia.

It was an immediate hit with camera-crazy rail fans, who are used to being
 harassed by local officials or chased off private property at other train "hot
 spots" around the country.

"This is the first I've heard of where a municipality went in and created a park
 because people like to hang out and watch trains," said Kevin P. Keefe, editor of
 Milwaukee-based Trains magazine. "It's amazing."

Train lovers Anthony and Lynne Miranda were so excited about the concept that
 they left their jobs in Carson City, Nev., to open the on-site gift shop and serve as
 de facto park supervisors.

 
IF YOU GO:
The covered wood-and-concrete pavilion is high enough to look into the engineers'
 eyes and close enough to feel the up-through-your feet vibration as a heavily loaded
 train passes.

The Rochelle Railroad Park is at 124 North 9th St., just off the Lincoln Highway, and is open 24
 hours a day. The gift shop is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Tuesday. The shop
 telephone number is (815) 562-8107.

 
USAToday Nov1999