Most railfans, at some point or another, are asked what their first train sighting was. For me, I can’t remember the first time I saw a train, but I do remember the first time I took a picture of a train. May 16, 2010 was the date. The event was the annual Railroad Days festival held in Homewood, Illinois.

Railroad Days, located in downtown Homewood near the entrance to Canadian National’s (CN) bustling Markham Yard, has been held every year since 2004 (except 2020 due to the pandemic). It’s the town’s way of celebrating their 150+ years of being a major railroad hub. Model train displays, vendors, rides on the CN’s little “train on tires” that drives around a parking lot adjacent to the yard, and lots of railfanning make up the special day.

For seven-year-old me, this was something exciting beyond belief, and in all likelihood, I did not get any sleep the previous night as I eagerly awaited for my dad to get up and take me to Homewood. When we finally got there, we first checked out the model train displays. I talked my dad into getting me an HO scale locomotive for my rapidly expanding model collection, and then we headed over to the then new Homewood Railfanning Platform, located near the Amtrak station, to watch some trains before heading home.