Three, sometimes four days a week, Ron Keller drives to Naperville’s downtown train station. No ticket in hand, his only chattel is a folding chair.
Keller doesn’t go to the tracks to travel. He goes to watch. And he’s not the only one.
There are a handful of Naperville residents like Keller who, every week, perch at the city’s Metra/Amtrak station just to see the trains go by, he says. They record engine numbers, trace engine types, look out for specific brands and carefully follow timetables so they don’t miss out on a chance to spot a locomotive passing through.
The pastime is called trainspotting. And soon enough, the hobby will have a dedicated home in Naperville.
The Naperville Department of Public Works will be installing seating amenities at the city’s downtown station to support trainspotting. Naperville Assistant City Manager Marcie Schatz notified City Manager Doug Krieger of the work in a memo last week.
“Recognizing there is existing interest in trainspotting along the Burlington Northern line, staff recommends providing seating amenities (benches or other seating) at the downtown station to help support this hobby,” Schatz wrote in the memo. “The Department of Public Works will be completing this work.”
The memo is a follow-up from a Naperville City Council meeting in August, when members — on a suggestion from Councilman Ian Holzhauer — directed staff to research the logistics of finding a space for trainspotting in the city.
Holzhauer broached the possibility to his fellow council members after hearing about the hobby for the first time from a community member. Their conversation spurred the question, could Naperville benefit from some trainspotting infrastructure?
“I never knew about this hobby,” he said to the council in August, “but there is a group that sits down on the platform above Washington Street and pays attention to the trains that are coming by. …I was actually just thinking this is something that costs almost nothing and probably brings train enthusiasts from around the area to your downtown.”
In last week’s memo, Schatz acknowledged that the Chicago area is a “prime area for trainspotting” because of the sheer number of trains that run through the region.
“As one of the most important rail centers in North America, Chicago has more lines on track radiating in more directions than any other city in America,” she wrote.
Trainspotting galore.
Some suburban cities with especially vast or varied train services are particular hotspots for the hobby — and embrace it. For instance, the Park Forest Rail Fan Park about an hour southeast from Naperville, which sees 32 trains a day, has a train watching platform, according to Schatz’ memo. Or in Rochelle, about an hour west, there’s a whole railroad park built just for visitors to see operating trains.
Schatz’s memo acknowledged the stations in Naperville do not have “any of the track characteristics” that these trainspotting hubs possess. But even without as many bells or whistles, there’s enough local interest to warrant some train watching benches, or other seating, at the city’s downtown station, she said.
Keller is all for the addition.
Speaking over the phone Friday, Keller recalled watching trains in Naperville most of his life. Growing up just a block away from the city’s downtown station, he used to go down to watch the trains as often as he could. His parents would come too, he said.
“My mom would grab my hand and we’d run down to the tracks to watch the trains,” he said.
Keller, who went on to direct the Naperville Municipal Band for 57 years, is now 84. At the prospect of the city carving out a space for his longtime hobby, he quipped, “It’d be nice to have a more comfortable seat.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” he added. “I think it would bring all of us that do this closer together. We can sit together and watch the trains.”
