Trips in 1998
CERA held its 60th Anniversary convention in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend. Our “headquarters” for the weekend was the historic Palmer House Hilton Hotel located on Chicago's famous State Street and adjacent to the equally historic Loop elevated structure. The weekend's events began on Friday evening with the regular membership meeting. Member Raymond DeGroote presented a slide program covering the major changes that have occurred to the electric railway industry in the United States and elsewhere during the past 60 years.
Saturday was set aside for an enjoyable trip over the three Metra Electric suburban lines that were formerly operated by the Illinois Central Railroad. Numerous photo stops were made enabling members to photograph not only our four car train of Highliners but also regular service. That evening saw our “conventioneers” gather for the 60th Anniversary Banquet. The Palmer House staff provided a delicious dinner which was topped-off with a special slide program by CERA co-founder George Krambles. Mr. Krambles provided a fascinating look back at 60 years of CERA trips and activities. It was a memorable evening.
On Sunday, visits were made to the Fox River Trolley Museum and the Illinois Railway Museum. The last event on the calendar was a trip over the Chicago Transit Authority's north side “L” lines using a train of 1969 vintage Budd cars. In addition to the charter train, members had the opportunity to tour the Authority's Skokie Shop complex and photograph representative types of equipment which had been spotted near the Jarvis station.
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