I was at a local park mid-morning today,9-29, to spend a few hours enjoying what is left of warm weather. The park has a nice little picnic shelter, tables, a nearby abandoned CNW coaling tower and is located directly on the UPRR's Chicago - Iowa mainline (Geneva Sub) roughly 50 miles west of Chicago, IL.
After a bit, a coupla cars drove in and 4 "railfans" popped out. The fan giveaway?, two of 'em had fan oriented T-shirts on (ie a screen print of a CNW unit). Eventually, they found me and my scanner, and asked me about train frequency, which varies from 1 to 8 in a 3-hour span depending on whatever factors, whimsy govern train scheduling.
After a bit, an EB freight appeared, headed by Heritage unit UP 1989 (D&RGW). They got their photos.
Turned out these dudes are from Germany, here in the US to railfan. While their English was very serviceable, it was a tad awkward; I found myself struggling to explain "Heritage Units", turns out they were ahead of me, one dude has models of 4 of the 6(?) heritage units, and knew each name and number.
In any event, they soon moved out; dunno if they were heading off to the Rochelle RR Park (a mere 38 km away).
One dude's parting comment was on how hard it was to explain to US immigration officials the concept of "railfanning". Turns out a German railfan can get into the US easier than a US citizen can get back into the US after a day trip to the Canadien side of the Niagara Falls.