LMAO! the first subtalk post (in it's current configuration)!
Odd thing is is that thats almost about the same time my father moved out here from Chicago, thereby ensuring that the rest of us would follow once school got out. For me thats a striking coincidence, first subtalk post, and the final nail in the coffin of my time in Chicago. If it hadn't been for rr.net shutdown and accidentally stumbling across Subtalk (actually NYCrail.com, subtalk had it's melt down at the same time as rr.net, then NYCsubway.org was for learning about the subway, not talking), I would have remained completely oblivious to the sheer wonder that the NYC subways still brings me. And had I never moved from Chicago to the 'Electric East' I would have remained completely oblivious to the obvious advantages of electrification, still insisting that they weren't true locomotives cause they didn't carry their powerplant around with them. I might have explored Metra by now, certainly with a train station on the CNW-NW line just 1/4 mile from my house it'd be easy, but I don't think that I would have explored the L quite as much as I have the Philly and NYC subways. At the time I considered third rail VERY dangerous, as though I'd be standing on the L platform and the 3rd rail would arc and smite me, now I know better.
Sorry for the ramblings, just suddenly thought to question where from and why my intrest in rapid transit got started. That kind of thing can be kind of interesting when I stop and think about it.