Karen Dinsmore's "Memories of a NYC RR Train Girl"
"I was very fortunate to grow up at the height of rail travel, have many relatives and older siblings to visit in far off places, and have a dad who worked for the Big Four as the passes he got provided me opportunities to roam far from Wabash, Indiana and constantly travel by train. Until they took the passenger trains off of the Michigan Division of the Big Four we often took the train to Marion or Indianapolis to shop for the day. Weekends we headed to Elkhart to catch a train to Chicago..."
While you're on the Memory page, take a look at Don Leistikow's "The Riley doesn't stop here (but it did)".
http://madisonrails.railfan.net/memory.html