PULLING THE PIN. Metra conductor Art Anderson reflects on everything he's seen on the railroad.

"It gets in your blood," Anderson said. "You feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. You've taken 3,000 people safely to their destinations."

And sometimes it runs in the family, even when the family runs from the railroad.

Their son Frank "didn't want any part" of railroad work. But a funny thing happened. Frank met and married Janet, a woman from Mexico whose father was a conductor.

The story gets better.