It is with much sadness that we are reporting the passing of a charter member of the ILS, Raymond Pieper. Ray was an Army Veteran of WWII and served as the Village Attorney of Orland Park for over 35 years. Ray was instrumental in developing the exemption for model boilers in the State of Illinois.

Over the years, Ray provided legal guidance for the ILS.  Ray together with Rick Tracy attended meetings with the newly formed village of Homer Glen to assure that the ILS would retain it’s zoning status. 

When Ray was about 10 years old he attended the Century of Progress at the World’s Fair and became interested in trains. Later (1950) he met Walter Johnson and became interested in live steam. Ray loved to operate his CBI&S #1573 2-6-0 steam engine along with a string of hopper cars. Ray also enjoyed his weekly track clean up activities with the CBI&S # 1619 Steeple Cab.