Fun/memorable railfanning experiences

[928GTS]

Okay so we've got a thread for railfanning people who just simply don't know what they're doing but for the rest of us whats been your best/funniest/silliest railfanning moment?


For me it was probably when I was hanging out at my friend's apartment and my friend picks up a clearance signal from the D&H North End Dispatch so we all clamber into my friend's truck and hightail it down to a grade crossing near Colonie. Thankfully the train was still a good two miles out when we got there so we set up and got the shot and it was a gorgeous one with the D&H engine in its beautiful new blue and silver livery. So we noticed the train wasn't going all that quickly so we wondered if we could catch it in Albany as it entered Kenwood Yard so we got back into the truck and flew down to Albany and set up on the side of the road(we weren't blocking anyone,don't worry)facing the tracks. We're waiting and waiting and I start worrying that we missed it and that its already in Kenwood but sure enough I start hearing that telltale rumble and then the same D&H engine pulls down the line slowly and then I see the engineer look at us and then gives us a smile and a wave! He must have remembered us from the Colonie crossing! Its one of those feelings like meeting your idol a second time around and having them recognize you from the time before.

Anybody else have any good stories?

 

[N9JIG]

While railfanning in the UP of Michigan we had scored visitor passes for the LS&I. The office folk told us to check in at Eagle Mills (Main yard and shops) when we arrived there, show them our passes and follow the instructions given. When we arrived we stopped in the Yard Office, showed them the passes and they said we could pretty much have the run of the joint outside, but needed to be escorted if we wanted to go in the buildings.

We didn't want to be pests so we said we would do what we could outside and the CMO said he would take in some fresh air and come with us for a while. We got our roster shots, did some 4x5 work and learned that a dock job was going to run in an hour or so. The CMO told us of a good spot near a bridge for good pictures and offered to move a couple locos for better pictures while we were waiting.

The LS&I in the 70's and 80's were real good about railfans if you called ahead and arranged passes. We always made a point of sending in 8x10's of our previous trip when requesting passes for the next trip. When we would arrive at the downtown Marquette offices we saw a bunch of our pics lining the hallways.

Another trip found a friend and I heading for the Cartier in eastern Quebec. We were uncertain of where we were going to go, and it was kind of last minute when we decided to end up there. We stopped in the office to inquire about passes but no one would admit to speaking English and we spoke no French. They finally found a clerk that could translate and told us to stop at the shops after lunch. We did and there was a hostler there that was assigned to take us in and they provided a grand tour after releases were signed.

I have had similar results at several locations (N. Fond Du Lac on the WC, Parker on the AZCA, the Apache, Decatur on the N&W and on the Arkansas and Missouri. In fact, I was wearing an A&M tee-shirt while railfanning the MRL once and the engineer stopped his train, and wanted the shirt! He had worked at the A&M before moving to Montana. He traded a timetable for the shirt off my back and said we could request a cab ride at the office that he would see approved. Unfortunately time was short and we couldn't take him up on it as we had reservations for the BC Rail steam trip in a couple days and had to beat feet another thousand miles.

To keep it to radios...
Before they built the railfan platform at Rochelle we were all there one day and BN crew was switching a plant near the crossing. One of the guys came over to us and asked if we could hear the UP dispatcher on our scanners. Seemed his radio could transmit but not hear. So we dialed in the UP channel on my scanner, he called in to get clearances and used our scanner to listen for the UP's dispatcher's response.

 

[kb2vxa]

A long time ago on a railroad far away a friend and I were coming home from a fan trip in a blizzard and the train was SRO with grounded airline passengers. Stranded for 4 hours already at a frozen interlocking, with tired legs we decided on seats in the lav, he on the sink and I on the toilet with the door open as a courtesy. Another passenger asked if any one would object to him doing the same across the aisle and since nobody objected to us I suppose it was OK, so in he went and closed the door behind him and that's when the fun started.

Now along comes this woman squeezing her way down the aisle with one of those "I've been holding it for EVER!" looks. (You know how women are.) She finally gets to the lav, opens the door and enters closing the door behind her...

(This is one of those "wait for it" moments.)

Next was heard the most gawdawful blood curdling scream, and as the door flies open she stumbles out hobbled by panties down around her ankles and falls flat on her face. (Others had sense enough to clear the area expecting the worst.) Amid roaring laughter she sardines her way back up the aisle never to be seen again but wait, the best is yet to come.

The laughter finally dies down but what about that guy in the lav before her? We found out when he FINALLY came out... soaking wet! If the first round of "applause" wasn't enough this time the whole train was rocking even though it was standing still and the engineer way up front all alone in his GG-1 is probably still wondering what the hell was going on back there.

In those days the PRR coaches were appropriately painted in... Tuscan Red.