what's the appeal or allure behind being a railfan?

[jmp883]

For me it was growing up in several towns that had a large railroad presence. I was born in Sayre, PA. It was the central point on the Lehigh Valley RR that ran between Buffalo, NY and Newark, NJ. The yard and shop complex was massive. In 1976 the LV was one of 6 bankrupt railroads that were folded into Conrail. Sayre was, and still is, active as a railroad town but it is just a ghost of what it once was. I also lived just outside of Scranton, PA, another big railroad town. There were several railroads that served Scranton, the biggest being the Erie Lackawanna. Just as with the LV in Sayre, the EL became part of Conrail in 1976. Again there is still railroad activity in Scranton but nothing like what it was up until 1976. The 2 towns I've lived in since I moved to NJ also have railroad history and current railroad activity. I guess the fascination of railroads for me was the size of the locomotives that were pulling long strings of freight cars. What child wouldn't want to be the engineer and be in control of those big engines?

I enjoy just listening to the local railroads on my scanner. I also enjoy railroad photography. I always have my radio with me when trackside so I know what is going on and when to expect trains. The NYC metro area is loaded with freight and commuter railroads so there is quite a bit to pick from.

I was lucky enough to work for a major NYC area commuter railroad as a train dispatcher. In addition to dispatching our own commuter trains we also dispatched the several freight railroads that used our rails to reach their customers. It gave me great insight to my hobby since I was able to see how the railroad worked from the inside.

Trains and radio - 2 great hobbies that mix well together! Enjoy!

 

[burner50]

It's a hobby that they enjoy. There doesn't need to be a benefit from it or even a "why".

However, some of the obsessive ones are insufferable people to be around, especially as a railroader. When I worked for UP, I kept a few empty water bottles with my email on a piece of paper inside so they could send me a couple pictures of me. My kids liked seeing that stuff.

On more than one occasion the insufferable pricks standing by the tracks emailed me *****ing about me ruining their roster shot and how dare I do that.

Sometimes railfans put themselves into dangerous situations by being entirely too close to the tracks. That annoys me. Having been involved in a major derailment early in my railroad career I can say that you just don't know what might fail and send that train into the right of way. Derailments happen all the time. Major derailments happen regularly. Just because the news is just now covering them doesn't mean that they haven't been happening all along.

 

[jmp883]

Don't mean to derail this thread (pun intended? )

Burner50 wrote:

Sometimes railfans put themselves into dangerous situations by being entirely too close to the tracks.

As a railfan I've seen many that many times. Those railfans are so wrapped up into getting that particular photo that they put themselves into a dangerous situation. It was really driven home to me once I became a train dispatcher. Part of becoming qualified as a train dispatcher required us to periodically ride in the cab of the locomotive over the lines we dispatched to become familiar with the territory. More than once I saw railfans get into dangerous situations. I also saw non-railfan trespassers walking along the right-of-way and vehicles who thought that they could beat the crossing gates. A train cannot stop on a dime! Our commuter trains were usually a single locomotive and 3-4 coaches. That is fairly lightweight compared to a freight train. Freight trains are usually a lot longer and lot heavier.

It's common sense, folks. Stay on public property and never do anything that puts yourself, or the train crew, at risk.

 

[pb_lonny]

I guess it is like anything in life, somethings just draw people in for different reasons.

 

[prcguy]

Word on the street is chicks are attracted to rail fans.

 

[wa8pyr]

However, some of the obsessive ones are insufferable people to be around

In all fairness, this is also true of radio hobby people. As a dispatcher and volunteer firefighter (and later a radio systems administrator) I had a small list of people who not only would act as though they knew everything, but would also constantly ask me for 'inside information' and get pretty pissy when I politely advised them I couldn't give them the info they sought. They seemed to think that their being a radio hobbyist automatically entitled them to 'inside information' from me simply because I also am a radio hobbyist; they never grasped the idea that the radio thing was my livelihood and that I wasn't about to jeopardize that.

Sometimes railfans put themselves into dangerous situations by being entirely too close to the tracks. That annoys me. Having been involved in a major derailment early in my railroad career I can say that you just don't know what might fail and send that train into the right of way. Derailments happen all the time. Major derailments happen regularly. Just because the news is just now covering them doesn't mean that they haven't been happening all along.

Very true. I've seen railfans do some pretty stupid things. The one that still gets me to this day was the complete jackass who stood right in the gauge of the track, trying to get that perfect picture as N&W 611 roared at him during a photo runby on one of the early train excursions for the Ohio Railway Museum (I was with that group for many years). As Safety Director I was always looking for that kind of thing; I yelled at him to move, and finally had to grab him and drag him off the tracks. He was ticked at me for 'ruining his shot' but I pointed out to him that he was alive, which he may not have been had he stayed there. On later trips, we actually went to the runby location the Friday before the trips and strung up yellow 'do not cross' safety tape, and made sure people stayed behind it.

 

[wa8pyr]

Word on the street is chicks are attracted to rail fans.

I wish....

 

[robertwbob]

i worked for rail road restoration at ft scott ks part time. i owned my truck but id get called out for derailments. i quickly learned my scanner was active when we arrived at crash scenes.
clearnce iowa was a big crask where a bad dispatch sent a coal train wrong way. was lots of activity there.
i normally pulled a trailer with a rough service crane or a d6 cat. i still moniter trains

 

[AK9R]

Very true. I've seen railfans do some pretty stupid things.

I "chased" Union Pacific 4014 "Big Boy" from St. Anne IL to Villa Grove IL earlier this month. Lots of examples of railfans doing stupid things. At the top of the list were the fans standing on the Norfolk Southern bridge over the UP at Sidney. Aside from blatant trespassing, they were completely oblivious to the fact that NS runs stack trains through there at 60 mph.

 

[drdispatch]

My mantra is that if you're on the rocks, you're too close. Sidewalk outside of the gates, or station platform (well behind the yellow line) is where you'll find me.

 

[Randyk4661]

For me it's the size of the trains and the power to pull them.
Have you ever counted the number of trailers & containers on the back of a train? Hearing a locomotive start from a dead stop pulling 100 or more cars behind it and getting up to speed is impressive.
Now what would it be like on the roadways, highways & interstates if trucks had to pull them to their destinations across the country?.

 

[burner50]

In all fairness, this is also true of radio hobby people.

It isn't limited to railfans or radio hobby people. Find any group of people, and a subset of them will be insufferable pricks who only steal joy from others.

For that matter, looping back around to the railroad, most of the train crews were in this demographic. Reason #297,375 I quit the railroad industry.

clearnce iowa was a big crask where a bad dispatch sent a coal train wrong way.

Oddly enough, I used to run on that territory. I'm not sure when the derailment you're referencing was, but the premise of the dispatcher sending a train the wrong way is simply not a thing. Back in the day the territory was ATC territory and the cab signal would literally stop the train unless it was specifically cut out by the crew (a big fat no-no). Then it was CTC/ATC, and now I believe it may be straight CTC. A simple mistake can't send a train the "wrong way" there.

 

[robertwbob]

It isn't limited to railfans or radio hobby people. Find any group of people, and a subset of them will be insufferable pricks who only steal joy from others.

For that matter, looping back around to the railroad, most of the train crews were in this demographic. Reason #297,375 I quit the railroad industry.


Oddly enough, I used to run on that territory. I'm not sure when the derailment you're referencing was, but the premise of the dispatcher sending a train the wrong way is simply not a thing. Back in the day the territory was ATC territory and the cab signal would literally stop the train unless it was specifically cut out by the crew (a big fat no-no). Then it was CTC/ATC, and now I believe it may be straight CTC. A simple mistake can't send a train the "wrong way" there.

Well sorry but somebody sent a coal train south empty.it got stopped n turned at some location along iowa east border.we got called n was many cars demolished.woulda been 24 years ago.
And it was iowa cold too. Below 0 mornings. 1 guy shut a truck off .it set through that job. He didnt work on crew again.
All the cars and parts were pushed to the side n hauled to norfolk nebraska too

 

[chrismol1]

I suppose its similar to little kids like big trucks. When I was a little kid in my parents car the best thing that could have happened besides mcdonalds was getting stuck at a railroad crossing

 

[DeoVindice]

It's big, complex machinery with a lot of intricacies and history. I'm not a railfan but I can see the appeal. I worked around an industrial railroad for a bit (it ran through our plant and delivered process chemicals); that was a neat element of the job.

 

[robertwbob]

I "chased" Union Pacific 4014 "Big Boy" from St. Anne IL to Villa Grove IL earlier this month. Lots of examples of railfans doing stupid things. At the top of the list were the fans standing on the Norfolk Southern bridge over the UP at Sidney. Aside from blatant trespassing, they were completely oblivious to the fact that NS runs stack trains through there at 60 mph.

Id loved to see it.but i know to stay back. Bet it was a great sight to behold

 

[burner50]

Well sorry but somebody sent a coal train south empty.it got stopped n turned at some location along iowa east border.we got called n was many cars demolished.woulda been 24 years ago.
And it was iowa cold too. Below 0 mornings. 1 guy shut a truck off .it set through that job. He didnt work on crew again.
All the cars and parts were pushed to the side n hauled to norfolk nebraska too

Ah, quite awhile ago.

Clarence is actually quite a distance from the east border. That would have to have been Clinton, not Clarence.

 

[robertwbob]

Ah, quite awhile ago.

Clarence is actually quite a distance from the east border. That would have to have been Clinton, not Clarence.

Ah, quite awhile ago.

Clarence is actually quite a distance from the east border. That would have to have been Clinton, not Clarence.

the crash wasnt at east border,thats where it was turned. it was just east of clarence out in flat farm land. there was a very hard wind blast that was factor in crash from what we were told.
all cars were laying on south side of tracks

 

[ratboy]

My backyard went up to the now gone Toledo Terminal RR track going to the "Upper Maumee River Bridge". What was great about it was they had not only TTRR trains, but you never knew what you would see being routed from the yards in Walbridge to Detroit, Ann Arbor, back around to go East or West on the then New York Central, later Penn Central, then finally Conrail "Chicago Line". I remember seeing brand new locos just out of the factory many many times. I saw my first SD-45, a PRR one, from my bedroom one morning. Not long after, I saw several Great Northern SD45's being sent over to NYC to head west
Before I could really talk, I was hooked on watching them. My mother literally had a breakdown when I was a baby due to her not getting any sleep due to my popping awake every time I heard a train, and yelling, "TAIN!". She went to the hospital for exhaustion, but solved the problem when she got home by telling me to "Call your dad" when I needed something at night. My dad and I had some adventures, usually involving our nasty Dachshund, Gus, and of course, he was bored to death listening to me talk about the trains.

I still go to Holland, Deshler, etc to watch them often. I used to love the arguments, usually about power, on Conrail. Some of those fights were amazingly vicious. NS is pretty dull compared to them.

 

[N1XDS]

Doesn't matter how young, how pre teen, how middle age or how old in times you are if you like following trains in real life to their designations or meeting up with other fellow train fans to find that train going down the line. For me whats the point of following the in bound train or outbound train is simple trains no matter the size of the train if its one engine, two engines or more pulling either car carts, flat cars, refrigerated carts.

When I see the engineer coming by the tracks I always do the sound the horn gesture with my right hand which something I always done and the engineers would blow the airhorn and wave I would always wave back to show my respect for what these train engineers have to do everyday and night when on their route schedule.

If anyone here on the forum is a train engineer I say job well done on everything you guys and ladies do everyday and night when starting your route, in route or ending your route.

- Jamie