How Did You Become a Railfan?

[dabug]

Do you have an interesting story of how you became a railfan?  If your tale is too long and involved for a convenient posting - as is mine - send me an email and I'll return the favor.  There must be as many stories around as there are railfans! 

[passengerfan]

My first train trip was from Vancouver B C to Kansas City. I remember the Steam powered GN train that my Mother BNrother and I rode to rejoin my dad like it was yesterday. That train carried us only as far as Everett where we boarded a gleaming new streamlined Empire Builder for the trip to St Paul, from there to Kansas City we rode the Chicago Great Western. As we were detraining my mother fell while carrying my brother and left the station in an ambulance. My brother was uninjured but my mother was in the hospital for a few days. But inspite of this terrible ending to this trip I was a railfan. The family moved to Seattle two years later via the same trip in reverse but this time only as far as Seattle.

For the next Eleven years we traveled the same Empire Builder -Twin Star Rocket route between Seattle and Kansas City every summer on my parents vacation. And you ask how I becam a railfan. In addition their were the monthly trips to Vancouver on steam and diesel hauled trains later replaced by the Internationals to visit grandparents. Once we took the CPR Princess Elizebeth overnight between Vancouver and Seattle as a slide had closed the GN line just north of Seattle. So I became a maritime fan as well.

TTFN Al  

[Anonymous]

I became a fan at the age of 3, on my first trip.  I was taken overnight from Chattanooga, TN, to Daytona Beach, Fl and back on the Dixie Flagler, a fine streamliner in its day. I barely remember the trip but apparently was very enthused over the whole thing. 

My 12 year old sister took me around the train, I obviously was delighted. She and I wore bibs with our names on them, so people  eventually started noticing us and speaking to us---telling us how glad they were to see us for the umpteenth time--  To the mind of a 3 year old, I must have thought I was being "rewarded" for this "strange new behavior ", the behavior of walkinig from one end of a train to the other. 

ALso, it clearly seeped in to my little brain that the Dixie Flagler was no ordinary  train but was a fast modern streamliner.  By the age of 4 or 5 and 6 much of what I could think of was the Flagler.and eventually all other trains. 

That was 60 years ago, I am 63 now.. Been about 152,000 miles on the rails on the U.S. and Canada....all of it pleasure. My business does not require travel.  

[baberuth73]

When I was  a child, my father owned a funeral home. Occasionally, he would be called upon to handle the arrangements for some poor southerner that died while living up north. He would sometimes take me with him to the Seaboard Station in Columbia, South Carolina to meet the Silver Meteor or the Silver Star. While he and one of his employees were busy transfering the dearly departed to the hearse I would roam around taking in the sight of those slant-nosed locomotives and the string of cars that they pulled. I was hooked! The sight of those mars lights sweeping about in the night sky were really eye-catching and made an indelible impression on my 6-year-old mind.

[SSW9389]

Trains go way back in my memory. They were always there when I was growing up around Peoria, Illinois. Apparently I was fascinated by the things from an early age. My first direct memories of seeing trains was going to Chillicothe, Illinois to watch the Santa Fe. This would have been in the late 1950s. Every afternoon the Santa Fe passenger fleet would descend on Chillicothe on its way west. To a young mind this must have been impressive because the memories are still there. So is the zebra striped switcher and the time I got to go into the engine room of a passenger B unit. It was very hot inside that gray-green noisy monster. I can still see the emerald green and ruby red signals at the west end of the yard instructing the trains. Dad never suspected he was creating a railfan with those Sunday drives to Chillicothe, but he did.

My Aunt Mabel also greatly contributed to my early beginnings as a railfan. She had a hard cover library that was stocked with books on many subjects. Among them were books by Lucius Beebe and Charles Holbrooks' Story of American Railroads, and American Heritage. Reading these led to further rail endeavors. Those same books are in my library now.

Another early memory is of the Rock Island.  The Rock Island had a branch line through my home town of Dunlap, Illinois. The line extended from Peoria up to Wyoming, Illinois where it rejoined the Rock Island East-West main line. You could look down the street from my front porch and see this little tiny Rock Island Geep go about its business around the grain elevator. Other Rock Island times remembered were when Grandpa Cooper took me in about 1963 on a Shriner's Special to see the Cubs play the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Coming up to Chicago on the Rock Island we saw a train from the Erie Lackawanna whatever that was and on the way back to Peoria I asked Grandpa about the Southern Pacific baggage car we passed. He told me about a place called Tucumcari, Grandpa used to do rail shipping for Bemis Bag, a company he worked for, he knew his rail geography. The Peoria Rocket is long gone now, but the memory of trips to Chicago and to visit a friend in Henry, Illinois still vividly remain.

The family took a train trip out west in 1964. We Chiefed west out of Chillicothe to Williams Junction, Arizona. I remember riding in the front seat of the dome car quite a bit of the way and marveled at the passing RUMBLE then WOOSH when we met another train. Stayed up late that first night to experience the absolute darkness of the Raton Tunnel and woke up in the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. We got to Williams Jct. Arizona late that next afternoon and took a bus to the Grand Canyon. After the Canyon side trip we boarded the Santa Fe local train back to Williams Jct. It was a little two or three car train led by a passenger GP9, I still have the Kodak 127 snapshot of that train. At Williams Jct late that night we awaited the arrival of the westbound Hi Level El Capitan on which we had reservations for LA. I guess I was pretty tired and missed the 100 mph running in the California desert. I woke up somewhere on the west side of Cajon Pass in the early morning light. At Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal we were met by my Uncle Stillman who showed us around LA for a few days, I still remember the smog. We did Disneyland with its steam train around the park, Knott's Berry Farm also with Narrow Gauge Steam, and Marine Land. Back at LAUPT we took the Coast Daylight north to San Francisco. I remember meeting a freight at the foot of the Cuesta grade. Those Daylight trains were something.  We did some sight seeing around the Bay area to see the redwoods and left from Oakland on the California Zephyr. Our assigned seats were in a Budd dome coach and as usual I spent a good portion of the trip at see level. The highlight of the trip through the Feather River valley was when my dad was explaining about the rapids in the river and my little three-year-old brother wanted to know where the rabbit was.  The next day we woke up somewhere around Salt Lake City and the Rio Grande took over responsibility for the train from the Western Pacific. I have a great blurry snapshot of a four stripe Rio Grande F unit in Helper, Utah on our station stop there. I have vague memories of dropping off the Front Range and into Denver at the end of the day. When next we awoke it was under Burlington care and the train was racing across the prairie. Dad taught me how to check the time between the mileposts to see how fast we were going. Our two elephant style silver E units were making a mile in 45 seconds or 90 mph. Grandpa and Grandma Cooper met us at Galesburg later that day. This was a trip I never will forget, and I wasn't quite ten years old!

Ed

[JonathanS]

It seems that I was always a railfan.  My mother tells me that when I was 4 I would sneak out of the apartment and run down to the corner to watch the streetcars.  Also, my father would sometimes walk me the few blocks to 30th Street Station to watch the parade of PRR passenger trains behind GG1s, the freights going overhead on the high line behind anything the PRR had, and to watch the electric switchers in the coach yard. Later we lived beside the Reading's Bethlehem branch and the MU's, ore trains behind the C630s, and locals behind RS3s and occasionally AS16s really sealed my fate as a railfan.

[Anonymous]

It started for me in 1976 (4 years old).  My mom and dad took me on a Chattanooga,TN to Crossville,TN TVRM ran excursion, the only time (that I know of) that 4501 and 2 diesels went together from Harriman to Crossville....................can we say several spindly looking bridges, a tunnel and a pretty steep grade (at one point up to 3.4%).  Thats how I got hooked

[FTGT725]

Our property bordered the C&NW main line through Dixon, IL. I grew up loving trains.

[steamfanatic]

When I saw 4070 pulling excrsions through the Mon Valley.

[cnwfan51]

    I cant remember a time when I wasnt interested  in trains and railroading   I come from a long line of railroaders in fact I M A 3RD GENERATION RAILROADER .  When I was growing up the only thing at times my Dad and I could talk about without  getting into an argument  was Trainds and railroading     Larry

[arkansasrailfan]

My dad took me to watch trains when I was 3 days old. I've been hooked ever since.
I'm a 3rd generation railfan, but what helped was that one great grandfather was a doc for the RI, the SSW and the Mop. My other great grandfather was a mechanic for the Pennsy. But he hated IT!!
(:O)

[Berk765]

I became a railfan when I was BORN!!! Yes sir, I can't remember a time when I didn't like trains. Coal, Iron, steam, and steal runs through my vains. And I am a DIE HARD steam fan and I'm proud of it. Long live the Steam Locomotive, there will never be another machine like it. Can't help it, the magic of it just got me. I know them new engines are more powerful, but they just lost the magic.

[MP173]

I grew up in Southern Illinois in a small town called Dundas.  The IC's branch line from Mattoon to Evansville ran thru town and at an early age my mother would take me outside to watch the trains pass.  There were two trains daily and after awhile it became routine to drop what you were doing to go watch the trains pass.

She would count the cars and read the names on the cars.  Thus, early schooling began with math, reading, and geography.  In 1963 we took the B&O to St. Louis for a trip.  In 1964 it was the B&O/MoPac to Pueblo, Co.  In 1966 the same trip was taken via B&O/NW/UP/DRG with return via ATSF (Chief) from LaJuanta.  I was hooked.

A family friend who was employed by the IC gave me an Official Guide in 1968, which I still have.  Finally, I was hooked in 1972 when I picked up the May issue of Trains.  I have read every issue since.

ed

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Well, i grew up down the street from the CNR's Pine Falls subdivision (Now CEMR)and used to watch trains there when i was a kid, and always walked through the Transcona Shops and watched hostlers in SW1200RS's and yard GMD-1's shunt cars down the many tracks there. Also loved to watch trains come down the CPR Arcola sub past my Grandpa Hay's cattle farm, now my Uncle's, when they still had yellow cabooses on the tail end, and i would always get a wave from the conductor and i would find my flattened pennies after the caboose left. Boy i miss those 80's. In recent times i owe a great amount of thanks to Greg McDonnell who brought that childlike awe of Railwaying back into my life, you are forever in my debt Greg.

This photo is of the Central Manitoba Railway's Pine Falls sub, around dusktime, and you can see the headlight of the CEMR GP9rm 4000 in the horizon, the clickety clack of the 85lb rail and the rock and sway is timeless on this line.

[gbrewer]

My story is long enough that I posted it as an essay under the title of, How I became a Lifelong Railfan.

 

[jamesedwbradley]

(1) Mom and I met Dad's commuter train every weekday afternoon at 5:35, followed quickly by dinner - a Pavlovian response!  We also took him to morning train (New Haven Railroad NYNH&H  at Larchmont, NY), followed by my ride to school.  (2) The trains were the biggest, noisiest things in our little suburban town and we lived near, but not next to, tracks.  (3) My dad worked as an investment advisor and railroads were prominent investments then (1940s).  We always had Railway Age lying around the living room, and when I apparently picked up a timetable and tried to read it, he would bring one from a different line each week or so - he got them from the info booth 'by the Golden Clock' at Grand Central Terminal - I still treasure many of them, 63 years later !!   (I added many more in college years by leaning over the info counter at 30th St. in Philadelphia when the clerk wasn't looking, asking for them at Reading Terminal (they gave me a North Shore once) , and of course filling my pockets at the Penn-Sheraton and any other hotel with a timetable rack (there were plenty in the 1950s). 

James E. Bradley     Allentown, PA 

 

[carknocker1]

I was born that way . I am a firm believer in the train gene .

[countbaycee]

We lived on my Grandfather's hill top farm about 20 miles east of Louisville until I was 9. The only way to the farm by car was either of two grade crossings over the Southern Railway tracks, which ran about 1/3 mile south of the farmhouse. The tracks were originally built by the old Louisville & Southern Railway as their main out of Louisville that ran east to Shelbyville and then turned south to Danville Kentucky and connecting to points south.

About 1.5 miles to the north, and near my Great-Grandfather's house, ran one of the Louisville and Nashville tracks. This line roughly paralleled the Southern from Louisville to Shelbyville and then maintained it's eastward course on to Lexington. In addition to L&N freight and passenger service; the Chesapeake and Ohio also had trackage rights over this line for the Louisville section of their outstanding passenger train, the George Washington.

I remember many evenings laying in bed and hearing the whistles of freight and passenger trains on either line, or both, wafting on the summer breeze.  We could hear the Southern traffic inside the house year round; especially as the whistles were sounded for the three grade crossings the were within a mile of our house. When I started riding the school bus; I crossed both sets of tracks at least once, morning and afternoon.

So almost every time I left the farm; I was up close and personal with trains.  I saw, felt and heard countless diesels; regrettably I can recall seeing only one steam locomotive.

It was on the Southern line one dark night in the early 50's as we waited at the grade crossing at Clark's Station to return home. I can't even remember if it was operable or in tow. However, I do remember my dad remarking that the big loco was headed for the scrap heap.

Maybe steam power was no longer present on both the Southern and L&N by them time I was old enough to notice; or it could have been that the adults in my life paid more attention to the newer diesels, so I followed their lead.  Regardless, despite the fact that steam locomotives now fascinate me, I have no memories of them from my childhood save one.

A little over a year ago, I moved back into the area and my almost daily trips into Louisville take me near or across the Southern track, which is now a very busy part of the Norfolk Southern system. The other line of my youth followed the progression from L&N through the Family Lines System into the CSX system. In October 2003 the old L&N line between Louisville and Winchester, KY was purchased from CSX by the R.J. Corman Group and is now operated as a short line.

Railfanning has been among my varied interests all my life. However, now that I am in my 60's and retired; I seem to be spending more and more time on my interest in railroads.

Countbaycee 

 

[trainman536]

I became a railfan by riding a train once

[Anonymous]

  I became a railfan at birth, my dad, several uncles, cousins, brothers, as well as myself when I became old enough to get hired on at the AT&SF railroad shops in Cleburne,Texas on January 27th, 1972 at the "old diesel ramp", where my dad/mentor was a electrician. My first assignment as a class 3 laborer/engine washer was to get with the boilermaker & get the firehoses thawed out & wash that cut of "MTC" cars out & sanitized to be put back in service! It was 22 degrees that day with ice & snow on the ground about 8-10 inches deep. I had really hit the bigtime, as I was making a whopping $3.32 an hour!! Soon, I was promoted to a "machinist helper", my job was a cellar packer! It paid almost $4.00 an hour, that afforded me luxuries such as hotrods & boats, not to mention all the other toys that 20 year old father of a baby boy fancied at the time! When the last day for me to clock in on a railroad time clock, I was making $14.55 per hour! It ended from a drunk driver hitting me while I was driving to air test an outbound train! Looking back to that era of my life, I was happiest & had more than I deserved, I have not been there since either & I am an old retiree now in poor health & with less money than ever before! My dad,brothers & granpa, all retired from the railroad, thusly, I am still a huge fan of the railroad! I do miss the sounds & activities of a busy trainyard in the middle of the night, it was an exciting & rewarding time for me.

[Anonymous]

Walking on the old IC line when I was a kid. Started building models and Now I collect railroad locks and keys. I have a website www.railroadkeys.com if anyone has any locks or keys to sell. I'm always looking for mid west items.

Thanks

Michael

[Anonymous]

I have a couple of old brass or bronze locomotive reverser handles, both are in perfectr condition too! I'd sell them if the price was right!

[blade]

when i was a young lad about  eight years of age my dad would take me to the nearest railway track and i would watch in amazement and awe at the trains passing by the brute power and strength of those powerful beasts riding the rails was what hooked me ans i am happy to say that after more than thirty years i am still an avid railfan and will always be a railfan.

[agentatascadero]

I would have to include myself with that blessed group who were born into fanning, I was born into an SP Agent/Telegrapher family.  Why do I say "born"?  Well, it was actually about from age 6 months until nearly two that we lived above the Aromas, CA station (about 5 miles RR west of Watsonville Jct on the SP Coast Line), and this was the bug which has infected me ever since.  I have no recall of this, but the story is that, as I was learning to walk...at 10-12 months, I would teeter around as toddlers do, but, when I heard a train approaching, I would drop to the ground and "jet crawl" to the window to see that train...walking was just too slow.  Now, consider that the time was 1943-1945, and here's little baby me looking down the stacks of Cab Forewards, and all the rest of the SP fleet, and nary a diesel in those days.  Combine that with all our travel by train, we had NO car those days, and my only wish is that I could be "re-infected" with the "bug" all over again. Thank God the bug resists all attempts to cure this infection. AA

[Anonymous]

There is just one reason i became a railfan. My friend luke is in love with trains. So about five years ago he showed me his train table. And right there I thought the trains were so cool and intresting. Now i love trains and love how they run and learning about them. That's how i became a railfan.







Softball Maniac

[CNWRacine]

For all my life I loved airplanes!!!!!  When I was a kid we would go watch trains in the yard at Spooner Wisconsin, which was always fun to see but no real big deal to me at the time.  I worked in the airline industry for 10 years everyday around airplanes I love airplanes and loved working around them.  I left the airline industry 3 years ago to go to work as a network engineer and one day I woke up and said wow I really like trains and I want to learn all about them and now I could careless about airplanes.  Go figure huh??