A checklist of 70 items to tell if your a railfan.

[bnsfkline]

You know you're a railfan when:

1. You shop for a house by the tracks instead of away from them!
2. When planning your next vacation, you choose your travel route based upon the location of active railroads and railroad museums.
3. When you blow your horn two longs, a short, and a long through every intersection.
4. Speaking of intersections, you call the signals as you go through them.
5. You call zoning to ask if you can use a boxcar for a shed.
6. You wonder why automobiles don't come equipped with couplers.
7. While engaged in intimate relations, you suddenly find yourself mentally debating the relative merits of Shay vs. rod engines.
8. Your wife tells you her water burst, and your first reaction is, "My God, her boiler will be ruined!"
9. When you wire up the fog lamps to flash alternately when you blow the horn
10. When being served dinner, you say, "Easy, easy, that'll do!" as you've gotten enough.
11. When riding with someone who's backing into a parking space, you say, "two cars, one car, that'll do."
12. When you get a shopping cart with a bad wheel, you tag it and set it aside for the shops to repair, or park it in an aisle and put up a blue flag in front of and behind it.
13. You curse the dispatcher when you're held up in traffic.
14. You're test driving a hot V6 and think, "This thing can really move in notch 8."
15. While driving your car, you put your arm on the window sill and wave your hand and blow your horn to all kids standing on the street.
16. Your wife opens her wallet to show the relatives photos of the children while you open your wallet to show them your latest rail photos from last weeks fan trip.
17. You install a pedal operated bell in your car and ring it while driving across railroad crossings.
18. You open your refrigerator door only to find it full of film for the next fan trip.
19. You find yourself looking for old locomotives and color schemes during the obligatory chase scene through the rail yards when you're watching old cop shows and movies on TV.
20. The efforts of Hollywood to re-create an earlier era using trains is met with your derisive snort, "They didn't have GP40-2's in 1970! Can't they get it right?"
21. You're on Amtrak, you find out that the guy across the isle is a railfan, and your wives look at each other, roll their eyes and sigh.
22. You're in your car and you come up to a railroad crossing. The crossing lights are not flashing and no trains are coming, but you slow to a crawl and look up the track both ways in hope of seeing a train.
23. You are on a rail facility tour and start talking to one of the mechanics on the shop floor only to find out that you know more than he does.
24. You rent certain movies at the video store because you know there is a very cool train scene in it.
25. You refuse to cross the tracks until your favorite train has passed by.
26. You barbeque using tie butts, for that special flavor!
27. You tell your wife you are going down to the corner bar to have a few drinks with the guys, however, you go to your favorite train watching spot to take a few photos.
28. You are on a highway overpass, at 60 mph you suddenly shout," that's the Seaboard down there!", and you can't believe the others in the car didn't recognize it by the color of the ballast.
29. You tell your wife you would like take a nice ride to look at scenery, her interpretation being, “guess I'll take some magazines to look at while he looks at the scenery in the rail yard."
30. You can't understand why everyone else doesn't understand what” approach diverging" means.
31. It would not be to your advantage for the railroad police to come to your house and look around.
32. You get tired of explaining to people that you are not a fireman because you have a radio.
33. Your relatives only think of you when they see a train.
34. When you are out by the tracks with another railfan people ask, "is the train coming?"
35. You get irritated whenever a train wrecks because nonrailfans "invade" your special train watching spots.
36. You don't like imitation railfans who wear railroad patches all over their clothing.
37. The train crews know you by first name.
38. When you're driving, you make "shooooo" sounds when you step on the brake, and "choooo" sounds when you take your foot off of it, imitating air brakes. (I think cement truck drivers do this too. 8-D) )
39. At your house by the tracks you get some of the crews trained to blow the crossing alert to let you know they are going by, even though there is no crossing there.
40. You date your girlfriend because the view out the front window of her apartment is your favorite railroads mainline.
41. You latter marry this woman knowing that she will understand you and won't mind that house by the tracks.
42. You build your 1 year old a jungle gym / fort in the backyard so they can play on it when you really intend to use it to get a better view of the trains over the back fence.
43. You size said fort large enough so that you and three of your friends have sufficient room to watch the trains.
44. When the lights are activated at the railroad crossing you race to be first in line, so you get an unobstructed view, then at double track crossings wait a little while after they go up in hopes that another train is coming the other way.
45. When you see a nice looking woman (or man, for the few female railfans you say something to your friends like "Look at that carbody!!!"
46. When you pass gas, you say something like, "80 pounds on the rear!"
47. You make engine sounds walking up the stairs, pretending you are on a grade.
48. You are on a date and pass by some tracks and in the process of rattling off everything you know, you realize she doesn't care!
49. You come back from a long distance railfan adventure and the very next day go out and shoot one of your local lines.
50. You are at a grade crossing and you jump out of your car because a train is coming so you can get a shot.
51.when watching the trains go by, instead of counting the cars, you look and see what train cars have railroad liveries from fallen flags are still floating around from railroads you know don't exist anymore.
52.when watching a train go by you log the sighting in a little notebook it as if it were an hourly weather report.
53.you talk in "railroad", and most people you are crazy when you talk to them. they say," again, slowly, in English!"
54.you turn your house into a replica of a train station.
55.you know the numbering system for your favorite railroads. locomotives, and what type they are...better than the dispatcher at the local yard.
56. you may say when someone "looses their train of thought" instead you say "He derailed his train of thought."
57. You know you're a railfan when you constantly complain about the lack of cabooses on trains.
58. You know you're a railfan when you can identify a locomotive as to it's manufacturer, model, phase, variation, year of manufacture, engine type, and horsepower, and all the engineer knows is that it's a "locomotive".
59. You know you're a railfan when you tell your wife that "a train just went by, I can see it's tracks" every time you cross one.
60. You know you're a railfan when you can find the rail yards in another town within 5 minutes of getting off the interstate/Higway/tollway, etc.
61. Your rolling stock and loco roster on your train layout exceeds that of a regional shortline.
62. You have more trains and model railroader magazines than playboys
63. Your train layout is so large, train dispatching is necessary and people scan your frequencies and railfan along YOUR mainline, but you can't see them.
64. Your home movies collection consists of train runbys you shot.
65. You paint your vehicle in a railroad livery, number it, and attach a kl5a to the top your car, and then blow it every time you come to a rr crossing confusing motorists behind you.
66. You could fix a severe mechanical problem in an SD70MAC but can't change the oil in your car.
67. You know more numbers of train locomotives than addresses...and often confuse the two.
68. Your idea of the "local hangout" is the rail yard, and you invite friends with you to watch trains.
69. You think railfanning is actually a spectator sport
70. You try to have a mainline relocated into your frontyard so you can out crossbucks out on the side of your driveway.

If you checked 47 of the 70, then your a TRUE railfan! If you checked em all, then your plain obssessed!

[BNSFGP38]

Guilty of:
3,4,11,15,19,20,22,23,30, majorly 31!!!, 33,38,44,48 big time!!!,46,47---when no one around[:I],54,58[:I][8D]...... my god I got bit by the bug hard!!!!!!!!!!!!

[espeefoamer]

#17. A frend of mine once had a crossing bell installed under his hood. It was operated by a button on the dashboard.

[tree68]

Sheesh - lost count.....

[AntonioFP45]

O.K!

I'm guilty in at least 25 of these categories!! That's scary!

[Anonymous]

Now i see why everyone thinks i am crazy. Guilty of 99%.

[JoeKoh]

#33
why is this train hauling this and whats in those containers???????
happens all the time
stay safe
Joe

[dwil89]

Very funny, and true! I'm guilty of many of them. As ar as the fireman part, sometimes, I'll just hang out at the Park at Horseshoe Curve on a nice day. I'll be sitting there wearing my Railroad or Railfan Cap and wih my scanner going. Alot of tourists, or occasional trainwatchers will come up and ask if I work for the Railroad on account of my radio, and attire, or else they'll come up and ask me when the next train is coming. I usually give them a respectable amount of info on the line..which way is west, east, how do I know where the train is at? (Because I hear the detectors tripping, and the crews calling signals and direction of travel) It is quite fun though... Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown

[Anonymous]

Only if I was living right next to the BNSF up in Northwestern Nebraska.
I want to get away from the bigger city's.

[locomutt]

Guilty of most,although I have problems with "friends"
when I tell them I want to go watch "trains",they don't
seem to understand.[?]

[Train Guy 3]

#33 If anyone at my school needs to know about a train... I'm suddenly called for questioning.

[Anonymous]

All I've got to say is this is one of the funniest, most entertaining threads I've read.


thanks, Jim


mike

[cnw1995]

Man, this is just great! I'm a bit concerned since I resonate with so many of these items...Do I get some sort of prize? ;)

[MP57313]

Guilty of #'s 2, 20, 22, 25, 29, 34, 44, 49, 50, 51, 60, 62, 68 and 69. Plus #47 when I was a kid.
As for #22, check your rear-view mirror before you do that! As for #34, I don't get asked that often but people sometimes crane their necks when they see the camera {why is that guy taking a picture of the trash next to the railroad track?}

[Randy Stahl]

# 71.... You spend the entire family budget on an old ALCo S-6, brush off complaints of no grocerys, water, electricity, etc.
# 72....Seeing as how the family is broke, plan the next family vacation around said ALCo S-6 so you have enough help to change the batterys.
Randy

[cherokee woman]

I think locomutt is guilty of just about the entire list. Still trying to figure
out how many of them I'm guilty of.