Railfan for life

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if everyone has an experience that made them become a railfan for life. For me it was a two week summer vacation at my grandparent's house in Owatonna,MN watching the struggling but once proud Rock Island drag time freights and wayfreights thru town in the late 1970's. Does anyone else have similar experiences which made an impression upon you ?

[therailnut]

To Me I was a Railfan ever since I was a little kid. I always loved trains so when I got my drivers licenses what more could I have asked for. I then moved to Galesburg, IL when I was 20. The rest took off from there. Galesburg is One of BNSF major hubs to go west. A huge yard and used to have a huge machine shop. Which is in west Burlington, IA. So know I can take pictures and sit and watch trains for hours know.

[Anonymous]

Ever since I can remember I've liked trains, even before I could read I would look at my Dad's Trains magazines. Some of my favorite times were in Pittsburg,Ks and I would hear a train comming into town, I would beg my Grandpa to take me to the tracks to see it come in (KCS and at the time also Mo-PAC,Frisco, and Santa Fe too). My Grandpa was a retired carman off the KCS so he knew some of the guys and would sometimes get me a ride on the switch engine there in town. Those were the good ol' days.

[edahrenhoerster]

I'm another one with no recollection of not being a fan. When I was 2 years old and would go downtown (Milwaukee) the way for my mother to get me to be good was to promise that we could go to the end of Wisconsin Avenue and watch the trains at the Northwestern depot. Now I have 7 grandkids and 2 of them had choo-choo as one of their first ten words. At age 1 or so they come into the house and stand in front of the TV and say choo-choo, which is my cue to put on a train tape. One went to Rochelle with us at age 2 and spent 6 hours there, then cried when he had to leave. I think there must be a train watching gene.