Railfanning

[Anonymous]

What got you interested in trains? My father and uncle worked for the railroad and as a kid we lived next to the tracks. So I guess I grew up around railroads. I am into photographing trains, model trains and railroad history.

[dldance]

For the first 6 years of my life, our house was on one side of the tracks and the farm was on the other. I got to see a lot a trains during the transition from steam to diesel. Still watching.

dd

[Anonymous]

I don't know how I got started....

I always loved riding on the Royal Hudson when I was young, but I can't remember much more than that trainwise.

I guess it's just always been there.

[Junctionfan]

I think it was the first time riding in a VIA train to Aldershot.

[rich747us]

From the time I was 4 to about the time I was 12, I lived not even a mile away from the ex-Conrail (R.I.P.) Chicago line (Batavia New York). The constant presence of Big Blue inducted me into the ranks of railfans. [:D] .

[MP57313]

Lived near the Delaware & Hudson outside of Binghamton, NY (early 60s). Dad or the neighbor take me along on walks along the track. Parents bought me a Lionel set too.

[JoeKoh]

My older brother got me started. when we could as soon as a train came into town he would put me on his bike and go down to the crossing. then he got his divers license and we used the car.We also had a family friend in indianapolis who worked for the nyc(pc/conrail).then in 1976 we moved to Defiance and a half block from the B&O/chessie/csx main.My grade school and JR high school were right by the tracks too.I just wish I started taking pics earlier.
stay safe
Joe

[Anonymous]

That is a hard one. Mabe it just gets in you blood when you start very young I guess.

[MP173]

I grew up next to the IC's Peoria to Evansville branchline. Each day, during the formative years, there would be a local each way. My mom, upon hearing the whistle would take me outside and read the names on the boxcars to me.

Often the local would stop and switch cars of limestone into the siding. More excitement. Ah, the sound of a Geep 7/9 switching.

ed

[athelney]

Watching T9's , M7's and Bullied pacifics going past my house all the time sparked an interest . My brother could not have cared less about trains -- maybe there is a mutated gene in my system !!!! Have kept the interest all my life - I'm now in my 50"s and still am drawn to railways where ever they are.

[mloik]

Watching CN switching about 100 feet from our house when I was 2 years old. That, and my uncle worked for CN....he was a big giant of a man, especially for a youngster like I was at the time.

Now my son is 2 years old, and my model trains, RR videos, and the Roaring Camp Railroads down the street have done the trick for him.

Michael

[railman]

I grew up along the BN....good times.

[cnw4001]

Looking out the back window at Cincinnati Union Terminal, up to 200 passenger arrivals/departures daily. Out that same back window. C&O, B&O and Southern yards. Site is now the CSX Queensgate Yard and the NS Gest Street yard.

Dale

[railman]

Add to that, stories of the Milwaukee Road....equals railfan!

[Anonymous]

My Grandpa my dad and I like trains and i like trains at age 2 after my dad took me to my first train and that christmas my first model train set with a CP Gp38 and i just got hooked and never stopped liking them and now just got into Railphotography and Find more and more ways to watch CP If that means going withmy mom to work whos job is right across from the tracks or going out when ur sick in the winter to catch a rare Cp engine ( sd90mac-h march 3 My B-day i had a cold and my mom took me to watch it) and i am waiting to get 16 so i can go on railtrips across the province.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

I don't know what got me interested in railfanning. Maybe it was an uncle out in Ohio who was a bumbadier on a freight train. he used to get on top of the box cars, and every time he spotted a bum riding on top of a box car he would kick the bum off. Then he would holler, 'bums away."

Seriously nobody in my family worked for a railroad, but i couldn't resist that pun, and I don't apologize for it. Perhaps railfanning is still an incureable disease.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps my interest in railroads stems from my childhood in the early 40's. Our summer cottage on Chautauqua Lake in western New York was less than fifty feet from the tracks of the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern R.R., the last electric interurban line in New York State. The tracks were very much "off limits" to me, a small child of 4 or 5 years old. The line quit the passanger service in November of '47, but I remember those red cars speeding by very clearly, some fifty seven years later.

[FThunder11]

Darn good question, I know my grandfather and great grandfather worked for the NYC and eventually the Penn Central, anyway it skipped my dad and the love of trains went straight to me.

[trainman6446]

Playing with dads Lionel trains when I was a kid. Seeing the Clinton car shops,depot and yards. Just naturally drawn to trains. I cant help it!!!

[halifaxcn]

I grew up alonside the Boston & Maines Bedford branch watching the local and two daily runs of "Buddliners". Got my first lionel set Christmas of 1962.

I was lucky my parents encourged my intrest and gave me many books on trains, railroads and helped me make a large Lionel layout. They gave an Nscale set in 1968 it was an Auroa "Postage Stamp" Pennsy train set. I ran those Minin-Trix engines and cars into the ground!

I have no railway employeed family members. My maternal great grandfather worked for the old Boston Elevated Railway Company, before becoming a cop.

I have always found trains to be a fascinating subject, maybe a shrink could tell me why. My wife thinks I am nuts, she puts up with sitting trackside, videos at home, 2 layouts under constructions, both Lionel and Nscale. Now living in Attleboro, MA on the NEC I can see action nearly every few minutes. She is so happy(not really) that my 3 yo son Dominic can now say boxcar, Amtrak, flatcar and engine!

Then again she thinks my other hobby is really werid, taking photographs of fire apparatus!

Go figure!!

[DPD1]

I'm another one that really doesn't know either... I know they use to take me on the CNW line up North of Chicago when I was a kid. Maybe that did it. Other then that, I really wasn't around them much until later, but I already liked them by then. Guess I just decided on my own.

Dave
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline

[jokestre]

I don't exactly recall the moment I fell in love with trains,but I do remember my mom getting mad at me for having that creosote and oil all over my shoes and jeans,when coming home from the tracks.... :-)

[eolafan]

I began commuting on the old NYC Harlem Division from my home in Tuckahoe, NY to mid town Manhattan in 1973 and used to see FL9 hauled trains come by me with expresses while I waited for my M.U. train to pick me up. These FL9 hauled trains doing about 60 through the station hooked me. Then we moved to Wausau, WI in 1974 and I saw "real" freight trains for the first time. I fell in love with SOO, MLW, CNW, GBW...well, that was it, and I have been a fan ever since, and will be one until I die.

[MikeSanta]

When I was a kid I had Lionel trains. Also, I used to go watch the real thing at the Jersey Central tracks down the block. The Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania tracks were by there, too.

[CSXrules4eva]

I fell in love w/ trains when I was about five or so. Then when I was 10 yrs I knew I would spend the rest of my life loving trains and working for the railroad.

Anyway. . . .. .it all began when I lived w/ my mom. She lived and still lives right next to the old Reading and Philadelphia line from Chestnut Hill East to Trenton. It now is owned by SEPTA and is called the R7 line. I used to see and hear trains every 45mins and in ruch hour every 1/2. I used to climb this beautiful Eastern White Pine sit at the top and watch the trains run through. Before u know it I was at the train station 1 block away fr. my house 24/7. Then I started taking the train every were, sometimes I would take the train just to get on it. THEN I got to know many conductors, engineers, formen, and MOW crew that worked for SEPTA. THEN from these connections I got to know many employees for CSX, Conrail, and Amtrak.
Also my great grandpop used to work on the gone but not forgotten PRR, Philadelphia Division. He too was a train nut. So I guess u can say I have 'train fever" in my blood.