Why Trains?

[snakespol]

[^]This is what me wife often asks me,'I don't get it with this TRAIN sttuff'! I find it diffacult to answer, I don't know if it's the raw power of locomotion, or the seeming independance of railroading, or just 'Man that engine is big!. At 47 I am just what most of you would consider a rookie railfan, I don't know much about the different model or train numbers etc...But, I learn new things everyday thanks to these pages and those in the many train magazines I receive. I'm glad to see that it's not just me. Thanks to all of you out there that make this a great hobby.

[fievel]

I don't think we can ever explain our love of RR's to someone who doesn't
understand. So I gave up years ago attempting to give reasons to people
who aren't interested. Railroads are like a magnet. If you are iron,they pull
you close. If you are a non-ferrous metal : no effect. What a great hobby
we have ![:)]

[Modelcar]

....Why not....Everyone needs an interest....It is for me, the wonderful engineering of the phyical plant...{track engineering, etc...}, The great power within the concept of railroading in it's ability to move heavy and volume loads....It's uniqueness in method, and great architechtural structures....are some of the reasons.

[Anonymous]

E=mc2? There's not much else that moves so much mass at speed. Sure a 747 taking off or a Shuttle launch is far more brute force, but once off the ground they're gone. Standing 10-20' away from a train going 70...

[spbed]

Well it did not rub off on either one of my kids sorry to say. They think I am should be put away because I spend $$$$ to go on rail fanning trips.

[Anonymous]

I find it's one of those things that when you try to put it into words, it loses some of its meaning.

There's something impending about it. Yet it somehow seems to be suspended in time. Something important about it. But then all is quiet, and as it should be.

[Anonymous]

I've always been fascinated with works of engineering and applied science. Whether its an SD40-2, 767-400ER, USS Arleigh Burke, Delta IV rocket, or the New River Gorge Bridge.

[spbed]

Well my bro is a aero engineer now working for a contractor for NASA & what you mentioned did not transfer to him sorry to say. [;)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by radivil

I've always been fascinated with works of engineering and applied science. Whether its an SD40-2, 767-400ER, USS Arleigh Burke, Delta IV rocket, or the New River Gorge Bridge.

[eolafan]

I'm not sure, but I can tell you the time (almost to the hour) back in 1974 when I took my first commuter train from Tuckahoe, NY to Grand Central Terminal on my first day of work in a new office and while waiting for my MU electric train to pick us up, along came a train from Dover Plains with two olf FL9 units and six heavy cars blasting through Tuckahor at about 50 per...I WAS HOOKED AND STILL AM!

[tree68]

Why to people collect butterflies? Or cameras? Or art? Or make quilts? Or any of dozens of other interests. Be it the sights, the sounds, the feelings, or whatever attracts you to railroads, you probably can't explain it any better than the person who's looking for that rare [insert rare thimble here] thimble from Timbuktu. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.

So why try? Wait - I think I hear the whistle for that crossing down the way... Excuse me, gotta check the camera before the train gets here.

[oltmannd]

They're big. They're powerful. They move. They're fast. They make noise. You can get near them. They're historically and economically relevant. Nothing else I can think of is all of this.

And they're not as messy as fish. (apologies to fishermen....)

[JoeKoh]

sound of the horn the engineer waves(so did the crew in the caboose)Diffrent road power.can be used to teach some colors numbers and letters and its something we can do together. parents around me are looking for that 1 link they can have with their kids. mine is trains and matt is definately hooked.
stay safe and enjoy
Joe

[eolafan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by oltmannd

They're big. They're powerful. They move. They're fast. They make noise. You can get near them. They're historically and economically relevant. Nothing else I can think of is all of this.

And they're not as messy as fish. (apologies to fishermen....)

Good explanation as to "WHY TRAINS?". I could not have put it any better myself. Thanks

[spbed]

Yes that has to be it! [:D]

QUOTE: Originally posted by oltmannd

They're big. They're powerful. They move. They're fast. They make noise. You can get near them. They're historically and economically relevant. Nothing else I can think of is all of this.

And they're not as messy as fish. (apologies to fishermen....)

[spbed]

Well as I said sorry to say it did not pass from me to my kids. [:o)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JoeKoh

sound of the horn the engineer waves(so did the crew in the caboose)Diffrent road power.can be used to teach some colors numbers and letters and its something we can do together. parents around me are looking for that 1 link they can have with their kids. mine is trains and matt is definately hooked.
stay safe and enjoy
Joe

[halifaxcn]

My wife asks the same questions, except she also can't understand my intrest in fire apparatus. Could be I grew up one house away the Boston & Maine's Bedford Branch and 5 houses away from Arlington Mass Fire HQ station. Got my first train set when I was 4.

The fire service she undertstands, as that all I ever wanted to do. The trains the magazines, vidies, dvd and home layouts she just doesn't get. I can't explain it to her other than to say I could be sitting in a bar room everynight.

Railfanning is serving as a link for me and my son Dominic as he loves sitting trackside waving to the crews. He does this even on the videos. I remember my Dad, not a rail fan but bringing me to South Station to view the New Haven in action. These are still some of my fondest remembrances of times with my dad who passed away in 1994.

Just my ramblings!

[Mookie]

Because I didn't get a trainset as a child (I got a doll, instead!), I didn't get to follow in my father/grandfather's footsteps, so now I can watch the real ones and no one can deny me that pleasure!

We will now commence with the "pity party"....

[8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Because I didn't get a trainset as a child (I got a doll, instead!),

Awe, should i put you on my list for christmas on who to send a trainset to? [;)]

[miniwyo]

The real question is, Why not?

[daveklepper]

My early introduction to railfanning may help explain our love for railroads. I remember being taken to nursary school at age 2 and 3 on Manhattan's Amsterdam Avenue trolley car and enjoying the ride. Also, my Mom used to bring me to Riverside Drive Park along the Hudson River, and I remember a New York Central work train involved in building the tunnel that closed over the West Side Freight Line to extend the park to the Hudson shore. I found that activity fascinating and the work trrain was a good babysiter. Around that time we visited relative in Connecticut who lived on the shore of the Thames River and I watched CV freight trains on the line across the river. We had been driven by friends to their house, but the return was by train from Hartford. I was standing next to the platform when the train arrived from Springfield and the steam locomotive scared me. So then even at that young age I decided I had to conquer the fear and further train trips, like Jersey Central and Erie commuter trains visiting New Jersey friends had me deliberately inspecting the locomotive. As soon as my nose was the height of the bottom of the window in the storm door on the Elevated and Subway lines I always insisted on riding the front car and looking out front. Tuckaho to Grand Central was the first time I did this on a railroad train, on a New York Central mu where my Dad asked the engineer if I could ride the front platform with him. In grade school, sometimes the shool bus would be overfilled and volunteers would use the subway to get to a picnic in Van Courtland Park, and I always volunteered. Then came the decision that in addition to the usual Bar Mitzvah prepeartion (not really usual, I can I led a Conservative service for a mostly Orthodox congregation -my Brooklyn relatives, in a Reform Synagogue that I and my parents belonged to), I decided I had to have ridden the whole New York subway and elevated system. I didn't make it. Then came the bad news about streetcar conversions and I and two high school buddies decided we'd better ride while we could. Like others, I learned about the Electric Railroaders Association at the Gardner Avenue yard of the Third Avenue Transit System in Pelham, NY, where old cars were scrapped and one could pick up souveniers, and then I started going on fan trips, especially John Kneiling's steam trips. I've never stopped being a railfan.

[chad thomas]

I can't explain it but when I try to I usually offend the person I am trying to explain it to.
[:(!][:(][banghead]

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SteamerFan

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Because I didn't get a trainset as a child (I got a doll, instead!),

Awe, should i put you on my list for christmas on who to send a trainset to? [;)]

OK! [8)]

[Anonymous]

I dont know how to explain it but trains have millions of features no other vehicle has.
The locomotives in themselves are alot more appealing to watch than anything else.

[espeefoamer]

I was born addicted to trains[:p]!!!

[edblysard]

Its the mystery of it all...
Where is it coming from?
Where is it going?
What ever is inside thoses boxcars must be pretty important...

Railroaders are the wandering minstrels of the modern world...they go from place to place, every day someplace new...
Who out there hasnt wondered what the life would be like?

And they they get use huge machines every day....

Even though I work for a local railroad, and I get to go home every night, I still watch the morning commuters rushing to the same job, every day, knowing they will be doing the same thing, time after time, nothing new, nothing changes, the same daily grind...which is why I do what I do, its never really the same, and I feel so sorry for them...how boring it must be, to look at the same four walls, or the same cubicle day after day, knowing it will always be the exact same thing tomorrow.

Why trains?

Because they hold the promise of taking you anywhere besides where you are right now...

Tempting, aint it?

Ed

[cherokee woman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

Its the mystery of it all...
Where is it coming from?
Where is it going?
What ever is inside thoses boxcars must be pretty important...

Railroaders are the wandering minstrels of the modern world...they go from place to place, every day someplace new...
Who out there hasnt wondered what the life would be like?

And they they get use huge machines every day....

Even though I work for a local railroad, and I get to go home every night, I still watch the morning commuters rushing to the same job, every day, knowing they will be doing the same thing, time after time, nothing new, nothing changes, the same daily grind...which is why I do what I do, its never really the same, and I feel so sorry for them...how boring it must be, to look at the same four walls, or the same cubicle day after day, knowing it will always be the exact same thing tomorrow.

Why trains?

Because they hold the promise of taking you anywhere besides where you are right now...

Tempting, aint it?

Ed

You're right, Ed: sure is tempting! The way you described life in an
office (or later, working at KMart), is exactly how I felt at that time.
Like Mookie said, because I got the doll, and my brother got the
train set. I loved the trains as much as they did. My one consolation
is that my twin brother never got a train set either: just our two older
brothers.

And as someone else said, "Why not trains?"

[Anonymous]

Better then taking drugs. Why baseball? Why gardening? Don't know, its who I am.

[tree68]

This would make an interesting article in TRAINS....

[andrewjonathon]

I know why I love trains because they are simply awesome (okay I know that doesn't really explain why but it is how I feel). What I cannot understand is how the same trains that I find so exciting apparently have no impact on anyone else that I know. Now that is hard for me to understand.

When I was dating my wife there was a period when we were living on opposite sides of the country. Whenever, I could fit it in I used Amtrak to across the country to see her. Now that choice was a hard one to explain (and I am not proud of the fact) . But the lure of the rails...I just couldn't help taking advantage of the situation.

[zardoz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Because I didn't get a trainset as a child (I got a doll, instead!), I didn't get to follow in my father/grandfather's footsteps, so now I can watch the real ones and no one can deny me that pleasure!

We will now commence with the "pity party"....

[8D]

Poor baby....[:(][sigh]