Top 10: A Little Train Humor

[Anonymous]

I was really bored today, so I came up with this list of Top 10 Reasons to be a Railfan:

10. It's one of the few hobbies where warrants are considered a good thing
9. You get to visit grand and exciting places, like beautiful Rochelle, Illinois
8. You'll be able to tell people where Rochelle, Illinois is.
7. Chicks dig a guy who can say "Tehachapi".
6. It gives you an excuse to go to Chicago.
5. You can say the word "reefer" without people getting the wrong idea.
4. The conversations between the yard people and the van drivers beat out "Howard Stern" any day.
3. You can put your high school knowledge of country backroads to better use than outrunning the cops.
2. Great way to get a suntan.

And the #1 Reason for Being a Railfan...Dude, they're trains!

[Soo2610]

Not bad! You ought to send it to Letterman.

[Anonymous]

In there somewhere, probably should be:
Good excuse to escape the "honey-do" ritual on the weekends!

[dknelson]

you left out the chances it gives to eat at some of America's finest (?) restaurants and pee in some of America's filthiest gas station restrooms! You also left out the chance to meet some of the loonies who for some reason are not railfans but like to hang around railfans. Yikes!
Seriously, another top 10 reason is that railfanning also offers great opportunities for bird and animal watching. At a popular railfan spot in Milwaukee, when the trains are not running we watch the red-tailed hawks do barrel-rolls and dive bomb runs, and not long ago we watched a coyote pick up a roadside garbage bag of dirty diapers and run off with it. Good fun!
Dave

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the chuckles.

Here's one more: Railfanning is one of only two "hobbies" I know of that make the earth move, and the other one's none of your business.

[Anonymous]

But you can still get hot, sweaty and dirty doing both!!!!!

Trains, like women, can be exciting, but also expensive, noisy and whatever.....

Yo can also check-out the recolonisation by plants of abandoned lines.

Jason.

[Mookie]

and men are NOT exciting, expensive, noisy and whatever?

[dknelson]

Guys we have to remember that Jenny watches everything we say here!

[Mookie]

gotta change that name - to maybe Pete...then you would never know I wasn't one of the guys!

[Anonymous]

I say leave your name. I personally find railfanning very sexy. Nothing like the rhythm of a grain train crossing a junction to get things going (just call me Don Juan de UP)

[Anonymous]

I thought that it was all meant to be light-hearted!! But I guess I have no sense of humor. Out of interest, how many girls do like railroading?

Jason.

[Mookie]

Sometimes the people on the forums are almost as much fun as watching trains!!

[dknelson]

Hmmmm. With comments like that, maybe you better NOT change your screen name to "Pete." Keep it Jenny/Mookie please

[Mookie]

at the risk of angering someone with my frivolous comments - I am blushing...

[Anonymous]

I don't think any of these would ever make the top ten, but some other reasons are ...

It is a pretty inexpensive hobby
You can learn a lot about physics
You can learn a lot about economics
You can learn a lot about history
Kids love trains so you can spend quality time doing something you both like
You get more exercise than an afternoon watching the boob-tube

Later - Ed

[Anonymous]

Chix dig trains?

[Mookie]

You Bet! And my very favorite is the Big Boy!
They don't make them like that any more...which is probably for the best, but wi***hey still sounded like that!

[Anonymous]

While it must be true that some chix like trains,I don't believe I would hang around yards,terminals etc..to meet them:Multi-state lottery odds are better.

[Anonymous]

The first time I went to the area known as Dayton's Bluff for train watching in the Twin Cities (after moving here in 1999), two men saw me and exclaimed: "Never saw no women here before!"
My reply: "Get used to it."
When funding allows, I go out rail fanning all over the Twin Cities. Sometimes I encounter men who are civil, sometimes I just avoid contact.
And yes, chix like trains.
A good example: In late 2000, a female FedEx driver came up to my apartment with some computer equipment, saw my train layout, and was very interested.

[Anonymous]

Exactly what was the female FedEx driver interested in?

[Anonymous]

I would not say that trains are not an inexpensive hobby. Most railfans subscribe to one, possibly to two or three magazines.

Then there are books and videos/dvd's, then of course there are the trips (if it is part of your work or as your holiday, then the cost is 'sunk').
Most would also have a few toy trains, and possibly a layout.

So you can see it is a drain on finances.

How many of the men here have wives/girlfriends who are interested in trains?

Jason.

[Anonymous]

At the risk of being even more frivolous, I was just wondering: Jenny, do you happen to railfan with a man by the name of Mike Endres? If so, then I kinda know who you are. If not, then ignore my ever asking that while I crawl back into my corner.

To amend a commercial I once saw: Chicks dig the long consist.

[Mookie]

No Steve, I railfan with a man named Ed and we share the same last name. I don't actually "railfan", since I don't do cameras, etc. But love to sit and watch the coal trains and freight trains for whatever time I can get him to sit with me. We never do anything but sit and watch, usually for no more than 30 min or so, but that is enough for me. We have a favorite place here in Lincoln that we go and there is a lot of traffic going in and out of the yards.

This chick only digs the engines - the rest is just fluff! We only see coal trains and a very few freights - no Amtrak - don't want to sit out in the dark in my jammies to watch Amtrak go thru!

[Anonymous]

Lincoln, as in Nebraska? Well, then, greetings from the East, specifically Iowa. Since you say you don't want to sit in your jammies to watch Amtrak pull through, then I'm guessing you like to watch the BNSF mainline. I myself prefer the Union Pacific (ex-C&NW) Spine Line in Des Moines. One of these days I'll get up to the almighty (at least for Iowans) UP E/W main, and the world famous (I think) Kate Shelley High Bridge.

I also think the engines are pretty cool, but I like the sound that a long consist of empty hoppers makes when it gets pulled out then backed up into the yard again (It sounds like a row of cannons going off). I used to take pictures, but my camera got stolen and I haven't gotten a new one. And I'm not a total "Chase it and Pace it" railnut....yet.

[Anonymous]

Not me and not going to.

[Mookie]

Yes, the home of the, dare I say, Cornhuskers.

Since our yard is right on the edge of downtown Lincoln, it is pretty simple to find a place and just park there and watch the BNSF go by. The UP is a little more north and a lot harder to get even close. Grew up spending a lot of time around the CBQ/BN yard office, the hump and the depot - all of which were fantastic way back then. Now it is down to just the hump, but you can still park fairly close to watch even that.

It is the "Good Life".....

[Anonymous]

In trying to stay with the original "A little humor"; the female FedEx driver was interested in the N scale model layout which I had at that time. I now have a T -shirt which says "Get over it" which I wear while railfanning, and I have been known to go railfanning with a guy, name of Rick (although not any more).

[Anonymous]

Single White 19-year-old Male. Looking for a girlfriend in B.C. Canada. Favourite Railway is BCRail. Have three jobs: Tour Guide in a Railway Museum, I loads baggage at the VIA Rail station and I am the stage Manager the play “The railroad inspector” running for tourists through the summer. I also have a Model train layout in HO scale. Looking for a girl who shares the same interests.
Yeah right
Mike

[Anonymous]

Mike,
You've got the right idea, wrong place. Put an ad in TRAINS mag. The printed one. I have seen other people do this and I have heard that they get replies!
I'm a little (ahem) too old, however.
Lisa

[Anonymous]

(to the tune of "Escape (The Pina Colata Song)" by Rupert Holmes)

If you like empty coal hoppers,
getting caught by a train,
And the smell of a diesel,
And the long haul of grain,
If you like railfanning at midnight,
On the bridge of a street,
Then please issue me a warrant,
So we can plan our own meet...