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Odd encounters with non-railfans
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Maybe this has been discussed here before, but what are some of the strange and/or amusing things you've experienced with non-railfans while pursuing your hobby? Some of mine: <br /> <br />A pedestrian who saw me exchange waves with the engine crew of a freight asked me if I was a freind of the engineer... <br /> <br />A college-age girl was astonished to see that the trains rolling through her town actually had crew members. She thought they were all "robotically controlled" from some central location and insisted this is what she heard in school... <br /> <br />I've encountered at least a dozen people who had no idea that the locomotives pulling today's trains weren't coal-fired, steam-powered. When I treid to explain the concept of diesel-electrics, some asked if the rails were electrified, and why people weren't electrocuted when they crossed the tracks. Others wanted to know how long it took to charge up the batteries... <br /> <br /> A co-worker who lived along a lightly used industrial spur thought she could just call up Amtrak's toll-free number and order a train to pick her up at the grade crossing down the street... <br /> <br />Most non-railfans I've met have little concept of how railroads operate; they seem to think that trains just sort of wander the rails like trucks on the interstates. I've met people who assume that if a train has foreign power, the crew must have originated on the "foreign" railroad, even if said railroad is thousands of miles away. (these same people are confused when they see no caboose at the end of the train and ask "where do they sleep?") I also know people who believe that the crews <i></i>own<i></i> the locomtives... <br /> <br />And lastly, I met a fellow who thought the five or six trains a day that ran through his town had to constitute some kind of national traffic record. He refused to believe me when I told him about Fostoria, Ohio and it's multitudes of trains... <br /> <br />Okay folks, let's hear some of your experiences... <br />
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