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You know you're a railfan when . . .

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Posted by wgnrr on Saturday, April 22, 2006 9:32 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by erikthered

How many other folks actually collect patches of the museums and railroads they visit?


I collect pins, and put them into their own special case on the wall.

Phil
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Posted by wgnrr on Thursday, April 20, 2006 3:49 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by GP-9_Man11786

You point out all the operational flaws, regulation violations and plot holes in train movies.


That was weird! About 2 minutes before reading this, I was watching a Little House on the Praire episode with a runaway caboose. I commented to my family about what doesn't Hollywood understand that not very many railroads had plywood-sheathed cabooses in the 1870's. Then I read this...
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Posted by GP-9_Man11786 on Thursday, April 20, 2006 12:56 PM
You point out all the operational flaws, regulation violations and plot holes in train movies.

Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.

www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com 

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Posted by upchuck on Monday, April 17, 2006 11:38 PM
you're the Baron of your model railroad....and you'll build any layout your wife
says you can...
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 11:13 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by CSXrules4eva

OK your a railfan when you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Draw up your own imaginary railroad and actually print out operations, layouts, construction plans, rosters both cars and locomotives, maps; that you took the time to think up and type. lol

You really know your a railfan when you blow off work or school (and end up getting a F on a homework assignment) to go watch trains !!! There is an exception though. If your job is on a railraod you don't have to blow work off.

I have done that and it was a railroad took over the Milwaukee Road Pacific coast division
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Posted by wgnrr on Monday, April 17, 2006 11:11 PM
...You put heavily creosoted tie plugs in your car instead of air fresheners...
...Your railfan car is a bucket truck...
... http://my.coredcs.com/~bbokrlwy/w040321pole/a040321pole.html (I know this guy)
...You pay off your hobby shop debt instead of paying your taxes...
...Recieving the Walthers HO catalog is like getting a new Harry Potter book...
...Your dates in school just happen to live next to the tracks..
...Your Ham Radio callsign just happens to have RR reporting marks in it (now, I wonder who did that?[%-)])...
...You can bribe the railroad security on the UP by giving them a CD of BNSF pics...
...You can bribe the railroad security on the BNSF by giving them a CD of UP pics...

Phil
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 10:52 PM
... you live in a canyon where your ex-girlfriend is and blow an old K5LA horn (that your dad got for 20 buck at a garage sale one day) to keep letting her know how she hurt you

... you stop what your doing while with friends and watch the trains go by
... you enjoy a day by the tracks with a girl you love
... you travel all the way to DC on a school trip hopeing to see to east coast action but only to see one amtrak train at night and the tops of the trains in union station.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Tharmeni

when you like to drive your car with your head out the side window.

im 14 i do it on the passenger side
[;)]
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 8:39 PM
Basically, all of these apply to me and my other railfan friends. lol
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 6:32 PM
When all the Crews say Hi when they past
When you go out in 105+ Degree Weather
When you go out in 0 Degree Weather
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Posted by Soo 6604 on Monday, April 17, 2006 5:40 PM
You know when you're a railfan when......you're on a roadtrip with a NONrailfan and you drive 15 miles out of the way to get stopped by a train.

When you use "got stopped by a train" as an excuse for being late for work and there isn't any rail crossings within the 10 mile radius from your house and work cause you drove 15 miles out of the way to get caught by it.

Reading every one of these remarks and nodding to the ones apply to you, and saying "yep" to the ones that your fellow railfans have done

Paul
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Posted by dldance on Monday, April 17, 2006 4:19 PM
you crtitique the engines decorating your railroad themed neckties.

dd
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 4:10 PM
you hope you get 3 feet of snow so you can go down to your local railroad and get a picture of 7 or 8 locomotives trying to plow throught it because last year you didn't have a camera with you when it happened. Never happened this winter maybe next. I just might have to go to California and watch them in the mountains.
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Posted by edbenton on Monday, April 17, 2006 4:02 PM
You know every shortcut to get to the crossing to catch the next train when you are 2 miles away. Done that a time or 2. Or this one you are an OTR driver and you blow for a grade crossing while passing a school bus. LOL
Always at war with those that think OTR trucking is EASY.
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Posted by mloik on Monday, April 17, 2006 3:57 PM
When your wife gives a seminar at another University, she lets you skip it to go trackside (like me and my son did this past Friday).
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Posted by mloik on Monday, April 17, 2006 3:56 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by adrianspeeder

...Spend time here


Dang Adrian, you beat me to that one!
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Posted by Tharmeni on Monday, April 17, 2006 2:39 PM
when you like to drive your car with your head out the side window.
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Posted by adrianspeeder on Monday, April 17, 2006 2:33 PM
...Spend time here

USAF TSgt C-17 Aircraft Maintenance Flying Crew Chief & Flightline Avionics Craftsman

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Posted by GP-9_Man11786 on Monday, April 17, 2006 2:21 PM
1.You get caught at a crossing an say "Ah man, if we were closer we could see it better.)

2. You have a garden railway

3. You bring trains back to your off-campus apartment when returning from Easter Break

4. Not only do you design your own imagionary railorad, you actualy build it with Trainz Railroad Simulator or MSTS.

Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.

www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com 

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Posted by mloik on Monday, April 17, 2006 2:18 PM
After two months apart for research, your wife flies from Costa Rica to LA to Reno, and lets you take your son to the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
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Posted by mloik on Monday, April 17, 2006 2:14 PM
Your three-year old son screams, "Daddy a GG-1!!!" at a model railroad show (and he was correct).
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 17, 2006 1:25 PM
when instead of speeding up when the crossing lights come on, you slow down around crossings just in case.
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Posted by miniwyo on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:54 PM
OK. When you jump out of your own vehicle at a crossing and take almost a whole roll of pictures(36) while waiting for the train to clear the crossing! (don't laugh, I did this, earlier this afternoon) Boy, were all the other drivers looking at me funny!

RJ

"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:43 PM
When you draw your own enigens and cars for a made up railroad.[trust me I have done this]

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Posted by miniwyo on Monday, May 9, 2005 10:54 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by trainfan1221

you jump out of the passenger seat of a friend's car upon the arrival of a train, ignoring the usual stare you get from them because you are one of those train fanatic people.



How did you know what I did today!!

RJ

"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling

http://sweetwater-photography.com/

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, May 9, 2005 8:33 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Sterling1

OK I know some good ones having been a lifetime railfan even in high school . . .

You know when you're a railfan when:

You think about some cool or legendary locomotive just to go to sleep

When a heavy metal rock song of some sort comes up on the radio and you match up the rythmn to the rythmn of a train (serious no joke that's me )

When you you use terms like ABDX air brakes and DB in a email conversation with a non-railfan friend

When your computer background are mostly pictures of trains or the cabs of locomotives

When you go to the crossing and you shake like an addict at every single because you haven't seen one in weeks or months

When you ( I have done this no kidding actually last Saturday afternoon ) praise God for the Amtrak train that rolls right before your eyes

When you scour the RR mainline for trains just in case one comes unexpectedly

I know others request some and I'll think of others later

MAtt
The forth one is me.Right now I have 611 and 765 doubleheading on a fan trip.
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Posted by Sterling1 on Monday, May 9, 2005 7:58 PM
OK I know some good ones having been a lifetime railfan even in high school . . .

You know when you're a railfan when:

You think about some cool or legendary locomotive just to go to sleep

When a heavy metal rock song of some sort comes up on the radio and you match up the rythmn to the rythmn of a train (serious no joke that's me )

When you you use terms like ABDX air brakes and DB in a email conversation with a non-railfan friend

When your computer background are mostly pictures of trains or the cabs of locomotives

When you go to the crossing and you shake like an addict at every single because you haven't seen one in weeks or months

When you ( I have done this no kidding actually last Saturday afternoon ) praise God for the Amtrak train that rolls right before your eyes

When you scour the RR mainline for trains just in case one comes unexpectedly

I know others request some and I'll think of others later

MAtt
"There is nothing in life that compares with running a locomotive at 80-plus mph with the windows open, the traction motors screaming, the air horns fighting the rush of incoming air to make any sound at all, automobiles on adjacent highways trying and failing to catch up with you, and the unmistakable presence of raw power. You ride with fear in the pit of your stomach knowing you do not really have control of this beast." - D.C. Battle [Trains 10/2002 issue, p74.]
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Posted by espeefoamer on Monday, May 9, 2005 7:42 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by trainfan1221

you jump out of the passenger seat of a friend's car upon the arrival of a train, ignoring the usual stare you get from them because you are one of those train fanatic people.

Been there done that,
Got the T shirt & the hat[:D].
Ride Amtrak. Cats Rule, Dogs Drool.
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Posted by trainfan1221 on Monday, May 9, 2005 6:06 PM
you jump out of the passenger seat of a friend's car upon the arrival of a train, ignoring the usual stare you get from them because you are one of those train fanatic people.
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Posted by CopCarSS on Monday, May 9, 2005 6:01 PM
You are proud to be refered to as a "foamer."

-Chris
West Chicago, IL
Christopher May Fine Art Photography

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams

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