Railfanning

[Anonymous]

I've never been railfaning, but as soon as it gets warm a plan to go up to the CSX main with my digital camera and take plenty of pics![:D][;)][:)][:p][swg]

[Anonymous]

I railfan when I can.

[CP5415]

I railfan everyday. I have a great view of CP's Oshawa's GM yard & CN's Kingston sub from work but I don't have the chance to take photo's

Gordon

[Jetrock]

Indeed, I am pretty close to quite a bit of rail activity so I can railfan while just driving around--but then, personally I consider railroad-related structures and industries to be included in the general category of railfanning.

[CBQ_Guy]

I'm more of a model railroader than a rail fan, but I would do a lot of railfanning if I had a time machine and could go back to the 1960's, the era I'm trying to model.

My almost son-in-law is a rail fan with virtually no interest in modeling. Maybe we can both learn something from one another someday!

[Anonymous]

I do not have the chance to railfan very often. I have managed to get out about once a year for the last couple of years however. I would like to go out more.

James

[AggroJones]

Not much. I some times see UP freights pass by while I wait at the bus stop.

[Hawks05]

i've been out and able to take pictures twice but i only had a camera for one of the times. the picture in my sig is the best one i got from that trip.

i see trains everyday when i'm at school. i have 3 classes that look over the track. its pretty cool when you're having a bad day and all of a sudden a nice empty hopper consist goes past.

i bought another onetime use camera that i'm going to carry around with me in case i'm out driving around and happen to see or hear a train coming. i'll race to the tracks then track it down.

[Anonymous]

I don't get out and railfan as often as I would like.[V] At least my commute takes me over 2 at grade crossings on 2 different RR's.
Sometimes I get lucky and can railfan over the dashboard!!!!!!![swg]

[krump]

I'm in the "what is railfannning" category since I don't know what the technical definition of this is... (???) the above posts suggest a variety of train gazing, which I do out of habit and opportunity on a daily basis. On the other hand I've not gone out of my way, planned a holiday, or done anything "intentional" to watch trains.
Where I live, there are more trains than buses, and there's always another one in about 10 minutes.

[lupo]

If real railfanning is sitting next to a track waiting for what comes around, I don't do that,
but on some of my trips to the US of A we set some railroad realted goals:
wanna see a Bigboy so drive to Dallas, wanna ride the Durango Silverton railroad, so drive to Durango, I consulted a website called something like "motels near a railroad" for choosing accomodation,so on one occasion we ended up in a Motel on the other side of the tracks of San Diego Union Station, saw lots of trains, but for security reasons they closed the crossing next to the motel between 1 and 4 in the morning (ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ) have a nice sleep !
and on another occasion we stayed in a motel overlooking part of the Barstow yard Awesome !!
if on vacation I see tracks we usually stop to take a look what's going on
even stopped along the tracks through the Mojave desert (110 F) to leave my name in stones - sorry, ballast - on the embankment, along with hundreds of others who did this during the last 50 - 60 years or so.

When here at home (holland) we once in a while visit the nearby railroad museum to look how the restoration works go talk to the volunteers, and watch the old engines switch and get maintenanced as they return from duty.
www.destoomtrein.nl

[AntonioFP45]

I'm surprised by the above poll. [:0] I thought that there would be a lot of "I railfan regularly" votes. My friends and I have always shared the feeling that railfanning makes modeling even more fun. It's true that many modelers don't live near a rail line or have the time to go "train watching".

[:)][:D]Part of the joy that comes from railfanning is experiencing the sights, sounds, and smells that in turn give modelers ideas for improving their models or layouts.

In my case, Railfanning since my teenage years is what has led me to want sound in my HO locomotives as well as smooth running. I still have fond memories of being able to get really close to GE U-Boats, EMD GP38s, and Amtrak SDP40fs moving at speed or sitting, idling. The various horns (S5, P3, K3, K5, ) were always music to my ears. This in turn fires up the desire to recreate them in HO.[:D][:)][8D][;)][8)][^]

[Fergmiester]

Railfanning was something I did in my youth. As I have to little time to sit by the tracks and wait for the next train, which unfortunately is all too infrequent. Now if I could find a trout pond or salmon river on a main line then I would have to find some time, wouldn't I[:-,]

[Anonymous]

I try to do all the railfanning I can, but I live in a small town that doesn't have too many trains going through, so I generally only get to railfan when I go out of town.

[Anonymous]

I did a lot when I lived in Minneapolis. I pretty much stopped when I moved to southern Minnesota due to lack of trains (DM&E, usually 3 trains a day, but the schedule was fairly inconsistent and I didn't have a scanner or a drivers license). I live pretty close to CSX tracks now, and I hope to get out railfanning more.

[PistolPete]

I have not planned trips specifically for railfanning but I do take advantage of whats available. Some recent find include: a round house converted to retail shops in Colorado Springs, tunnels and recycled buildings on a rail trail in the Black Hills, The yard and buildings in Durango, and some MOW equipment along Rt 2 in Gillian ME. [8D]

[ShaunCN]

i railfan alot. not so much in the winter as the summer though. I ussualy go to the CN yard here in sarnia but have started to go to the csx yard.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I can be rather spontaneous about railfanning, which is what this topic was really all about.

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12620

[dragenrider]

I'm railfanning every week! [:D] I chase trains all around our rural Arkansas mountains. I'm railfanning places where trains no longer run, too! I look for history in the old rail beds, forgotten crossings, and neglected signs.

Even at home I'm railfanning. I use my spotting scope to watch for trains on the Missouri and Northern Arkansas RR in the valley below. From my mountain top cottage they look like "n" scale trains as they work their way through the valley and across the big George's Creek trestle.

Ahhhh, the glory of living in the Ozark Mountains! [tup][tup]

[ClinchValleySD40]

Not much at all, not interesting to me any more. I stopped railfanning when NS and CSX formed - YUCK !!!

[coalminer3]

Hardly at all anymore, what with the job, family obligations, etc.

work safe

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lupo

If real railfanning is sitting next to a track waiting for what comes around, I don't do that,
but on some of my trips to the US of A we set some railroad realted goals:
wanna see a Bigboy so drive to Dallas, wanna ride the Durango Silverton railroad, so drive to Durango, I consulted a website called something like "motels near a railroad" for choosing accomodation,so on one occasion we ended up in a Motel on the other side of the tracks of San Diego Union Station, saw lots of trains, but for security reasons they closed the crossing next to the motel between 1 and 4 in the morning (ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ting- ) have a nice sleep !
and on another occasion we stayed in a motel overlooking part of the Barstow yard Awesome !!
if on vacation I see tracks we usually stop to take a look what's going on
even stopped along the tracks through the Mojave desert (110 F) to leave my name in stones - sorry, ballast - on the embankment, along with hundreds of others who did this during the last 50 - 60 years or so.

When here at home (holland) we once in a while visit the nearby railroad museum to look how the restoration works go talk to the volunteers, and watch the old engines switch and get maintenanced as they return from duty.
www.destoomtrein.nl

Okay I understand going to Colorado, San Diego or even Dallas.......but Barstow??????? on vacation...??????

Either you really, really, really like trains, you are a Dutch Marine visiting the USMC base there or you collect tumbleweed samples as the other hobby.....

[slotracer]

I selected I never have, but only becasue the catagory that fits me was not on the poll....."Not anymore"

I parked the cameras not long after Conrail, after loosing the EL and LV my interest faded. Shot a little D&H, a few excursions and some old stations for a couple years then hung it up completely about 1980. When I moved to Colorado and the SP was soon to be gobbled by Uncle pete (hate Uncle Pete) I took pics for about 2 years, and continued to 1997-1998 on business trips, then parked the cameras for lack of interest.

Been out of active enthusiastic railfan interests so long now, that even when I ride the Durango or Cumbres with teh family, I don't bring a camera anymore, but the ride sure is great.