Railfan too?

[Anonymous]

Not at all. I find the modern railroads of today truly boring. Give me the steam to diesel transition era any day (50-55). Early diesels had variety and character, with all of the minority builders that were around then. Not to mention the action of a steam engine! Now that was railroading at it's finest!

Also, the unit-trains of today have become nothing more than strings of look alike cars where the only difference is how much and what type of graffiti some vandal has spraypainted on the car. During the 40's and 50's there was a huge variety in freight cars. At times, you could even find boxcars that were 4-5 different heights and 2-3 types of sheathing all in the same train. It is this variety that enamors me to this era.

With the amount and quality of plastic steam and early diesels that have been produced in the last few years, I don't think that I'm alone in my feelings on this subject. I'm just a little more vocal about it.

Darl Kretsinger

Modeling the era when "diseasels" were nothing more than fancy painted powered boxcars!

[nkp779]

Yes I'm a Railfan and a model railroder. I do read several Train Magzines. I guess it is in my blood but not sure how or why none of my family when I was young was involed in train when I was young. I did however start playing with model trains when I was young. then the next thing you know when later in my adult years I started watching trains. Now both of my son's and my 21/2 year old Grandson are involed in train modeling and railfanning. In fact I just got back from giving my grandson his first train ride in an engine on the tourist Railroad www.tlew.org which I'm involed in as a resault of my craving for trains.He has been on plenty of train rides in pasenger cars before. And we also did some railfaning with him at Deshler Oh. He also likes to watch trains and go to the local model railroad club. He always has to watch the trains go by the house like grandpa does.
Also Amateur Raido and trains go hand & hand too.

[alrose]

I can watch steam trains arrive and depart from my local station while I sit in my living room! The station is at the top of a 1in60 hill (grade) that's two miles long. The sound effects of the hard working locos are fantastic. The line is ten miles long and runs from Alton to Alresford in Hampshire England and operates most days of the year. As I am typing this now a train has just arrived which is a Wine & Dine special. These provide a 5 course meal and run every Saturday evening. I belong to a model railway club in Alton England and we have an American Section to which I am involved. We have a fictional line around Denver Colorado called Pine Bluffs & Ceda Falls. For more information you can see us at www.pinebluffs.co.uk

[connrail]

my son & I are model railroaders with a layout based on Conrail/ CSX and railfan whenever we can at several spots in Massachusetts and eastern New York State. Vacations are spent around Gallitzin, PA. for variety and a chance to watch other railroad comapnies. The photos we take (both on video & still) are an absolute must for accurate modeling and several subscriptions to both model & prototypical train publications fill in whatever we don't get a chance to see trackside. It can be fun also talking with other railfans on the web to gain knowledge and possibly share photos of their experiences trackside. I have met several this way who had visited some of the areas I had been and had taken photos of other trains or different angles than mine.
Tommy

[Anonymous]

I live in Springfield,Tn. and the CSX Henderson Division is just down the road, there is plenty of good locations to make some shots. Sometimes I go to Guthie, Ky to take pictures of R.J. Corman Railroad Company. I would like to go to Nashville to Radner yard. I was told that, there is to be found many different road names in this yard. And I know other very good sites for photograghing.
William

[Anonymous]

This may be the most redounded polling question yet. How can you be a model railroader and not be a railfan ? .Forget about the first train we got for Christmas, that's a copout. We were all mesmerized sometime in our youth by the real thing and we were hooked forever.

[Anonymous]

I'm not what you would call a 'railfan' in the sense of watching a train roll past. My prototype period is 1900-1919 so there aren't any, or at least many, rolling examples of my prototypes. I maintain an extensive library of photos and what blueprints I can find. My local county historical society has a 'largish' collection of period photos which I find useful. The local university interlibrary loan service can get me virtually anything printed on the period, thus i dont need my own extensive collection of books.

[Nieuweboer]

For someone loving american railroads, with an US prototype layout but living on the other side of the Atlantic it is rather problematical to be an active railfan, so I have to limit myself to magazines, books and videotapes. Until I retired I used to attent a congress in Chicago each November and took the opportunity to visit railsites and take short trips on Metra. I remember vividly the Dinky's with E6 engines pulling/pushing. Now I'm an armchair rainfan as far as american trains are concerned, but since the former Dutch State Railways have been privatized and the freight activities have been separated from the the passenger service there is much more variety in freight locomotives and rolling stock and therefore of more interest to a railfan. But still they are not nearly as exotic and thus as exciting to me as american loco's and cars.

[therailnut]

Yep I am both a prototype follower and railfanner as soon as hear about a new loco the BNSF has I am out and about to find it. I read boh CTC board and Extra 2200 South to get prototype info. Then put it to good use and seek out and find this stuff at trackside and in the huge yard here in Galesburg, IL. while taking a lot of pics for research on this stuff.

[rambo1]

After a day at work building aircraft. I enjoy going to C.N,s main line in northyork toronto ontario with my son and dauhter( sometimes) and sit in the car talking about school and life. Alot of the engineers would come over to talk while waiting for their train to arrive. Now the police come up there and have us leave .Sometimes they sit there with us and watch the trains too. I love it . rambo1................

[CBQ_Guy]

Well since I'm living in the past anyway (modeling the 1960's) about the only real train stuff I'm interested in seeing are those I recall from that time. To me a lot of the new stuff is uninteresting or just plan UGLY (Amtrak). I do look at the current equipment occassionally if I happen to be there at the right time, but I don't go rail fanning per se, and have no interest in the current rail scene much.

Fogey living in the past . . .

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ifrost

Love to watch trains but haven not much since I moved to the Ottawa area. No trains close by. For HarrySeigler re: Alco in CP, it is I believe in Kenora, Ont

Ottawa must have been a GREAT place to railfan35-40 years ago with the tracks following the canal to the heart of the city...

[Anonymous]

Well, I've got it coming and going. Besides being a model railroader and railfan, I also work for a Northern California shortline as a conductor/engineer. This doesn't included my volunteering to work on the operating dept for a major west coast rail museum. Yes I'm steam qualified. Life without trains? That would be unthinkable. : )

Rip

[Rene Luethi]

Sure I am. And it is easy for me. I am at home between Zurich and Winterthur in Switzerland. The tracks and the depot are only 450 feet away and there are 14 regular passenger trains per hour. Not counted are the frequent fright trains, the Intercity trains and the ICE's. But these trains are all pulled by perfectly working modern engines; there is not much to see and to hear. If I want to see a "living" steam engine, I have to go farther away. The epitome was surely the doubleheader steam trip with the UP 4-8-4 and 4-6-6-4 engines from Salt Lake City to Cheyenne, some nine Years ago.

[Anonymous]

BESIDE BEING INTO MODEL RR I AM DEFFINATELY A RAILFAN. WHEN CERTAIN TRAINS COME THRU MY AREA I AM THERE. ALTHOUGH I CERTAINLY MISS THE GOOD OLD DAYS IN THE LATE 39'S AND EARLY 50'S WHEN YOU COULD GO TO THE YARDS AND WATCH STEAM IN ITS FINEST. BUT FOR NOW I SETTLE FOR WHAT IS AVAILABLE.

[Anonymous]

Yes, every chance I get and twice on Sundays. Ha! Ha! I get more chances now days, since I took a job of hauling Railroad Crews from one place to another. Most of this time is in the dark, but I get my chances in the daylight too. I get into most of the yards in the state of Wis., N. IL. and N. IN. That keeps me busy and out of trouble a few days a month.

[Jetrock]

Sacramento's a pretty good town to be a railfan--especially downtown. Besides the former WP and SP lines running through town, we've got LRV's scooting through town, plus quite a bit of abandoned but still-visible abandoned track. Plus, we've got the California State Railroad Museum and old SP shops (actually part of the museum but not open to the public) for looking at the old stuff up-close. Then we've got the Roseville Yards 10 minutes west, Western Railway Museum an hour southeast, and the Yolo short line in Woodland 20 minutes north. Makes for lots of neat photo ops, to say the least. Sadly, a lot of things that were here aren't anymore: the SP yards are all gone except for the shops, Sacramento Northern's Haggin Yard is a bike trail, WP's Jeffrey Shops is a light-rail line. But there's enough still here to keep me interested...

You can tell the railfans when folks are stopped at the midtown grade-crossing: non-railfans are cursing, railfans are going "got it, got it, want it, want it, got it..."

[Anonymous]

how do you model operations, what type of loads you will hall, the building of yards, type of equipment required and etc. yes i use to go off the beaten path to search for engines, and equipment. once i ran in to a round house of steam engines that was not a well known fact. even to day i will not give out the information due to collector or rail road artfactes, my wife "i know you would like to have this." It was a link and pin I told her to put it back others may like to see how cars, and engines where coupled up prior to the modern day couplers. Yes i use to be able to travel on jordon spreaders, cabooses, engine, and etc. i was lucky that was in the day law suits were far and between, to day its because of lawsuits, and now of national security we are not allowed to do this, unless its a comercial raiload for railfans. Best of railroading.

[Anonymous]

You bet. Especially when there is big steam in town (UP) or nearby (BNSF). A good way to introduce the grandchildren to model railroading -- a ride on the real thing. My 5 year old grandson will ride any train, any time, any where. At 4 he could spot the difference between a real live steam 'Thomas the Tank Engine' and the fake (where's the steam?) that gets towed behind the train (is that diesel gonna pull the train?) Yep -- they're hooked.

[Anonymous]

They seem to go hand-in-hand for the most part. I started modeling first then became more interested in the prototype.....photographs, research, etc. It feeds back into the modeling in a huge way; increasing not only knowledge of the subject but adding motivation.

[gwjordan1950]

Yes I am !!! You can ask my wife of 1 1/2 yrs. and her kids. When we go to Defiance Oh. ,you have to cross the old B&O double main. I will drop them off at Wed. nite church and go back to the tracks and watch trains. wed nite is a fairly busy nite for train watching! I also can to the south of my home town 7 miles to watch trains on the old Nickel Plate main , Ft.wayne to Belview. Great place to live!!!

[Anonymous]

Love to watch the big trains run,have 2 very active lines CP & CN an hour away threw some of the most awe inspiring area you can imagine (Fraser Canyon),watching the 200+ grain cars snake threw the canyon is awesome to watch,so pictures are a must and I take them all the time.
Plus a nice lunch and a good hike for the day along the rails is very calming and enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

Like real trains? Darn right. However, I punched the minority "no" opinion and on review reading of the question see that really is it: revolves around "ACTIVE" railfan.
Like the majority of commentators, don't get to see many trains today. Pre-WWII was a nother rail world. And it was steam. Lots. Everywhere.
I'm glad to see "steamtrainfreak"s info about UP still running the old heavies sometimes. I'd go a long way/to anywhere to see that. That makes me rabid, I guess, but not active...today.

[steveblackledge]

a BNSF modeler in the United Kingdom YES YES YES, i also go out with the kids to see and video etc loco hauled trains ,the older diesels and electrics on passenger duties are slowly disapearing and being replaced with horible tin boxes called virgin voyagers and pendolinos, the freight locos are being replaced by EMD 66's there a good loco, some older diesel 47's are being re-engineered and fitted with re-con SD40 engines, brilliant , we only need some dash 9's etc etc to make us a proper railroading country
steve

[steveblackledge]

yes, saw an LMS pacific loco no 6233 on the west coast main line today, going like hell, BRILLIANT stuff, turns your legs to rubber
steve UK

[Anonymous]

Although I do watch trains when they are encountered, I am more interested in hunting out older display equipments and photographing it. I love riding Amtrak and it is my first choice for travel if I don't need to make connections or be there in a hurry!

[Kent]

I don't do it as much as I would like to. But I tend to stick my little digital camera in my pocket when I plan on going by the EMD factory. (about 5 minutes from here:) )

[Anonymous]

Yes, to almost all. My wife and I both work on our Garden RR (1900s Denver & Rio Grande) all year here in NC. I also have HO and O on display. We have seven granddaughters and they all like to play with our trains. I've set up trains for them at their houses as well and they all can run ours. I read and collect RR items. I am a member of NRHS and other historical societies and volunteer at the Historic Southern Spencer Shops where I can play (work) on restoration of the real thing as well as crew on the various train rides we offer almost every day, both steam and diesel. I especially like working on and crewing on our restored 1925 Shay steam engine.

I would urge anyone with an interest to join a historical group or museum if one is nearby. You can learn and be part of the real thing. You get a great deal of satisfaction from visitors who enjoy seeing the old rolling stock still in operation. You can transform that into your modeling enjoyment. - Shay Lover

[Anonymous]

Yes I am.

I am often seen trackside as often as I can with camera in hand. The pictres that develop I then use to aid my modeling.

I often go "train chasing" with friends that have a similar facination with trains. I am pleased to state that also includes my girlfriend. Also an avid railfan and modeler.

[Hawks05]

getting there i guess you could say. all day through english i was watching for trains since my desk is right next to the windows which looks off to the public pool and the train tracks. i haven't heard a single train today. kind of weird.