chasing vs waiting

[legsbluetrain]

When you watch or photograph trains,do you chase them or sit and wait?

[RicHamilton]

Sit and wait...that is priceless.  I wish I had that luxury.  With only one scheduled daylight general merchandise, one early evening intermodal and an east and west passenger train through the rest of my awake hours, I try to make the best of it by chasing.  I do look at Google Earth a few days in advance and see if the lighting would be good for certain areas of my trip and how to get to them and back on the road quickly.  If I do find myself with time to kill I usually look for rolling stock at industries to shoot. 

One day, four of us piled into a TDI Jetta and ended up doing around 600kms (around 360miles) following two trains.  I also had another 300kms round trip to get to the starting point and back home that day.  Needless to say I was beat.

[CShaveRR]

Seriously, I think that would depend on whether you like your location better, or the specific train.

I'm not a photographer, so there's no question for me:  just sit and let them come to me.  (Eat your heart out, Ric--my wife and I were dining at our favorite barbecue spot, and in the hour we were there we encountered two scoots, and seven freight trains.)

[RicHamilton]

  (Eat your heart out, Ric--my wife and I were dining at our favorite barbecue spot, and in the hour we were there we encountered two scoots, and seven freight trains.)

I know.  Three of us spent a few days along CSX in NY and Ohio in 2004 and then hit Horseshoe Curve and Galitzin on our way home.  Wow.  Don't like the train, wait a minute.

[CNW 6000]

My luck dictates a little of both.  There's times I'll chase when I know where something is or is going to be.  Otherwise I'll get to a spot where I'm likely to see something and then chillax.  More often than not I've been tempted to leave for some reason: grass being greener elsewhere mainly, and then seen something go past in the rearview mirror.  So I've learned to sit and wait.  Kinda like hunting.  Sometimes you're better not moving for hours and sometimes ya gotta find the target.

[TimChgo9]

It's a little of both for me.  Generally I am content waiting, but being a photographer, I tend to try to find spots where I can set up a decent photograph, and sometimes, it involves some chasing.   I am careful when I do that though, it's easy to get caught up in the chase, and wind up paying too much attention to the chase for the train, and less attention to traffic.  If I am out by myself, I tend to chase a bit more...if the kids are with me, I tend to stay put in one place.

[JoeKoh]

we usually go to deshler and wait. we also follow the tracks closely too on the way over and back.we always find trains on the way home.When we were with carl the bnsf had some trains come through  and the dinkys were running fast too.(saw 2 amtraks coming in to chicago too on the way)

stay safe

joe

[K. P. Harrier]

For me, self-protection is the key, especially since 9-11.  I try to be as incognito as I can, and prefer that train crews don't know I'm around.

Super paranoid, out of control, Union Pacific train crews are notorious now (at least in my book) for requesting police or special agents.  You may have a legal right to pace a train at speed, but with UP, I save myself much trouble by just turning away after 5 or 10 minutes.  It is almost as if crewmembers have AK47's hanging out the windows with the intention of blowing away railfans!

I couldn't believe, at one Midwest location, for days trains were repeatedly going over at speed soil-shifted track that was very much out of alignment.  Even the track was flaking apart.  I said to myself, if stupid railroaders with seemingly AK47's in hand, are NOT watching the tracks in front of them but calling police on railbuffs (like they did with me), they deserve it if their train derails!  After a week, I left, and undoubtedly a track inspector eventually spotted the problem, as I never heard of a pileup.

[tree68]

Depends - Am I just trying to get my fill of trains, or is there something special I'm trying to document?

If I'm working our trains in Utica, or shopping at the Mall in Syracuse, I'll just hang out and watch the parade (and maybe catch a picture or two).

Last summer I chased one of our trains just to get some specific shots.

[eolafan]

With gas costing $3.45/gallon I will sit and wait, thanks very much.

[rrnut282]

It really depends upon what I hear on the scanner.  I have the ET frequencies programmed, so I don't leave a spot just before a train comes through.

[Ted Marshall]

I haven't had to sit and wait much since I got ATCS Monitor. With it I know where to be and when within 10 or 15 minutes or so.

[killer dragonoz]

I'll sit and wait

I can sit at one spot and see 5 to 10 trians in 2 1/2 hours plus the gas is to high and speed limt is sometimes only 35mph.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Being a life-long Chicagoan, camping out in one spot quickly became the norm because I rarely had to wait too long for a train, starting out at Burnham Crossing (within walking distance of home) in the late 1960's.

Currently, when I get a day for train-watching, I'll generally spend the morning and early afternoon at one spot.  The rest of the afternoon will be engaged in checking out nearby yards and engine facilities.  I've never actually chased a specific train.

[MP173]

I dont devote time to going out and watching trains.

However, I do have the scanner on at home and if I hear something interesting, if I have time, and it is sunny then it is off to the tracks for a quick photo.

Ditto work.  I drive, primarily around Chicago, but also NW Indiana and Northern Illinois/Indiana and the camera is always with me, as is a portable scanner.  Hence, a large number of "grab" shots.

ed

[Kathi Kube]

If I'm out with my husband or a friend having dinner or just talking, I don't mind sitting and waiting. If I want to photograph a train, though, I HAVE to be chasing. I learned that clearly a few years ago.

I was out of town on a business/railfan-related trip and arranged to get together with a friend to shoot some trains. I didn't realize at the time how different our styles are. He prefers to shoot as many trains as possible; I prefer to shoot as many scenes as possible.

He was driving and we sat at this one spot for HOURS with CSX on one side and NS on the other. Sure, there were a decent number of trains, but there were only so many different ways I could shoot there. Even my friend must have gotten bored, because he fell asleep in the back of the truck.

The next day, some of my closer friends from Wisconsin and Illinois called and asked if I was able to meet up with them. I tracked them down, and we spent the entire day driving through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, up and down dirt roads, past farms, and through all sorts of small towns. At one point, the best I could do was focus on the tail lights ahead of me in the dust and trust we were all still on the road (we were).

One of those friends rode in my car with me. It was my first railfan trip outside of Wisconsin and Illinois, and he was helping make sure I could keep up and not get lost. (I did just fine, thank you very much.) This friendship grew a ton on that trip. We talked about our lives before we met, how we became railfans, our dreams, and more. Four months later, he collapsed, and six months beyond that he died. To this day, I deeply treasure the memory of that day with him.

What a difference a day makes with two different styles of railfanning. I learned then that I absolutely prefer chasing whenever possible. The thrill of the chase, my friends.

Happy hunting!
Kathi

[Mookie]

Everyone knows:  1) I don't do photographs 2) where to find me in my down time and 3) that napping trackside between trains is the best napping!  It is peaceful and no one hassles you!

[oltmannd]

Ed's "third way" of sharp-shooting is what I do, too.  Turn scanner on at home and then dash down to the tracks for a shot. 

CSX near me uses the ATCS radio "code-line" so I've often thought I should get set up for that so I wouldn't have to "dash" so fast...but I have too many other things to keep me busy.  Maybe someday....

[dldance]

I rely on serendipity.  Most of my railfan opportunities occur when I am doing something else.  I know where the active lines are in my area and just keep an open eye on them.  That is why I prefer railfanning in the west - with wide open spaces - rather than more tree lined areas.  When I see something of interest - I just pull off the road for a bit - sometimes even go exploring.  However, I have been know to take the long way around because I know that route pass some interesting trackage.

dd

[t.winx]

With gas costing $3.45/gallon I will sit and wait, thanks very much.

Roger that.

[CSXDixieLine]

I shoot video and if I am really trying to get good shoots (not just out messigng around with the kids), I will typically pick a spot and stake it out all day. I will move maybe a mile or so in each direction to vary the shots and get the right ligthing, but usually I don't chase. Of course there are the times where I am just driving a line to find good locations; in those instances I have been known to chase a train or two (but I always stop when I see the state line ).

[inch53]

Since the docs won't let drive, I sit n wait and even that don't happen very often anymore. So I end watching the trains go by from my trainroom window or back yard

inch

[mersenne6]

 

  Once in awhile I'll chase a train but the method I prefer is to spend a lot of time with one of the online mapping services to identify a number of sites along a line and figure out the sun angles for morning and afternoon.  On the day of the hunt I'll get to my first spot of interest before dawn and set up.  Since I've got a choice of CSX or NS mainlines the traffic, as one other poster noted, is a matter of - don't like this train well, just wait a few minutes.  I'll take one or maybe two trains at the first spot and then move on to the next one.  Once I've bagged my limit for the morning I'll make side trips to locations on the map I haven't actually seen and if I like the looks of the setting I'll either set up and wait some more or just take a picture looking either way and note the location on my crib sheet for future reference and move on.  Most of my shooting is on the weekends and I'm at the point where I have a reasonable sense of train timing on both of the roads for certain parts of the route.  I just make a rough extrapolation for train time at other locations based on what I do know and, in general, that degree of precision is enough to allow me time to set up and compose at a new site before the arrival of the next train.