You know you're a railfan when...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by brilondon

When you try to register for your wedding at a hobby store

I know of a trains-only shop that does wedding and birthday registries

You know your a railfan if
1.)Your hiking in the woods with a group and someone yells "Its a black snake" And you look around for the coal train.
2.)You go to get an air conditioner and ask why the one on display has the name spelled wrong
3.)You get that air conditioner even though they spelled "Train" wrong, just because it can still be pronounced as such
4.)You got the air conditioner to replace a motor in yur ride-on scale Acela layout
5.)When you can hear a scanner in a MOW truck on the other side of the tracks and know exactly where the next train is at that moment through it
6.)When you want to discuss weither FEF-3s or J3Es were better units
7.)When yoiu understand what I just said

[Junctionfan]

I bet you if when you die, if you ask God if your spirit can go railfanning once in awhile, he would say yes.

To continue....

1/ You order a pizza to where you are watching trains

2/ You are a lawyer and in your closing arguements you compare the facts of the case to a railfanning experience

3/ You hold a private funeral service for wrecked railcars and locomotives

4/ You start a petition for your local T.V station to do a railfanning show

5/ If you are in school, you try to do a book report on Model Railroader or Trains

6/ You keep a railfanning journal around with you as if it was the Bible

7/ You bring a weed wacker and branch cutters with you so you can take a better picture

8/ You go through railroad garbage bins to find something worth keeping

9/ When you hear the train whistle, you smile uncontrollably and get goose bumps

10/ You plan familly trips around good railfanning days

[JoeKoh]

Junctionfan
Both catholic churches in Defiance are near RR tracks.God has to be a railfan.
stay safe
Joe

[brilondon]

When you try to register for your wedding at a hobby store

[Junctionfan]

1/ You spend New Years by the tracks

2/ You right down reporting marks and the number of the railcar to make your own equipment registry log (I do that)

3/ You start a conversation and it ends up turning into a conversation about trains

4/ You see a pair of SD90Mac and start to grunt like Tim Allen from Home Improvement

5/ You trip over boxes of train stuff

6/ You rent a U-Haul storage unit because there is no more room in the house for you train photographs

7/ You vote for politicians base on how they act toward the rail industry

8/ You learn alot about chemistry from looking at the stenciling of tank cars

9/ It's 50 below and you still go out for trains

10/ Engine crews contimplate a restraining order against you for stalking them when they work

11/ You go to watch a symphony orchestra and wonder if their is an engineer with the conductor

12/ When you walk you pretend you are a train and start honking at things and open and close your hands like an NS or CSX ditch lights

13/ You hurry folk into the passenger trains so other trains can go by faster and you don't work for Amtrak or Via

14/ You don't work for the railroad but inspect the track anyways

15/ You know where the train is going before dispatch does

16/ You make bets on which track the next train will come on

17/ You get eye strain from staring to hard at the tracks

18/ Your answer to the eye strain is look further away down the tracks

19/ You are sick as a dog and could be on your death bed and ask the nurse if she saw any trains today

20/ You pray in church for trains

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Randy Stahl

You break the family budget by buying an ALCO S-6 and then insisting that your wife help you to install batterys just so you can hear it run... for an hour.
Randy

That one is cool[8D]

I've been trying to talk to the city fathers,about putting a 'caboose' in
my back yard.[:)]

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cnwfan11

QUOTE: Originally posted by piouslion

QUOTE: Originally posted by Randy Stahl

When you give some idiot a fat lip for complaining about trains blocking the crossing. (obviously he doesn't have my appreciation for the machines).
(I could get my 3rd star this way) !!!!!Randy

[#ditto]Let us not resort to violence toward the unknowing and uncultured for never being taught the proper appreacation of fine engineering and functional beauty. Let us rather be sad[:(] for they must be pittied [#dots]for not knowing what is important to know about such things. A fat lip, no, but deep wi***hat they would become more enlightened. [swg][:-^]yes[2c]

Uncultered,unrefined people.They don't know what gives!
Randy,I'm glad you didn't get a 'fat lip' but sometimes that's what
it takes.[:)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by piouslion

QUOTE: Originally posted by Randy Stahl

When you give some idiot a fat lip for complaining about trains blocking the crossing. (obviously he doesn't have my appreciation for the machines).
(I could get my 3rd star this way) !!!!!Randy

[#ditto]Let us not resort to violence toward the unknowing and uncultured for never being taught the proper appreacation of fine engineering and functional beauty. Let us rather be sad[:(] for they must be pittied [#dots]for not knowing what is important to know about such things. A fat lip, no, but deep wi***hat they would become more enlightened. [swg][:-^]yes[2c]

Or in some cases sitting on the porch watching a train go by,then it stops to make a switch,pick-up orders,change crew members,etc.,then seeing these people honk their horns for the train to move,or in some cases,getting me p-offed,by them turning in my driveway[:(!] cause they cant wait a few seconds for the train to cross,or when it does,it only is the locomotive or in some cases a few cars,then it passes,then they have to wait to turn onto the road due to many other cars that are wanting to cross the tracks,or better yet,watching cars go ONTO the tracks,when there is a sign stating, " DO NOT STOP ON THE TRACKS"[D)],and wishing a train was right there that very minute to knock some sense into these people[banghead]

[Junctionfan]

1/ An SD70Mac is your idea of a babe magnet

2/ Some one says to you "nice caboose" and you look at the tracks to see if one has gone by.

3/ You install a train horn in your vehicle

4/ You have a pair of binoculars and you have a choice of looking at a hot woman or a train and you choose the train.

5/ Your favourite place to drink beer is by the tracks

6/ You phone in sick for work because you know a special train is going through that day ie the Hudson

7/ Your familly doesn't like trains but start to pick up on the terminology.

8/ You lease an RV just because you don't want to leave the tracks at night

9/ Your kids say its time to go home but you say I want to stay longer.

10/ If you are late and someone asks your wife "do you think he is cheating on you" and your wife responds confidently "no he's just watching trains".

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Randy Stahl

Either that or I was gonna get one !!!!!!
Randy

Glad to hear that there was no physical damage

[Randy Stahl]

Either that or I was gonna get one !!!!!!
Randy

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Randy Stahl

When you give some idiot a fat lip for complaining about trains blocking the crossing. (obviously he doesn't have my appreciation for the machines).
(I could get my 3rd star this way) !!!!!Randy

[#ditto]Let us not resort to violence toward the unknowing and uncultured for never being taught the proper appreacation of fine engineering and functional beauty. Let us rather be sad[:(] for they must be pittied [#dots]for not knowing what is important to know about such things. A fat lip, no, but deep wi***hat they would become more enlightened. [swg][:-^]yes[2c]

[Randy Stahl]

When you give some idiot a fat lip for complaining about trains blocking the crossing. (obviously he doesn't have my appreciation for the machines).
(I could get my 3rd star this way) !!!!!
Randy

[Randy Stahl]

You bad order a locomotive on the service tracks and have your coworkers work to seperate the consist just so you can get a photo of the locomotive by itself.
Randy

[Randy Stahl]

You break the family budget by buying an ALCO S-6 and then insisting that your wife help you to install batterys just so you can hear it run... for an hour.
Randy

[MP57313]

See Junctionfan's #11 above.
For me it was going on a 4th grade field trip to a dairy, and the most memorable thing was a Santa Fe train going by on the mainline (Riverside, CA late 60s)

[Junctionfan]

1/ You go through yellow because to you they are clear to stop.

2/ You install a coffee machine in your car so you can railfan in the winter.

3/ You get off a bus because you notice a train is coming

4/ You make your animals ride on your G scale layout and dress them in train outfits

5/ Your idea of excersise is running 3 blocks to catch a train.

6/ You bring a bunch of other railfans and start doing the wave and hold up a lighter after a train goes by.

7/ You talk lude on the phone and ask the other person if it takes place at a BNSF mainline or a UP mainline.

8/ You have a bar in your reckroom and serve drinks to your guests on a moving lionel train set.

9/ You install a phone outside so you don't miss a call while watching trains.

10/ Your answering machine says "......sorry I not hope right now because I'm watching trains...."

11/ You take your familly to Walt Disney and find that a CSX train on the way with an AC6000CW and some other interesting power in the highlight of your day.

12/ Your parents and grandparents make fun of you

13/ You purposely forget things at the store so you have an excuse to go watch trains some more

14/ You think a pig farm is a nickname for TOFC terminal.

[MP57313]

...you willingly accept "Jury Duty" in a location your co-workers avoid, because the the Jury Pool Room has a view of the tracks. [Compton, CA for those who know L.A.].

FWIW I've been called for jury duty twice at that location and never had any problems in the area

[Junctionfan]

1/ You have to go to the bathroom but an intermodal is coming so you giggle and watch.

2/ Police dispatcher tells directs you to a call but you tell dispatch you are responding to a call already (train watching)

3/ Everytime the crossing gates go down you drool

4/ You take your wife out for diner and end up watching trains first.

5/ You watch the Fugitive and more interested in the locomotives than Harrison Ford.

6/ You name your animals after locomotives

7/ You buy beds for your kids shaped as trains wheather they like trains or not.

8/ You try to avoid talking long on the phone just in case a train will be coming.

9/ You buy paint to paint your house and you refer to colours based on paint schemes like conrail blue and cp red.

10/ You pretend when you are driving a car that its a train and beep for intersections.

11/ You here a horn and can tell what locomotive it is and who it belongs to.

12/ Your idea of a romatic setting is 2 lawn chairs at Fostoria.

13/ You can't imagine anything wrong with wanting train stuff as a wedding present

14/ Railroad employee greet you by name.

15/ Your dreams include you as an engineer

16/ You look for resteraunts that are close to tracks.

17/ You pretend you are fixing your car on the side of the road so you can look for trains without getting in trouble with the police for illegal parking.

18/ You become depressed if you can get out to watch trains

19/ You go to an equestrian club and when they talk about thourghbeads you think they mean NS

20/ You drive down the highway and point out trucks and containers that you have seen on trains

21/ You shape your mashed patatoes into a locomotive

22/ You hum train songs everywhere you go

23/ Your family movies have trains in them

24/ You install a beer fridge in the car for railfanning

25/ You watch Thomas the Tank engine even when your kids don't

26/ On business trips you have to take the train

27/ You go to Venice and are disappointed because you thought a gondola ride was something else.

28/ Railroad police is on speed dial on your cell phone.

29/ Your doctor perscribes anti-inflamitories from taking too many pictures.

30/ You have a whole room that is a library full of train books and photographs.


More is on the way

[Anonymous]

hows this:
You might be a railfan if when your driving someone somewhere and come into sight of tracks, you ramble off the whole history (Or how much you can) before even geting to the crossing, and then notice the person is asleep.
....If you go to a national park and spend most of the day at the station.
....Stand in the middle of a thunderstorm because the signal went to clear.
....spend half an hour searching for a particular crossing.
....Have a pre-construction promotional poster of the Acela, an operation Lifesaver poster, and a PRR stock certificate from an antique store on the wall of your house where evryone who comes can see.
....seea train coming, ang stop to get out your camera to take a photo, even though the train is on speed restrictions and the gates aren't down.
....Even though the only way out of town is north, you go south and take the roads back north just to see if there are any trains in town before you leave.
....Whenever you leave the house, you bring your camera on the offchance you will see a train.

and yes, these all are personal experiance.

[locomutt]

Congrats on collecting the cinders,I wish.

Man,I NEVER thought he was kidding,I'm jealous.
You got to do something I' ve always wished.

Thank you,I try.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Heartland Flyer

Your watching a nascar race and you notice the NS has a mainline right by the speedway, and you watch for trains all day instead of the race.

What's NASCAR, and why would anyone want to watch something go in circles???[}:)][:D][;)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: .

This is me collecting them......



And here is the "harvest".......[:0][:p][;)][:o)][8D]



By the way Locomutt, congrats on that fourth star.[:D]

AND I BET YOU ALL THOUGHT HE WAS KIDDING.[:D][:D][:D]

[Train Guy 3]

When every book you learned to read with focused on trains.

[Anonymous]

Your watching a nascar race and you notice the NS has a mainline right by the speedway, and you watch for trains all day instead of the race.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by locomutt

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

When you come home after a steam excursion and bru***he cinders out of your hair and save them.[:P][swg]

That is great,and that one means YOU ARE hooked![:D][8D]
And BTW,have you gotten all them yet[?]

Oh yeah, the trip was back at the beginning of July, behind Milwaukee Road 261.

This is me collecting them......



And here is the "harvest".......[:0][:p][;)][:o)][8D]



By the way Locomutt, congrats on that fourth star.[:D]

[locomutt]

BTW what was the color of the SCL ballast?
Coral pink?[:)]

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

You don't work for a railroad,but your boss catches you riding the cab of a CF7 anyway[:p]!

That one is interesting,did that really happpen?
If so, sorry about the boss,hope you had a good time![:)]

[Overmod]

1) You take off running to get a clear view when you hear a train coming... leaving your grandkids behind...

2) You excuse yourself to go to the window of the boardroom to watch a train... leaving the rest of the meeting stalled because nothing happens without the CEO...

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

When you come home after a steam excursion and bru***he cinders out of your hair and save them.[:P][swg]

That is great,and that one means YOU ARE hooked![:D][8D]
And BTW,have you gotten all them yet[?]