How did your love of railroads start.

[Anonymous]

I was taken on the Dixie Flagler overnight from Chattanooga, TN, to Daytona Beach, FL., at the age of three. I have vague memories of it and have been told that I enjoyed it immensely. Obviously I got locked into the hobby at that time and have been ever since. My favorite trains of all time will always be the Dixie Flagler(later re-equipped and re-named the Dixieland) and the Georgian.

[Anonymous]

I was taken on the Dixie Flagler overnight from Chattanooga, TN, to Daytona Beach, FL., at the age of three. I have vague memories of it and have been told that I enjoyed it immensely. Obviously I got locked into the hobby at that time and have been ever since. My favorite trains of all time will always be the Dixie Flagler(later re-equipped and re-named the Dixieland) and the Georgian.

[bfsfabs]

It was real simple, I was small, about 3 years old, the trains were there, my Dad's cousin gave me a ride in the cab. So it all began with a half mile cab ride in a steamer in 1936 in Santa Cruz CA. And YES, I can still remember it ! Mostly . . .

Just NEVER stopped.

[bfsfabs]

It was real simple, I was small, about 3 years old, the trains were there, my Dad's cousin gave me a ride in the cab. So it all began with a half mile cab ride in a steamer in 1936 in Santa Cruz CA. And YES, I can still remember it ! Mostly . . .

Just NEVER stopped.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies, I guess for most of you, the stories run about the same as mine. It IS the greatest hobby in the world.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies, I guess for most of you, the stories run about the same as mine. It IS the greatest hobby in the world.

[Chazmort]

Mookie,

No, it wasn't Alliance; that's on the BNSF. The UP main goes from Omaha west to Cheyenne, Wyo., paralleling the Platte River and Lodgepole Creek.

[Chazmort]

Mookie,

No, it wasn't Alliance; that's on the BNSF. The UP main goes from Omaha west to Cheyenne, Wyo., paralleling the Platte River and Lodgepole Creek.

[ironhorseman]

My love of railroads must've started when I was about 2 or 3. My grandpa would take me down to the M-K-T freight yard and we'd spend maybe an hour or two watching them makeup freight trains. We'd do this everytime we visited my dad's folks. Many years later we moved to a town on the Santa Fe main line which sees upwards of 60+ trains a day at high speed. This solidified my love of trains.

[ironhorseman]

My love of railroads must've started when I was about 2 or 3. My grandpa would take me down to the M-K-T freight yard and we'd spend maybe an hour or two watching them makeup freight trains. We'd do this everytime we visited my dad's folks. Many years later we moved to a town on the Santa Fe main line which sees upwards of 60+ trains a day at high speed. This solidified my love of trains.

[Yampa2003]

We went everywhere as kids by train, parents had no car. Steam trains were in their final days. It just grew from there.

[Yampa2003]

We went everywhere as kids by train, parents had no car. Steam trains were in their final days. It just grew from there.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
For me that is actually a rather hard question. I think I was already a railfan in the womb! I'm only 16 right now and I don't think there's ever been a time either me or my parents can remember me not loving trains. I actually think I knew what different types of frieght cars were called before I knew my ABC's. I'm a railfan, toy train collector and operator and am very interested in trains from all over the world (not just North America) from the past and present, so I do like to consider myself a dedicated train buff. If I can figure out how or why it all started I'll let you know! Have a great day!

[Anonymous]

Hi,
For me that is actually a rather hard question. I think I was already a railfan in the womb! I'm only 16 right now and I don't think there's ever been a time either me or my parents can remember me not loving trains. I actually think I knew what different types of frieght cars were called before I knew my ABC's. I'm a railfan, toy train collector and operator and am very interested in trains from all over the world (not just North America) from the past and present, so I do like to consider myself a dedicated train buff. If I can figure out how or why it all started I'll let you know! Have a great day!

[Anonymous]

When I got my first Lionel Train set (O Scale, 4-6-4 Steam) at age 6 in 1956. I still have it and it still runs as good as it did when I first got it (It still smokes also). For a lot of you old timers, it was purchased by my father at Sears when it was then called, Sears and Roebuck! It's been a love affair every since. I would love to have a basement full of O Gauge trains but I would have to be a part time millionaire to afford the kinds of engines and cars that I like, at today's prices.

Larry

[Anonymous]

When I got my first Lionel Train set (O Scale, 4-6-4 Steam) at age 6 in 1956. I still have it and it still runs as good as it did when I first got it (It still smokes also). For a lot of you old timers, it was purchased by my father at Sears when it was then called, Sears and Roebuck! It's been a love affair every since. I would love to have a basement full of O Gauge trains but I would have to be a part time millionaire to afford the kinds of engines and cars that I like, at today's prices.

Larry

[jamesedwbradley]

It was half Pavlovian - my dad commuted on New Haven's 'West End', Larchmont NY to GCT; we would take him to the 8:06 and pick him up from the 5:35 (trains were always referred to by the times). Sometimes he would take the 8:28 which was a one-stop train from Rye NY to Larchmont and direct to GCT; usually pulled by an EP-4 green streamlined electric with coaches not MUs, as I recall. At night, the trains' arrival was followed shortly by dinner at home, therefore the Pavlovian feature - food good, train means food, train good! Also Larchmont had no real industry and the 4-track NH main line was the biggest physical thing in town, with the trains slamming through in a blur at 60 mph; even the freights were pretty fast. So I was hooked for life. But when we moved to Johnsonburg, PA, at Age 11, I read about steam boiler pressures (Edw. Hungerford's 'Locomotives on Parade' was my first of many rail books) and so the steamers scared me. But the love of trains was already there.
James E. Bradley Hawk Mountain Chapter N.R.H.S.

[jamesedwbradley]

It was half Pavlovian - my dad commuted on New Haven's 'West End', Larchmont NY to GCT; we would take him to the 8:06 and pick him up from the 5:35 (trains were always referred to by the times). Sometimes he would take the 8:28 which was a one-stop train from Rye NY to Larchmont and direct to GCT; usually pulled by an EP-4 green streamlined electric with coaches not MUs, as I recall. At night, the trains' arrival was followed shortly by dinner at home, therefore the Pavlovian feature - food good, train means food, train good! Also Larchmont had no real industry and the 4-track NH main line was the biggest physical thing in town, with the trains slamming through in a blur at 60 mph; even the freights were pretty fast. So I was hooked for life. But when we moved to Johnsonburg, PA, at Age 11, I read about steam boiler pressures (Edw. Hungerford's 'Locomotives on Parade' was my first of many rail books) and so the steamers scared me. But the love of trains was already there.
James E. Bradley Hawk Mountain Chapter N.R.H.S.

[foamer4000]

My uncle would take me out to watch the GTW switch in Battle Creek, Mi. I loved to watch a single Gp-38 pulling a long string of 89 foot 8 door box cars! I could also catch a glimps of the yard when mom dropped dad off at work. My modeling interest started at three. Dad bought me a Santa Fe F-7. I spent hours running that motor at maximum speed.
David

[foamer4000]

My uncle would take me out to watch the GTW switch in Battle Creek, Mi. I loved to watch a single Gp-38 pulling a long string of 89 foot 8 door box cars! I could also catch a glimps of the yard when mom dropped dad off at work. My modeling interest started at three. Dad bought me a Santa Fe F-7. I spent hours running that motor at maximum speed.
David

[Modelcar]

....It didn't start with this experience, but one so vivid in memory for me is the small and unusual operation of the Ligonier Valley R R in Ligonier, Pa.....Switching yard and all, Even had a round house and for a small town a beautiful Passenger Station and it also housed the General Offices of the railroad. The station still is there and has just been taken over by the area schools for some sort of offices....It is a beautiful building of white colored stone with a Bush Shed...Still in place. Round house is still there too but it is a Catholic School...I believe. Railroad stopped running in late Summer of 1952....All this was just awesome for me to watch each Summer when I would visit my cousin. Great Memories...!

[Modelcar]

....It didn't start with this experience, but one so vivid in memory for me is the small and unusual operation of the Ligonier Valley R R in Ligonier, Pa.....Switching yard and all, Even had a round house and for a small town a beautiful Passenger Station and it also housed the General Offices of the railroad. The station still is there and has just been taken over by the area schools for some sort of offices....It is a beautiful building of white colored stone with a Bush Shed...Still in place. Round house is still there too but it is a Catholic School...I believe. Railroad stopped running in late Summer of 1952....All this was just awesome for me to watch each Summer when I would visit my cousin. Great Memories...!

[Anonymous]

I got it from my Dad. I gather this sort of thing runs in families. Funny thing is, he's not a railroader.

Anyhow, although I started riding the rails early (first cross country trip was when I was the ripe old age of 1) one of my favorite memories is hanging out with Dad on the Westport Station platform in Westport, CT during the early years of PC. We saw everything fron NYNH&H EP-4s to GG-1s, E8s, EF-4s, MUs and passenger cars from all over the country on the Amtraks. It was about 1972 as I recall.

LC

[Anonymous]

I got it from my Dad. I gather this sort of thing runs in families. Funny thing is, he's not a railroader.

Anyhow, although I started riding the rails early (first cross country trip was when I was the ripe old age of 1) one of my favorite memories is hanging out with Dad on the Westport Station platform in Westport, CT during the early years of PC. We saw everything fron NYNH&H EP-4s to GG-1s, E8s, EF-4s, MUs and passenger cars from all over the country on the Amtraks. It was about 1972 as I recall.

LC

[Anonymous]

Mmm.. the love generally sets in later, I would say, growing out of early childhood experiences, which themselves may have seemed quite inconsequential at the time!

In my case I can remember hiking through the Canadian woods in in Northern Ontario in winter, alone, near dusk, and unexpectedly coming across a rail line hemmed in by trees on both sides. I pause on the bank to take a break. Suddenly a low rumble, then a roar, a flash of silver, snow swilrling, and then, what a vision! --- through the glowing glass windows, ladies in evening dress and men in dinner jackets, white linen and flowers, waiters and barmen, then ---- it's gone; silence, snow and darkness again, the sound of a snowlark somewhere overhead.

Is it any wonder love grows out of such magic?

[Incidentally, it would have been 'The Canadian' bound for Sudbury and thence Toronto or Montreal, circa 1962]

[Anonymous]

Mmm.. the love generally sets in later, I would say, growing out of early childhood experiences, which themselves may have seemed quite inconsequential at the time!

In my case I can remember hiking through the Canadian woods in in Northern Ontario in winter, alone, near dusk, and unexpectedly coming across a rail line hemmed in by trees on both sides. I pause on the bank to take a break. Suddenly a low rumble, then a roar, a flash of silver, snow swilrling, and then, what a vision! --- through the glowing glass windows, ladies in evening dress and men in dinner jackets, white linen and flowers, waiters and barmen, then ---- it's gone; silence, snow and darkness again, the sound of a snowlark somewhere overhead.

Is it any wonder love grows out of such magic?

[Incidentally, it would have been 'The Canadian' bound for Sudbury and thence Toronto or Montreal, circa 1962]

[BentnoseWillie]

Easy. The eary 70's, going to visit my grandfather at work in the CN yard office in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.

I still love going into that building.

[BentnoseWillie]

Easy. The eary 70's, going to visit my grandfather at work in the CN yard office in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.

I still love going into that building.

[zardoz]

My parents told me that when I started learning how to to walk, the one thing that would motivate me was when the trains went past our backyard. They told me that I was watching trains before I was two years old! Heck, I probably strirred in the womb when the trains went by !!

[zardoz]

My parents told me that when I started learning how to to walk, the one thing that would motivate me was when the trains went past our backyard. They told me that I was watching trains before I was two years old! Heck, I probably strirred in the womb when the trains went by !!