Good morning, just thought you all might want to know that the Chicago Tribune newspaper will be having a feature article in the Transportation section of this Sundays paper on Railfannaing…the who, where, why, etc. I know I am looking forward to reading why I am such a railfan (along with all of you). Hope you can read it with me. Jim
Oh, darn! I was hoping we’d make the high-society page of the Magazine.
Be thankful we didn’t make the comics page! [:D]
Just as long as we aren’t in the police reports either.[:p] I guess I’ll have to buy a paper on Sunday.
Mike
Wait … Wait … Wait …
They’re gonna tell us WHY we, us, the railfan, like trains? [%-)]
Does the Tribune put their articles online? If so, could you make that link available when and if it does become available?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I reject the idea of someone else telling me why I like something.
I’ve been working on a list of reasons of why I like trains because recently I’ve been having non-train fans asking me why or what is so facintating about trains. I really don’t have an answer for them. I figure my answer goes back to early childhood days. But that’s only part of it. That only explains how I go interested. The reasons why I’m still interested in trains today and continue to be are different than from in the beginning, and still the same, in a way.
I guess I’ll have to hurry and get my thoughts organized and post them here before Sunday so as to show the Tribune article was not an influence on reasoning.
But my prediction: newspapers are very good at misquoting people and if the Tribune is like any other newspaper they’ll only confuse or mislead non-railfans as to the real reasons why us railfans are really railfans. However, on the contrary, the Tribune did have the good sence to put Trains Magazine on the list of best 50 magazines. [:)]
I guess we’ll see…
Yeah, but even then they called it “Train” Magazine the entire time.
That’s okay…we knew what they meant!
I’d be interested in seeing what they have to say - a second on the request for the link, or at least a “book report” on their report.
If a newspaper is going to tell us why we like railfanning, it’s a safe bet we’re some sort of kooks, and any and all stories they’ve ever heard about ‘stupid railfan tricks’ will be a prominent part of the article. Any railroad official they quote will be anti-railfan.
That’s my guess. I hope they prove me wrong.
Yes, the Chicago Tribune is online. But you have to register to read the current articles, and pay for archived articles. http://www.chicagotribune.com/
The Chicago Tribune was already scooped this year by their biggest rival: The
Cedar Rapids Gazette. They did a story on railfans and how the post-9/11 security
mindedness impacts us rail fans just wanting to pursue our interests legally. I
personally have never run into any county mounty who’s being over-zealous about
security, just the occasional cruiser asking if I’m having engine trouble while I’m
parked at a grade crossing waiting for a train (I have unbelievable luck with that).
I wonder if any trains will be for sale in the classifieds.
stay safe
Joe
The reporter of the story interviewed me. The interview left me dubious that the reporter was not prejudging rail enthusiasts as weird, as the questions she asked seemed intended to prove that opinion.
I am hoping it does not turn out poorly.
By the way, after the Tribune listed the 50 best magazines – and left the “s” off “Trains” – we called them and they were very embarassed. A correction was printed in the next edition.
Good Shot, Mark!
[swg] [2c] [:-,]
Hey, Don’t knock them until the article comes out! They have had some darn good articles in the “Transportation Section” in the last year or so.
Still, Train (oops, Trains) has come a long way. I remember decades ago when some other magazine (could it have been Playboy? and if so, what was I doing with it?) listed Trains in an article about really weird publications…along the lines of “No kidding… there’s really a magazine about that stuff?”
Newspaper editors just can’t resist stories about people who eat bugs or watch trains.
Dave Nelson
So what’s wrong with snacking on the occasional bug? [dinner]
Just kidding!! Yuck!!!
Yeah, why not? They snack on us!
(As some of you may know, I bike to work whenever possible. I used to be able to get the folks at work by saying, “It must be spring…I swallowed my first bug of the year.”)
Sorry…getting a little off topic.
I like this! Tell that reporterette to call me - she wouldn’t believe my story!
Mook
Watch out for those bumble-bees, though. One of 'em hit my arm one time … I can only imagine one in the mouth would be like![:D]
Thanks for the alert. It will be interesting to see how the “Trib” characterizes us. Would it be possible to include a link to the Triune’s article for those of us who forget to get on line on sunday and down load it?