EXHAUSTING DAY!!!

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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On Wednesday, it was the worst day of railfanning i have ever had. I was visiting my grandparents and there is a very cool location that you can go to to get great shots of BNSF coal trains.
First, I had to walk 2 miles through thick forest to get to the spot, and it was about 70 degree’s out. I am there for about 10 min when a lady pulls up and walks real slow towards me and says “what are you doing?” I said that i was watching trains. she said, “isnt that kind of odd, never heard that before”. I said, yeah, well. (i would have said more[}:)], but i didnt know if she was a weird psycopath or not) she said, " you arent going to jump out in front of the train are you?" I said NO, i am simply watching them!! then she must have gotten bored or something because she looked at my knife(because I had to walk 2 miles in thick forest) and said, “is that a gun!!!” I calmly explained why I had it and then she said, “do you take pictures?’ I said yeah and then she goes, " oh, I guess yor legite” Then she leaves. What a [censored]!

Okay so after about 2 hours, no trains come and i have been in 70 degree heat with no shade. I finally head for home. About 10 mins after i gethome, I see 3 GM SD40-2’s leading a empty coal train. Talk about profanity!
While eating lunch, my aunt tells me about one time a bear cmae through the fields and attacked someone… Great, just what i need! So, i go back at about 4 hours later and am walking when i hear a snarl behind me. I see a flash of black and almost s*** my pants. I start jogging and quickly get to my spot. I hear the dam thing thrashing around behind me so I cant go back and i cant go forward. What i would have given for a AK47! or at least a 30-30! 2 hours later, no trains and again the heat is getting to me and am almost frozen stiff with fear and mad because of no trains. All of a sudden the thing comes out and… it a friggen coyote. I am so scared and mad i had a kind of hi feeling. I yelled at the coyote

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I feel your pain!
BNSFrailfan.

3

Coborn,

Sounds like you had a crappy day allright… I can relate. I live pretty close to a major line coming into Pheonix for UP. I usually get to see them. Well, I had a month there were I always caugtht the tail end of the train, or when I got home ans got out of the truck, I woudl hear the horn, just missing by minutes DOH!
Although, not to take away from your plight, but I had to laugh when you talked about 70 degrees and no shade… Try watchin in AZ. I sat out on curb waitin for UP to come through and it was 93 without a cloud in the sky. That was a month ago. Funny part is, I was thinking, “Pretty soon, the summer will be here and then it will get really hot. Have to wait till fall”

I would have told the lady you were goign to jump in front of the train and asked if her if she wanted to hold your hand and go with you.

(Just kidding warped senseof humor today after moveing all day)

Best Regards
JOhn k

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Coborn,
I can relate to your animal scare. One time I was railfanning alone in the Mojave desert. I parked my car and hiked about 200 yards from my car and set up the lounge chair on a big hill. After a while I spotted this pack of what looked like big ceyotes. They were getting closer to being between me and my car. Normaly this would not worry me but there were close to a dozen of them. What I worried about was them smelling my food and trying to get it. I had now wepons to defend myself with other than mabee beating them with my aluminum chair. Slowly they moved in between my car and where I was at. I tried not to draw there attention. Within fifteen minuets or so I went from worried to panicked. They picked up on my trail and started to move twards me. I’ve been attacked by dogs before and it’s not a plesant experience. Now I’ve got a dozen of these things movin in on me. So I’m sitting there thinking dam this is a hell of a time to leave the gun in the car (I would always bring them to target shoot between trains cause in LA you can’t do dat too offen). Well they were clearly on my trail but my trail sorta circled around another hill then came up behind me, out of sight for the last 125 Yards till within 20 Yards. I worked myself into quite a scare. Then after a few minuets these animals came into sight. To my suprise they were not that big at all and as soon as I yelled something they all bolted. I just thought what an idiot I am.

Perception can get really distorted in the desert !!!

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Wow a lot of drama in this thread. I’ve never seen any critters like coyotes but then I probably stick too close to civilization. I’ve had some of those “waiting for hours and nothing” days so I at least get some right-of-way shots with a milepost or pictures of bridges, “moveable frogs”, something, anything!

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Well the lady I would classify as a sign of times. [:o)][:D]

The walk in the woods I would classify as beware as you never know what nature may have in store for you[:o)]

The lack of trains I would write a letter to the RR in question & complain. They should have known you were train watching so they should have filled the tracks with trains for you[:p][:)]

[quote]
Originally posted by coborn35

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The closest thing to wildlife we get here at Eola Yard in Aurora, IL is an occassional stray dog or some illegal aliens driving around the crossing gates illegally (well, they are used to doing illegal things so why not that?). Hope NEVER to run into cayotes in Aurora (acutlly there have been reports of them in the area and…here is a wierd report…even in downtown Chicago going into garbage dumpsters, etc.). Sounds like wilderness to civilization to wilderness over and over, doesn’t it?

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Sometimes I have days where I am able to sit at the NS mainline and see between 10-14 trains in about a 10 hour period. one day I happen to go and only see 3 trains in 11 hours. Wow what a waste of a day. Although I did not see but three, one happend to be a train consisting of a BNSF Dash-9, two six-axle flat cars, and a NS Caboose.

9

Man you poor soul, grab a beer throw in a pentrex tape and just vege out.

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Coborn,
Now you know how I feel EVERYTIME I hear that UP 4141 is running in my area ! I have decided that its not meant for me to see it in daylight hours and get video of it…EVER !
Its nice to know that Im not the only one this happens to…LOL Danny

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Can someone explain what a cayote is, I’ve seen coyotes but never cayotes[}:)]

Had a few close encounters, not while trainwatching other than the hobo who got off a stopped train walked up to me and asked if I had anything to drink, I had a sixer of pop so I gave him a can, he was pretty grateful.[:I]

Wildlife wise all the close encounters have been mountain biking. Shared a trail with a young coyote who just kept trotting uphill about a 100 yards ahead of me, he’d occassionally turn and yowl at me. He eventually jumped off the trail into the brush and dissappeared.[:)]

Came across a huge 6’ rattler laying straight across a fireroad and who just would not move off his sunny spot. Eventually kicked enough dirt on him to get him to move.[:0]

Seen tarantuala’s an the trailside, there neat![8)]

Had a HUGE buck leap out of the bush about 10 feet in front of me and run off ahead of us.

Two most interesting events, one cool, one not so cool.

The cool:
riding up a fireroad when I see what looks like a dog coming down the road. I stop when I realize its not a dog, its a BIG Bobcat! He was following something in the brush, but calmly walking straight down the fireroad, I had slowly got off the bike and moved off to the side and started saying “Nice kitty” loud enough to make my presence known, he just continued down the road, 10 yards, 5 yards, and passed me 1 yard away!, and just calmly kept walking down the trail. Cool![8D]

The Un-cool:
Riding at dusk grinding slowly up into the mountains near my house, sun had just gone down but it wasnt dark enough to turn on the headlight yet, kept riding until it was now dark enough to turn on the light, before I can I hear “Growwwwllllllllllll” like 2 inches behind my left ear!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!!! I hit the light, stop, did a quick pan to see what the hell that was!!! nothing around me, maybe the light spoked it. Well now, here I am, all alone, mile

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I had a MOW worker stand fairly close to the car one time. Does that count?

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Wow - I’m pooped just reading all this!

I like to poke around the area around the old NYO&W yard at Cadosia, NY. Always with a wary eye, though. The rattlers are legendary (I have to take their word for it - I haven’t met one yet, fortunately). The cabins we often stay in have warnings posted - keep windows and doors closed (at least on the first floor), especially at night. Br’er Bear visits on occasion.

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Hey Vic, Thanks for reminding me one more [censored] time that I can’t spell worth a [censored]. I had almost forgot about that. Thanks again for reminding me…here…in a public forum…for all to read…just in case any one else hadn’t noticed. With friends like you, who needs…

Seriously though, When I lived in Palm Springs (actually up in the mountains below Palm Desert) my front porch attracted teranchulas. I learned real quick to look before I stepped out the door, especially when barefoot. There is not much that creeps me out, but squashing a big teranchula between my toes definatly does.

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When I lived in Washington I had a 85 acre spread. There was a road that went through the property. One side was thick forrest and the other side was meadow with forrest surrounding it. I became good friends with several of my nieghbors. One of them that lived below me would walk up the road to anothers friends house above my place quite often. I also would frequently walk up there myself. He was always telling me to watch out for the bear that lived in the area and he he got chased by it all the time. At first I was carefull and didn’t wonderaround in the forrest without a firearm. I saw sign all the time, footprints and bear turds, but I never saw the bear itself. After a while I thought he was full of it about being chased. Still every so often he would tell me about being chased again.

Then one day I was walking up the road and heard some rustleing in the bushes about 100 yards behind me. I stopped and waited to see what it was. A minuet or so later this little black bear comes out of the forrest. By little I mean he was small for a bear but still very big. He spotted me right off and started heading in my direction. I suddenly felt pannicked and continued walking with him following. He wasn’t moveing very fast but was still following me about as fast as I was walking, which was as fast as I could walk without breaking into a run. I got past a curve in the road where the bear was out of site for a little bit and I was getting close to my neighbors house so I slowed my pace and thought I was safe. Then the bear comes around the bend and he had gained on me. Again I started to pannick. Right then my neighbor came around the corner in his car. When he stopped, so I could jump in his truck for the last 100 yards to his house, I asked him where the bear went. He says what bear. I then told him about the bear chaseing me. He had the same look of disbelief that I had all those time the other neighbor would tell me about him being chased. I never doubted him again. That was the one and only time I saw th

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The nosey busybody woman is an annoyance I can relate to. There are too many people out there who seem to think everyones’s business is their business…

The wild life issue, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be the big problem some might think it is.

I always try to find the positive side of such strange happenings, and hope to enjoy them. for what they are. Life.

12 years or so back I drove out to a reservoir east of Hayward California late one clear night, to do a little stargazing. Parked off to the side of the road, crawled up on the hood, and layed back with my back against the windshield

After about 45 minutes I closed my eyes, it was really peaceful.

Next time I opened my eyes I was staring a 6+ point buck straight in the eye, he had gotten curious and walked up to within 4 feet of me, he easily could have lashed at me with the magnificent rack of antlers he had going on. And yeah, I was intimidated at first.

Mostly startled to open my eyes and find another pair staring right back at me, but there was also the realization that he had those antlers, while he was standing and I was surpine…

But, I just decided to chill, and enjoy the moment. He wasn’t doing anything that I wasn’t. Just checking out the strange “criitter” who he’d crossed paths with.

The, in an instant he realized he was getting spyed back at and he was gone in a flash.

Try to make the best of things, life is too short to fret.

Next time some busybody starts bugging you, tell them a story, that you havn’t eaten in a week, and ask them for some money. You’d be surprised how quickly they will leave you alone then. Works for me.

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Depends if your windows were down…

Yep, we’ve all had them kinda days., the worse one are where it’s quiet, but every noise sounds like a train a mile away.

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Courtesy the fat evil rat-[censored], [censored]hole, son of a [censored] of a schoolmaster [}:)][(-D][:-,][:0]

PS if you think big hairy spiders are bad, try a big fat Banana Slug in between your toes[;)][:p][:D][:-,][D)][X-)]

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[(-D] No thanks, I think I’ll pass on that…

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Momma told you there would be days like these! At least you didn’t have to face down a [censored] cop with an attitude and ignorance for the laws this[censored][censored] is supposed to uphold! I am Peter Benham and I approved this message![}:)]