How far away from your house to you travel to railfan?
For me, to railfan, I have to drive an easy 45 minutes to see some action. I go anywhere from 30 miles to 600 miles. I’ve been to:
Porter, IN-3.5 hours,
Rochelle, IL-4.0 hours,
Ames, IA-8 hours
Kansas City, MO-12 hours.
I don’t like to railfan the CN, which I live be because I feel threatend that the cops will come if I stand within 40 feet of the tracks. I go to Porter, IN with a lot more trains and stand closer, still on public property, and see much more variety and friendly crews that wave. Sure CN crews wave… but only the former WC guys. I like to railfan the UP and NS and occasional BNSF and CP. They are different and I like variety, unlike most CN trains.
With my upcoming trip to Larry’s Truck and Electric, it will be in Ohio and maybe Pennsylvainia to railfan.
Anywhere from 0 (lean my layzboy back and look out the window) to 500 miles or more. Basically, I count any trip where I see a train as a fantrip. Sometimes I just go further out of my way (within reason) to see one or follow tracks.
I am very fortunate to have good railroad spots within a 2 hour drive from my house.Fostoria Bellevue Deshler Garrett and points in between.Dont feel bad about cops asking whats going on. Its going to be standard procedure now.If we go to a family memebers house we check to see what roads are close to the tracks.
stay safe
Joe
The CSX mainline that stretches from Tampa up to the northeast corridor is 2 miles from my home. I get to see intermodals, mixed freight and Amtrak 60 mph speeds.
I drop by the local yard about once a week- which is a couple of miles away.
When I get vacation time that matches my wife’s time, we try to include a rail museum or watch for action on a parallel main line. Since we camp, we don’t normally travel more than about 300-400 miles one way.
I have been known to drive to Atlanta (90 miles one way) to see a special locomotive or building.
As far as the rails will take me to answer your first question.
With regard to CN cops, can you tell me where I can legally stand on public property and be harassed by CN? I am an attorney and could use a good law suit against a bad company.
If cops ask what I am doing, I tell them, provide my information, and be polite. But . . . it is best that they don’t go beyond that when I am engaged in legal activity.
The old Santa Fe (BNSF-boooo) Mainline is about 20 minuets to the north of me and every time I go I am garenteed to see someting, but in my opinion you can only see soooo many dash9’s and intermodals. Thats the problem with railfanning today but thats another story. I have gone 6 hrs in any direction to see trains, From Milwakeee all the way to St. louis(not in the same day. My favorite direstion is to the quad cities and around there. Silvis has the old rock shops now NRE and Nahant is a cool place to hang out at. Long live the rock!!!
Typically about two miles or so, but I am lucky enough to have a job that requires me to travel through out the Midwest extensively and so I get to railfan quite a bit in the ten Midwestern states I cover. I sometimes also get to places like Dallas, Florida, California, etc. on my trips and I usually try and railfan while in such places,but again typically I will go about two to three miles while in my “home area”.
I’m in Southern California. I can be in Fullerton in 15 minutes to see the parade of Metrolink, Amtrak and BNSF in a friendly atmosphere on a ststion platform with food and drinks readily available. The photographic potential is quite average, but the amount of action and comraderie among the gathered fans makes this an great spot.
Cajon Pass is a 45-minute drive; being close to the place was one of the great delights of moving here 24 years ago and I equate visits there to sitting in the stands at a ball game. I was just there yesterday afternoon for a procession of eastbounds around Sullivan’s Curve that was almost a religious experience. I never tire of the photographic potential there, either. I can make a day of it in Cajon, or more typically, on a Saturday, leave just before dawn and shoot until 9 am, and get home about the time the family’s waking.
Tehachapi, on the other hand, is a 2-1/2 hour drive and requires a day or an overnight to do it justice. Same with the BNSF Needles Sundivision. All three of these places are my favorites and my regular “haunts.”
Marias Pass and the west end of Montana Rail Link are two other favorites and I get there once a year. It’s an easy plane ride from Californa to either Missoula or Kalispell. I mention this because I’ve railfanned there every year since 1988, so it’s a routine, just like Cajon or Tehachapi.
In Worcester, MA there is a place about 1 mile from the house but since all the traffic is CSX and the T and Amtrak it gets somewhat boring. I drive about 2.5 hours to just west of Albany, NY to watch a variety of trains (UP, CSX, Guilford, NS) on the River Route. On my 3-day weekends I drive 9 hours to London, Ontario and see CN and CP (I do this about 6 times per year) , and my last vacation (last week) I drove 1,100 miles to Rochelle, Illinois and Horseshoe Curve. Awesome places!!!
Depending on my mood,or travelling conditions,I have to only go 150 feet to see
the daily autorack parade on CSX’s Toledo sub.Or motor about a mile to watch the
less sporatic ex Conrail Cincy line.My vacations have centered on the greater train
watching meccas: Nashville (the most “down home”) Chattanooga,and of course all
the big spots in Ohio…Marion,Willard/Greenwich & Berea.Soon I’ll be adding the
state of Florida.Mostly the western part provided Charley left anything to see[sigh]
Well, with CN they think it is all thiers. I was in Cleveland, WI when the IC E Units brought CN’s Hunter Harrison down for the PGA Tour at a golf course. I was standing a mere 40 feet from the tracks on the road and was yelled at to get off railroad property. I WAS ON THE ROAD! Then the guy that yelled came over and told me that if I go on thier property again I will be arrested and my camera will be taken away. They acted like it was the President of the US on the train with security gaurds and all. Off course, they can’t do anything when I’m on the road so I took my shots from the road, which are on Railpictures.net. It seems with CN, you can’t stand anywhere so if you railfan CN, be prepared…at least in Wisconsin, to be told to move along.
The longest I’ve ever traveled was to Cumberland, Maryland, which took about 7.5 hours. But usually I travel no longer than 20 minutes to 1 hour. About 1 mile or so from my house Guilford has a line but its not too active. To reach mainlines I have to travel anywhere from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, which isn’t all that bad I guess.
Normally drive about 8km down to the CN - CP mainlines near MIssion BC . Have been known to travel across several provinces or states in search of good photo spots - Last big trip I made with a buddy from the uk - we travelled from BC via Alberta to Montana then Wyoming & back via Idaho ,Oregon and Washington state – putting around 6000k on our rental car – and yes I’t was a good trip .
Home - about 20 mi. to Fullerton/Orange County (BNSF/Amtrak/Metrolink)
Back east for work - about 30 mi. to Point of Rocks, MD (CSX/Amtrak/MARC) or 20 mi. to Manassas, VA (NS/Amtrak/VRE)
On weekends away I sometimes drive around the greater WashDC area…last weekend I went to CatonsvilleMD (aband. PRR/PC); Bel Air, MD (Ma & Pa trail); Peach Bottom, PA (aband. Ma & Pa); Red Lion, PA (also aband. Ma & Pa … where was the Budd plant?); York, PA (ex-PRR station now used by buses); Zion, PA (aband. RDG); Furnace Creek, PA (aband. RDG); Biglersville, PA (ex-RDG now Gettysburg).