Anyone here remember what railfanning was like in the fifties? Anyone know what it was like?
I hear it was a lot more dangerous, and it was frowned upon by locomotive engineers. Is my dad anywhere mear right?
Trainboy
I suspect it was a lot easier to walk around engine terminals(not alot of ‘insurance’ or terrorist stuff then. Inthe late 60’s I used to wander around the Rock Island yards and the crews would take for ‘rides’ around the eng terminal when they were putting together sets of engines. I noticed by the late 70’s the enforcement of ‘keep off of the property’ started picking up.
Jim
I don’t remember it being more dangerous. I do remember a whole lot more trains and places to railfan. I also remember NOT taking photos when I had the opportunity. 
I walked a lot of track back then and never got run over and remember seeing the Pennsy passenger trains at 2 AM and 4 AM across the field behind our house. The cars were dimly lit and I watched them pass the DOW (JR Tower) and couldn’t help but wonder where the people in them was going.
Why was I up then? I was working at a lettering company during the Summer and on weekends in the Winter. It was a good time to be alive.
I wasn’t around in the 50’s, but I doubt railfanning was more ‘dangerous’ simply because people were more used to trains, and more responsible for themselves. These days, people seem to think that if there is no giant DANGER sign, or something is not fenced off, it is perfectly safe to walk there.
–Randy
[2c]Where I lived in southren Cal when I was small,we had an sideing across the creek where an old steam loco used to switch the dariy and feed stores in orange county,We used to love to get him to blow is whistle,but the sideing was torn up and the loco dissapeared,this was around 1949 or 50.[sigh][sigh]I think??
JIM
Railfanning was more local for most of us. No interstate highways, scanners, railfan networks, internet, dependable cars, money for film or free time. The country was still recovering from WW2 and the Korean War. We lived much simpler and slower lives. Major travel was still by public transportation for the most part and fifty miles was a long trip. That being said I grew up on the PRR mainline in Philadelphia and thought the entire country ran on GG-1’s and P5a’s. A diesel was a rare sight and an occasional steam engine coming off the PRSL was seen. I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could. Traffic density was unbelieveable. I remember one day my brother and I were playing in Wysanoming park and it seemed like there were constant trains going by.
Too bad, but you’re still better off then me. The best I ever saw was when the CP stored 20 or so surplus SD40s near my house. One day I went to snatch some numberboards, and all of them were gone.
Trainboy
Like everything else, it was easier. You were used to watching out for yourself, so you did. Never a hassle from anyone, but then we did not walk out on trestles. You could look around the yards or roundhouses; I got to sit in the engineer’s seat and blow the whistle while a 4-8-4 backed down to the train. I got to ride in the cab for twenty five miles. Of course, it wasn’t all great. You did watch out for the “Quarantined - Polio” signs.
I grew up in the Fifties & Sixties and I don’t recall railfanning being more dangerous than now. Maybe if you consider the accessibility and fact that there were more railroads & more trains it could possibly be considered more dangerous. People were more responsible then and respectful towards dangerous situations so I don’t recall hearing of events.
I grew up in Baltimore and was always around the Pennsy and B&O. Both roads were very friendly to those taking photos and employees would tell you places to go for shots, etc. The most dangerous places for me would have been around the Pennsy as the GG-1’s moved FAST and quiet. One could be on top of you before you knew it. Crossing the 4 tracks was the most dangerous it got for me.
Cab rides in the yards and engine terminals were very common. My grandfather and I often copped cab rides in Pennsy GG-1’s and B&O E-units from Baltimore to Washington and back…
It was a great time and I miss the fun. Railfanning now sucks!
Roger
I don’t remember the fifties, I did mine in the mid sixties,train crews were freindly and had a few rides in the yards,even got to drive one once, on a branchline, No insurance, no hassles, only wish I’de brought a camera, lots of lost memories…
I couldn’t help but railfan in the 50’s since the 4 track mainline between Alexandria Va.'s station and Potomac Yards was just a couple of hundred feet from our front door step.
The amount of traffic was unbelieveable compared to most lines today.
Dozens of freight and passenger trains of the Southern, R.F. & P. and the C&O passed by every few minutes.
I remember playing on the 1401, Southern’s Ps-4 now in the Smithsonian, when it was stored in a shed in Alexandria.
I guess you could say it was somewhat more dangerous, only because there were more ‘hazards’ to offer, like climbing up onto the roof of a 40’ box car so you could have a better vantage point from which to railfan. Of course, if I had fallen off it would have only been my fault.
But of course we shouldn’t have lived past the age of 35 anyway. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints, we had no childproof bottles, no bicycle helmets, no seat belts or air bags, we ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends and no one actually died from it. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when it got dark. No one was able to reach us. No cell phones!
I had the best of 2 worlds. I was raised on the south side of Chicago about 4 blocks from the embankment shared by the 4 track mains of the PRR and NYC. I could hike about a mile and a half to where the NYC and PRR crossed the 8 tracks of the IC (w/ IC and South Shore electrics and mostly steam of the IC, MC, and Big 4 psgr and all steam of the IC frt) and sit up there for an entire summer day and have a moving train in sight for virtually the entire time. In 1950 my family moved to LA and I got to watch 20 car Daylights behind GS-4s and frieghts w/ 3 cab forwards scattered through the train until I joined the army in 1953. In my nearly constant railfanning I only was taken home to my mother by a RR cop once. Imagine her suprise on finding out that when I said I was going out to the playground that I didn’t mean the one run by the city of Chicago!
I grew up one block South of the MoPac main line just west of St. Louis (our town actually bordered the city of St. Louis). I watched the Eagle and lots of freight trains pulled by FA2s and F3s and F7s. I also remember bike riding to Frisco’s Lindenwood Yard and trespassing with no consequences. My friend and I were standing between the shops and an ABBA set of Alco FA1s when someone fired up the locos. Nearly scared us to death! Railroad people were friendly. We, as kids, tried to be respectful, and there were a lot more trains than now and the paint schemes were flashier.
Cheers
I grew up in the 50’s & 60" with a view out the back window of Cincinnati Union Terminal, a B & O yard, a B & 0 line virtually in my back yard and the C & 0 Cheviot Hill a block down the street. Walking about a mile put you on the Western Hills Viaduct and overlooking the CUT roundhouse and passenger coach yards.
It didn’t seem dangerous but now, I fear, the same neighborhood may be something less safe.
Like an earlier poster, I didn’t take nearly enough photographs!
[:(]
Boy you hit the nail on the head,I don’t think I ever ran around the house saying " I’am bored"Life was good[^]
JIM