What is the strangest or most exciting railfan expereince you have had?
For me, we were recently in the Deschutes River canyon. It was dark, and I was trying to take a night shot, pacing a train or getting a trail from the lights. Instead, the flashbulb that I thought was off went off. Image ruined, I waved instead. As the lead locomotive went by, the engineer opened the window, and shown his flashlight at me in reply.
yours?
Many Years ago stood by a busy Double Track and several trains went by.
ALL the Engineers on our side slid opened windows, smiled AND Waved.
Thank You.
Back in 1981, I had the chance to ride behind Camden and Amboy 1, the “John Bull” on a short, about 1 mile, trip on the Chessie’s Georgetown Branch in Washington, DC. The experience was great but was dampened a bit when the locomotive subsequently had its throttle stick and refused to move when the main ceremony, 150th Anniversary of its first run, was under way. A couple of hours work in the steam dome got things straightened out and the ceremony continued. All in all, a wonderful experience.
10, maybe 12 years ago…
Switching in North Yard, 2nd shift.
Yardmaster had us pull up to the tower/office to get new switch list, so my crew and I head in to take a little coffee break.
I grab a cup, go back out and sit on the front porch of our locomotive, having a smoke and a cup, enjoying the evening, its October, and right about the time of day CopCar Chris calls the Blue Hour.
I am nice and relaxed, we have almost every thing done, all that is left is some trim work.
Suddenly, on my left, a thing I never though I would see here…UPs E units slide to a stop even with our locomotive!
I lean out and look, there is the lead E unit, a cab less booster, and the other E unit, followed by a train of mixed freight!
I am eyeball height with the engineer, a UP guy I have known for a while, he is grinning ear to ear!
I ask him “what the heck?” and he replies, “They are working these things back home!”
Suddenly, I see the side door open, and the crew come climbing down, head across my lead and disappear into the locker room/yard office.
The yard master yells at me from the porch up around the tower to come inside and call him on the phone…turns out the UP crew were short on time, and we were going to have to yard that train!
Now, here is the odd part…inside the cab, the control stand was a basic EMD stand, normal modern
I’d heard they were GP38’s (four powered axles), but that doesn’t change the fun of the story…
Had a great railfanning experience this past weekend, and I wasn’t even railfanning!
Story goes like this…
On Friday Lady Firestorm and I were heading north into Maryland to a fund-raising event for a Basset Hound rescue organization Lady F’s involved with. (www.brood-va.org.) We took a back way there, VA Route 15. After crossing into Maryland and turning on to Maryland Route 28 I looked to the right and lo and behold, there it was, “world-famous” Point of Rocks station on the old B&O, still standing in all it’s Gilded Age glory and still earning its keep as a MARC commuter station. It looked just like something out of a Ted Rose or Howard Fogg painting! What a surprise!
And on the way back, I saw “world-famous” Point of Rocks Tunnel! Wow!
By the way, the Basset Hound event was fun too! And if you’re ever in that area, stop in at Rocky Point Creamery on Route 28 in Tuscarora MD just up the road from Point of Rocks for some great ice cream! Yum! (www.rockypointcreamery.com)
PS: Life’s better with a Basset!
Back in the early Fall of 1981 my brother and I were camping near Weedon, Quebec, not far from Quebec Central’s mainline running from nearby Sherbrooke to Levis, a small town on the St. Lawrence River. After a day packed with hiking and adventure, we setup tent, had a nice supper, and decided to head off to sleep. I remember that night well… cool… a brilliant gibbous moon overhead… and some wispy cirrus clouds that produced a beautiful rainbow-like halo around the moon… We drifted off to sleep when suddenly we were awakened by the shrill sound of a steam whistle. We figured it must be quittin time at the local mill. But then we heard the unmistakable sound of a steam locomotive approaching. We were both wide awake by this time… and looked at each other…“Could this be a steam locomotive?” my brother asked. “Must be a steam excursion… but I sure wasn’t aware that QC was running any steam excursions” I responded. We quickly got dressed and made our way outside and up over the bluff overlooking the track. And there it was… under the moonlight we could clearly see a 4-4-0 locomotive laboring upgrade. It wasn’t doing more than 15 mph, and behind it, though hard to see clearly with only moonlight, were what looked like boxcars. We counted 20 before the caboose rolled by, and we could make out the faint sillouette of a man standing on the back porch of the van. As the train slowly disappeared into the night we looked at each other. Not a steam excursion at all… but a steam powered freight train in 1981!! Back in Sherbrooke a few days later, I went to the Quebec Central headoffice on Wellington Street to ask about their steam program and why it wasn’t better publicized. I was no stranger to their office, having gone to school with kids who had dads who worked for the QC. The operations manager told me he wasn’t aware of any steam happenings on the QC, and that in fact the last steam locomotive to turn a wheel on the QC was in August of 1961. "You must be mistaken&qu
Back in the early 80’s a friend and I were waiting for the afternoon local on a hillside next to the Maine Central main when a large dog went trotting down the track. A few minutes later the dog came running back the same track with a speeder following him.
Well Ulrich, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” said it best…
“There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”
I wrote this some time ago… the detail is because I related it to relatives that don’t know a steam locomotive from a dismal… I think I may have related it on this forum too. But maybe it is something to relate in this thread (or not!)
Last night I was parked on a dirt/gravel road next to a RR grade crossing to watch trains a few minutes. I was sitting in my car, but there was another fellow there standing next to my car talking to me and taking photos of the area.
We watched as a pair of really old Diesels came by pulling 3 “Maintenance of Way” (MoW) “Dormitory Cars”. These are rather rare except way out west where there are few towns with enough motels to house a full gang of track workers for large track jobs. They are just huge white boxes on RR trucks/wheels and are as PLAIN as can be. A few small windows in random places in the side walls, but with a small “porch”, complete with a pretty wrought Iron railing around it on one end of each car. All had a couple of Adirondack chairs on the porch and one had a small propane barbeque grill (all the comforts of home!)
That short train stopped just past the road and someone got off the last car and threw a switch behind the train such that any following train would be diverted to a curve that went off behind a small hill to the south. He got back on the train and it continued on its way.
A few minutes later a small MoW “Gang car” came along (often called an “Inspection car” or a “Fairmont Speeder”, named after the brand and model of the comp
Autumn 1978. I was a freshman at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I lived in Abel Hall which was bordered on the east side by the CRI&P line through Lincoln. One evening my roomie and I were playing Frisbee in the lawn behind the dorm when a south/west bound RI came rolling by. It slowed and finally stopped with the caboose right next to our Frisbee field. While the crew up on the head end were picking empties and dropping loads at a small lumber yard, a crewman stepped out onto the back porch of the caboose to catch some air. He saw us, held out his hands and hollered ‘hey, over here!’ We had a nice Frisbee triangle going with him for 20 minutes or so until his train rolled on…
Back in 94’ my dad and I were on a railfan trip in the pacific Northwest. We spent several days working our way east over the MRL out of Sandpoint, Id. We kept seeing a couple guys (cross country?) golfing there way along the MRL tracks. Like 3 days in a row they would show up sometime during the day where we were set up and golf there way down the main.[(-D]
Mabee someday we’ll see “rails to golf courses” instead of “rails to trails” [swg]
I don’t know Chad, every time I see a golf course all I can think of is “There’s a beautiful rifle range gone to waste!”
You and I think a lot alike, which should terrify you.
Part of our line runs next to a golf course. It’s not unheard of to see a golf ball in the gauge, although it had to run through a slalom course of trees to get there.
Never worry about anyone hitting the train intentially with a golf ball, though. Most golfers couldn’t miss a tree if they tried… (Yes, I have been known to play a round or two.)
Don’t threaten me with a good time [swg]
I think they could all work in unison…Driving range, skeet shooting and train watching. the only thing missing is a “rule G” violation [:-^]
I gave up golf because I was spending too much time in the woods looking for my balls. [:$]
Hmmm. I can see that being a big problem.
I gave up golf becuase of that stupid windmill.
Not at all Bro, not at all. nothing like the smell of black and/or smokeless powder, with a little Hoppe’s #9 in the afternoon!
Uh, the “Rule G” thing. We used to relax it when the guns were unloaded and the butts secured for the day. Unless it was winter, then the coffee thermos’ were unlimbered.
In GCOR, that’s Rule 1.5–which covers more that Rule G did.