Recently my department had a gun range day as we are required to qualify several times a year with our duty weapons. Usually we use a State Police range but this time we used one owned by one of our neighboring departments… it was tucked back in the woods and you could only get to it on a gravel road wide enough for 1 vehilce.
Well I get on the friring line and all of a sudden the ground started shaking…What’s going on? All of a sudden 100yds from me a UP diesel goes by hauling it’s load. Cool! I never even saw the tracks drving in because of the heavy brush. I was on the range for 3 hours shooting and watching the trains go by every 20 minutes or so. The engineers appeared just as interested in our shooting as I was in them.
I’m new to the train watching thing so I just thought this was one of the coolest experiences and next time I’ll have to bring my camera and post some photos for you guys. Oh… I got to shoot my departments new full auto AR15 that was a thrill as well. It’s great to be a man… I’m having a testosterone overload!
Thanks for the responses. Don’t worry the trains were running behind us as we were shooting and next time I promise I’ll get some photos.
CShaveRR… no it wasn’t Winfield. It’s in the southwest suburbs usually we shoot at ISP District 5 in Crest Hill/Joliet (right across from Stateville). Sorry, I’m not going to name the village in order to keep a little privacy.
I enjoyed shooting the AR-15 so much that one is going to be under my Christmas tree this year… next to some new train models! (My wife is gonna kill me)
miniwyo… we have a METRA commuter station in my town as well as 1 crossing. From time to time I’ll see a switcher moving small loads but haven’t really had to deal with any railfans. I enjoy trains as much as the rest of you and understand what it’s like to want to get close and get a photo. Usually somebody will call us if they see someone on the tracks and once we get a call we have to respond and see what’s going on. After we check the guy out and make sure he’s doesn’t want to cause harm to himself or others we just tell them to get off the tracks or whatever. The RR Police would like them arrested for trespassing and in that case we would have to detain them and wait for the RR Police to arrive (Usually at least an hour). We just tell them to get off the tracks and as long as they comply… no harm, no foul. If I were to come in counter with a railfan it would just be a matter of exchanging stories and telling him to stay safe around the rails.[;)]