I was wondering, because I am an extreme railfan, what makes us fall in love with trains. The thing that got me started was my grandmother, and a little train book by Richard Scary. Ever since then I have had a hunger and passion for trains. Please feel free to send me an email at QBCrusher97@AOL.com or chat with me online(QBCrusher97)
Well, my brother got his first HO train set when he was 11, and I was born a year later, so by default I like trains!
I am also fascinated by the sheer size and power of railroading, the ability to “move the economy”, and do it with efficiency unmatched by any other land-based transport system.
One of the other things I like about trains is paint. Yep, that’s right, paint. Same reason why I like certain trucks (like some cement trucks and fire trucks, and also Coca-Cola trucks) but not others. Trains are almost always painted differently than anything else, and even a badly faded or badly rusted locomotive or freight car is of interest to me. (But, of course, trucks are a much lesser interest, only certain trucks appeal to me.)
And, of course, if it wasn’t for trains, I wouldn’t know a lot of the people I know!
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
…My comment would be the angle of forming an interest early in life…{more rail activity then}, and the interest has continued even as we become adults. Guess it’s a lifetime hobby. A deep interest for many of us.
I think many, like myself, have a significant childhood attachment to trains whose aegis was a parental figure/loved one.
However, it is more than just that that keeps us on the hobby. I would sum it up here, but I think the best thing to do is just look at one of Mark Hemphill’s last publications as a Trains editor. That sums it up better than I could.
Gabe
I like a lot of things, and somehow railroading seems to involve all of them… Technology, architecture, electronics, radio, engineering, history, steel making, mining… You name it, and railroading is connected to it. And growing up around Chicago didn’t hurt. 
Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
Are you kidding? They’re big, they’re noisy, and they move!
You know, I really couldn’t tell you why i like spending hours trackside watching trains. I guess because they are so big and one of the most powerful things in the world…
And also all of the technology involved in todays railroading.
You mean it’s the sher thrill of the Trains. Me too. I’ve had alot of people ask me just why I like Trains…I just do! Oh hell,We all do right? Mabe it’s in our Blood at birth. Who knows.
BNSFrailfan.
Got it from my father, when I was a kid we used to visit the RR museum in Green Bay alot back when all the equipment was outside and you could climb all over everything. Nothing like sitting in the cab of a big steam loco (even if it’s cold) with your hand on the throttle looking down that long boiler.
I just fell in love with trains ever since I was a little boy. They make loud noises and they move. Also the fact that no two trains are ever alike.
That is why I like trains today.
High horsepower DIESEL engines!
Adrianspeeder
Why we like trains is like Queen Victoria’s asking a mountian climber why he climbs a mountian. The answer " Because it is their, Ma am, !!!."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why do we like trains? ----------------------WE JUST DO and I think that about says it.[2c] - PL
To many to list but here’s one. We can take over a room (okay for most)and have it all to ourselves.
I’m a railroading hermit. And my basement is my getaway.
Silly lines from GP_38-2
What’s not to like about trains! Actually I think it was spending hours at my neighbors house listening to stories that got me interested in history and well you can’t have history without trains, so now I’m a railfan.
There is no logical reasoning to why I love trains. No one in my family can explain why I do. All they know is that I’ve loved trains since I was able to piont at a train. I’ll find out the meaning of life before I explain why I love trains.
I’ve loved trains all my life. We went to the train station to pick up my aunts on the Amtrak. They were coming in from Mineola, Texas and the train was about 8 hours late. I saw a lot of trains. I then kept bugging my dad to take me back to the train station. I’ve loved them ever since then. I’m 15 now. I am very interested in photography. I’ve been taking pictures of trains for about two years now. I love how the trains look and how they sound. Now of course a lot of kids at my school don’t have anything better to do than make fun of me and my friends for liking trains. I tell them, it’s better than sitting at home watching MTV. [:)] Take care everyone. Nick
DUH! Cause they are trains, whats not to love?
I loved trains ever since my very first two train trips when I was six: one from El Paso Texas to Memphis Tennessee with my Aunt Hazel (who by the way never flew in her life), and when my family took a train from Vicenzia Italy to Rome… You would be hooked too!
I have also loved ships ever since my family moved to Vicenzia Italy on the SS United States when I was six, and I have also loved jets ever since my family moved back to America on a TWA Boeing 707 when I was nine years of age…