Why I'm Still A Rail Fan?

Trains.com General Discussion (Trains.com)
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Sorry, Folks. Looks Like I messed up.

I though, after reading two old Reader’s Platforms, I though I would put in my 2 cents in. Trains has my promission to publish it if they want to, so here goes:

As someone pushing forty, I look back though out my life to see what have I accomplished or not. Some Regrets: I’m still single; I haven’t found a secure job yet (I know that in this economy, it’s an impossiblity); I have yet to travel Amtrak on their big routes (CZ, Lake Shore and Capital Limited, Southwest Chief, City Of New Orleans [to its namesake],Cardnal [east of Cincinatti], Three Rivers [discontinued], Texas Eagle, Coast Starlight); I live in an apartment; I don’t have a model railroad [I can’t afford one right now]; I live in a town that offers no passenger service [rail or otherwise]; I’m a long way from ‘My Sweet Home Chicago’.

Now the plus side: I’m not homeless; I’m in a religious world wide group that really cares; there is at least some rail activity her in Paris, Illinois; I have an aunt and uncle who lives just outside of town who care; I’m still proud to be a rail fan!

Ever since I was a kid, my father (who I’m named after and, yes, lives in Chicago’s south suburbs) spooned fed me his passions of railroading. (Now, he’s doing the same to my nephews.) As I grew older, most of my peers were into cars (as well as sex, drugs and rock n’ roll), while I on the other hand still see the passion of railroading, the romance on riding the rails and listen in the music of the classical masters (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, etc.).

So, ‘Why I’m Still A Rail Fan?’ Well, Granted, I allowed my subscription to Trains Magazine run out because 1) my apartment in Centralia was too small to allow it and 2) even though my parents were willing to finance my subscription, I did want to burden them. (My dad’s retired now.) But still, I still see

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And here I thought this was a rant listing the (apparently non-existant) reasons that you’re still a railfan!

It’s an interesting story. If you wanted to have it published in Trains, you’d have to send it to them - they don’t surf the forums looking for content to publish! Good luck if you decide to do so.

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[2c][2c][:)][:D]I do not know about your reasons. Here are mine.

  1. It is still free to stand by side of the tracks and wave.

  2. It is still fun just to take pictures.

  3. Trains are still in many many places moving lots and lots of stuff.

  4. I’ll try to think of some more and add to this list.

Rgds IGN

Driving all across America and still smiling.

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It all started, when my father took my older brother and me to watch trains on weekends. Back in the late 1950´s, there was still a lot of steam around in Germany and most of the boys wanted to become an engineer, mastering one of those intimidating black beasts, which seemed to have a life of their own. The 1960´s saw a rapid demise of steam, until it finally ended in 1977. When the last steamer went to the scrap yard, my interest in trains diminished and with the introduction of those efficient high-speed trains, it was close to being extinct. This was not “my” railway any more! The romance was gone. Only when I noticed, that those dang Diesels and Electrics, which had replaced my beloved steam locos, started to disappear to the scrapper, being replaced with even more efficient, but boring and uniform looking locos, my interest was rekindled. I amk now chasing “old” Electrics - just as I was chasing steam locos in my teenage days.

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Such Freudian reasons. Do we all have to blame it on our fathers? That’s certainly my case. I can very much remember going to the ‘railroad hill’, just east of 59th St and Lancaster Ave in Philadelphia affording a nice view of the western end of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s 52nd St yard.

At 52nd St itself was a through truss bridge to take westbound passenger trains over the freight yard tracks.

At the north end of the bridge the PRR’s former Schuylkill Valley branch, at that time passenger traffic truncated to Manayunk, diverged. It was only years later that I put 2 and 2 together and actually read schedules to realize that only about every 4th or 5th train would go to Manayunk, the majority would head west out the PRR’s Paoli-Harrisburg mainline. So I’d always worry that the train I could hear rumble across the bridge from the south side of the railroad to the north side would make that right turn away from me. I did pretty quickly realize that if there was a locomotive pulling the train it would always turn left towards me, the Manayunk line only having self propelled multiple unit cars.

That helps explain my interest in railroads. But I mostly identify myself as a trolley fan, and not so directly related to my father I shouldn’t forget my more frequent, and more utilitarian exposure to the rt 10 63rd and Malvern to City Hall via subway trolley line, and the alternative Market St elevated train via 60th St bus. We’d regularly use one of those to get to Center City, whose department stores were top notch in those days, including John Wanamakers toy department’s Christmas time monorail ride.

Going the other way on the Market St El took me to 69th St, with the suburban Red Arrow Media and Sharon Hill trolleys, 4 different types of equipment vintage from the mid 1920’s to 1948, and the P&W high platform interurban, with 2 types of equipment vintage 1926 and 1932.

Plenty of rail passenger activity within a few miles of my house.