Question - Are you into real trains and models?

p51.... cool pics!

Lived opposite the Patchogue station on the LIRR in the steam era. Love steam of course, riding and watching but also we take Amtrak to visit my family in Florida and Virginia.

I must admit that the modern unit trains don't have the same pizazz as the steam era mixed freights but without them we wouldn't have the railroading we do.

Scotie

Yes, I like real trains and models.

Without real trains this would all be pointless.

both, but riding behind or even watching  a steam loco gives me a special feeling of excitement everytime, big noisy smokey and cool lol

My first memory is watching coal trains roll through Ashland Ky sitting in Mom's Rambler. 

I was so infatuated with trains Mom bought me some toy floor trains......made from hard rubber IIRC. That was a start to enjoying real and model trains all my life.  

I have always been interested in trains any type from z all the way up to real if its a train I like it. I can get into a trance at a railroad crossing counting the cars going by. 

Models are just a very convenient way of expressing my love for ANYTHING trains.

Yep, and models bring the operations in to my home!

I helped fire and ran the last Anthracite coal fired steam engine for 3 summers at the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland, Pa. and love model trains too.  Here is a pic of me on the Henry Clay.

Both for me.  My grandfather worked for the PRR starting in the ticket office, working his way up. Then he was superintendent of transportation for Dravo (trains and barges). So, my mother rode the rails for free and has great stories of her childhood. At 91, she still loves trains.  On my father's side, I got the post-war model trains interest, which has been reignited recently.  In the 50's, my uncle gave us his well-equipped floor top American Flyer layout and my father taught me little bits and pieces about electricity and soldering. Then there was the model building. It was only up at XMAS, and we weren't allowed to run it unsupervised.  Probably why I'm alive today. :-)

Now a simple mindless oval and my imagination of what it could be is a great way to relax from my day job and writing my doctorate, and also to learn new stuff about electronics and history.  In addition to the PRR, I am also interested in modeling the commuter and freight railroads in my current locale - so that really combines the real that I see stopped at a crossing with what I plan on adding to my collection.

But I have to say that another *really* important part about trains for me all these years has been railroad architecture.  In years past, I spent some time photographing local train stations or ones that I saw on my travels, many of which are now gone. Then there's the small collection of books and postcards of old stations and engines.

Tomlinson Run RR

I started as an infant loving model trains first.  My Grandfather worked for the Philadelphia Transportation Co. as a trolley operator and instructor and would tell me stories about them and real trains.

However, I was disappointed that I never saw any 4-4-0 Generals or silver painted UP FA's anywhere on the rails!  My first interaction with real trains was riding SEPTA's Market- Frankford elevated lines in Philly.  It wasn't until adulthood that I began to enjoy rail fanning.

A relaxing day at the PRR Horseshoe Curve.

O gauge trains are toy trains in my eye.  I prefer 3 rail just because it is less prototypical. I generally have very little interest in real trains.

But when it comes to trolleys / trams /eletricos / streetcars or whatever name you use I am into the real trams and trolleys as well as model trams and trolleys.  I have tired Kato Unitram, Tomix Wide Tram in N gauge as well as a bit of ETS tram track in O gauge, but I like SuperStreets / E-Z Streets and O gauge trolleys the best of all.  My experience was that N gauge trolleys were likely to stall on streets track at 90 degree crossovers or turnouts.  The third rail should alleviate this in O gauge Streets track.

I like my traction older and walk lines and photograph the line. I could easily spend a whole day walking and riding lines and do on my vacations. I've got lots of technical books just to satisfy my quest for knowledge.

I want to put a like on so many of the stories.

Very good feed back to the question from a lot of you and I enjoyed reading them.

Larry

Always had model trains - actually, N, HO, G, and O. Never had S or Z...maybe one day. Also, I've slowly climbed the ladder over the years. I'm not really one to go stand track side on the mainline but will take photos on tourist lines, etc.

Grew up down the street from this, always hearing the whistle in the summer, 2 foot gauge:

Then, in March 2010, found yours truly joining the payroll until July 2013....that is me on the left, hand on the throttle, bell swinging back and forth...coming back with the first Halloween "Ghost Train" of the 2010 season, pretty much the first trip only was in the daylight, the rest in the dark. Just closing in on the station and having just crossed the driveway

...And then moved up again to the full sized stuff, all photos taken off duty, where I occasionally volunteer. 

An unmentioned joy of life for sure.

Yep, sure am.

Here NS 956, Norfolk Southern OCS passing ALTO a few years back.

http://flic.kr/p/qHnA5R

I love both, but model trains also offers the trains I had as a kid that the real thing does not offer. So I feel that I enjoy model trains a little more.

This is a train house.  The layout runs 4 trains nearly every day and my wife will come down to the basement, join in the fun and find out what layout item she can buy me for my birthday. Paula likes the layout but not as much as I do. We do however share a love for train travel (we will not fly) and every year we take a long distance trip by rail. We always have a bedroom with a private bath. It is the highest level of service but older people need to get up at night for a bathroom break. We also dine in the dining car, enjoy seeing America in the sightseer lounge and the food is decent.

In the last few years we have gone by rail to New Orleans, Sanford (Orlando) Florida,  Seattle, Chicago (many times), Wisconsin Dells, and this year we will be traveling to Manitou, Cripple Creek, Divide, Cannon City via car but arriving in Denver.  We also ride tourist trains whenever we can and have a side trip on the Royal Gorge (old Rio Grande) Route planned. Train travel is relaxing comfortable and fun. Sure beats the air travel where you must get searched like a convict and sexually assaulted just to board.

No interest in modern railroading from a hobby interest.  That is the day job, and during the job today's product gets my undivided attention.  Once I'm off the clock, the last thing I want to do is go out railfanning, much less see a model of it. 

My modeling passion is the 1950s.  For me, a far more interesting period.  

Regards,

Jerry

I much prefer the toys or models, O gauge in particular. I know very little about the real trains, although I enjoy watching one every now and then. I could not go watch real trains all day long. I prefer the modern diesels in both toy and real. However, seeing a real steamer once in a while is exciting too.

I'm not particularly into real trains.  I travel on Amtrak sometimes, and I like to watch a train go by now and then, but I don't really have any special enthusiasm for them.

Model trains, on the other hand . . . 

I've brought this up here before - and I just do not see how one can be interested in one and not the other, unless the interest in the one is very, very casual and shallow. I don't get it at all. I had a conversation about it just the other day with a RR friend; he doesn't

get it, either.

It goes both ways - I know dedicated railfans who do not have a single model, even on the mantle, of a real loco (for example) of which they have dozens of photos, and which is available as a very good, acciurate replica at a decent price in multiple scales.

My RR friend above is a modeler/Hi-Railer (3RO), but is even more a railfan, photographer

and historian. I do all that, but less than he, and my emphasis is the modeling.

But we both do both.

So, no - I don't get it. I get a different emphasis, but the near exclusion of one or the other is beyond me. 

But:

I'm an auto hobbyist, and read about and care about and even own interesting-to-drive cars, but when it comes to racing, I am almost completely disinterested. I do like the European road rally thing a bit (real-ish cars in real places), but NASCAR? Oh, please. Zzzz... (Don't tell Lionel.)

I like(love) photography, have an excellent digital camera and it all comes together with rail photography and model railroading. I was taking pictures along the NS mainline two years ago and an NS employee was out taking pictures. No, not Casey but did meet him at South Fork once. I think it is all mutual supporting.

For me, the two go hand in hand. As I have gotten older, my interest in both has gotten more narrow and focused. My railroad is based on railroads in my area, so when I go railfanning it's kind of research. I'm not super hard core about it, be it model or real.

My goal is to capture the flavor of the real world with models. A visitor from the Twin Cities should recognize many of the scenes fairly easily.

Doesn't everyone love both?  I live about a mile from the Norfolk Southern Morresville line (former PRR).  Sometimes when I'm in the attic train room, I can hear two longs a short and a long at a crossing in nearby Fort Washington, PA.  Fantastic. 

Likewise for me.

I have loved both since I was a young boy,lucky to ride behind the UP E-9 A B A in the Feather River Canyon and The UP 844 from Denver to Cheyenne plus many fan trips around the country,will be riding this year in France,Germany,Austria and Spain and have ridden all the name trains in Switzerland.

Mikey 

  Both but the toy came first. Bought for me before I was born. The tracks are probably the first place outside of the house my Grandfather took me.

  I learned more about the real thing, playing prototypically with him though, not by research, or his "proto-foaming". I honestly think I might have known more about "tidbit" Lionel variation stuff as a kid. 

 I grew to love all my railroad toys (what? you think he stopped with one?)

  My interest in the real thing falters in that I really don't care for the cookie cutter look of modern "plane trains", were every portion is just a flat plane sliced off a block.

 I liked the whole block. How many "GP7 looking" locomotives does the world need? I.e. They look too much alike to me.

The same way steamers look the same to some petroleum fans

 Some mechanical aspects, and advancements do keep me looking in them some, but diesels just aren't my favorites. Outside of a few switchers, the RS, high hoods, TM, & "car body" look locos are about the only ones that stand a chance with me.

  I did apply, and wait for a Greenfield Village position, or apprenticeship, but was too busy by the time it came around.   

 Counting cars at crossings is something I did as a bored adult. As a kid I was looking for unfamiliar road names, or interesting flat car shipments, while waiting on the best part, the "crummy caboose" (I was happy I got to use crummy, to show some attitude too. )

And if there was two you got to say "cabooses, cabeeses, till Mom breaks to pieces".

 I know I was disappointed when I figured out you couldn't easily pull a prototypical length freight train. I remember being mad finding out the Aero train replica ran on an upright gasoline engine, and only rode behind the steamer after that. I'd really like an "old timer" in O

I've found riding small narrow gauge roadside park style trains, among my fondest memories of "real" trains.

 Operations? As a kid I was interested in the mechanical limits of the toy. Magnetraction-vs- heavier regular traction, high speeds, weight, and power variation "experiments" kept me busy. Slowly bumping the throttle one "winding bump" every few "laps" till the loco was on one rail in the curves, was common. So were the rollovers.

With an S turn & figure 8, it was more like dirt track, or formula 1 racing than NASCR.

Eyeahh..you better throw some EVEL KNIEVEL

 Just today I was running a Crusader, a GG-1, and a double headed American. All passenger trains, all at "prototypical" top speeds. The I pulled the GG-1, and hooked up a K-4, to run too fast, just because it wasn't smoky enough.

 Watching switching operations only interested my when I would watch them load the Chief Wawatam rail ferry in the Michigan Upper Penn. Hump yards are kinda  cool too I guess. I like the noise. Powerful.

In the end, my choice one over the other, I choose the toy first.

I like it all, real, models, plus

I always loved trains. I remember as a kid walking down to the NYC tracks with my Dad and putting a penny on the track when the train was coming. Didn't see a lot of trains living in the Bronx. I took the subway to high school and college. Always liked to look out the front window to see how everything worked. Remember when we drove to New Jersey seeing the NYC running along the Hudson as I looked down from the approach to the George Washington Bridge. Now I'm fascinated with the older trains. I love steam and have been on a number of excursion trips pulled by steam.

Chug:  I can get into real trains pretty easily, models, not so much.   

LOVE THEM BOTH!!!!!!!!!!

My interest in prototypes is limited to those colorful passenger trains of the '50's--steam and diesels--which is where my interest lies in model/toy trains.

I don't know how to separate them--I don't see them as two different things but as two aspects of the same thing.

Now, like many here, I *prefer* older stuff--classic steam era, both model and real--but, if it's train related, I am at least interested.

I do have one other prejudice:  I much prefer US RRing--European trains, especially British--leave me relatively cold.

Trains are part of an over-arching interest for me:  machines, especially historical ones.  Trains, ships/boats, cars/trucks, tractors, construction, mining, military:  I like machines.  I have and use two JD 2-cylinder tractors, one of my daily drivers is a '69 Chevy 1/2-ton 4x4, and my other hobby is recreating/using 150-year-old, muzzle-loading artillery pieces.  My favorite recreation spot is Sivler Dollar City (2 ft gauge Frisco Silver Dollar Line in steam + old mining theme).  If it's old and remotely mechanical, I am interested to some degree. 

Now, if I could only find someone to PAY me for doing these things . . . .

I used to be much more of a railfan, but nowadays I'll hardly go out of my way to see a train.

I'm still very interested in model railroading.

Jeff C

Yes, I enjoy watching and learning about both.  They naturally seem to go hand in hand.

--Greg

I am interested in almost anything to do with trains. On vacation, I always try and work a "train related visit" into my trip. May be riding a train, visiting a museum, walking an old rail line or visiting a hobby shop.

The newly refurbished Canadian Park Car lounge & bar areas: 

the rear end shot of the Canadian Park Car. Original 1955 Bud cars still running in revenue service. Could be the best train trip in the world.

A shot from my layout:

The Canadian at Midway station on my layout. Inside of the cars have been redone using pictures from the real train.

An old engine shop transfer table, that is now used to bring billets from the billet yard to the rolling mill, for a steel mill that was built inside the old engine assembly building.

The kitchen of the diner car is from pictures of the kitchen on the Canadian.

Greatest hobby in the world, it has so many ways to keep you interested.

Joe K

Love both... but only since my son was born.  Prior to him I did not care about real trains and did not have any models.

When I married my wife, she insisted on a train around the Christmas tree.  I did not care either way so we got one.

When my son was 2 he would lay on the floor watching that train go round and round just saying, "Choo Choo Mommy, Choo Choo!"  Next Christmas we bought him a Lionel Thomas set, followed by the Polar Express.

10 Years later we have collected quite a few models for the layout and go train watching and riding regularly.  As a matter of fact, last week I took a day off of work and chased this train from Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe just to watch it put some empty tank cars in a siding.

I would have never considered such a thing prior to my son being born and helping me become interested in trains.

Ron

You nailed it for me right here, this is probably a main part of my interest in real trains. Since I know very little about them, the research part is important so I can better understand how to add more realistic operation to my layout. I am not stuck on being purely prototypical though, some of the toy aspects are fine with me and also fun to have on the layout. I do still enjoy watching the trains somewhat though, especially the engines. However, my increased interest in the real trains was brought on by my interest in toy trains.

I was out driving the other day and spotted a railroad track setup that looked like it could be a wye, but it was too big and spread out to tell from the car and the traffic was pretty heavy so I couldn't slow down too much or stop. Got home and looked it up on Google earth, sure enough it was a wye. Also discovered another small BNSF yard near a small industrial area while I was out. So I am finally learning a few things as well and some of it is even starting to stick.