Train watching

I enjoy watching them. I sit at three locations along the Norfolk Southern main line.

1. Gray Station crossing. (Westmoreland County)

2. Torrance, Pa. (Westmoreland County)

3. C Pack the location of the old JD tower. (Indiana County)

All three locations are about 20 miles or less from Homer City, Pa.

Yes. 

Yes for me also.

Yes.Its a daily ritual ,I'm retired grab my dogs and a cup of coffee and we're off to watch trains.I live in northwest Indiana a train watchers paradise

MR-150,

I enjoy watching trains on the internet. One of locations that has a lot of traffic is a crossing located at Chesterton, Indiana. The location is right by Riley's Railhouse.

My 5 year old son and I watch trains for a couple hours a week. We sit at the train station in Meridian, MS. We see traffic from UP, KCS, Norfolk Southern and the Amtrak Crescent. It is a good time.

Not much here on Long Island and after 30+ years of commuting I'd rather not spend my day watching the LIRR. Now a few years back I was in Las Vegas and stayed just off the strip at the Rio and right adjacent to the hotel was one heck of a freight line with a ton of UP activity, and when the conference got boring or the dice got cold it was out the back door for some rail fanning.

heck yes, who doesnt?-jim

not as much as I used to. I always like seeing the different road names, seeing the new autos. Now the road names are all gone, new cookie cutter cars are covered.

Yes I do!

I used to love it, when I was a kid on the PRR mainline.  Long, long mixed freights roaring past every ten minutes -- or less -- with a jaunty caboose at the rear.

 

I'll still pause to watch a train if I happen to be there when one (infrequently) passes through my old home town.  But nothing NS has is even remotely as interesting.

 

Wow,  you guys and gals have a lot more time on your hands than I, and I am retired.  Three to four hours?  Suppose it's a matter of priorities.  Maybe someday ...

I also enjoy train watching on the internet with my G'son especially from the Folkston,
GA Funnelcam.

Jack

 

     What are your favorites in the Chicago area?

 

Ray

All the time, going tomorrow. I did a lot of video in the past but mostly stills now. Do a lot around the Conway yard area and Beaver Co. because of the two mainlines. Love the Pa. mountain area- South Fork to Gallitzin  but the price of gas crimped that.

Nothing close to where we live. Other than the Amtrak Northeaster (about an hour away), no other regular service passenger trains in Maine. We have to be happy with our models. 

I love watching the trains. I try to go out whenever I get the chance to.

I only go between Sandwich & Somonauk Illinois. Now I should find a new train shooting spot. Because it seems to be getting old with what seems to be the same old spots. As I am typing this I can hear one running by now.

I like watching them and sometimes I sit on the roof of my car with an ice cream come and watch the passing trains. It is so relaxing

I try to get a train a day at least, on my way home from work. Ive been that way since I was a kid. Trains have always been appealing, an as a kid a bit mysterious to me. Where was it coming from? And where was it going? Who are the men that always give you a wave behind the controls and where do they live? All the different makes, models, paint schemes, road names, and logos on the different locos and rolling stock. Whats in those boxcars? Even the hobo monikers streaked on the sides left me in wonder. "Itchy foot stetson" "coal train" "faded glory" who are these characters with these funny names? All that goes through my head when I see a train go by. Even now knowing where they are coming from and going it still gives me the same feeling of wow every time.

My entire family likes to go out to the rails and watch the NS heritage units come through town.   We've seen 12 of them to date.

I watch them once in awhile when I have the time

I live next to a small railroad to the coast and pretty close to the BNSF/UP/Amtrak main from Portland to Seattle. I get as much train watching as I can, which is pretty easy given all the action there is around here.

Just did some tonight, in Centralia, WA, actually, next to the depot there.

Living in a large city like Detroit, There are a lot of freight trains. My favorite rail fanning takes place in Canada. I enjoy taking the Detroit Windsor Tunnel to Canada and returning by the Ambassador Bridge.

     I like watching the VIA Passenger Trains in Windsor and on my side of the Detroit River, Amtrak.

     Along with Rail fanning, there is a lot to see and do in Windsor, Ontario. I also carry a Michigan Enhanced Drivers License. This is a USA Passport to Canada, and when the x-press lanes are open, you can enter faster on both sides.

  Below are the logos.

Haha...You guys are falling for this again...lock, stock and barrel! 

 

Let's see if Bnsftrains, Bagelman or Nickstrains weighs in with any thoughts.

No. Only when I'm stuck at a RR crossing and I have to. No time to sit and watch trains go by. There are a lot more fun things to do in life.

 

Not long ago, someone started a thread asking whether or not modelers like to watch real trains. There were a lot that did, and a lot that didn't. There's no right or wrong answer...whatever makes you happy.

Yes, and photographing them as well.

Heck Yes... I've posted this before, but it seems appropriate to share again.  Just listen to my sons voice.  He was 10 at the time.  It just made my day.

Ron

 

Good morning, some people may call fishing or hunting or some other activity relaxing.

 

For me and my wife taking a few hours on a weekend, "to busy during the work week" is our relaxing time.

Grab the scanner, camera a thermos of coffee and lets go !!!!!!!

I used to go railfanning every other weekend or so.  Would do day trips as far as Baltimore and Harrisburg from here in Edison, NJ.

 

Other things in life have taken up any spare time I have.  So I don't do it any more.  Not for lack of interest.

I'm not that into watching real trains.  I don't mind watching them when I have to wait at a RR crossing or am at a station and can look at the other trains, but except for museums, I won't go out of my way to watch trains.  

I totally agree, That WAS so awesome.  One of the top A-B-B-A paint schemes ever.

Yes, every couple of weeks go watch CSX, AMTRAK, and VRE, on the old RF&P line.  Sometimes AMTRAK will be pulling a private owned passenger car from years passed.  Never know what you may see even on a CSX freight with old freight cars that are still being used.  A friend and I also go over by Manassas to sometime catch a heritage unit coming through.  We have also have seen the NS OCS train and the PENNSY E-8's coming through.  We are lucky enough to have teenage young friend in our model club who informs us when something interesting is in route to our area. 

Ray,

 

I don't go out to "watch trains" anymore. However, when I'm downtown at the Hardware Store on our home town, I always check the Burlington "triple track" main line to see what's coming, and then wait for the headlight to get close enough. If it's a METRA train, I get in the car and return home. If it's a freight, then I continue to wait.

Rarely.  In fact, really only once a year when we are back in PA visiting family.  It used to be quality time with my boys when they were younger but, now that they are grown and no longer interested, I find my desire to sit trackside for a few hours has vanished.

Curt

 

Mark, I see you are from Indiana.  My guess is that you've watched trains from Cassandra in the past.  It's a fantastic place to watch trains!

My father was the same way.  He was only into model trains unless we went to a museum or an old-time railroad.   I moved to an area with extremely heavy train traffic.   I found myself enjoying the trains as they came through town.  My dad gave me a couple of train sets and the rest my love for trains took off!    However;  I don’t sit there for hours watching trains.  I’ll go out to the rails when a heritage unit is coming through and get to see about 5-10 trains within a 30-45 minute timeframe.   Thus, I get the best of both worlds.  I often strike up conversations with the folks watching trains.   A lot of them aren’t really interested in model trains.  

Hello Panther97, yes we are very fortunate here to go to some great train watching spots within an hour drive.

 

The new spot we discovered is Conpit Junction lots of action there withe helper locomotives being added to east bound trains and trains switching from the Conemaugh line back over to track two and sometimes track one.

Living so close to Cheyenne and the steam trains when they were running, it was great to Chase, Watch, and ride the UP excursion trains.  Now we stick with Colorado Narrow Gauge steam with the Cumbres and Toltec rated best.

This is from a November 2008 Chase between North Platte, NE and Cheyenne, WY.

 

 

Nice!  I'll have to investigate that place in the future.  We usually watch the normal spots between Altoona and Cassandra.   If a heritage unit is coming through at night, and on the weekend, I like to catch them in Altoona.