Train watching

Yes!  I love watching trains.  I can sit at my desk on the computer as I am now and watch freights pass by on the branch line that is a block away.  Four trains a day with 130 cars and 5 engines.  Also love to go to the BNSF and UP mainlines when I can that are a little further away.

 

Art

CP88 NS Bethlehem Pa..........my favorite spot

 

JohnB

I don't mind watching a modern train when I am stuck at a grade crossing or near the tracks for some reason, but I don't make a hobby of it.  Steam, on the other hand?  If there is steam within reasonable distance, I am THERE.

Bit of a regular activity, often on Sun. mornings just for 30-45 min. or so after leaving church (mainline close by), or when passing by a yard with a few minutes to spare. Often see something new and interesting, which is fun. Always thought it a bit curious when hearing about a model railroader who never watched real trains. Whatever.

Many, many moons ago, I lived in a garden apartment complex that was bisected by the Conrail mainline... with a passing siding .... that went into their Oak Island yard in Newark, NJ. After work I would often go sit next to the tracks with a folding chair and a cooler with a few beers, and watch the trains. People thought I was kinda weird. LOL

A train guy --- weird ????

 

no way 

I can do one better. I am taking the Lake Shore Ltd from Boston to Chicago & then The California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco in June.  

I have spent many hours on the mountain along the NS mainline between South Fork and Gallitzin. Beautiful scenery and I have met nice folks from all over the US and Alaska. Plus have met some interesting NS employees, also. Was out today in Beaver Co. but the trains weren't. Read the Sunday paper. Did get a nice shot of an east bound(compass south)  of a freight on the NS Youngstown line.

I recently went to old orchard beach Maine and my hotel was in front of train tracks and when the Amtrak train passed through it shook the whole room, you could basically reach out and touch it. Some people complained but it was the best part of the trip for me

I'll go out of my to travel for steam excursions or steam railroads such as the Cumbres and Toltec and Durango and Silverton to ride and photograph. 

 

As far as today's railroading, I never go out of my way to watch them unless I am driving along and see them, or I'm stuck at a grade crossing. 

 

Absolutely no interest in modern railroading with the exception of what is required for my job.

Regards,

GNNPNUT

We have probably crossed paths between South Fork and Gallitzin.   Folks tell me if I park at the cemetery in Gallitzin I can walk down to the bend.  Is that true?

What are you calling the Bend. If you are referring to the Horseshoe Curve, that would be a very long walk. Also, which cemetery are you referring to.

1. Saint Mary's

2. Saint Patrick's

3. Bennington

4. St. Francis Xavier

5. Union

 Not Horseshoe Curve.  There's a nice bend in the rails as you come up the mountain and almost reach Gallitzin Tunnels.   You can see it from the top of 22.   I honestly don't know the official term for it.  There is a cemetery in Tunnel Hill.  People have told me to park there and walk down to the bend.  I've never tried it.

It my be the Bennington Curve. There is a cemetery there called the Bennington Cemetery. The Bennington Curve is where the famous Red Arrow train wreck occurred back in the late forties. Maybe 1947. Sorry, wish I had more information for you.

 

 

And I have several videos of my annual RR slideshows here (among other things):

http://www.bing.com/videos/sea...ourube&FORM=VDRE

 

I do. I just wish I knew of good places to do so near where I live.

-Greg

I used to live about a block away from a bnsf line in northern Idaho.  The kids and i enjoyed watching the freight trains go by.  Of course the horn blast in the middle of the night I dont miss.  I dont mind getting caught at a crossing, but im not going to go looking for trains to watch.

I used to RailFan all summer at one time.  Some of the best times I had was trackside with my Coleman Stove, a pot of coffee and a bag of buns. 

Unfortunately 9/11 pretty much changed all that.  In most cases you can't get anywhere near the railroads anymore, and if you do, you are always looking over your shoulder.  Alas as the old Blues song goes "The Thrill is Gone"

When I was in my 20s My buddies and I railfanned most of New York, Pennsylvania and south east Canada. Today I mostly watch trains the CSX at Chili Junction. That is where the former West Shore leaves the main and bypasses Rochester

On average I will see trains twice a month going to or coming from work and will watch as long as I can. I work across from a SEPTA station, when on that side of the building I go to the window to see SEPT stop at the platform. My favorite yard where we would watch has now been blocked off since 9/11. In short yes I like to watch real trains.

Locally, the Fullerton, CA Amtrak station has become a major hot spot for rail activity,   BNSF transcon plus local freight, Amtrak and Metrolink locals and the Southwest Chief are among the 80+ trains a day. The station is a former Santa Fe building with some upgrades, 3 track mainline, pedestrain bridge with elevators, safe and well lighted good viewing from either side of the tracks. 

Train watching with your kids or grandkids is probably vital to our hobby.

They don't get to see or ride trains every day so going out of your way to do so will have an impact on them.

I still have memories before I was 5 years old of watching a NYC freight trains with over 100 cars snaking through below grade cut through Queens, NY.  My grandfather counted out the cars for me.

My father had me on his shoulders as we watched a steam engine pass beneath a bridge we were on.  I remember him running across the road so we could see it steam away.  Don't remember the smell, but I do remember the smoke.

 

Train watch with your offspring!

If it isn't steam and there is no caboose, what's to watch?  Unfortunately, the closest

tourist line has given up steam, and is irratic in operation.  I don't have an interest

in modern diesel railroading.  Anonymous high cube cars rolling by across the gate

are not what I remember from childhood, so I only watch trains where I can recharge

that memory, and most, like the Silverton and the Cumbres and Toltec, or Cass, Strasburg, etc.  are far, or far, far, away.

Colorado hirailer, 

Lets not discourage others with comments like that. Trains are trains. The same powerful engine comes in many different forms. Thats like saying if its not a Model T then I'm not driving one. I guess you'd be doing a lot of walking then.

I've taken the wife kids and now grandchild to rail fan, and you never know whats coming down the track. Sure, most of the time its the usual double stack or the coal drag, but that makes the others that much more special. We've had Farm tractors, military tanks and vehicles, trash drags, windmill's(disassembled on many cars), John Deere passenger train, reefer drags, lumber, logs, steel rolls, scrap, cars, boats, Amtrack passenger runs,even saw the Nickel Plate Berkshire being loaded with in our local years off the interstate, they also had some restored classic pullman passenger cars (Norfolk Western)there for a promotional run a couple of years ago. We enjoy all trains, steam or diesel, box car or coal hopper. The sense of size and power continues to capture young and old alike, then, just as it does now. 

If trains around your are not diversified , may I suggest you check out some rail fan videos on youtube that other fans have posted. Maybe that will rekindle some of those childhood memories and maybe even begin a new area of appreciation for the more modern kings of the rails.

Enjoy this wonderful hobby!

When this is just twenty minutes or so from home, you bet I watch!

 

Yes, we all love steam. But when one stands at the Deal Road Bridge over the

CSX main at Sand Patch, and watch and listen to over 10,000 horsepower

move thousands of tons of coal up grade east to the tunnel, I tell ya, it is just plain

awesome. That's just forty minutes away from my home!

 

I just read Jim's reply under mine. You will notice in the video I posted that I had

met some nice folks from Pa, visiting in the area. That happens more often than

not at Helmstter's Curve.

 

 

Ed

What you non-train watchers are missing is the social aspect out there. Go to a popular spot-EVERYONE is  friend !!  Nice people from all over. I met Casey Thomason from NS at South Fork one chilly damp afternoon, met a road foreman of engines and a foreman of tunnels and buildings one afternoon. Both NS. Have met off duty RR engineers watching trains too.  Have been invited in to the cab of a CSX freight waiting at a long red signal.  Talked to a MOW foreman while they rebuilt some track at a derailment site. Also, I met a female model in a bikini, talked to her while the photographer took photos of the other one. Got pictures too  !!  There is a lot out there.

The steam-only comment is funny to me, in that I know several people locally who only have interest in the most modern stuff and might not even turn around if a steam locomotive went past!

I also know some local guys who live and breathe model trains (most of them are into N scale for some reason) but aren't the least bit interested in the 1:1 scale thing. You like the models of a thing you couldn't care less about? Man, that doesn't make sense at all.

Absolutely!  I wouldn't think of not watching any train when I am near it.  Sometimes I go a considerable distance to watch trains.  Currently planned are a trip to Logan, NM, at the ex-Rock Island High Bridge, and a trip out onto the ex-ATSF New Mexico Division.

 

Yes, 9/11 changed many things.

 

When m kids were very small, we used to take my wife to Newark Airport many Sunday mornings for her work travel.

 

After the kids had finished running around the entire expanse of the airport, we would go to the adjacent, mostly quiet Port Newark facilities. Complete freedom to go anywhere. We even went aboard a docked cargo ship on our own, and were met with smiles.

 

No more.

 

I'll bet every engineer and fireman the climbed into the cab of an early diesel was pleased, especially the yard crew if their regularly assigned engine did not have a power reverse.

Originally Posted by p51:

I forgot to mention why I'm always so happy with all the trains where I live. I was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida and lived there until my late 20s. The former Seaboard route through there was a single-track main, one you could hand around for the better part of a day and maybe just see one train, if at all.
Amtrak stopped going through there, I think, in 2005 after a very brief period of service with the Sunset Limited, which I think lasted less than 10 years, after a couple of years of Amtrak service when it first started. I do hope CSX eventually gets that line all the way through to Jacksonville squared away from PCT for future Amtrak service (not that it really ever helped Tallahassee, as the Sunset Limited always seemed to stop in the middle of the night, in a very bad part of town).
I try to get back there once a year to visit my folks who still live there. About 3 years ago, I found the 'main' all covered in weeds from having traffic re-routed way to the North. It looked like a abandoned branch line somewhere.
And people wonder why I moved away as soon as I could...

So now, I live in an area with multiple Amtrak trains (mostly high speed Talgo Cascades) and double-track mains. You won't sit for an hour without seeing at least 1-2 trains, sometimes as many as 4-5 in an hour. And there's also the branch line (Puget Sound and Pacific) which passes very close to my house.

Going from that to where I live now, why wouldn't I have a smile on my face? It never gets old.

>>If it isn't steam and there is no caboose, what's to watch?

 

And with welded rail and the increased use of "silent crossings", what's there to hear?

Often I muse when stopped at a crossing with a long freight rumbling through, "I am probably the only person in the line-up of automobiles who is enjoying himself!"

I always look for trains when driving anywhere near a right of way. I have a number of favorite gawking spots - West Chicago, IL crossing of CN/UP (ex "J" and CNW), Joliet Union Station, BNSF Eola Yard, either east throat or west, and BNSF Metra Stations in Naperville (major Amtrak station), Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Highlands, LaGrange and Riverside, plus Rondout (CP/CN - former Milw/J). All are heavy on action, with large numbers of train movements. Like to reflect on these spots from earlier times and like to see the latest advances in equipment. For me, there is still plenty of drama in the movement of heavy trains, pulled by high horsepower locomotives.  Once railroading infects the blood stream, it just won't exit!

Steam is dead and so are cabooses so deal with it. I love WW II planes but know I can't see them every day. Diesels don't have the individuality that steam had but they are impressive pieces of modern engineering and  manufacturing so I enjoy watching them. There is a lot of brute power controlled by one guy sitting at the controls in the locomotive. A  railroad foreman of engines on NS told me when he was running the long coal trains at 60 mph that he felt like superman. I met him out railfanning.

Just an update on another activity we like...  When possible, we always like to drive a route where we can drive next to or over tracks in the hopes of seeing a train.

 

Last Sunday we rode the Strasburg (My wife's idea of the best Mother's Day ever) and we decided to head back home on any road other than an interstate or main highway.

 

My GPS shows railroad tracks, so I love to call out to my son and daughter, "Tracks on the right... track on the left... crossing!"

 

As we were driving through Colebrook, PA (Never been there before) I hollered out track on the right, parallel to the road.  My son said he did not see anything.   It was a very wooded area on a road that was narrow and curvy so I could not take time to look. I said WE ARE RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM... to the right, you have to see them.  I can't look too closely since I was driving.  He said, I don't see any tracks, just a Bicycle trail.

 

Ding!    Ok... There use to be tracks, it's now a rail trail.

 

Ron