Delve into the Railfan Psyche
Just How Far Will Railfans Go...
"Crazy" Railfan Stories!
- From Kent (SD):
- "Well, I'm an avid outdoor photographer and there's lots of things I could say were the 'craziest' thing I've done to see a train. Maybe the best one was several years ago, during our 'Winter-everything-died.' There were blizzards one after the other. An especially powerful one hit and shut the entire state down for three days. Drifts piled up 15 ft. high and higher. Temps plunged to 40 below. Windchill went off the chart when windspeeds hit 70 mph. Bulldozers were stuck in drifts that were over a mile long and solid as concrete. The governer went on TV and said anyone caught trying to drive between towns would immediately be arrested.
In the middle of all this, there was a DME train that got stranded about 90 miles NW from my house (normally an hour drive.) It just couldn't get through the drifts, so it sat idling as the crew climbed into the 2nd engine (lead engine was drifted over.) They sent out an SOS, but no one could come due to the extreme conditions. In fact, no one could even find them as visibility was about 30 feet, maximum. The rails were under several feet of snow so you couldn't even follow tracks to them.
As the time went by, the diesel fuel began to gel, and the engines went down one by one. They didn't really have the clothing with them needed to spend days at below zero temps either! Then, they were left with only one unclogged engine running to provide heat. Time was running out for the DME crew. A group of snowmobilers in that area went looking for them as the blizzard began moving off on the fourth day. Eventually they found them and hauled them out on the back of the snowmobiles. The local TV stations publicized the approximate location. I knew about where that was, and just had to go see a train peeking out of a huge snowdrift like that, forty below or no forty below! So, I dug out my Chevy K2500, put my snowshoes in the cab, put on my heaviest ice fishing clothes, and went out to see that train! Wife thought I was absolutely nuts though."
- From "DNatureofDTrain" (Wisconsin):
- craziest thing I've ever done: "Um.....hmmm... Drooling. Maybe? ... turning any conversation over into the topic of trains..obessessing over them... Bringing 3 garbage bags full of my toy trains to school for show and tell in kindergarten. The theme was collections. I collect anything to do with trains. At that age is was toy trains. I could hardly get on and off the bus with them."
- From Eric (OH):
- "Take my wife (girlfriend at the time) on a full scale chase of a steam train trip in Eastern Ohio...complete with 4:30 a.m. departure...(and her parents still allowed me to marry her!)"
- From Henry (OH & NY):
- "Stood in convertible at highway speed shooting photos back at the head end of a train which I was pacing....while driving...Drove 45 MPH backwards pacing a train...Drove 100 mph down a back road in Depew, NY so I could beat a set of SD80MACs to the Amtrak station to shoot them there...When I was a teenager I used to hop freights with my bicycle so I had a way to get home because once I ended up walking 5 miles home through the worst part of town because another train didn't come going the other way."
- From Neil (OH):
- "The craziest thing I have ever done while railfanning? That would have to be the time I saw 2 Union Pacific locos with the new flag decals on them leading a NS train. Seeing these rare to these parts engines, I knew I had to get them photographed. So, I raced down the highway at 75 MPH (in a 45). I was swerving in and out of traffic to beat that train to the next crossing. When I got there, I saw only the middle of his train, he had already passed, so I got back on the road and raced about 5 miles to another crossing. I passed him as I went, so I knew I was ahead of him. I got to the crossing and waited, prepping my camera. But he didn't come. As I looked down the tracks, he was turning out of sight onto another line. I knew all was lost as there was no road going along that line. Had I had an SUV, I would have made my own road, but I didn't."
- From Chris (MD):
- "Met and became close friends with Peter... Let's see here, driven 3 hours to Cumberland, MD from Baltimore just to get a roster shot of a certain locomotive (which didn't come out good at all!), driven from Frederick, MD to Paw Paw, WV on battery juice (alternator died) for TotalCSX FanFest II, and got ticketed by NS Police at Rockville Bridge (Harrisburg, PA) for tresspassing, and while the NS cop was writing my ticket, asked him to move so I could get a shot of an NS manifest train with a Conrail C36-7 and KCS 'Snoot' on the point. There's more, but these are good for now."
- From Tammy (OH):
- "I'm not crazy... Railfanning is the sanest thing I have ever done!"
- From Jon (OH):
- "This should be "what is the sanest thing you've done while railfanning"
- From Carrie (OH):
- "I would have to add by saying that the chase vehicle has got to be reasonable. Chasing a train in Jon's F350 as a passenger is agony. I have no idea what Ford's specs are for the suspension on that particular truck, but it is not for passenger comfort. I have been bounced around more than I care to recall, but it's all in fun. In that truck, a seatbelt is a necessity for survival."