You know you're a railfan if...
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- freebrickproductions
- Posts: 8491
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You know you're a railfan if...
I've always enjoyed these types of lists personally, so I wrote this list and posted it on Facebook recently. After some thinking, I decided to post this list here so y'all can enjoy it and even add to it as well. So here it is:
You know you're a railfan if...
- When other people open up the photos on their phones, they have pictures of their kids/relatives/pets/etc., but when you open up the photos on your phone, it's just pictures of the trains you recently caught.
- The local railroaders know you by name.
- You can get to any crossing on the local railroads, even the most remote ones, without needing a map.
- You also know the quickest route between any two points along a local railroad.
- When going anywhere, you plan a route that lets you cross/parallel railroads the most.
- You always look both ways at a crossing to see if a train is coming, but for different reasons for most.
- When looking at a crossing on Google Maps, you can easily (and usually accurately) identify what equipment it has.
- You have multiple hard drives on your computer just for all of the pictures and videos you have of trains.
- Your family wants to go down to Auburn to see the Auburn Tigers play, but you want to go with them just to railfan the local CSX line.
- When watching older videos of the Georgia Central back when it still had the ex-Southern U23Bs, you get nostalgic for them despite never having ever been to that railroad in your entire life.
- You plan & take trips to states hundreds of miles away just so you can go to a railroad line up there.
- You also stop at other railroad lines along the route between your destination and your house.
- You want to get a dash-cam just so you can record trains while driving.
- You know all of the best spots for viewing a CSX yard in a town west of yours.
- You also know the best spots for viewing the block signals at the ends of the yard, and regularly drive past them when out there just to see if a train is coming.
- You help run a website & forum just for railroad crossing signals.
- You spend more money on gas to go watch trains than you spend on gas to get to work.
- Your distant relatives tag you in pictures and videos of trains they share on Facebook.
- One of the main reasons you enjoyed high school was because the school was located right next to a rail line.
- You always sat at a table closest to the windows facing the tracks in the lunchroom.
- In the one class you had with a window facing the tracks, the teacher wouldn't let you sit next to said window to keep you from getting distracted.
- You shot your first picture of the first heritage unit you ever saw from one of the windows in another class.
- You can tell about when a railroad installed the signals at a crossing just by looking at it.
- When talking with another railfan about trains, you and him are making perfect sense to each other but the non-railfan friend one of you brought along quickly gets lost.
- You know the names of every railroad line in your area, and the names of railroad lines that aren't anywhere near your area.
- You own multiple railroad crossing bells and are looking to get more.
- You have been to a town that no-one's ever heard of (or can locate by themselves on a map) just because it has a cool railroad crossing.
- You have also been to a spot in the middle of nowhere where there isn't even cellphone reception just to record a railroad crossing.
Any others that I missed? If so, feel free to add them.
You know you're a railfan if...
- When other people open up the photos on their phones, they have pictures of their kids/relatives/pets/etc., but when you open up the photos on your phone, it's just pictures of the trains you recently caught.
- The local railroaders know you by name.
- You can get to any crossing on the local railroads, even the most remote ones, without needing a map.
- You also know the quickest route between any two points along a local railroad.
- When going anywhere, you plan a route that lets you cross/parallel railroads the most.
- You always look both ways at a crossing to see if a train is coming, but for different reasons for most.
- When looking at a crossing on Google Maps, you can easily (and usually accurately) identify what equipment it has.
- You have multiple hard drives on your computer just for all of the pictures and videos you have of trains.
- Your family wants to go down to Auburn to see the Auburn Tigers play, but you want to go with them just to railfan the local CSX line.
- When watching older videos of the Georgia Central back when it still had the ex-Southern U23Bs, you get nostalgic for them despite never having ever been to that railroad in your entire life.
- You plan & take trips to states hundreds of miles away just so you can go to a railroad line up there.
- You also stop at other railroad lines along the route between your destination and your house.
- You want to get a dash-cam just so you can record trains while driving.
- You know all of the best spots for viewing a CSX yard in a town west of yours.
- You also know the best spots for viewing the block signals at the ends of the yard, and regularly drive past them when out there just to see if a train is coming.
- You help run a website & forum just for railroad crossing signals.
- You spend more money on gas to go watch trains than you spend on gas to get to work.
- Your distant relatives tag you in pictures and videos of trains they share on Facebook.
- One of the main reasons you enjoyed high school was because the school was located right next to a rail line.
- You always sat at a table closest to the windows facing the tracks in the lunchroom.
- In the one class you had with a window facing the tracks, the teacher wouldn't let you sit next to said window to keep you from getting distracted.
- You shot your first picture of the first heritage unit you ever saw from one of the windows in another class.
- You can tell about when a railroad installed the signals at a crossing just by looking at it.
- When talking with another railfan about trains, you and him are making perfect sense to each other but the non-railfan friend one of you brought along quickly gets lost.
- You know the names of every railroad line in your area, and the names of railroad lines that aren't anywhere near your area.
- You own multiple railroad crossing bells and are looking to get more.
- You have been to a town that no-one's ever heard of (or can locate by themselves on a map) just because it has a cool railroad crossing.
- You have also been to a spot in the middle of nowhere where there isn't even cellphone reception just to record a railroad crossing.
Any others that I missed? If so, feel free to add them.
They/Them for me, please.
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- NathanFromEngland
- Posts: 2369
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- Location: Merseyside
Re: You know you're a railfan if...
I'm wure this was posted on the forum back in the day...
Edit: Wait no this is way different to the old one!
Here's a suggestion.
You enter the D.O.T number on the FRA website to know how many trains pass during the day, night, and how many switching jobs there are during the day.
Edit: Wait no this is way different to the old one!
Here's a suggestion.
You enter the D.O.T number on the FRA website to know how many trains pass during the day, night, and how many switching jobs there are during the day.
- freebrickproductions
- Posts: 8491
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:12 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
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Re: You know you're a railfan if...
Couldn't find any others like this on the forum. I know there are a couple of websites that have lists similar to this (one of which is linked to from this site), but they haven't been updated in years.NathanFromEngland wrote:I'm wure this was posted on the forum back in the day...
Edit: Wait no this is way different to the old one!
They/Them for me, please.
Click here if you want to submit crossing photos to the site!
Avatar by runesprite on Twitter.
Click here if you want to submit crossing photos to the site!
Avatar by runesprite on Twitter.
Re: You know you're a railfan if...
When the only radio you listen to is your scanner.
Railfanning since December 28, 2009!
- ToledoRailfan
- No Longer Associated With The Forum
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- Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2013 2:38 pm
Re: You know you're a railfan if...
*a foamer
- TheSignalMan2000
- Posts: 193
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Re: You know you're a railfan if...
If you have ancestors that worked on the railroad, and took pride on all of their hard work.
(my Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and Great-Great-Grandfather all worked on the railroad, which makes me a 4th Generation Rail person)
(my Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and Great-Great-Grandfather all worked on the railroad, which makes me a 4th Generation Rail person)
The crossing photographer of Louisiana, Mississippi, & East Texas
My YouTube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSignalman2000/
My Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158425094@N07/
- freebrickproductions
- Posts: 8491
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:12 am
- Location: Huntsville, AL
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Re: You know you're a railfan if...
I had some ancestors on my dad's side of the family that worked for the Southern Railway back in the day.TheSignalMan2000 wrote:If you have ancestors that worked on the railroad, and took pride on all of their hard work.
(my Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, and Great-Great-Grandfather all worked on the railroad, which makes me a 4th Generation Rail person)
They/Them for me, please.
Click here if you want to submit crossing photos to the site!
Avatar by runesprite on Twitter.
Click here if you want to submit crossing photos to the site!
Avatar by runesprite on Twitter.
- McK&H.Aust
- Posts: 926
- Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:16 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
Re: You know you're a railfan if...
freebrickproductions wrote: You know you're a railfan if...
Personally I would say I'm more of a crossing fan than a railfan, usually don't care what train comes past, as long as something comes by so I can film a crossing
You know you're a crossing fan if you tell people you're a railfan because it's easier (and less time consuming) than explaining why you like crossings.
You hate getting up early, but will happily get up at 4am and drive for several hours just to film a crossing.
You find mistakes on google maps where they misspelt the names of roads with crossings on them.freebrickproductions wrote: - You can get to any crossing on the local railroads, even the most remote ones, without needing a map.
- You also know the quickest route between any two points along a local railroad.
When going on road trips to visit relatives, you check up to see which crossings you may be able to film on the way there. You also sneak away to film a crossing while you're there.freebrickproductions wrote: - Your family wants to go down to Auburn to see the Auburn Tigers play, but you want to go with them just to railfan the local CSX line.
You totally hated high school, and the only reason you attended (and coped) is because the school was located right near a rail line.freebrickproductions wrote: - One of the main reasons you enjoyed high school was because the school was located right next to a rail line.
You own multiple railroad crossing bells, and you go through your house looking to throw away things you don't really need, just to make room for more bells. You also have a bucket list of bells that you'd like to ownfreebrickproductions wrote: - You own multiple railroad crossing bells and are looking to get more.