Western Railroad Discussion > If you were a railfan tour guide...

where, in the west, would you take a group of "non-foamers" to show them why we spend so much money on gas, film and motels??? Think railroad photography specificly. People have a hard enough time believing we would watch trains let alone spend money to drive "out into the boonies" to photograph them! I always say its like hunting.
Anyway, what locations would you show them? Tehachapi? The Funnel?
Powder River Basin? Feather River canyon? Comments please...

AM

If I were taking a non-railfan on a California railfan tour, I would start with Feather River, go to Dunsmuir and McCloud, and then, TA DA, to the Loop!! I know there are many other places, but all of these offer great scenery, are not far from the "amenities" as opposed to being out in the boonies with no comfort facilities (by the time they get to the Loop they would not be complaining) :-)
C.

RAILFAN the ineffable word. It would be better to keep this hobby close to your heart. The others don't understand and there is no way they will ever understand. We have all been there: in the desert, at the top of a lonely mountain, a dangerous yard in a big city. And all of those hours freezing in a snow storm waiting to get the snow shot. And I know the California/Arizona guys sit for hours in the desert with the A/C blasting while the outside temperatures are 125. Are we nutz? I'll leave it up to you to decide. My advice is to acknowledge your interest in logistics and let it go at that.
tom
lol

Of all of the places that I've been to, Grand Canyon included, is this place. <a href="http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/&quot; target=new>The Verde Canyon Railroad.</a> It's beautiful country, some of which can only be seen via this railroad! You can't get out to some of this except for except by rail. Rugged mountains, a river that occasionally has a deer or two partaking of it's coolness in the middle of a blistering hot summer running just below the tracks, even Eagles floating overhead! All of which makes it a difficult, but wonderful place to take pictures...And then there's the INCREDIBLE Arizona skies. Beautiful blue, with clouds to break the blue monotiny just perfectly... The railroad here is viable! It makes money via SOME freight that it runs during the week, but it also makes lots of money (apparently) from tourist trains. The tour is fun, it's about the right duration, (would ANY of us go to a 12 hour movie?) and even had a person in character (an indian looking guy) who wandered up and down the train with a wireless mike. He broadcast perfectly fitting mood music interspersed with tales of indian lore, local history, and of course many reasons why a large railroad like the Santa Fe couldn't keep this piece of their territory and had to give it up. His story was plausible, and of course entertaining! The location isn't too far off of the beaten path for the average tourist, and it's right on the way to one of the MOST frequented places in Arizona, SEDONA!! So why wouldn't tourist WANT to stop by this place for a short diversion?? A lot of these things work against another of my most favorite haunts - Campo, CA and the SDRM. If I had one dream it would be to suddenly have 8+ million dollars to repair the line in Carrizo, fix the equipment that they have, and allow them to get out from some of the political things happening down their. Oh, and I'd create some OTHER reason that people would want to come to the Campo area and make it only too convenient to take a ride on the SDRM trains.... So without further adoo(?), I give you my earlier disertation on <a href="http://mywebpage.netscape.com/tmeatzie/vcrwy/index.html&quot; target=new> Verde Canyon Railway! </a> Enjoy....

I was trying to explain to a good friend why I do what I do -- railfan. I was showing him some of my pictures. One was of the Lancaster and Chester over here on the east coast with six SW end cabs pulling a long train. I pointed at the picture and said, "THAT'S why I railfan."

Silence.

He just looked at me.

"Six freaking end cabs on a train!" I said. "You just don't see that every day."

He kept looking at me.

Finally, I shut up.


Joe H.

If I were a railfan tour guide, I would rather take a group of railfans.

My favorite places (within 150 miles of home):
1) UP in the Oregon Cascades - lots of off paved road driving & beautiful scenery
2) BNSF in Central Oregon - Oregon Trunk Line
3) Vancouver Jct. - Just because you WILL see a lot of trains.


Chad

I actually did something like this. Last year, after years hearing about Winterail, a non-foaming friend wondered aloud how it would be to go along on the expedition. I told him there was only one way to find out. A few months later he was in a van of Oregon foamers bound for California via Nevada.
What he saw:
1) The W&P Corvallis local with the Black Widow painted GP-9E going all the way into Monroe. Of course we let him know why this was cool..
2) A three unit SOLID SP consist lead by a SD-40T2 chased from Oakridge to Fields in good late afternoon light. We had plenty to say about that too.
3) Pizza in K-Falls with local eminent Trainorders posters!
4) Sunrise at Lakeview, Breakfast at Jerry's and the story of the N-C-O and Modoc Line as we photographed the Lake County RR's motive power.
5) The exited yell of "Warbonnet!" as we bagged of our first train in the Winnemucca area, a BNSF central corridor trackage rights train.
6) The expanation of the WP and SP tracks at Preble Nevada, even though each side ran UP trains.
7) Basque food at Winnemucca (you have not lived untill...)
8) The gathering at Fernly as the sun set at the stub end of the old Pyramid Lake segement of the Modoc line.
9) Beer in Reno with eminent local Foam! Gave some money to the casino's too.
10) The Museum at Portola and a D&RGW GP-40 switching the yard. We had plenty to say about that too.
11) He pretty much had to take our word for it that Williams was a loop.
12) The Pentrex show in Stockton.
13) The entry into the mystic gates of Winterail.
13) And the post function at Applebies.
14) The long slog back to Portland, but not before catching a SP SD-70M on the point at Dunsmuir...

By the end of the trip, he had gone native, wondering aloud about the California Zephyr. Giving us another week, would have been posting here as I write this now. This years Winterail expidition will be via rail and quite different, but when I mentioned that we would probably hit the road again next year... well, I wouldn't be surprised if he was on board.

I can't think of a better way to wow someone with railroading than plunk them down on the UP triple track between North Platte and Gibbon. If that's not the greatest railroading show on earth, I don't know what is.

The other place I would take them would be the Columbia Gorge. Plenty of fast trains, running through the most spectacular, diverse, panoramic scenery there is.

Bryan

The two places I have been where the general public goes to see trains in a nice setting are Tehachapi and Horseshoe curve in Pennsylvania. The locals can attest that especially on weekends there is a constant parade of cars to all the areas around the loop, and from overhearing conversations most of them are not railfans. People are genuinely excited to see the approach of a train to and then around the loop, but they see the scene as a train in an interesting setting and don't pay attention to the details of the train or the power.

Don't take your perspective foamer candidate in waiting on a camping trip to Afton Canyon Campground.

After the noise of several trains wakes them up in the middle of the night (or may be it was my trying to get out the door of the tent in a hurry to catch the action that woke them up) . . .

They are generally tired and irritable the next day and aren't much in the mood to listen to why seeing a string of SD40-2s in elephant formation hustling a mile of coal across the Second Mojave River Crossing bridge is something to get excited about.

Take 'em to the loop instead, and then give 'em a belly full of short ribs at the Apple Shed. You can tell whether there is any hope for them by which they find more memorable - loop or ribs.

Now my son, he comes from three generations of foamers. He doesn't have a chance!

Kit

Horseshoe curve, hands down.

Just got back from "The Curve", with my grandson from Sacramento who came out to visit for a week. We took in Niagara Falls, Letchworth Park (got to see a train go over the high trestle), Horseshoe Curve, and Steamtown.
Had a GREAT time!

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Western US: Cumbres and Toltec. Western Canada: just about anywhere on the CP except Banff. (Bring them to Banff and they may not pay proper atention to the trains.) Western Hemisphere: Copper Canyon.

Sherman Hill. Second is the Nebraska triple track.