Eastern Railroad Discussion > So what do you do when you see other railfans?

Three of the days this week I got to look at hot business women in downtown Cincinnati. Today the Holdown I ran this week involved a route 41 Crosstown route, which is not a particular favorite route of mine but it does cross the CSX mainline to Hamilton and Toledo at Seymour Ave in the Carthage area of Cincinnati. After giving a passenger a very accurate time estimate of 8:45 am for Vine and Seymour "If we don't get stopped by a train" on the first eastbound trip we indeed got stopped by two Spongebob SD-40-3s and a long mixed train. The second eastbound trip as I slowed down for a proper DOT Railroad Crossing I noticed two railfans, one of them with a blue B & O shirt of some kind. Since I already had the window of my bus open, as part of the DOT RR Xing procedure, I yelled with a big smile "Terrorists! Terrorists!" at the two guys and gave them a thumbs up. They got the joke and got big smiles themselves.  If I was in my own car and had time I may have stopped and chatted with the guys but obvoiusly driving a transit bus with passengers That was the best I could do. So what do you do when you see other railfans?

Jim

I've blown a 14 L at a few when passing in the big rig
Michael T Kerner
Collinsville, IL

Posted from Android

I gave them a friendly wave when I passed by them taking photos of my train.

Reload.

Out

Oh yeah....a great joke, yell out a window of a public bus, Terrorists Terrorists and smile about, you may want to rethink about your ideas of a joke. 

Oh settle down...

EL-SD45-3632 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh yeah....a great joke, yell out a window of a
> public bus, Terrorists Terrorists and smile about,
> you may want to rethink about your ideas of a
> joke. 

I think a small toot on the horn and a wave may have been fine.   Without knowing "the rest of the story" the terrorist line may or may not have been good.   Don't know who is on the bus or near the crossing, but somebody hears a bus driver yell that, and calls 911 about terrorist near the tracks could cause those fans or you the driver to have to answer too many questions.  If you are asking our oppinion about it hear, that tells me you had second thoughts about it.   I would not use that line with a bunch of pretty ladies around downtown.

If I can't readily run away, I usually lower the bass and drop some ol' school gangsta rap on 'em. If that don't scare 'em away and they come up, I reach for the foam protector. Then maybe I'll ask 'em if the Conrail tunnel motors have come through yet...

JG

I usually go chat with them.  If they are from outside of the area I try to point out a few places they might want to visit or answer question.  I've met more than one or two of you guys lurking around LaGrange, Ky.  Had lunch with one of you, suggested places to eat for others.  Talked about train frequency, etc...

John

Keep driving

Posted from iPhone

Take careful aim, ammunition is getting expensive..
 

Around Ayer, Gardner, Wachusetts, and Shirley there are regular but informal coffee klatches of 5-10+ camera-armed railfans of all ages (mostly retirees on the weekdays) on many days. If there's a Heritage unit in town or some other unusual occurrence (coal train, ethanol train, grain train, etc) the foamers will be more numerous. We discuss a wide variety of topics but usually conversation revolves around how inefficient Pan Am operations are, how many of their units are OOS due to lack of lube oil, how poorly maintained their own mainline track is, how things used to be in the good old B&M days (lots more track and trains), when is Norfolk Southern going to say "that's it!" and step in and buy the Pan Am Southern portion from Ayer west, and is Tim Mellon shopping the Pan Am Railways around and to whom?

But in general, we enjoy the quirky entertaining show around Ayer!

Forget about seeing those railfans, tell us more about the hot business women.

Second that, we need details on the hot business ladies! Need to know which ones are railfan friendly.....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/16 05:05 by Bunny218.

So you saw a bunch of nice business women and didn't get any roster shots for us?

Posted from Android

The yard chatter in Ayer can be VERY entertaining!

JPB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Around Ayer, Gardner, Wachusetts, and Shirley
> there are regular but informal coffee klatches of
> 5-10+ camera-armed railfans of all ages (mostly
> retirees on the weekdays) on many days. If there's
> a Heritage unit in town or some other unusual
> occurrence (coal train, ethanol train, grain
> train, etc) the foamers will be more numerous. We
> discuss a wide variety of topics but usually
> conversation revolves around how inefficient Pan
> Am operations are, how many of their units are OOS
> due to lack of lube oil, how poorly maintained
> their own mainline track is, how things used to be
> in the good old B&M days (lots more track and
> trains), when is Norfolk Southern going to say
> "that's it!" and step in and buy the Pan Am
> Southern portion from Ayer west, and is Tim Mellon
> shopping the Pan Am Railways around and to whom?
>
> But in general, we enjoy the quirky entertaining
> show around Ayer!

I usually leave.

Well if it's a Dad with his kids I'd stick around, they are there to see trains and they keep to themselves.  If it's someone with buttons all over their vest, in a RR tee shirt, with two scanners and several cameras hanging off them, I go elsewhere.  Seems those types just have to come up and enlighten me with their vast knowledge of everything choo choo, so I avoid them.  I've abandoned several good locations to stay away from those types.