Steam & Excursion > Foaming the 1218. 1987.

Ludlow, KY. The best smelling place in the world (Well it used to be until they started tearing it all down.) Lots of foamers at work.

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More foamers.

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Further south toward Lexington, KY.

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Now honestly, in 1987 was "foamer" a term anyone ever heard or used?

We called ourselves railfans in those days. A lot of us still do.

Art (The Non-Foamer) House

aehouse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now honestly, in 1987 was "foamer" a term anyone
> ever heard or used?
>
> We called ourselves railfans in those days. A
> lot of us still do.
>
> Art (The Non-Foamer) House

Absolutely YES! The term "foamer" got started by the High Iron steam crew, on 759, back in the late 1960s. The "term" was originally "FOMITE", which was an acronym for "Far Out Mentally Incompetent Train Enthusiast". It was subsequently spread around the whole country in 1975/1976 by the American Freedom Train steam crews, eventually slurring into what we all know today as "foamer".

aehouse Wrote:
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> Now honestly, in 1987 was "foamer" a term anyone
> ever heard or used?
>

Absolutely. It was being used in California in the 1970s. I first heard it in 1978.

The story I heard is that the late Dick Buicke (sp?), a real comedian who I believe worked at SP's headquarter, was said to have remarked "there's a foamer behind every signal box" when describing all the photographers during the AFT tour.

HotWater Wrote:
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> aehouse Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Now honestly, in 1987 was "foamer" a term
> anyone
> > ever heard or used?
> >
> > We called ourselves railfans in those days. A
> > lot of us still do.
> >
> > Art (The Non-Foamer) House
>
> Absolutely YES! The term "foamer" got started by
> the High Iron steam crew, on 759, back in the late
> 1960s. The "term" was originally "FOMITE", which
> was an acronym for "Far Out Mentally Incompetent
> Train Enthusiast". It was subsequently spread
> around the whole country in 1975/1976 by the
> American Freedom Train steam crews, eventually
> slurring into what we all know today as "foamer".

OK. So it came well before the story that was told to me.

I knew it had been around a long time.

HEY!! I resemble that remark! :)

Posted from Android

aehouse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now honestly, in 1987 was "foamer" a term anyone
> ever heard or used?
>
> We called ourselves railfans in those days. A
> lot of us still do.
>
> Art (The Non-Foamer) House


I was a small child in 1987 and remember hearing it being used so, yes, it was indeed around by then.

Happy Thanksgiving.

-Froggie