Nostalgia & History > Are railfans this dedicated, or are we this crazy?!

It is a fair question, and looking back over all of the weird things that happened to me over my most active railfanning years, I'd say BOTH! I fell off of hills, dropped a camera lens off a bridge, got into fights, got arrested, lost more times than I can count, got robbed, soaked, frosbite, stepped on bees nests, got poison Ivy, chiggers, and had many days that were a total waste of time. YET I came back time and time again for more! For 25 years I endured all for the love of the hobby, and looking back on all of the above, given the times I did it, I'd do it again. My story is sure not unique, because I ran into many others like me, and war stories were the way to pass time. These two images I found, dated 1982 kind of sum up the things we would endure for that "great" shot. This is a northbound D&H man out of Binghamton climbing Belden Hill. I was with the famous and notorious JJ Young who talked me into coming to Binghamton, because, as he said, "we're in for a lot of snow, and we can get some great stuff!" It sure as hell snowed allright, To the point that Binghamton declared a snow emergency, and put a PM curfew on so they could try to get the streets cleared. The shots were taken during the first day of the storm. The next day was very windy with blowing snow, and we were out again. I guess we had fun, but I told John, the next time I wanted to hear from him was June!! A normal four hour ride back that Sunday night took almost seven hours of following grooves that tractor trailers were making down Interstates 81 and 83. Dedicated yes...crazy, yes! Do it again, not for today's railroading, but put me in a time machine and let me select the dates...YES!

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Railfans rush in where angels fear to tread.
Bob

I am dedicated.
Weather, no issue for me to take photos.

Dedicated...period. Missed way TOO much thinking it will be "here tomorrow".

Just hope amd pray that the shutter release works as intended!

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

rrartist Wrote:
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> Dedicated...period. Missed way TOO much thinking
> it will be "here tomorrow".
Me too.

Adam

A little bit of both, myself included!

Frighteningly chilly photos.

Rich

rrartist Wrote:
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> Dedicated...period. Missed way TOO much thinking
> it will be "here tomorrow".

you got that right. 

i'll add some crazy in my case...........

66

So true.  As for the list of happenstances that you checked off, I can say I shared nearly all of them.  Very prominent in my memory was the joy of a massive chigger infestation suffered during the summer of 1989 when I ventured too far off the right of way while shooting either side of the Thebes Bridge.  The shots I got are priceless to me, but I paid for them dearly. 

Fantastic shots. Sanity be Damned !  Looks like you were are at South Nowlan Road.

Depends on who in my family you ask. I've been called both!

Regards,
Burlington John
 

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I thought I was the only railfan whose drop a lens cap off a bridge, but dropping a camera lens beats me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 19:38 by TonyJ.

OFcourse it's both.  Has been for me for years!  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

TonyJ Wrote:
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> I thought I was the only railfan whose drop a lens
> cap off a bridge, but dropping a camera lens beats
> me.

I nearly joined that exclusive club.  A few years ago, we took the South Shore from South Bend into Chicago, walked to Union Station and rode METRA out to Lagrange for a day of train watching. On the way back, we had just walked out of Union Station and were crossing the Chicago River bridge right by the Sears Tower, and I didn't realize my camera bag had gotten tilted up and the somehow my 70-300MM lens fell out and started rolling right for the river.  Miracle of all miracles, my uncle who was with us saw it out of the corner of his eye and stopped it with his foot.  If you know this bridge,  there is NOTHING to stop a dropped object like that from going from the sidewalk to the river. .
 

Dedicated and crazy- I knew there was a reason I like hang'n with you ! And arrested ? Can't imagine you in stripes...lol. But seriously, nice photos, I love the extemes as well, especially snow- you can keep those boring summer days !

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

I forgot to mention that I had to put up with your sorry ass EL833! Actually we had a pretty damn good time my friend!!

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

I keep seeing photos of new areas of the bell placement for the manufacturers.  Here, the bell is right behind hte fireman's window.  Never seen that before....