Eastern Railroad Discussion > AP story on the Folkston Funnel

Our sunday newspaper had a full page(!) AP story on the railfan platform in Folkston GA, so the story might also show up in other papers elsewhere depending upon the "slowness" of the news day. To go along with the text, there were lots of pics of trains, and of fans sitting up on the platform.

One thing that disturbs me, though, about pieces like this, is the way we railfans chronically identify ourselves as "foamers" instead of "railfans" when talking to someone possessing such "power of the pen". Most often, when some newspaper writer mentions the term, they go on to define it in their story, actually mentioning that the word foamer comes from foaming at the mouth at the sight of trains. My question is WHY IN HELL can't we put a more responsible spin on our hobby by NOT mentioning those terms to a reporter who has such a wide reach? I dont care if we use the term internally, but when we have the opportunity to paint a portrait of our hobby in a positive way, we always RUIN IT by using terms to describe ourselves that make us sound outright retarded to the uninformed general public. Geeez.

I totally agree.....I don't know why the hell someone would like to use the word foamer....it sounds so....silly.

I don't believe i have ever referred to myself as a foamer. I call myself a railfan and tell people i like trains and like to watch,video or take pics of them. Blame the foamer title on TRAINS magazine. That is who they seem,at times,to cater to. Not folks who have an interest or a passion for trains,but people who foam at the mouth at the sight of one. Notice their articles most of the time,not stories on operations but articles on things to "foam at the mouth" over.I read TRAINS for the news and the occasional story of interest like last months CSX article and next months NS one. Most stuff in TRAINS is not of much interest to me.

I never even heard of this word until I joined this site. I can't say I know anyone who does what the definition says. I might give off an awe-inspired gaze if a huge AC6000CW screams past me at run 8 doing 60 per, but I don;t think I'd ever foam at the mouth. Also, I believe saying it in public just doesn't sound right!

TV-10, I couldn't agree with you more! I cringed when I read the "foamer" reference in the article. It makes us look stupid. Like others, I never heard the term until I came here, and I've been a railfan for over 30 years. I've always felt it was a derogatory term. There certainly seems to be no shortage when it comes to "interesting" folks in our hobby, we don't need the image of foaming at the mouth to compound that.

Ifirst saw the word foamer to describe railfans in TRAINS. NUFF SAID!!!!

TRAINS has a bad habit of deriding the very audience it claims to serve.
Re the folkston story, I'll be on the lookout for it and if I can talk management into running same I'll report back. They're real condescending about trains around me. Makes me madder than hell.

A few months ago Trains printed a recollection of an old timer who as a young man lost bladder control at the experience of being passed by a speeding steam locomotive up close. Those kind of stories, though well intended, make me cringe.

Try living in Indiana, BTW. Any time the national press is around and wants to interview a Hoosier, they seem to always find an overweight, toothless, mullet-wearing person to represent our fine state.

You will see this bias when Evan Bayh starts campaigning.