Do you ever wish you could have been a railfan say 50 or more years ago?

Question

There might be some users here that have had that priveledge. I'm not that old, but I can certainly remember many more rail lines (esp. industrial spurs) when I was really young. It would have been cool to see steam in action, or the transistion to diesel.

Can anyone comment on how railfanning had changed over the years? I think it may be a bit more rosier lately (after years of overall decline)with all the massive locos and increased traffic/train length, and the sharing of foreign power. Whats your opinion on the current state of railfanning?

Answer 1

I'm not sure about rail fanning, But it is interesting to see Conrail locomotives on Santa Fe trains. Just wonder What kind of mix there is of motive power back east.

Answer 2

I was a steam fan 50 years ago in London! very exciting

and atmospheric.  In comparison, todays locomotives are

just glorifed spam cans with a wheel at each corner!

See if you can get a "buzz" looking at these sites!

http://www.ecmlsteam.co.uk/  http://www.dewi.ca/trains/london/index.h...

http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk

Good luck, hope you get some pleasure from this selection!

Answer 3

Yes, in a way.....I do wish I was around 50+ years ago. More than that, just so I could see more steam locomotives in action. I really do like those old steamers more so than I do those "Hi-Tech" modern diesels we have these days. Also, I can rember when anyone can tell one passenger train from another just by the railroad company that represented it. Now-a-days, all those passenger trains are silver with red, white, and blue stripes. And now there are only four major freight carriers that I know of: BNSF,CSX, NS, and UP. I can't keep track(pun intended) of what minor freight carriers there are these days. All I know is today's railroad action has certainly derailed my train of thought. (another pun intended)

Answer 4

If I was railfanning 50 years ago in the USA, I'd be desperately running all over the country riding streetcar lines before they got ripped up.

Things have been getting better and better for railfans for the last 20 years or so.  The freights have been in a nearly continuous economic expansion, there's been a huge explosion in shortlines, and, oh yes, dozens of cities have put in completely new rail transit systems.  Miami, St. Louis, San Jose, Dallas, Detroit, New Orleans, Calgary, Salt Lake, Vancouver, Sacramento, Portland, San Diego, Las Vegas, and of course all the stuff in Los Angeles, wow!   And America is BACK in the high-speed-rail game after showing the world how it was done with the Metroliner in the 60's.

Answer 5

I would have liked to railfan 50 years ago.  1957 was a good year to watch trains for sure and you even got to see some of the last of mainline steam.  I live in Kansas CIty, the second largest rail terminal in the nation and maybe the world.  I would have liked to go through the yards and look at all the different freight running through town.  Of course, I would have liked to have went to Union Station and seen passenger trains from every class 1 in town.  All 12 class ones were still running some passenger accomodations in those days.  Even The Milwaukee was still running a motor car up to Iowa and beyond.  I would like to have seen more industries with full sidings and not with trailers backed up to the docks.  

A freind of mine who recently passed away was a switchman for the Wabash in North Kansas City during the late 40's up through the N&W and early NS days.  He took many quality photos of the last of steam in town and rode a lot of the last local passenger trains like the KC-Clinton-Springfield local behind 10 wheelers and 4-4-0s even in 1951.  I treasure his pictures.  RIP Charlie Winters.  At least I got to railfan 50-60 years ago vicariously through you.

Answer 6

s***w that foreign power in our consist. Those d**n things flag hot box detectors way more than ours do.  And those silly NS control stands are wack!  BNSF 7000 units all the way.

Answer 7

Ironically, this is the lead-in for tomorrow's blog post on my 360.

I guess I could be considered a rail fan, though it runs much deeper than that for me.

My love affair with the ladies of steam powered reciprocating motion began in the mid-1950s, though at 54 years of age, I'm still a pup.

You are quite correct about the absence of lots of industrial switching these days.  Though there are numerous industrial parks dotting the right of way, the majority of shippers, or consignees, have adopted the "just in time" inventory concept, eliminating much of the warehousing that was necessary in the past.  

Intermodal traffic has eliminated many of the spurs that used to get daily switches, and as a result, the number of local trains to serve them has fallen into decline as well.  By way of example, when I hired out for the SP in 1972, there were no fewer than 27 locals and outside jobs that ran out of my home terminal of Roseville, California.  Today, that number is 4.

Geography plays a part as well.  In my neck of the woods, lumber and paper products constitute the bulk of shipments, with these shippers still serviced by busy locals, primarily in Oregon and Washington.  But even these don't have as much traffic delivered as in the past.  Log trains are now nearly non existent, but inbound shipments of chemicals, glue and other production supplies, such as preservatives, keep the locals busy.

There have been encroachments as well.  Chances are, that particle board you bought yesterday came from an off-shore, Japanese registered factory ship, just outside of the northwest 12 mile limit.  In this instance, wood chips are loaded onto waiting ships, taken out to the factory ships where they become that particle board, and the ships then return with the finished product.

In addition, Canadian saw logs are often the source of supply for the numerous lumber mills of the northwest, where harvesting has been severely curtailed, do to the northern spotted owl having made the endangered species list twenty years ago.

Though rail ops are still interesting to many, for me, only the living, breathing entity of live steam gets me excited.  I never pass up a chance to get on one or sit behind the throttle, which, fortunately, I have been able to do many times during my career.

These ladies know how to capture and keep a man's interest.