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  • What's a Foamer?

  • General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.
General discussion about railroad operations, related facilities, maps, and other resources.

Moderator: Robert Paniagua

 #643599  by LYconductor
 
I can account for numerous stories that would define a foamer. Two of my most memorable one's are when we happened to the UP 1983 and had a fella follow us from Eugene all the way to K-Falls darn near every crossing and possible tunnel entrance he could race to in time he was the with his camera that cost well more than his car. It was quit comical watching this guy make like Mario Andriette from place to place and run up to the tracks clustered and flustered to get his shot. The other one is a group of seriously nutty individuals camping out on the entrance of tunnel 5 and I do mean right outside well with in water bottle trowng distance for the better part of a week taking pictures and doing God knows what. It was like we were cumming down the red carpet every time we would go buy this group of hard core foamers with flashes and people scrambling around for there million dollar shot. You woulda though it was Brittney Spears cumming down the line instead of a grimy old train. To this day I will never understand what brings people to drool over a train like it's Megan Fox standing there naked. But to each his own and they do make turning another long trip into something comical.
 #644202  by Gadfly
 
I was deadheading home one time on one of Southern's steam specials after working at a yard office. There was a line of about 15 cars pacing us from Spartanburg, to Thickety, Blacksburg, etc, and they did this for 60 miles. I think they followed us ALL the way to Charlotte, NC! :P There were a few harrowing near misses while a few of them tried to drive their cars AND use a Vidcam all at the same time! :(
In the cab where I was, there was more than a few "LOOK OUT's", "WHOA", "AAAAACK", and that
guy's gonna KILL somebody"! :-)

We had some of them that would come down to our local crossing where I worked in my last years, and OH BOY! How they would dress!!! Hats covered with patches, and more cameras than a pack mule! Now there's nothing wrong with that part, but the militant ones got themselves in trouble when they proceeded to come INSIDE the yard and shops to take pictures of engines and even TRACK machines. THAT was a no-no!!!!!! It would net them a stern scolding and a new sign at the gate that said, "NO TRESPASSING ON RAILROAD PROPERTY! VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED! All visitors must report to the front office! NO exceptions!"


Gadfly
 #644829  by GSC
 
During East Broad Top's Fall Spectacular, you usually get some guys in a minivan with the side door open shooting pacing video of the locomotive. Not unusual, except that along that stretch just north of Orby, the train's speed is 20 or less, and so is the minivan pacing it, with so many oh-so-joyful motorists following him.

Always ride in the open car and make faces at the guy with the camera.
 #677616  by n2cbo
 
3rdrail wrote:We should have an organization to counsel foamers, Foamers Anonymous. I could stand up at the podium, addressing my fellow foamers and proudly say, "Hello. My name is Paul and I am a foamer." During the entertainment part of the evening, we could watch bus movies and talk about the latest in aero-space technology. :-D

NO!!!!!!!!! The ONLY thing WORSE than a FOMITE is A BUS FAN!!! 8^)
 #702150  by fauxcelt
 
"Foamers" sound somewhat like Trekkies to me. I like to watch Star Trek in all of its various incarnations but I am lucky enough and fortunate enough not to be as obsessed with Star Trek as your typical Trekkie. I met some Trekkies when two female fans of Star Trek decided to put on a Star Trek convention here. I didn't realize just how crazy genuine Trekkies are until I went to this convention. I thought I might enjoy the convention because I like to watch Star Trek but I soon learned differently shortly after I arrived at the convention hotel. After talking to some of the Trekkies who were attending the convention, I came to the conclusion that they all needed professional psychiatric help and was about to leave when I saw a sign asking for volunteers to help run the convention. I asked one of the two women who were doing most of the work of running the convention if they could use some help and both of them very gratefully accepted my offer to help. So I spent the rest of the convention working behind the scenes helping to run the convention and avoiding the Trekkies as much as possible.
 #702236  by litz
 
A few years back the NHRS convention was in Chattanooga, and in addition to a bunch of TVRM trips in the area, they chartered a combine Hiwassee River Rail / Blue Ridge Scenic consist for a run from Etowah, TN down to Tate, GA.

Now, Hiwassee runs the Etowah to Copper Hill, TN line and the BRSR the Copper Hill to Blue Ridge, GA line, but nobody's run passenger equipment (at least with passengers on board) from Blue Ridge to Tate in years, decades, or probably even longer.

So, as you can imagine there was a tad bit of interest ... "National Railway HYS-TERICAL Society" doesn't even begin to describe it ...

We had to lock up every single bit of ... well ... anything with a RR logo on it.

Every single road crossing, curve, field, etc there were dozens of camera wielding people filming us. Just amazing.

One area, we came around a curve, and there's guys standing in 4-foot deep Kudzu filming ... and if you have any knowledge of the South, you know 1) what kudzu is and 2) what's likely to live underneath kudzu. Amazingly, these guys -- all in shorts and sandals (it was well over 100 that day) -- managed to avoid getting pricked, stung, or bitten by any of the natives.

Even more nuts, we got to Tate and cut the engines off to go to the sand tower ... and people were complaining that they had to go get on their busses to go back to Chattanooga, and they wanted to film us filling sand.

(I will say, though ... that the videos released on the web, and for sale, of that trip are pretty nifty)

Just amazing stuff ...

- litz
 #703465  by Gadfly
 
......One area, we came around a curve, and there's guys standing in 4-foot deep Kudzu filming ... and if you have any knowledge of the South, you know 1) what kudzu is and 2) what's likely to live underneath kudzu. Amazingly, these guys -- all in shorts and sandals (it was well over 100 that day) -- managed to avoid getting pricked, stung, or bitten by any of the natives.......... (quote)

They don't even THINK about the native snakes that live around here! We have rattlers, cottonmouths, and a snake called a Copperhead---all, of course, poisonous!
And where do they like to hang out? Around the Right of Way where they can warm up on the tracks when it's cool, then go under the kudzu when its hot!!! The Track gangs used to kill rattlers and bring 'em in to show us at the shops. The timber rattlers would (usually) buzz a warning to those walking on the RoW, but the Copperheads, usually a diamond pattern, red, brown, rusty in color are very grumpy and don't give any warning, and also will stand their ground. I've seen people standing out there in deep kudzu, I thought to myself, they ain't NO WAY this old boy is going to plunder around in Kudzu fer NOBODY!!! :wink: "Specially on account o' no train!!!!!! :P


GF
 #703596  by n2cbo
 
litz wrote: One area, we came around a curve, and there's guys standing in 4-foot deep Kudzu filming ... and if you have any knowledge of the South, you know 1) what kudzu is and 2) what's likely to live underneath kudzu.
- litz
I know it is "slightly" off topic, but...

For those of us not from the SouthEastern US, Here is what Kudzu looks like:

http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/fourseasons.html




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 #761729  by TREnecNYP
 
You think the RealRoads have bad foamers, try the subway & transit RTO's. On several excursion subway trains (NYCT), museum equipment is sent out... sometimes on unusual patterns that wouldn't normally take place, i avoid these like the plague. My good friend Amelia is extremely into trains, but after describing something like the enclosed photo she stuck to going out on her own trips on regular trains etc.

Image

Taking photos of trains & rail related stuff is therapy for me, last thing i need is some choo-choo crazy talk machine. :(

- A
 #762011  by JLJ061
 
OMG, foamer to the extreme!

My GF kept asking me why I'm always so tight-lipped around people about my railfanning hobby, until I finally got her to understand the foamer plague, and how I keep it at bay around me. LOL
 #762102  by fauxcelt
 
Thank you for the pictures of kudzu, n2cbo because we don't have much kudzu this far west in Arkansas. Maybe we don't get enough rain for kudzu.

Laurence
 #762104  by fauxcelt
 
TREnecNYP, that looks like an example of "extreme" foaming to me.

Laurence
 #762111  by n2cbo
 
fauxcelt wrote:TREnecNYP, that looks like an example of "extreme" foaming to me.

Laurence
(I hope I am not violating etiquette here)
I posted this a while ago on another thread, but it is relevant here too since what I am describing in it is a FOAMER...:


Re: Why is being a railfan considered weird?

Post by n2cbo on Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:04 am

It's the REAL NUTTY FEW that poison the term Railfan... I met one of these once in Union Station in Washington, DC some years ago. There used to be a model train shop in the shopping mall area of the station, and while on my lunch break I visited the store (I was working for AT&T at the time [back in the 1990's] and I was Project Manager for a telecommunication project that we were doing for Amtrak back then, and spent quite a bit of time around Union Station). While browsing in the book section of the store, looking at a book about diesels, a guy dressed up with a red bandanna and an old steam engineer's hat on struck up a conversation and told me that a (then) brand new locomotive (a P-40) was sitting on one of the tracks, and that he could get permission for us to take some pictures (I had a small camera with me at the time) inside the cab of a brand new P40 since he was good friends with the stationmaster. I felt a little uneasy about it, but I followed him to the Stationmaster, who indeed knew him, and (to my surprise) DID give him permission to go inside the locomotive and get some pics. I followed him to the track, but I just stood outside the locomotive and took some shots of the outside, because something made me feel uncomfortable about him. Well, I am GLAD that I did not go into the cab with him (even though he HAD the permission of the stationmaster) because he turned on the master switch and was going to try to start up the engine, when an Amtrak police officer approached the locomotive, and detained him while they summoned the stationmaster. I told the officer I did not know him , and was just taking photos of the station (this was LONG BEFORE 9/11) and left (I REALLY did not know him, since I just met him and didn't even know his name, plus I was wearing business attire and he looked like an idiot... and I guess they believed me). I hope that the stationmaster did not lose his job over it since it IS against the rules... (I was an electrician at Sunnyside Yard while in college back in the 70's and remembered most of the rulebook - I guess that's why I had enough sense to stay off...). I'm sure that was the LAST time the stationmaster EVER gave permission for ANY railfan to bend the rules..

Just in case you were wondering... The Nut in the red bandanna, THAT'S A FOAMER...........
 #762419  by fauxcelt
 
Yes, n2cbo, I remember reading your example of the Foamer who almost got you in trouble and I do agree that this is a genuine example of a real Foamer. I hope your re-posting of this didn't bend and/or break any etiquette rules.