Military Railfans

We have started to discover that a lot of us are either currently in, or are vets. I was just interested to see exactly how many of us there are. (in a neutral environment....lol) If you would like to sound off, please do.


Steamer69
Army 2000 - Present, OIF 05.
Enjoy New England Railroading, Military Railroad modeling, Live Steam, and modeling in 1 to 1 scale.

P.S. If the moderators need to move this, it's all good, wasn't sure where to put it.

Navy 58-62, Army 62-65, Army National Guard 81-96 (SSG E-6)

Have loved railroading since I can remember. My mother would take me down to the Melrose station were it was always " one more train mom, one more". Unfortunately there are no more freight trains on this line (with the exception of last years detours from the floods). However; I can still look down the track and remember an 0-6-0 coming out of Oak Grove (Malden) and delivering cars to the West Foster sidings.

USAF Communications Officer (Capt.), 1964-1968. On an assigment to Republic of Korea, 1966-1967, did a lot of railriding behind steam, Seoul to Taejon and Taegu. Also rode the pre-Amtrak L&N between New Orleans and Gulfport, MS a few times while stationed at Keesler AFB, 1965-1966.

Massachusetts National Guard E-7 Retired, 1969 to 1989

Thanks Guys!

I know there are more of us than that though.....(cough cough, Cosmo, Mike(trainnut), Jeff).....Welcome to the "club" Mikem, Dave, Arcadia and thanks for your service!

US Army Engineer 88 to 96. Tours in several locations, Hondouras, Korea, Somalia (twice). Fought fires in Idaho, built roads in New Mexico along the border of Mexico, cleaned up after Hurricane Andrew, and countless other smaller projects that I have worked on. Also got pretty well skilled at digging Tank Defilades.

I was able to railfan in Many countries, and many states because of my service. Very greatfull for the opportunities that I had. Proud to have served, even if only in the construction side of things.

Retired Major-USAR. Long time railfan & modeler

Retired MSgt USAF

Signals Intelligence Analyst

USCG 1974-1978 Sonar technician aboard the USCGC Gallatin (WHEC-721) homeported at Governors Island, NY.

USCGR 1985-1993 Electronics tech assigned to the Group Baltimore electronics shop.

Used to watch the operations of the New York Dock Railway from the flying bridge of the Gallatin when the cutter was in port, the Coast Guard yard in Curtis Bay (Baltimore) was near the location of the former Striegel (SP?) Railroad Supply and had a former B&O (Now CSX) branch crossing Curtis Creek.

It's great to see how many of us are on here! Keep it coming everyone, and thanks for your service.

USN 1981-1989
USNR 1990-2001

LCDR (submarines)

US ARMY 2002 - 2006 M1A1 Abrams Driver.
1st Infantry Div. "THE BIG RED ONE"
Deployed for OIF 1 2003 - 2004 Iraq

Currently working for the DOD, stationed in Germany

I was in the sand box right after you were JB, I was there for OIF 05

United States Army (Artillery) 1995-1997
United States Marine Corps (Rifleman...) 1997-2001
Israeli Defense Forces 2002-2003

Checked out the rail operations on every base I've ever been aboard. Sad to say that most of those were nothing more than weed-choked, pavement-covered remnants of what once was.

Proud father of two (2) future soldiers or Marines, both of whom are incredibly avid railfans.

Owner of company that supports many (formerly) nearly abandoned portions of the rail industry through the manufacturing of "frac sand" for oil and gas extraction.

US Navy 1978 to 1982
US Navy Reserve 1982 to 1985

My son is currently active duty US Navy as well.

I still remember my first ride -- my grandmother took me from New Brunswick to Elizabeth. We had lunch at Woolworths and came back. Next memorable trip was going solo, taking the train into Penn Station and changing to the LIRR to get to the Navy recruiting office in Garden City.