Why is being a railfan considered weird?

It only takes one person in your family to take the whole family to the shows. They are packed. And that is true, people do always want to watch the trains go by or if they get a wave or even a blsat of the horn, they get excited.

Well, I can tell you that I was already tagged as "weird" when it was discovered that I liked being stopped at a grade crossing for a passing train!

But that is fun!

I agree with most of the posts here in regards to the weirdness behind railfans. But the same can be said of airplane fans as well. Having worked in both industries (airlines for 16 years and RR for 5) have seen my fair share of interesting suspects. I think the one thing that most of us who actually work the rails think about is why on earth would anyone want to spend their time looking at the beast upon which we work on everyday? While it is not so bad working for Amtrak, the last thing most of us on the freights wanted to do was spend any more time than necessary on board a unit or pounding the ground throwing switches. So I guess in a way what we (RR'ers) take for granted others see as a neat thing.

I recall my Grandfather meeting up with some retired truck drivers (he drove for 30+ years) at a coffee shop when I was a kid. One guy asked if he missed it at all. Grandpa said no. Not only that, he said if a tractor happened to be parked in the backyard he would probably go take a leak on it when he got up in the morning.

That being said, just watch yourself, don't interfere with the task at hand, and enjoy what you may. I guess I have a weirdness myself after having been on this board for going on 5 years and nearly a 1000 posts!

If chasing trains makes folks think I’m weird, fine. A lot of folks that know me think I’ve always been on the strange side anyway. I’ve never many concerns to what most think anyhow.
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You've yet again got the 80/20 rule. The 20% of weirdo foamers that cannot stop talking about the hobby, coupled with the non-mainstream topic, make the rest of us keep quiet about the hobby.

See Idiot Railfan's adaptation of The Simpson's comic book guy to a railfan in the NJT forum - priceless. I laughed all afternoon.

Rambling for a minute...

Are there trash-collector buffs? How about carpenter-buffs that get excited when they see a new Craftsman or DeWalt product? Has anyone ever caught a snow-plow buff taking photos of the high banks?

Durn!!! He caught me! I can spend hours in the tool department of Home Depot or Sears!!!!

Gadfly

OneForTheKick wrote:Rambling for a minute...

Are there trash-collector buffs? How about carpenter-buffs that get excited when they see a new Craftsman or DeWalt product? Has anyone ever caught a snow-plow buff taking photos of the high banks?

Add to that list: Old Time Radio buffs, Current Radio buffs, students of the Game Show genre, and Jean Shepherd fans ("You'll shoot your eye out kid!" -- http://www.flicklives.com ).

Within numismatics (coin collecting) there are all sorts of sub-topics including "Star Notes," Civil War Tokens, Hobo Nickels, etc. etc. etc.

As George said right above, there are plenty of hobbyists of most any subject, and I'm sure they have the 20% fanatics-from-hell just as we do. In my earlier life as a trucker, I drove heavy haul, sometimes with as many as nine axles and super exotic "Transformers" trailers, and some guys would follow us, take pics, and ask question after question. A few were just as creepy as the foamers most of us know.

I've been involved in an operating rail museum since I was 14, and most everyone I knew in school and in town knew that. I don't remember being considered weird because of that, although I'm sure I was considered reasonably weird in general.

As far as B&M's fears, just call yourself a "student of industrial archaeology" and they'll respect you and leave you alone. (As a "serious" historian).

Thanks for all the replies everyone. It sounds like there really are two different types of railfans. The regular ones that maybe take a day or two every month to photograph trains, and safely enjoy the hobby from a distance. Then the foamers who dedicate every waking moment of their lives to trains, and annoy all the regular fans with their antics.

I think the aspect of being a railfan that I try to avoid is being lumped in with the foamers. Even though my interest in the B&M is low key and one of many parts of my life, I feel that many people who don't understand the hobby don't know how to distinguish between the levels of interest.

The same probably holds true for gamers I'd imagine. I play my PS2 occasionally, but i don't understand why some gamers can spend entire weekends playing these games nonstop. At they same time, they'd probably not understand how I can spend one of two days a month driving around the countryside hiking some old railroad, and photographing stations.

I guess any hobby can be considered weird if you choose to make it that way.

B&Mguy wrote:Thanks for all the replies everyone. It sounds like there really are two different types of railfans. The regular ones that maybe take a day or two every month to photograph trains, and safely enjoy the hobby from a distance. Then the foamers who dedicate every waking moment of their lives to trains, and annoy all the regular fans with their antics.

I think the aspect of being a railfan that I try to avoid is being lumped in with the foamers. Even though my interest in the B&M is low key and one of many parts of my life, I feel that many people who don't understand the hobby don't know how to distinguish between the levels of interest.

The same probably holds true for gamers I'd imagine. I play my PS2 occasionally, but i don't understand why some gamers can spend entire weekends playing these games nonstop. At they same time, they'd probably not understand how I can spend one of two days a month driving around the countryside hiking some old railroad, and photographing stations.

I guess any hobby can be considered weird if you choose to make it that way.

Hiking around old main lines, yards, depots. Now that is my kind of rail-fanning!

When I mention my love of trains to people, they usually have never heard of anyone like me. And if they have, they don't have any negative preconceptions about railfans. They just say, "Oh, I have a another friend who loves trains too!" So I'm not afraid to tell people about my hobby. As mentioned above, it's an important part of me, and it runs deeper than most people realize. I like sharing this part of me with people, because it makes me different. Like the original poster, I have various other interests (cycling, hiking, skiing, RC vehicles) and a healthy social life. But railfanning is a really unique thing that I find other people are really curious about. In fact, sometimes they really get into it! No, they don't rush out to buy scanners and cameras, but they are always wowed when I bring them down to the tracks at night to watch a train go by.

One time I ran into a lady friend of mine and a guy friend of hers by coincidence when I was down by the tracks. They stayed with me for a few minutes until a freight train came through, then went on their way. Some weeks later, I get a call from this lady friend. The guy she was with that night wanted to know when trains were scheduled to go by, because he wanted to bring a girl down to the tracks to see one!!! Man, he was stealing my moves! I'm telling you guys, I think we're onto something. A lot of people are railfans and they don't even know it!

SShhhh!!! Don't let on. I've been wearing my hat with the simulated pantograph on top for years to charm the chicks ! If I really want to impress, I have a couple of buddies come along on dates. They hold onto both ends of a wire and I run back and forth under it. Never fails !

3rdrail wrote:SShhhh!!! Don't let on. I've been wearing my hat with the simulated pantograph on top for years to charm the chicks ! If I really want to impress, I have a couple of buddies come along on dates. They hold onto both ends of a wire and I run back and forth under it. Never fails !

HAHAHA!! That has to be one of the better posts I've ever seen on this forum. Where can I get one of those hats?