Memorable railfanning moments!

[5292nate]

I want to use this thread to have an amusing discussion. Share your memorable railfanning experiences. It can be funny, serious, embarrassing or really cool! It's all fair game!

[BNSFdude]

I chased the 261 on Saturday, there isn't a single time seeing steam running isn't memorable!

[5292nate]

A couple of years back, I was railfanning in Guilderland NY. As a CSX unit tank train was approaching, (literally going 4 mph at the fastest) I was approached by the CSX police. We were already between 20 and 30 feet back from the tracks, but he told us to step back even further. He said some of these trains are loaded with Canadian timber, that can fall off and hurt us. The train went by while he was talking to us, and I saw everyone of the 3 man crew, pressed against the engineers window, gawking. That was pretty embarrassing. The officer was very nice. I guess it was because, I still looked like a little kid back then. (And I had 2 younger brothers with me who can NEVER sit still no matter what!)

[bpetit]

Back when I was 8 or 10 I cannot remember. I use to wave at the crew and they would throw these little water bottles for me. One day, the whole train stopped and one of the crew members asked if I wanted to blow the horn on the engine which I did. My Dad thought the train had ran over me when it stopped like that. Definitely one of my best moments.

[NS9030]

1. Seeing NS 5408 in blue
2. Seeing NS 8105 show up randomly leading
3. Seeing 2 WC SD45's lead an eastbound when I was a kid
4. NKP 765 and NS 8100
I remember in 2011 I was 13, all I wanted to do was see a blue unit, I remember seeing them all the time when I was little but by that time I knew they were rare, well the Monday after a hockey tournament I asked my parents if I could skip school and go to Deshler to watch some trains. So we get to Deshler after an unsuccessful trip to the Fostoria District, all we saw was D743 and K185 and a CN powered ethanol which is awful for Deshler, but anyways my sister had a basketball game in Swanton, by that time it was getting dark and I went to the tracks just to see if anything was coming, the signals were approach lit and with a scanner it was impossible to tell. So anyways after waiting in the cold for 30 minutes my hands were purple but a headlight came into view. I zoomed in on it and took a picture, looking at it all I saw was a black C40-8W. Well I waited for it to approach and took my shot and I look up and all I see is "Conrail Quality" so I take a going away shot and immediately a smile comes to my face, even though it was a terrible shot I still was satisfied to see it.
For NS 8105, I was on my way to a huge hockey tournament in Detroit when I look over from I-75(NS Detroit line is visible from 75 most of the way) and see coal hoppers loaded. Immediately I find the head of the train and see an unusually colored engine, at first I had no idea what it was then I got closer and saw it was NS 8105. I pleaded with my dad to stop for 1 second lol and got some pics. I'm not even going into NKP 765 and the SD45's.

[1225fan5358]

The heart attack when the first time I had gone to see the local Amtrak train with no cameras in a long time. ust to enjoy the train. Well I would later regret that decision. Because 156 was leading. I got 156 two days later with a camera.

[CSX2057]

My memorial I've ever experience was at The Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World Railroad, I went on my first ride when I was 9 or 10 years old. I was excited to see my first steam loco there, 2 years ago I went with my sister and her daughter to wdw. I borrowed her sony camcorder and recorded that train ride, the steam engine I liked better was a 10 wheeler. Best times of my life. We might go again maybe next year or 2.

[FourEightFour]

Never had a foamy moment myself


Never with a camera at least.

[philmoberg]

It wasn't a fan moment, per se (I was working on some out-of service equipment at the moment), but I did see a guy break a drawbar on a passenger car, and he did it with a 44-Tonner. Pulled the whole coupler shank out by the roots. What was worse was that this one was a unique design in our fleet, and we didn't have a spare handy at the time.

[thebigroyboyski]

When i was 8 or 9 in the late 80s i used to go on rail tours round uk visiting various depots with my dad. This was long before Britain went health and safety crazy and everything was still British Rail. During a visit to Grangemouth depot we were all walking about snapping away when i was approached by a driver who asked if i wanted a shot of a class 26. I got to drive the loco 100yds into the shed much to the jealousness of everyone else there. Unbeknown to me my dad was in a panic because i'd disappeared.
I also got me and my dad a tour round a brand new class 90 in Glasgow Central.
Both very memorable days.
Nowadays due to safety laws I'd never be allowed near a train cab without a million pieces of paperwork.

[wackyhuman]

My dad worked for the Dutch railway and that meant I had free travel on the trains in the Netherlands. I used to go out as a kid to the station, get on a train and just go somewhere. Often I would end up in the rear cabin and sometimes even in the front cabin of the train. It really depended on the crew on the train, but in those days, the early 80's, everything was a bit more relaxed than it is now. But it allowed me to see a lot of the Dutch rail network from the cabin, something you never forget.

[imphantum]

A few weeks ago, I saw two clean CP SD60s near Oak Island yard on the Chemical Coast in New Jersey leading two ICE SD40s and a tank train. A little later on the same day, further down the track towards Port Elizabeth I saw a CSX GP15, SD50, and a high hood NS geep sitting in the yard coupled together.
Also, back in 2007, I saw a CSX garbage train on the CSAO Staten Island line in NY. The significance of it was that the ex B&O Staten Island sub was abandoned in the 90s and was rehabilitated in 2007, and I always remembered passing an old crossing with broken gates and tracks covered by grass, and then to be stopped at that same crossing with new signals waiting for a train for the first time was pretty cool.

[buzz456]

I hooped up train order to the City of LA when I was about 11 or 12 under the careful supervision of the Station Master at Spaulding Illinois.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB6dAmxPz0U