Davek .. your recount of the tower brought back memories for me. Back in the late 40's I used to ride my bicycle to the Burbank Tower where Southern Pacific's Coastal line and Tehachapi lines junctioned. I can remember foggy mornings and climbing those wooden stairs up to the door. The old man who worked in there was very grandfatherly ... a friendly old gent who never seemed to tire of my visits. I can recall the smell of his pipe .. the sound of the telegraph, (which clicked on an old Prince Albert tobacco can), keeping track of where traffic was on a lighted block occupation detector board, and watching those huge cab-forwards and GS4 Daylights come looming out of the fog, making the tower tremble under their weight as they passed. The old man would let me throw those Armstrong Switch levers too. Surely that old man had much to do with my love of trains. Surely he is in Heaven by now ... and the tower is long gone. I shall never forget these things. Bill "Get Goosed on the Yreka Western"
In my last post I was talking about UN tower at New Castle Pa,. I found out that the tower did indeed control the switchs and signals at the time. The photographs that I took at the tower that night, were taken using existing light. I never used the flash. The tower operator turned on all the outside lights on the tower for us, and that was all the light I had. At the time I figured that since I had my camera I wasn't going to pass up the oppotunity to photograph a working tower. Now I am glad that I took them.
Chris it sounds like you crossed over Starucca Viaduct. There are 2 Yards in Buffalo that I know of. 1 is Frontier Yard (NYC), Bison was the other yard. I think Bison was the old Delaware Lackwanna & Western, and was the smaller of the 2. Frontier Yard is absolutly huge.
DaveK, thank you it was Bison yard as I remember, and the Starucca Viaduct. One of the travlers on this trip was a Mr. Frimbo, now at the time when I was introduced to him, I had no idea who he was other than a famous railfan(??), years later I find out he's a well known writer for The New Yorker magazine. I remember they put our three cars on the tail,I think we were about 1 mile from the head end, of this ConRail so-called crack freight. It was susposed to be hauling perishables from Newark to Buffalo. My bride-to-be is gazing around at her fellow travelers and musing to me quietly at what a "colorful" group of people these railfans were. We had a nice dinner, watched the grade crossing lights go by and retired to our compartment. We woke up in the morning still out in the boonies, no where near Buffalo. We didn't arrive into Bison yard untill late afternoon. Did get to go into town and have a good dinner, Ginny called a friend that lived in town and she came and met us for a drink. Got back to the train and we took off for Newark about 14 hours late. We come to a stop soon after leaving Buffalo, come to find out, the driver only put 100 lbs of air in the lines, our cars needed 125 lbs and one of the three cars developed flat spots on the wheels, the owner was aboard and really pissed. Even back then he was looking at thousands to get the wheels turned back to true. They had to cut the car out and leave it on a siding. We are now down to two cars, and all the people in the third car have crowded into the other two. Water running low. Food all gone. We call ahead to some KFC somewhere in Penn. The engineer slows the train to a walk, he wasn't traveling much faster all day anyway, and the guy from "the Colonel" is throwing bags of chicken on the train. I don't remember why the engineer wouln't stop. He was now over 24 hours late anyway. We finally get to Oak Island Yard mid morning on Monday. It took a number of years for my wife to go on a train again, but for my 50th birthday she did hire a private car for my party. And now she loves going on the TGV. ------------------ When in doubt, empty your magazine.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by davek: Railfans, Do we love them or do we hate them? I am a part-time railroader and a railfan. I have always shown proper respect for railroad property, and most railfans I have met on the job do the same. I am friendly and helpful to these people. Some railfans do not show respect for my railroad and I have to tell them to leave. Why do they put themselves and us in danger for a stupid picture? I like most railfans and will do most anything to help them enjoy there day. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I have beewn on some train trips & seen people in vans & cars try to chace the train & sometime try to race the train. I have also seen some people sit on railroad cars sitting in a siding taking picture as we roll along. I can see people on the side in a safe area like a field or even in a station, but sitting on top of railroad cars & climing on building to get a good shot. If people want pictures so bad, why not take them from a SAFE area. People who sponcer the trips or even the counties officals should or even the railroad themselves should put something along the tracks like one of thoes LONG FENCES I see or something were people can see but can't climb over. Also if there are people too close the engineer or someone should report it to the dispatcher so the police can get them back. Also has anyone seen this; I went on a MARC train trip & we stopped 1 hour as a side stop & someone had put their train scanner on & would anouce on a PA of a train coming. Some 'STUPID' people crossed the track & 1 even sat on the same track as the train came. Our engineer radioed to the trains engineer that people were all over the track & this train blasted his horn. some person with a camera with a recorder on it layed the recorder on the track, luck it did not break. Later on when we all got on board the people who did the stupid things were told not to come on the train trips ever. The person in charge of the historical society has the names & address of the people & MARC does too. Good going to thoes who kick people off these train trips! ------------------ KEEP TRAINING
Our railroad has a pre-planned trip if someone ever wants to run a fan trip on our line. When we run one people are told when they get off the train that the train will not come back into view until all people are in the designated photo area. Our line is not paralleled by any roads, and all photo locations are basically out in the middle of nowhere. All property on either side of the tracks for the entire length of the line is private except where we pass through towns. The private property is almost all posted No Trespassing.
There isn't a day go by when I don't wonder why people don't realize just how dangerous these risks they take are just to get a good photo, recoding. There was an accident caused a few years ago in NSW because some railfan wanted to get a great sound recording of a steamtrain climbing a hill. This fan wound on a brake in one of the carriges so that the engine would sound better going up the hill. Unfortunately because of this idiot more sand was dropped,(which normally wouldn't be needed on this hill), to get better traction which then caused the track circuits to not work propery, therefore the signal behind the train remained at go and another train ran up the back of the train causing damage and injury to innocent people. You would think that any serious fan would have better knowledge of what is safe and what dangers exist.
I feel much the same as the others who say as long as a railfan shows respect for the rail environment and they are safe and curtious...then I say let them pursue thier hobby. I use what I call the "pulse rule", which simply means that if what they are doing doesn't raise my pulse I don't report them, if it does- then I do. I dont mind helping folks with info either. I have been with NS 10 yrs now, mostly as an Eng'r.
Shifter, welcome to TrainBoard. I love the 'pulse rule' I am always sensible when near tracks, honest I have to say that I didn't notice any railfans doing anything silly last time I was over, but have seen reports on here of just plain stupid acts! ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
With over 20 years service on the railroads (actually we say Railways here in Australia)I have no problems with railfans since I'm a railfan myself. One word of caution though is that railfans must keep clear of the rail corridor. I have seen too many people come close to being hit by trains and most are experienced railway employees. ------------------ http://members.optusnet.com.au/~pcassar/index
I agree with you Colonel. Many train watchers want to be real near the tracks to 'get the feel' or get that perspective camera shot but I've seen enough old banding, tarps, cables, shifted loads etc. sticking out of cars to dread having them standing that close. Even at low speed, they'd never know what hit them and the crew would probably not find out anything about it 'till they had to file the investigation papers. Anyone can feel free to watch my trains and take all the pictures they can afford, but stay waaaaaay back and help prevent my next adrenaline rush.
I remember back in steam days (the sixties), at Grantham station on the East Coast main line, express trains coming down Stoke bank and through the station were doing about 80 mph. I took a number of photographs here, and one time some other railfan (we called 'em trainspotters) was standing close to the platform edge as a Gresley streamlined A4 (like Mallard- world steam record holder) came tearing down the 2% grade with the driver hanging on the whistle. But the **** took his photo and only stepped back a foot or so. The slipstream from one of these trains was terrific, and later a line was painted on the platform to remind people to keep away from the edge, except when boarding a train. Anyone with any sense would not need to be told! ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery Alan's European Gallery Alan's British Steam Gallery
While monitoring the TRAINS WEBcam at Rochelle, Il on Monday afternoon I noticed several small objects moving around the diamonds as the images loaded every few seconds or so. I realized these were "Fans" when the image moved quickly from the north side of the UP main to the south and seconds later an eastbound coal train appeared. Here is a spot to cater to us railfans and still it is not good enough for some. It would be a shame for an accident to occur after this fine facility was constructed for the SAFE enjoyment of watching trains at one of the busier junctions in Illinois.
I'm surprised that you lived to tell about it! I'd be too scared to even attempt such a thing. With the kind of luck I have sometimes, I'd get killed.
