I can relate to all of this stuff but seeing it all in one meme/video is just amazing because some people who may not be a railfan or are new to the hobby just don't realize the challenges and things that you have to do to get a video or catch one train.
What really grinds my gears is when I get to head out somewhere I've been really wanting to go for a long and time and ofcourse nothing comes that day and I have too leave, a absolutely devastating feeling for sure.
you missed one: leaving your perfect railfanning spot and then on the way home seeing train cars moving right through that spot. (this has happened way too many times for my liking)
Here’s what happened to me alot of times: I missed several HU’s or rare lash-ups. A foamer blocks my camera and screams over getting a hornshow. Missed Amtrak 160 once. The CSX OCS was coming but my parents said it was time to leave.
Relatable. My railfanning experience is some of these -Train ties down right in front of me -People talking/making noises behind my shot -My hands getting distracted and cam not steady -Rain -Snow! -Signal lined for something but then nothing ever came -A location close to me got the better shot than where I was standing at -SD Card not scanning properly in my cam -Cam gets blurry/loses focus -Train block the other train/could’ve stand at the other side of a crossing -Train came earlier than I thought -Damn Quiet Zones -Foamers
I've been trying to catch an SP Patch Unit for the past several months. The first time the unit came through just as I got close enough to the tracks to see it, but I couldn't get out my camera in time. Another time I had to leave to go to work before it came, and other times one passed by during the middle of the night. One day I'll catch one... one day...
I usually go out of my way to avoid busy crossings, it's such a pain to get the perfect shot there and I just prefer more natural areas anyway. In western Washington we basically never have to worry about snow. Rain can be a son of a b sometimes though. Probably one of the worst things about railfanning here is either the limited light in the winter (we get around 9 hours of total daylight in the winter, and only 6-8 of those are good enough for taking pictures without flash) or the ability for there to be not a single train moving within 50 miles of you for like 4 hours, and then right as you're about to leave all the crews come online and the whole sub gets flooded with trains in each direction. In particular, Everett is an absolute PAIN in the ass to railfan, because you have to decide which lines you want to see trains on, because the through freights heading north and south crew change on the west side of town, but Delta Yard, the main classification yard, is on the east side of town. You have to constantly get in the car and relocate unless you're fine with waiting 3 hours for the next train lol
@@TheCentralTexasRailfan Yeah, and the worst part is that you can barely see what they call the "roundhouse" at Delta Yard. The roundhouse tracks are buried behind multiple BNSF buildings and deep into private property, so it's hard to see what's sitting in the yard. They do most of the switching on the north end which is relatively easy to see from a lookout point, but the view is obscured by some trees and a small hill.
Honestly, I feel pain in every one of these except for the weather-related ones. In my eyes, they just add to the scene. Additionally, if you can find a tripod with anchor holes, it would fix the problems with it falling over. I have a tripod that I personally modified with anchor holes. I’m going to give it its first field test when I go to Dollywood on December 21st and 22nd.
you forgot to add excessive wind blowing causing horrible wind noise and camera shaking in the video you film. I had this happen several times during my California trip. A few times while filming SMART trains and ever time i filmed a train at Mowry road where ACE and Amtrak trains went by.
0:30 I tried to film an Amtrak going thru the Jack London Square street running section and the freight train that was still going by was blocking the amtrak train when it went thru.
I've experienced some of those things I don't care if any because I can't afford to really go anywhere or drive because of visually impaired I wish I could but when I do go out in the real fan with friends or other events yeah some of this stuff has happened that is literally every rail fans pain in one video nicely done😂😅 and God bless you
They are fun to get. We just aren't used to snow here in Texas. The clips you see were a freak event. No one was prepared and I sure don't have the clothes and gear for filming in the snow.
i can relate to the headlights.. At selma theres a NS Yard and in the yard was NS 911 First responders unit, we waited HOURS for it to move and once his headlights turned off we went home, but then at 10 pm my mom had to get my sister and as she was getting her, NS 911 was on the move.
Here's a list of bad Railfanning things that have happened to me A train blocks the crossing A train beats me when I got to the railfanning spot (it's happened to me with rare catches) I left a train station and a train came right after I left and it had foreign power My camera didn't focus on a train I didn't get a train on camera Rain gets on my camera (I was railfanning while holding an umbrella, and the wind blew it off) A train got blocked by a stopped Amtrak train Red signal for 2+ hours with no trains My camera stopped mid train during a great catch
If anything can go wrong, it will. Best to avoid RR crossings altogether and assume that if there's anything that can get between you and the train, it will. By careful planning, you can get a good clean shot, but seldom at RR Xings.
Yeah, I do like getting shots away from RR crossings. However a lot of the videos I take feature the crossing signals themselves, so I am pretty well-versed in avoiding the issues with them.
Yeah that hi rail thing happened to me about a week ago, which also helped what is usually 3-4 trains in 2 hours go down to one train in 2 hours. At least I caught an SD70M-2 leading.
Was using a tripod to catch a BNSF local last week, and when I tried to turn it, it got stuck. In desperation to save the shot I lifted the whole thing off the ground and turned it. It was already too late and my shot was ruined 😭
Oh this is good medicine! Now you do realize that if you attempt another all day frustrating clip, you'll end up getting great shot after shot. Murphy's law never goes away
0:06 I was at Old Saybrook CT when a surpise power move came thru and I started recording and my mom was talking through the whole thing even though i tried to shut her up dang it
@@TheCentralTexasRailfanI was trying to film 46115 leaving my local station, just after it whistled some moron decided it'd be funny to scream "WOO WOOO"
Lmao! Only thing I can think of thats not on here is slow drivers and speeding tickets 😂. Been there and done that, but at the end of the day its still worth it!
