Number 1 is probably the best one out of all 10 you mentioned. Although I focus on other areas of my life as everyone should, such as working out, working, hanging out with friends, etc., railfanning is just another thing to do in my free time when I have the opportunity. I know we look strange standing next to a road crossing a track with a camera to the average person driving by, but at least we get out of the house. Too many people nowadays will make fun of us for having a hobby and even harass us while minding our own business while they sit home and watch tv all day in their free time, waste their time arguing with others on the internet about problems the world, and that's assuming their free time isn't all the time since they have nothing else going on🤣
True lol. I’m often standing in front of the car or leaning on it while I wait for the next train, and walk back and forth to check the signals. I do occasionally see some interesting vehicles pass by while I wait.
@@AlikStansberry Yeah that is true. One time I saw a car that looked like it was made in the 1920s cross a railroad crossing I was at. Really cool sight you don't see often
@@treasurevalleytrackside9527 I remembered catching 3 heritage units when I was in Porter, IN. I first had an Amtrak 822 that had a private car, then I had seen NS 1073 leading 23Z (in which 23Z doesn't exist anymore), and then I got one of those midnight blue engines. You probably would know what I mean.
Hard agree on most of these. These are some of my reasons I love this hobby: -seeing new places -meeting new people (in or out of the hobby) -the rush of when you hear that distant horn or see it's headlights coming around the corner -you mentioned this, but getting to see a special engines/units is a treat of it's own. It's like a type of railfanning within railfanning -tacking this on to the previous bullet, the hunt of a special unit - I know you don't nessesarily do this (yet - it's fun!) but I've crossed entire cities in MINUTES to see special engines - there's nothing like it -chasing a train -pacing a train -racing a train -the things you see railfanning - I have seen more animals railfanning than I've seen in some zoos. Plus, I've witnessed a few car accidents, AMAZING weather, obviously cool trains, met so many nice dogs - and even a cat - and people and the nooks and crannies and the ins-and-outs of cites and towns. -that one special spot that only you know about - and is really good -getting creative with different shots and camera angles -excersise -learning about cameras and stuff - it's helpful in other areas, too
I do love friendly crews, one time it was raining and a UP intermodal was coming, I waved at him and I got a wave and horn salute. Another thing is unexpected surprises in the train, like BNSF's heritage hoppers, there was one time I was filming trains and this NB grainer came by, I soon saw a SP&S heritage hopper.
Friendly Crews are probably the best types of people to ever lay hands on a locomotive. Catching a fallen flag is one of the best feelings on the planet. Mostly cuz I get to see a glimpse of the past.
I live very very close to cp rail’s headquarters, so I can usually get good catches and lots of heritage units, but unfortunately most of the time I don’t have a camera with me so soon I’m going to try to bring a camera with me and get some good catches.
My favorite thing about railfanning is the people you can meet in the hobby, So far through out my 2 years of railfanning with a camera, I have met several people who are amazing to hang out with. Nice video and keep up the great work.
Heres my top 10 10. When a train comes just after I arrive at the railfanning spot 9. Nice crew members 8. When the train is coming 7. The horn 6. The noise of the train coming by 5. When the weather is great 4. Meeting other railfans 3. Getting a train meet 2. Getting a heritage unit/special interest unit 1. Getting a rare catch
I live in Canada, and I mostly see CN freight and some VIA Rails. I once went railfanning at night with my grandpa (which in itself was pretty cool, aside from the cold) and I was filming an intermodal train when suddenly a VIA snuck up from behind us and whizzed right past us doing half the speed of sound and gave us a good scare. It was awesome
One of my experiences is, I was in Newton, Kansas take pictures of these engines on a storage track and I heard a train horn so I videoed it and he honked twice at me which was nice and earlier I was down in the yard, taking pictures of an engine with its door open and the engineer honked at me as well and then I was down by the station, and I was taking a picture of a Santa Fe blue bonnet, and I waved at the engineer that was in it, and he honked while I was right next to it, and it scared the crap out of me.
Seeing something awesome that you werent expecting is one of the best feelings. I was out and parked beside the head end of a train that was tied down on the closest track with a clear indication on the other track. So i waited and started hearing the horn, and out of the blue, CSX 1973 comes out leading. Kinda a mix of a train meets, heritage units, and unexpected awesomeness in one catch. I was smiling that whole day. That always feels great.
Here are things I really love about railfanning: Getting a driver to wave/honk the horn at me Finding new spots to railfan and visit Visiting a Horn zone (all my area is a quiet zone) Sunsets (It makes me get great pictures) Snow and a train, snow + train + a railfan, how good could it be? I love railfanning in the snow even though its cold, It makes your shot amazing Seeing Freight, I love to see freight because I rarely ever see it EMD/old style locomotives, EMD's are my favorite locomotives and I enjoy them so much Heritage/rare units, I have only seen 1 heritage and I was really grateful to see it racing/pacing trains
When I went to the USA a few weeks ago, I managed to railfan at Newark Penn Station in NJ, and I had some surprise catches! NJT 4636 (PRR Heritage Unit), NJT 4510 (Navy Sticker Unit) and the Amtrak Metroliner Conference car 9800. Lucky night that was.
Funny story, I was nearby railfans in my hometown that there was a train coming with UP 1988 (which was my mascot engine of my channel at the time) leading. So I begged my dad to go to a ramdon crossing. Since girvan road’s old safetran cantilevers were in their final days, I asked him if I could go catch it there. So he took me to girvan road like five minutes before the train arrived. As the gates were going down I noticed a family on the other side of another road and a boy looking at me. I smiled at him and looked away. Then all of the sudden he ran across the street with his parents looking at him. He hit me and I fell in front of the camera on the ballast and then he screamed at 1988’s crew shouting: ‘TELL THE POILCE TO BAN TRAINSPOTTERS!’ Still I got a perfect catch of 1988 and I uploaded to my backup channel (since my main channel was having some issues with comments.) I never forget that kid tho.
Let me tell you something As a train filmer myself, I always had good hornshows. Back in 2017, I had a hornshow from a BNSF dash 9. Fast forward to 2019. One time, we were railfanning during a farmers market. An NS ethanol or crude oil train was coming down the tracks, and it had NS 7024 leading. I waved at that train, and it gave me a shave and a haircut train show. And then I remember during the cold morning of some 2019 year. So, I got a hornshow of an NS intermodel that had one of those RJ Corman leasers. Then, I remembered I was in front of the ex-conrail defect detector. Then, back in 2022, CSX M326 gave me a hornshow. Now, months ago, I remembered that Amtrak P371 gave me a hornshow. On April's fools 2021, CN gave me a hornshow. Now, both NS and CN were powers of M327. Almost every Amtrak that came off the Amtrak Michigan Line would give me a hornshow. I rode Amtrak once in August of 2019
In October i was at a spot in Germany for the 2nd time, without any pictures already. Only 1/2 trains a day run there and i did'nt know at what times. After talking to friendly staff, i knew there was a chance to cath a train at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="750">12:30</a>. When i arrived at the railroad crossing friendly people said that you need to be really lucy to see a train. At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="753">12:33</a>, the railroad crossing closed, but it opened again and no train had come. I was fucking angry.. i waited 30 more minutes and right when i was abt to leave i heard a horn and the train came with a special locomotive. The best moment of the year!
Awesome video when I’m not at work or home working on the layout . I’m down at the tracks enjoying the trains as well.👍🏻. Always great meeting other rail fans and hobbyists. Till next one keep watching and catching those trains 😎🚂🫵 TSM
This is my kind of video! I can relate to a lot of these points! I actually got a horn salute and a wave from a Norfolk Southern train crew a week ago and they gave me a small jingle bells horn show
Meets are always fun no matter the power, few months ago I got one where both had a Dash 9 on them, one of which was leading. I might’ve waited around 2 hours for that to happen because I knew the likely reason why the first train had stopped, it was also relaxing to listen to some GEs idling for that long.
The statement at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="144">2:24</a> is SO TRUE, Like every other year all I’ve seen is just gevos and gevos and gevos but actually this year I have seen some VERY CRAZY stuff (mostly this summer) including 2 Alco FPA-4’s on the end of a BNSF train headed for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad (CVSR) about a month and a half ago
Some things I love about railfanning is seeing old equipment and meeting other railfans. Or just to brag that I got to see an 100 year old operational steam engine and that they didn’t, lol 😂.
If I lived in the US I would absolutely be out for HOURS filming trains. Sadly all the trains near me are scheduled and not really unique enough to bother filming, but I try to see them when I go on walks
A great mention would be those in-between-trains moments when you're with friends/other railfans. Whether you're goofing off, trying to find your different shots, or just kicking it waiting for the next train. Core memories. Once you get your license you'll learn to love chasing trains with friends. It's the absolute best. Just don't get a speeding ticket trying to get to the next location. Learned from personal experience.
Another thing that most train fans love: When an Old train passes (that is not in service) or if a new train passes by (that is good/beautiful), things that rail fans hate: WHEN THE MOST POPULAR OR MOST BEAUTIFUL TRAIN GOES OUT OF SERVICE FOR ETERNITY
For me railfanning is, and always will be my favorite activity to do. Wether it’s with my dad, and we’re driving through the BNSF yard outside of Rochelle, or standing at the Downers Grove Main Street station platform either in the afternoon, or during rush hour catching the different Metra trains. My two favorite experiences when I was younger was in 2009 seeing, and later riding behind that year Southern Pacific #4449, and in 2019 seeing the Big boy both pulling into Rochelle and it heading west outside of Global III.
at one point i managed to get an ALC-42, but it turned out to be the first phase VI to run on the coast starlight so i was pretty shocked after stopping the camera. this was a few months ago but after i stopped the recording i said "theres no actual way"
As someone who lives in the natural habitat of gevos(BNSF) i have learned to enjoy basically any train that comes by. Its also given me a chance to enjoy the rumble of aces that much more!
Great video! I agree with all 10 of those reasons! I really enjoy the travel opportunities considering I have railfanned in 6 states and Ontario in Canada which gives me the chance to explore new places. That's probably my favorite part about railfanning.
Probably the best things about railfanning to me is catching a SOLO engine, Night shots unless if there’s no light, No foamers (if your where I was born), catching 5 or 6 engines and having the PERFECT shot.
Number one is definitely right, I went out into the field when it was 30 degrees outside and it actually felt great. Just being able to get out and, in my case, go biking, is a great feeling even if im in a bad neighborhood and it sucks outside. It’s just a fun feeling.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="174">2:54</a> i love when that happens , it’s usually either when your gone and unable to give me heads ups or I go out on my own lol . And train meets is one that I NEED , since I live on singe tracks . And the part about when you get your license I started laughing . Since I keep bugging you to come up to Cloquet . Which is probably one of your places u wanna go .
Number 4 is so true. I commonly film where I can’t see the train until it goes around this building and everytime a train rounds the corner and it has flashing ditch lights i know it’s something good.
110 percent agree on getting outside. Even if the weather and traffic are horrible, it does something for the mind to get out of the house. A couple more things I love about railfanning: Convenience. I'm pretty lucky that my college is right next to a CSX mainline, and that the best route home crosses the tracks at one of my favorite railfan spots. Not to mention that I can often catch something while running errands around town. I've always loved getting shots of trains kicking up snow at higher speeds, I only got it once but that was pretty exciting. Unfortunately back then I didn't know how to dress for winter in Chicago and my pantyhose froze to my legs. Worth it though.
#1, 3, and 5 are so relatable. As a railfan who’s had near 20 years of experience with no. 1 is you gotta go outside because like during the holiday season, it’s beautiful, especially with the sunset/sunrise moments. But then there’s getting the right lighting (which is tough to do at times). With no.3, Train Races are just as great, but it’s so mesmerizing watching the sheer size of machines running in different directions beside each other (which makes trains great for their capabilities in my honest opinion). And with no. 5, I absolutely agree with your statement on getting surprised. Been there and it never gets old. Like I’ll know if there’s a Gevo or Ace/70Mac leading, but sometimes, they can be a bit quicker, or accelerating near, or at full throttle, so with Dash 9s and Gevos sounding almost the same (not quite tho), they can trick your mind and give you something completely unexpected. 2023 is no exception on my end as I’ve gotten plenty of catches that prove that statement. And yeah, HUs, hornshow, and great crews. Love those reasons as well. Great video man!
Nothing beats it when you capture something from a Museum being moved. Like when you caught the Great Northern 400, 192. The railfan community is really chill if you know who you’re dealing with though.
About the railfan community, you are right. In my area it’s just chaos, people screaming at each other, calling people names, someone faking that another railfan did something to them, someone making a bunch of alt accounts and making up the most random railroad that doesn’t exist, telling fake stuff that didn’t even happen. The list goes on and on and there is much darker stuff the more you get into it. People are leaving because of it, and it’s just falling apart each day. Honestly I wouldn’t get into it but you could if you want.
@@BNSF1458 anyways this is all the way in Chicago, apparently the screaming was because someone “stole the horn” from another railfan, and I’m not talking actual horn, I’m talking about a Hornshow, dumb stuff happens. Also I doubt anything would happen in your area due to people not railfanning one area constantly
the other day i saw CN 8952 (GT heritage) trailing on a CN freight. i sadly missed it by a few seconds. I was on my way to my doctor so we couldnt stop.
Here is my top 10 things i like but Croatian Edition: 1. Listening the sounds of nature while waiting for train to come 2. Friendly railway workers 3. Hearing EMD G26C in notch 8 blasting uphill 4. When you know in advance that something special will pass by so you can find a perfect location to film it 5. Filming trains deep into the forest where there is no internet connection using special survival tools and taking a rest from toxic society 6. When you hear a train horn in the distance so you know exactly when to start recording 7. Drinking Rakija while railfaning and seeing four trains on single track at once 8. Knowing a locomotive engineers so you can film cab ride 9. When is fine weather 10. When you can work on the railway and do the railfaning at the same time
Great video, Meets can be good if I can plan right, but usually I hate meets because I usually railfan on a double track main and trains tend to get blocked A LOT
In addition to getting outdoors, I like the smell of creosote and diesel exhaust!!! Also a train horn on a cold winter morning in the woods! When the sound/horn echos down the track in a "doppler effect".
As a person who lives 1.5 miles from a double track mainline with 50 trains a day I have to do so much unnecessary prepping to make sure I’m not going to miss the unit with it going behind the other train. There are two crossovers between the camera I watch for trains and my town so it’s possible it can switch tracks.
If you love EMD, you will love Michigan, especially the Great Lake Central Railroad, with ex Ann Arbor GP35, some of the last remaining ex Montana rail link SD35, and a lot of cool track side museums (depots, engines, cabooses etc) When you get your license and your interested, hit me up, and I can help you get some great action from Michigan
You nailed it right on the money with the winter sunlight, as it is Winter I hate the lighting, evening at 2pm. And everything is just more backlit. And it’s hard for me to get surprise trains with all the tracking software I got lol
My favorite part of the hobby is the low barrier to entry. You don’t need an expensive gaming PC or worry about scalpers buying everything. Of course having a nice camera or equipment helps, but it’s not a requirement.
This is a nice video man! I watched your other two vids…honestly, a lot of things you hate doesn’t bother me…but those vids are relatable & respectable. Even though I love all locomotives, Gevos & AC44s are my favorites mostly for how they sound at 70 mph but I understand how Gevos can be boring to others..they bore me sometimes too. Thanks for keeping it real.👍🏾
I have been a Devoted Railfan as an autistic man who grew up in Oregon and Washington State. The First time I became into trains was when I say a Green Burlington Northern GP-38 In Vancouver Washington around of the time of the Burlington Northern Railroad Merging with the ATSF in 1996.
Back when I didn’t look at anything coming on my lines. It was amazing and just every other train was a coal but never only GEVOs 65%+ of those coals had ACEs, H2 MACs, E MACs, even sometimes foreign EMDs. The first day I ever brought my trash camera (I have soon since upgraded lol from an old “kindle” to an IPad) I didn’t know what to expect and the first train I saw was a 4x0 all ACE coal and I saw 4 SD75Ms 2 leading locals, 2 Warbonnets, H1s, GP38-2 Duo with RS3L, BN 3132 all this great stuff and out of my 17 trains only 4 GEVO Leaders!
I only just got into railfannint heavy rail like 3 years ago so it’s always enjoyable to watch these sorts of videos and what everyone else’s opinions are
I like gevos because they are better for the environment, and whenever I see them, I take pride in how our country is working hard to keep nature clean.
1 time I was Railfanning, my channel is BWRailfan Productions, and I knew the Western Maryland csx logo unit was around my area but I had no clue it was coming. I caught it but my phone did not save the video of it but I reported it on heritage unit tracker, also you have great content!!
I’ve been a fan of trains basically ever since I was old enough to See. And I’ve been watching trains or railfanning now for I wanna say about 10 or so years. I started recording trains with my Dad and sis; we would go down to the city and watch trains in the yard while we ate A&W for about an hour or so, watching the CN GP9 and GP9 sluggers moving cars around, with the occasional train that would come by. The thing I personally loved about railfanning was being alone at the tracks. I Railfan primarily on the CN Watrous Sub, about a minute or 2 drive South of Saskatoon, and sometimes when I’m there, I have to wait for about 3 or 3.5 hours just for a train to come, but after that, you see 4 or so in like 30 or 45 minutes. I do agree that Railfanners are very friendly, I met this one guy who’s been railfanning their for years, his name is Roman, awe met one day when I went down to record trains in April about a year ago, and we talked about Railfan stuff and about his life, it was really cool, but that was the only other railfanner other than me that I met down at the tracks, so I’m alone for a lot, but I really like that personally. Also, I really love your videos, I just found this channel today, and your vids are amazing buddy, thank you.
Things I like are the horn salutes, a crossing with no bells and gates and if my favorite unit is leading a train, because I’m in a short line g&w area
The horn show one I can relate I went to cordele 3 times and the first time I went the csx engineer gave me a horn show I will never forget and when we went third time my second csx same horn shows and my third csx he waved to me
watching trains for me, isn’t just an experience in and of itself it’s something far deeper the history, and the heritage of the railroads themselves speak to me in a way that trains themselves don’t, I love photography as well so for me catching train is an art form as well as something fun to do. and editing is even more fun because I express myself in a way no one else can because everyone has a unique style of editing.
I also like seeing heritage units. I also like meets are awesome sometimes because if one has a heritage unit and another train blocks it you can’t see the heritage unit. And friendly crews are awesome like really awesome
The BNSF rail corridor from Minneapolis to Little Falls is double tracked, this means there’s a lot of freight traffic on the line, when driving on US 10 which runs parallel, I managed to see 6 trains!
Always so fun to ride highway 10. I went to Canada from St. Paul last winter and we had to take I-94, (the main route from Minneapolis-Fargo) that was so depressing. 10 only takes an additional 35 minutes...
Hopefully you will get 5k this year. Social Blade is showing you will get it New Years day. My experiance is you hit the number a few days before they expect it. When I got close it seemed like I would lose several subscribers the closer I get.
My favorite part about railfanning is trying to catch some fallen flag cars and some trains that been in accidents. But my main goal is trying to catch I whitestripe logo dash-9 on Norfolk Southern but I only caught two 9945 my first dash-9 I ever caught and 9938 leading a welled train. Hope to catch some soon tho!
most that feels like me... I have been doing Railfaning for now a year and the look the smell the people spots and locomotive nd cars you see are always different and Train are something that I Enjoy...
I witnessed a trail fail with NS 1066 NYC. It would've led, but the unit had computer issues. I would've able to get the 1066 leading if it wasn't for another issue it had after a minor derailment in a yard. I really wanted to hear the horn on it.
My favorite thing about railfanning: Train. Ok being serious my favorite thing about railfanning is probably the fact that i usually get to hang out with my best friend while doing it which is awesome l.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="189">3:09</a> so true. One time I caught a cn veterans unit leading by accident, and I remember I was literally jumping up and down like some crazy foamer
