Any of you guys Railfans ???

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rice paddy daddy
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by rice paddy daddy » Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:10 pm

My grandfather was a Conductor on the old Boston & Maine. I'm old enough to remember steam locomotives. There was a show on RFD-TV for a few years that was video of trains, old and not so old, across America and Canada. I live a few miles south of Folkston, Georgia which is a destination for railfans from around the world to come and observe, take photos and videos.
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by Sarge » Fri Dec 24, 2010 6:24 am

My dad was a brakeman for Santa Fee in 1941/42. He ran from Kansas City, Kan to kaliforni.
I worked as a switchman in the Santa Fee yards at Kansas City, Kan in 1967/68.
Daddy worked with steam and I got diesels.
I've traveled by train a little bit in the US, but have been all over Western Europe and part of eastern Europe by train.
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by Reese Williams » Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:44 pm

My great-grandfather was a section boss on the Erie. Took his youngest son to work on the railroad. The son worked for the Erie then the Erie-Lackawanna for 42 years. When he retired someone asked him were he was going to go when he retired. His answer was "Someplace where I can't even hear a train whistle!".
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by Sarge » Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:17 am

I have a few RR items, but am not a collector. Most of what I have is from my time as a switchman for Sante Fe (ATSF) in the yards In K.C.Ks in the mid 1960s. My dad was a brakeman for Sante Fe in the early 40s.
I have always like the old steam locomotives, the diesels never impressed me, but was all that was around when I worked for the Sante Fe.
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by DocAV » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:43 am

MY paternal grandfather worked a Baldwin 2ft gauge Loco in Northern Italy for a Construction company during WW I ( Spoil removal) during the building of a long, high concrete Rail Viaduct...Austro-Hungarian POWs did the Labouring Work ( a Civilian project)...after WW I, he got into Steam-Powered Threshing and Winnowing of Grain in the fields as it was cut ( by hand and Horse drawn harvesters). I have his original Manuals and Steam Ticket; even receipts for Welsh Coal ( pre-1940) and Polish Coal ( much poorer quality) during WW II. His Locomobiles were Rushton's of England.

MY interst with rail came in the early 1950s ( MY great-Uncle gave me a Hornsby Tinplate Clockwork "O" gauge train set , Number "0", the most basic, for my christening, and I started playing with it at about 5 years old.)

Also, I lived across a Park from the main Western Line ( all steam in those days) and could view about 200 yeards of track from the front verandah, night and day. At night I would be woken by Double-headed Cattle trains going on the slight uphill grade towards Brisbane's main Marshalling Yards, on the City's commercial outskirts, puffing and blowing sparks and the glow of the Fireboxes as the cabs passed by. The best was standing on the overbridge at the stations ( nearly all "Colonial" rail lines have "overbridges" for pedestrians) taking in the smell of burning coal as the Loco on the suburban commuter took off from the station, or the typically "cow" smell as a cattle train passed by, or was stopped to allow signals to clear...The Station ( and steam operated Lumber Yard) were on my route to school ( on foot, alone....unthinkable these days) hardly a day went by when I did not detour by half a mile to catch up on railway action....

When I was in Europe in the 1970s and 80s, I again took up "Rail-mania" both at Miniature level, and full size, joining a Modelling and Rail Fan club, and collecting thousands of photos and Transparencies, designs, books etc of European Railways...including WW I and WW II uses of rail...which includes a lot of otherwise unseen "Gun" photos as well...such as the use of Polish Browning MGs in Guard posts on the Eastern Front Rail lines, etc. It also developed my Knowledge of German, French, and Italian Railway terminology and Language.

When I got back to Australia, the steam had gone ( 1969-1975) and wooden Rolling stock was going ( took another 15 years tyo disappear entirely.) I joined the local Rail Historical group, with its own Live Museum track, and large collection of "arrangement" drawings, from which to built models. That lasted until I moved in 1986 ( from in front of the clubhouse) to another location. the distance was too much for regular club attendance, and so I sort of lost interest for a time...but I had brought back ten years of Models from Europe ( still packed up in the basement. "One day in jerusalem" as they used to say...maybe when I get too old to work with guns, I may still be able toi work with Model and miniature trains...I know of guys in their 80s and 90s who were active till their passing on...


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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by DocAV » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:02 am

On reading all the Posts on this thread, the mention of "Call Boy" brings up an old ( and true) anecdote, from US Railroad Lore.

When Locomotive "engineers" left their shift at "away from home" depots, they usually had a place in the "lower part" of the town to bunk overnight, usually with an accomodating Lady. The way for the "call boy" to find them was they would hang a "Red Lantern" ( a Railroader's warning signal) outside the front door of the cottage or rooms where they were sleeping, in case of an emergency call or early morning start. Since in any small depot, there would only be one or two engineers sleeping over, it was relatively easy for the call boy to find them.

As railroad depots became larger, entire neighbourhoods would be festooned with "Red Lanterns" ( some by the railroaders, some by the Owners/occupants of the houses, to attract custom...ie, good food, a bed and company if required....

This practice became so common in Railroad towns, that it was "known" that Prostitutes frequented the "Red Light district" and this became a common eufemism for the seedier part of town ( drinking, gambling and loose women, common to all "railroad Towns")...The term has since the 1870s and 80s, spread into other languages and is currently used to denote the Brothel area of a city.

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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by PeterN2 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:06 pm

Did you hear of the rail fan who turned up at the last kodachrome processor, just before the deadline to accept film for processing, with 1580 rolls of Kodachrome? All the slides were of trains and it cost him about $15,000 to get them processed. I don't know how long he had been saving them up for. I hope they all turned out OK.
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Re: Any of you guys Railfans ???

Post by Niner » Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:16 pm

Doc. Interesting about the red light district origins. I think I may have heard that story before but it's been a long time.
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