Like the title asks, what is the fascination with them? I've asked myself that many times. I had no railroaders in my family and other than my cousins Lionel set, no model railroaders, but since I was a toddler of two or so they have always been a source of wonderment for me. I spent those toddler years close to the Wabash Chicago- Decatur main line and every horn sent me to the window in the hopes of seeing a train. I can still remember taking my grandparents to Joliet in 1963 to board the Super Chief for their trip to California and watching what seemed like an endless line of stainless steel cars come into view. I don't think I ever saw anything more beautiful. So what is it about them. Why not planes or boats. I've never been able to answer that. Bob
I born into a family which had a lot of railroaders. That must be part of it. Another thought is as a small boy, I was around those huge, fascinating machines- Steam, electric and diesel. They seemed monsters in size, and little boys like big monsters. So naturally I had Lionel, etc growing up...
not sure, my uncle showed me model trains my first loco was a B&O GP40 I love the thing and when I see it again I hope to fix it up. I also remember when we moved out here the first time I saw a train. it was night time the moon was out and I saw a BN SD40-2, from that moment on I had fallen in love with trains , I still have all of my thomas trains, an HO scale train set, and now my fleet of N scale trains which will soon be pretty big once I get the last of my SP&S pass. cars, some GN F7's, GN pass. cars, and probably a ton more of BN stuff. the BN in the 90's is calling my name. Also, aside from trains I'm a big time fan of military aircraft generally of US and German origin anything from WWII onwards I like and can name(mostly US aircraft though).
They are big and loud. What more could a kid ask for? I remember when I was 4, I flunked out of swimming lessons. The pool was next to a set of main line tracks. Every time a train would roll by (about every 10 minutes) I'd jump out of the pool and run to the fence so I could watch the behemoths’ roll by, much to the consternation of the swim instructor. I still have an affinity for big and loud, but aircraft while also big and loud, also go fast(trump card). So they,for the time being have center stage. Trains are a very close second tho. I think there's just something to that low frequency rumble you feel in your gut that's the base attractant. Brian
They follow a predictable path, but you always doubt your safety as you stand close to the tracks and the growing behemoth shakes the very ground on which you stand as it looms larger and larger, and then passes by as you get that fleeting feeling of vertigo that you also get standing too close to a cliff's edge. The towering locomotive threatens to leave the tracks and to fall over on you...that's what your mind tells you. You see only the train, nothing else in your mind's eye, unlike the rest of humanity and traffic when you stand at a busy intersection with things going in six different directions. The train moves in unison, in lockstep, and it gets both louder and larger. A train comes and then it is gone. In traffic, it is isotropic and relentless until rush hour is over and people have largely gone to their homes. In traffic, there are many sounds competing for each other, and not much smell unless there's food or nice perfume nearby. At trackside, you smell the tie preservative and the greases and lubes in the hot sun. In earlier days, on older tracks, you can still smell the creosote. Auto traffic has diesel smells if there are diesels in the traffic, but train smells are largely just the lubes, steam, and diesel. Finally, most of us only see trains occasionally, whether when we were much younger and more impressionable or now in our working life or our dotage. They stand out, like a rare indulgence in a good quality beer or chocolate, maybe a great cigar. There is nothing else quite like them in all our varied experiences, so they command a certain respect and interest. What makes the hobby great is that we have to learn and overcome in order to get the smaller scale versions to perform in such a way that what we see (and hear if you like sounds) allows us to place ourselves back in those seminal experiences. We capture the thrill if we have done it all right. I'm getting better at it, but not fully there. BTW, painting some splotches of real creosote oil behind the legs holding up my modules helps to get that train feeling immensely.
I have wondered why my interest in trains. Cognitively, I like the science: the way an alignment crosses the land (cuts, fills, tunnels, bridges, &c); the track circuit, pole lines, and CTC that implement the signal aspect to an engineer; the "why's" of complex interlockings that define a train's path, and the variety of color and configuration expressed in locomotives and rolling stock; the dynamics of controlling thousands of tons of rolling mass; the complex interactions of thousands of individuals who make it all work. In my final analysis, I must have been an engineer in a previous lifetime, and this is how I relive that experience in this lifetime.
Why are trains fascinating? Like others have mentioned, they're big, loud, powerful, shake the ground you're standing on. And you see the people running them, up there in the cab, and you wish you were in there, controlling that monster, that beast. I was at Exporail - the railroad museum here - last Sunday. Even when they''re standing there, silent, their sheer size is impressive. There's something about the feeling of being surrounded by hundreds of tons of iron and steel and history.
Honestly, I don't know. I grew up at a small airport, both my dad and my grandfather were pilots. Many in our family flew airplanes, military, civil and experimental. To this day, I keep working in the hobby industry but with model planes, not model railroading. Yet I would say planes are a distant second to my love of Trains.
I grew up in a large family. Two old and nine younger brothers so there was no place for models of any kind. But to go into the city we had to go through the pulp wood piles and tracks at the paper mill and then the sidings at the feed mill. What got my attention was the power of the diesels and the steam power crane that unload/loaded and moved logs to the river. Where my father ran them through the saws. Also how orderly it was all handled.
Starting with an assumption that may be debated/refuted, that a majority of railfans/model railroaders are male, I think it goes to something similar to the fascination with muscle cars, monster trucks and big rigs. They have easily understood power, and there's something testosterone about that.
My Father and Grandfather both worked for the NYC. I received the obligatory trainset at the age of three and I guess I was hooked. My brother received my American flyer sets when I moved to HO. He never developed an interest in model trains. My father got my brother a job with the PC and he stayed on when Metro North took over, but he does not have an interest in modeling trains. I tried getting my three Nephews interested but it didn't take hold. Now two of them work for Metro North, one in the power dept and the other as a Trackman. Neither of them shows any interest in modeling. I have been modeling most of my life and I had the next best job other than on a train crew as a Signal Maintainer.
Hi All, I can only speak for myself here. I was raised in small town in northern Michigan that was served by the New York Central. If I recall correctly we had 4 trains per day 2 passenger and 2 freight, there may have been more freights The south bound passenger arrived about 8 or 9 in the evening along with a freight. I don't remember what direction the freight was going. Our house was about 4 ½ blocks from the station and not along the tracks so I did not see trains all day long or even daily, but I could hear them. There were times in the summer (in all probability all year long) that my father had to go to the station to get a shipment (for his business) from the REA office. For what ever reason it was always in the evening (he most likely went in the day also) and took the family along. It was during these trips to the REA office in the mid to late 1950's where I was exposed to trains. I got watercolor paint sets (the type that came in a metal tray with lid that had 6 – 10 colors and a brush) during the same time period for my birthday and Christmas and within a couple weeks the black was gone. I was painting locomotives. What else was there to paint? Sometime in the late 50's I got my first electric train. I still have it. As I got a older and was able to explore town on my own with my bicycle, I gravitated towards the tracks to watch the trains switch some of the business track side. By that time I think we got a “local” per day and passenger service was the Beeliner. Why was I interested in trains then as well as now? As said by others they are BIG and make BIG noise. Furthermore they are mysterious where did they come from where are they going to what is in the cars how can something that big go so fast with only a few locomotives pulling it will there be a surprise somewhere in the train mid-train helper pusher hobo, etc? I still enjoy watching trains go by. As for my modeling of trains, it is a part of my life that I have almost total control. Gary
No one in my immediate family ever worked for the railroads. However, while growing up trains were around us all the time. The C&NW had a yard down the street where I remember a little steam switcher banging cars around. The smells and sound of steam locomotives at a tourist railroad always trigger memories from back then. When we traveled, we took the train. My dad and brothers would set up 027 tin plate track every Christmas holiday and run all their Marx trains. It was the original remote control toy. When I was 3 1/2, we rode the train to Philadelphia, a trip etched in my mind. At the Franklin Institute there, down in the basement, was a huge steam locomotive that moved slowly back and forth on a piece of track. I was mesmerized by the side rods and valve gear slowly going around. Mom had to drag me kicking and screaming away from that exhibit. When I was 4 we moved to Arizona and all new trains to watch in Tucson. I started modeling trains in about 6th grade. Here are some of my first buildings.
I lived in England from age 5-7 while my dad was stationed there in the 80s. Thomas the Tank Engine was running on TV. This was Old School Thomas. Ringo Starr the narrator and none of that Shining Time Station BS. I guess it started there, and then with my Parents taking me to the National Railway Museum to see the Famous Steam Engines. We would also go on England's many heritage lines. To this day I still love British steam I have a fine collection of it in N scale. Then we loved to MD in '88 and it was Chessie Paint, what remained of it, and CSX.
Did I ever mention they looked toyish? But fun! These were the trains that started all the hubabub. The first train set I received was an S Scale, American Flyer. Nice very nice, until a cousin took the locomotive out in the dirt and forever sealed it's future. You thought I was going to say "Fate" right? He did that too. Sigh! He'd of been better off with Thomas the Tank. Oh well. I too grew up with a family of rails who wanted...very little to do with running my trains. To them railroads was simply a dammed job. Not a pleasant job, as it seemed to them they had sold their souls to the devil. No longer could they call time their own and they spent little of it at home with their families. True story. Granddad a hogger out of Barstow, Ca. (see my nick or handle) spent some time with me showing me how to make switch moves, slack (and I won't repeat what I said last time) and how to keep the train taut. After that it was time to watch football with my dad (his son). Funny how that works. What I'm attempting to do with my modeling is recreate the trains they hogged, captained, maintained and supervised yard moves. I'm not so interested in the world of model railroading as interpreted by most non-rails. Other then too accomplish the task at hand. The hobby land of model railroading is pretty much a fantasy world. What with made up model railroad terminology. Each of us in charge of our layouts destiny. Now hold on I can hear someone saying and you are so right. Even my modeling is fantasy BUT based...on the reality of memories, of more years ago then I care to count. Sigh! I would also agree lacking in correct detail for many of the trains I wish to recreate. Did I already.... Sigh? I may never complete the recreation I want but (there's that hind end word again) look at all the fun I'm having. Currently working on building N scale, heavy weight passenger trains for the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. Thanks to my family of rails, I'm a railroad modeler. Wonder what they were thinking?
I'm not sure why trains. I got my mom's American flyer set at a young age and a Bachmann HO set not long after. I love railfanning, but then, I'm also a fan of boats and ships. Can't really have that in the basement in the same way though.
I believe that one day, as youngsters , we stood in awe of these massive machines wondering how it all works , the sheer size and presence that could only be found on the shinny rails. It's as if the trains power rooted us to the ground and gave us the feeling of wonderment . Watching huge airplanes or semis gives some of the same feeling . When I was running large earth moving machines or driving a semi I got the same feeling of that awesome power and I think that as little boys watching trains , we wanted that feeling of power in our lives . I still get stoked watching my N scale engines climb my Jericho grade pulling a manifest load and I am 64 yrs and I bet, there's a lot of " 4 to 99 " yr old guys out there that feel the same way , and I get the same chill watching todays modern behemoths . But I do love steam the most ...
That's it! When we're young, we still have a sense of wonder, we can still feel awe at something big (and when we're little, everythingis big). As we grow older, we lose that sense of wonder, though some of us retain it nonetheless. When I watched those CPR RS-18s revving up, that deep, powerful gurgling sound from those 251 diesels really moved me (the black smoke impressed me too). A blast from the horn shook me out of my reverie... well, maybe for a nanosecond. But somehow, in my youth, I never really caught on to other big things, like airplanes and big rigs. They were missing something that the trains had, that je-ne-sais-quoi that appealed to me. Running model trains dredges up that little boy that stood in awe years ago, before that massive metal monster spewing out black smoke and moving mountains of stuff.
BTW, painting some splotches of real creosote oil behind the legs holding up my modules helps to get that train feeling immensely. Love it!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
