Anyone into trains?

[Deleted User]

Here's my step dad's Lionel train he got when he was about 6. Hope you enjoy.

webmost

Have a motorcycle buddy who's into trains. Took us trainspotting once. Here's how trainspotting goes: You jump on your motorcycle and ride twisty mountain roads until you come to an overlook. Down across the gorge a track emerges from one tunnel, clings to a hillside overlooking a river, goes into another tunnel. You park there, smoke, drink, kick rocks, swap lies, until eventually a you hear a distant rumble. Look across the way, a train emerges from the tunnel, creeps round the hillside, disappears into the next tunnel. Now you jump on your motorcycles and race round twisty mountain roads, through a wee town, up a dirt frontage, and park. There's another tunnel. You park there, smoke, drink, kick rocks, swap lies, and eventually a you hear an approaching rumble. Here comes several hundred tons of earth shaking steel. The thunder is impressive. You hoot and holler and pull out your camera. Once the caboose rolls by, you jump on your motorcycle and race to a spot beneath a trestle. Just reading this description doesn't do it justice. Trainspotting turns out to be a gas.

You need a good guide to go trainspotting. Someone who knows the schedule and routes. This old buddy goes trainspotting all over the country. Like every odd thing else, there's a milieu. They come to his neck of the woods, he guides them; and vice versa.

He retired to North Carolina, bought a place along a siding, and built himself a shop big enough to restore train cars in there.

Now that's a guy who's into trains.

WaltBasil

I've always enjoyed looking at them. My grandfather was an engineer on a old steam engine running through Michigan. We'd go on walks as a child, usually along some tracks. Him telling me this and that little pieces of information. See the rust there... not used much... what all the whistles meant. Sure miss that guy.

phobicsquirrel

That's really cool. My dad is really into trains. He use to have a huge layout set up in our basement but when they moved to the house they are in now he had no room so it's been boxed for like 25 years. He built everything from scratch except some of the trains themselves. He use to bring me to meets and stuff.