Meet the Enthusiasts
We are not alone, although it sure can feel that way. Many of us have, at one time or another, may have felt we needed to explain why we like trains and railroading. If we didn’t get the “look,” it was usually “Oh, you still play with trains?” After a while you just ignore it.
But, well, why not? As a hobby, it’s certainly no more unusual than collecting coins, stamps, or butterflies. But just when I felt we really did have an unusual hobby, I came across another that, to the public at large, may be considered just as unusual.
Guess what? They also don’t care what other people think.
I’m talking about plane spotters, and we have more in common with aviation enthusiasts than you might believe. I always knew of the existence of plane spotters; many are train enthusiasts as well. But in general, we prefer iron horses, and they are more attracted to machines that fly.
It all boils down to what we like to do when we have free time. For some it becomes an obsession, for others, it’s just an enjoyable way to take our minds off work.
Whether it be trains or planes, a hobby can also be a great social leveler, with membership cutting through all classes, professions, ages, and persuasions. When we get together it becomes an all-welcoming club where everyone can sit at the table. It’s a place where we feel comfortable just being ourselves.
You can see it wherever railfans gather: “Is that one of the new SD40 rebuilds?” Or “You should have seen this place when they had Baldwins.”
Until recently I never realized how similar train fans and airplane spotters are.
When I visited a U.S. Navy base, I found a small group of people milling around in a secure area near the end of one of the active runways. They had the same enthusiasm we have when watching trains. Except they were photographing aircraft.
“AWACS coming in!” yelled someone standing in the back of their pickup truck with a super long telephoto lens, his scanner crackling at his feet.
As the large airborne radar aircraft came closer to the runway where we were all standing, the air was quickly punctuated by the sounds of dozens of digital cameras set on continuous as it went by. The dozen or so fans, most sporting monstrous zoom lenses, photographed its every move.
“It just came in from Tinker,” someone yelled over the jet noise, meaning the AWACS official home base of Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. “It’s here for a multi-service exercise.”
“Was that an E model?” someone else asked. “Nah, I think it was a D. I’ll check the tail number.”
The nomenclature was foreign, but the knowledge was the same. Substitute a rail yard and the questions might have been about the difference between a GP38 and a GP39.
It was obvious I was not a regular, but I was quickly accepted into the group. There were a couple of local jocks, a few ex-service members, a father who brought his young daughter, and a group of high school and college types hauling around enough photographic gear to stock a camera store.
“New here?” a fan asked me. “Best time to see lots of action is early morning between 8:30 and 10.” Some of the others chimed in to confirm his comments.
“Any time I see an F35 take off I get goosebumps,” said John, who had arrived before dawn to see the show. “If I’m not here I like to go watch trains, especially farther up the coast towards Santa Barbara.”
The scanner crackled again with a voice from the tower authorizing a California Air National Guard C130J Super Hercules to take off. Everyone peered down the runway and photographed the takeoff with the same enthusiasm as if it was the sleekest fighter jet.
“Love the J model,” someone commented. “I remember when these guys flew the original Hercules and before that the Boeing C97. Now that was a cool aircraft.”
Among the fans was one particular clean-cut young man waiting patiently to see a Boeing C17 Globemaster III, one of the U.S. Air Force’s heavy-lift cargo jets.
“My name’s Chris,” he said promptly, thrusting out his hand.
We chatted briefly in between airplane landings. Chris, I found out, was in the Air Force, and currently attending flight school. By the time you read this, he’ll be in advanced training on the Raytheon T6A Texan II boring holes in the skies above Enid, Okla.
“I’m hoping to qualify for C17s,” Chris said. “They’re awesome.”
As I was leaving, I wished Chris good luck and wondered if he would want to know what railroads went through Enid. I thought the better of it, though; I’d let him find out for himself.
A few fans had to go to work or school and packed up their gear, with one saying he was going to Oxnard to see if there was anything at the Union Pacific yard or the Ventura County Railroad.
Shortly after, as I watched the end of the runway getting smaller in the rearview mirror of my car, I came to the realization that, as fans of big, mechanical things that move, we are not alone.
My Grandfather worked for the Rock island from 1895 to 1950’s.
Started as a switchman in Nebraska, got on as a fireman in 1900 and sent to Herrington, Kansas. Promoted to engineer in 1905, ran switch engines from Herrington to Pratt, Kansas. Then to taking passenger trains from Pratt to Liberal and back. He bought a steam tractor and would rent/lease it out at harvest time to supply power for the thrasher machines in or around Pratt. Family relayed story of him driving that steam tractor to his farm property in Western Kansas, and decided to put it on a flatcar for the return trip to Pratt.
I grew up helping my other grandfather with farmwork summers in the early 50’s.
Spent 2 years in the Army doing electronics supply in Germany. Often the Canadian Airforce would make low level fly overs of an antenna farm near our base. Got orders to go stateside, but didn’t know where until got off the boat (troop carrier). They looked at my orders and said you lucky guy, you’re going to spend 6 months in Minneapolis, Snelling Airforce base, Army detachment. Supply man for electronics parts at Nike-Hurc HQ an supply the 4 batteries with parts.
Got out of the Army in 1966. Repaired phones at Western Electric in Denver, then started installing radios an electronics in Aircraft. That job changed to 5 different employers all doing pretty much the same thing for 35 years. Still the urge to be around trains was always in my blood. In 1992 I got some basic lessons in Oil Painting from my dad, and started painting railroad scenes from old RR history books. To make the paintings more interesting and realistic, I would make about “N” scale size wooden trains painted, that were placed so they would appear to be coming out of the picture on a shelf in front of the painting.
Also have “HO” trains in a room in my garage, with a lot of things one would expect to see on a Lionel train set. Logging crane to put logs on log cars, coal mine dumps black rocks in ore cars. A gold mine doing same thing but with tan sand. Rotary dump to unload gold at mill and coal dump. At sawmill overhead crane picks logs off logcar and puts them in front of sawmill. Replica of our old farm near Hopewell, Kansas. School house with kids on merry-go-round, (actually turns with motor from carousel from microwave oven. Still looking for an HO scale Cessna 210 for my layout to place it wrecked in the trees, still hate working on those 210’s with the monkey fists up under the instrument panel where the wires need to be routed… Keeping busy helps promote healthy living!
At the risk of a bad pun, I’ve met quite a few ‘crossover’ rail/air and rail/air enthusiasts over the years.
In 1973 / 74, Kalmbach published a magazine called “Airliners International” targeted at people who love Lockheed Constellations as much as Trains readers love Cab Forwards. Unfortunately, the magazine was launched when the airline industry was in one of its cyclical downturns, and only four issues were published.
Fifty years later, airline enthusiasts still view Airliners International as the best airline magazine ever published, and bemoan the fact that it had such a short lifespan. I think a major reason Airliners International is so beloved is because of the similarities between airline enthusiasts and train lovers; Kalmbach’s success at publishing magazines train lovers enjoy enabled Kalmbach to produce a magazine that airline enthusiasts really like.
Planespotters are definitely like trainspotters! Flying into Manchester UK, I was always happy to see the planespotter park packed with families (It was fenced with picnic tables on a mound that gives viewers an elevated view.) on Saturdays and Sundays. There’s even a crowd on some weekdays. I have never had a chance to go watch from that position due to tight flight schedules but know I will at some point.
As a rail fan, train buff and collector and model railroader I also have gotten some unique comments and looks when people learn of my hobby but I don’t let that bother me. Everybody has their hobbies and likes and we must respect them and their choices. Speaking of airplane spotters I also follow and watch airplanes and collect model planes as well. I live in Orlando, Florida and my apt house is right next to to the flight pats of planes landing and departing to and from OIA and I love to watch all the various planes and airlines flying overhead. Southwest Airlines is my favorite and they have the nicest and most attractive planes of any airline. I also like ships and boat as well and not mentioned here but I also watch and follow buses as well. Be it school buses transit buses or coach buses. You might say that I’m a transportation enthusiast and fan. I like trains, buses, planes and ships and throw in classic automobiles from the 50s and 60s. I have shelves at home with model trains, buses , planes and cars on display. So to anybody who thinks otherwise we must respect others hobbies as they should respect and support our hobbies and interests no matter how unique or different it may appear. Joseph C Markfelder
Back when my daughter was a child, there was a UP train stopped on the bridge over the road that takes you from I-40 into Williams, AZ. She asked me to stop the car so she could take some pictures. I pulled-off to the side so she could take photos, There are worse things a ten-year-old could be interested in, right? Maybe not. The train crew made a point of taking their own photos. Of her, me, and my car. While they probably ended-up in a file in Omaha, I learned that indeed the world had changed after 9/11.
I remember several years ago, a group of Plane Spotters were at Edwards AFB for an air show. They had clip boards, and were writing down the tail numbers of all the military aircraft. Security was alerted, and federal agents, collected the plane spotters up and ask them why there were recording tail numbers on a military base, especially Edwards, with so many secret projects going on, never did hear what the outcome was.