"Nancy Young" wrote in message
hlink.net...
A bit of Off Topic -- The Challenger is on a winter tour. Supposed to be
in
St. Louis this weekend. In Texas for the Super Bowl. If you are near,
you
might wish to take a gander.

Phil

"Dale Wiese" wrote in message
gy.com...
I'm trying to contact railfans who are also radio amateurs.

Last year in June a group of fellow hams ran a special event station
from
the Illinois Railway Museum using the call sigh W9T. This was a very
enjoyable event, and we intend to go back this year. We are looking for
other individuals, groups, or clubs who might like to join us by
operating
on the same day from a rail related location. Our hope is to build this
over
a few years into an event similar to the route 66 event, where hams try
to
contact as many of the "Railfans on the Air" sites as they can on the
special event day. A single certificate would be issued, with
endorsements
for each station worked.

Possible sites could be a rail museum, depot, well known railfan
location,
old tower, anything that is rail related that you feel might be an
interesting place to operate from.

So, is there any interest in this? The most likely date would be June
5th.
In addition to the IRM site, we have a contact near Branson/Hollister
who
wants to participate. If we can get a couple more, I think we would have
a
great start to what could become a large, well known yearly event.

73,

Dale Wiese, N9XD


Ah, those railfans again! Fine hobby. Those us of who worked in the rail
industry learned quickly NOT to divulge the fact one was a rail employee
lest he be
deluged with questions and also be told by some guy
wearing striped overalls, matching cap with hundreds of
patches all over it, replete with red bandana and "fake"
*railroad* pocke****ch how to do our jobs! Why?
Because they read in one of those fantasy railfan magazines it was supposed
to be done a certain way, and
never mind it had not been so in 40 years! We called the
rainfans--at least the rabid ones-- the National Railway
Hysterical Society because they would become almost beside themselves at the
sight of an old dirty freight train,
and we used to sigh OH NO! when we saw a steam train
on the lineup. The fans would invade the yard/freight office, ignoring "NO
Trespassing" signs, and literally knocking the employees down to "see" that
steam engine.
When I worked for Southern/Norfolk Southern, the Superintendent, on one
occasion, had to literally stop all
train movements in the yard because there were so many
trespassers and call the railroad cops to run 'em out. You
couldn't work for the "foamers" which is one of the names
we called railfans behind their backs. Foamers? Yeah, I
swear some of them foamed at the mouth over a train!
We would mock them mercilessly behind their backs as they stood out in the
RAIN, fer heaven sakes, just to take
a picture of a locomotive. We were getting wet because we HAD to!

I am now thankfully retired (medical). No more getting wet, no more calls
off the Extra Board, no trudging along
in some bitter cold freight yard, and I never see a train unless I happen to
go over a crossing. Hehe! Funny, funny memories...........

73

Jerry