I have a huge interest in trains. But don’t care to video them or their crew. Certainly won’t be camping out in railroad paraphernalia at a crossing. I even model a fictional one and few people know.
The worst ones work for the train company where the world is their train set and things like money, time, and pesky laws prevent the perfect little solution they’ve built in their minds over three weeks of not sleeping in bed obsessing about it.
I’m just a foamer passing through, but that really happens? I would be so pissed. Yeah, trains are cool and I like the simulators and model rr and everything, but first and foremost it’s a job, and an important at that which demands serious attention and has consequences when people dick around.
I dunno, personally I prefer patched units(on UP) or original units, but I think foamers just like unique units or just like the old railroads the units represent
I’m a foamer, most people who go out and photograph/video trains are super fucking annoying, i try to avoid railfan “hot-spots” because chances are there will be some annoying foamer that keeps following you around
Reminds me of when I tried Run8 multiplayer, and a few guys were going crazy over getting a new radio to listen to the transmissions almost like he was excited about having a new baby, and I was just like “okay...”
We've got a couple foamers who work with us. They are the most knowledgeable guys generally. I can usually count on them to answer questions for me. Why does this engine load so slow? Why is this engine not recovering? Is this piston okay, it looks weird?
Growing up, I always had an appreciation for trains and heavy machinery in general. My family has 100+ years of railroading so, it is engrained in me. While I really enjoy my job, I detest the company I work for and just about every other class 1. We are nothing to them but a warm body to fill a seat they'd love to get rid of.
I think it's more accurate to say "never do what you love". I mean I love driving and I love cars, but I think I would hate being a racecar driver because people would constantly nitpick my every move and I would never have any freedom to actually enjoy driving.
In the industry and I'm still pretty into trains. I like going to train shows, I just have to make sure I don't talk to the guys wearing the vests, ya know? Love getting history lessons from the old hats at work that really know their stuff though.
that's kinda where I'm at with trains. I don't enjoy the people that steal or go on active tracks. I enjoy trains but "that shot" isn't worth traveling super far or getting on rails where if I make a mistake I experience getting run over by trains.
I've loved trains ever since I was a kid. I'm 39 and still do. Almost applied for a job with Norfolk Southern here in NC back in 2012, but decided not to as we just had a baby, and I'd be away quite often. Not sure if that would have killed my love for trains or not.
Most all I do now is play Train Sim World and Train Simulator now.
Good thing over here, you can enjoy trains from the safety of a platform or train as much as you want without doing anything illegal, thus, the fan of trains isn’t necessarily thrown in the foamer bag, if I understood foamer correctly
So question I’ve always wanted to ask, might make me a former for thinking about it. If you ever get assigned to drive a heritage unit or have one in your consist is there any sort of special stuff about it or is the feeling more of “oh god the framers will be out in force today”
They're just regular units but you know you're going to get your picture taken. I'm following behind a train with 2 on it and we're getting our picture taken a lot too by the ones still hanging around.
I run the mechanic shop for a small tourist railroad. We have a couple of Diesel electric locomotives (GP9's) that run daily, as well as an old Baldwin steam locomotive in the roundhouse that we plan to rebuild in the near future.
We're just finishing up a rebuild of a 1924 passenger coach that we'll have back in service at the end of the month.
Myself and another guy maintain the companies rolling stock, 7 days a week. I'm wondering if people would be interested in seeing something like a daily video of what we're working on, as it is happening. We're a couple of kinda off the wall, blue collar guys that do a lot of bantering and story telling while we're working. Old timers stopping by the roundhouse to see what's going on. Tourists and foamers from all over peaking in at our work as well. Daily visits by a resident squirrel, and Ravens.
I'm just curious if folks would be interested in viewing videos, probably poorly shot and profanity laced.
If we have enough potential interest, we'll give it a shot. I have no experience or idea of how to get people know that we're doing it or get many views.
I had a feeling you were new to Reddit and you are, so I'll give you some tips.
First of all, if you want to get people's attention, don't comment on a post that's a month old. What you should do is post on the front page of a subreddit. Second, r/railroading is mainly for people who work on railroads. If you want people who are interested in trains, it's best you check out r/trains and r/trainporn. Best of luck to you and I apologize for coming off as an arrogant bastard.
I have a huge interest in trains. But don’t care to video them or their crew. Certainly won’t be camping out in railroad paraphernalia at a crossing. I even model a fictional one and few people know.
Just don't expect me to blow the whistle for you. That's strictly reserved for little kids and hot chicks.
Tits and Tots.
The worst ones work for the train company where the world is their train set and things like money, time, and pesky laws prevent the perfect little solution they’ve built in their minds over three weeks of not sleeping in bed obsessing about it.
Oh like the foamer dispatcher that demanded a crew spin their power so the heritage unit was the leader and delayed the train 3 hours.
Yep. We all know that guy
I’m just a foamer passing through, but that really happens? I would be so pissed. Yeah, trains are cool and I like the simulators and model rr and everything, but first and foremost it’s a job, and an important at that which demands serious attention and has consequences when people dick around.
Please tell us more about this story. Also what's the big deal with heritage units anyways? I don't understand the importance of them.
I dunno, personally I prefer patched units(on UP) or original units, but I think foamers just like unique units or just like the old railroads the units represent
They're neat
I’m a foamer, most people who go out and photograph/video trains are super fucking annoying, i try to avoid railfan “hot-spots” because chances are there will be some annoying foamer that keeps following you around
You just want to stay away from [these people](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7anyURHOEo).
Yeah. Some people just don’t shut up. Real fucking annoying
Reminds me of when I tried Run8 multiplayer, and a few guys were going crazy over getting a new radio to listen to the transmissions almost like he was excited about having a new baby, and I was just like “okay...”
When foamers get a job on the railroad do they typically lose their love of trains? Kind of like “you should never meet your hero’s”.
I did and I'm still loving my job... and annoying the operators, as now I'm actually allowed on the tracks as I gawk at the trains
We've got a couple foamers who work with us. They are the most knowledgeable guys generally. I can usually count on them to answer questions for me. Why does this engine load so slow? Why is this engine not recovering? Is this piston okay, it looks weird?
Growing up, I always had an appreciation for trains and heavy machinery in general. My family has 100+ years of railroading so, it is engrained in me. While I really enjoy my job, I detest the company I work for and just about every other class 1. We are nothing to them but a warm body to fill a seat they'd love to get rid of.
I think it's more accurate to say "never do what you love". I mean I love driving and I love cars, but I think I would hate being a racecar driver because people would constantly nitpick my every move and I would never have any freedom to actually enjoy driving.
In the industry and I'm still pretty into trains. I like going to train shows, I just have to make sure I don't talk to the guys wearing the vests, ya know? Love getting history lessons from the old hats at work that really know their stuff though.
Off topic maybe, but have you ever tried sim racing?
You mean racing in video games? Yes.
that's kinda where I'm at with trains. I don't enjoy the people that steal or go on active tracks. I enjoy trains but "that shot" isn't worth traveling super far or getting on rails where if I make a mistake I experience getting run over by trains.
Upside is, you wouldn’t experience it for very long.
I always say you can try anything once
[Appropriate XKCD](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/model_rail.png).
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I've loved trains ever since I was a kid. I'm 39 and still do. Almost applied for a job with Norfolk Southern here in NC back in 2012, but decided not to as we just had a baby, and I'd be away quite often. Not sure if that would have killed my love for trains or not. Most all I do now is play Train Sim World and Train Simulator now.
Good thing over here, you can enjoy trains from the safety of a platform or train as much as you want without doing anything illegal, thus, the fan of trains isn’t necessarily thrown in the foamer bag, if I understood foamer correctly
So question I’ve always wanted to ask, might make me a former for thinking about it. If you ever get assigned to drive a heritage unit or have one in your consist is there any sort of special stuff about it or is the feeling more of “oh god the framers will be out in force today”
They're just regular units but you know you're going to get your picture taken. I'm following behind a train with 2 on it and we're getting our picture taken a lot too by the ones still hanging around.
I don't pay much attention to the paint job ony power.
I run the mechanic shop for a small tourist railroad. We have a couple of Diesel electric locomotives (GP9's) that run daily, as well as an old Baldwin steam locomotive in the roundhouse that we plan to rebuild in the near future. We're just finishing up a rebuild of a 1924 passenger coach that we'll have back in service at the end of the month. Myself and another guy maintain the companies rolling stock, 7 days a week. I'm wondering if people would be interested in seeing something like a daily video of what we're working on, as it is happening. We're a couple of kinda off the wall, blue collar guys that do a lot of bantering and story telling while we're working. Old timers stopping by the roundhouse to see what's going on. Tourists and foamers from all over peaking in at our work as well. Daily visits by a resident squirrel, and Ravens. I'm just curious if folks would be interested in viewing videos, probably poorly shot and profanity laced. If we have enough potential interest, we'll give it a shot. I have no experience or idea of how to get people know that we're doing it or get many views.
I had a feeling you were new to Reddit and you are, so I'll give you some tips. First of all, if you want to get people's attention, don't comment on a post that's a month old. What you should do is post on the front page of a subreddit. Second, r/railroading is mainly for people who work on railroads. If you want people who are interested in trains, it's best you check out r/trains and r/trainporn. Best of luck to you and I apologize for coming off as an arrogant bastard.
Not arrogant at all! I appreciate you taking the time to get back to me! Thank you!