Riding trains and visiting airports: strange hobbies? (crafts, models, watch)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. One loves aviation. He'll go park near runways at large airports and just sit there and watch planes take off and land.
2. Another loves railroads. He'll ride passenger trains for fun on weekends, for short distances. (He lives in a big city with commuter trains and Amtrak.)
Not at all. My wife likes to give me themed Birthdays and one year it was planes trains and automobiles. We drove to Maine for a week of touring and one day we boarded a train and at the end of the line a van picked us up to bring us to the local airport and we went up in a plane for a lighthouse tour of the coast and then it was back to the train for the return trip.
When we travel we will often seek out a train related stop whether it be a museum or a train to ride. Actually the trains are more my interest and my wife goes along with it but I think she secretly enjoys the rides. My biggest hobby is model trains.
Planes and Trains have many fans and they really are amazing works of engineering and enjoying the History of them or enjoying a ride or simply watching them is a great hobby enjoyed by millions of people world wide.
You have interesting friends. Also, I'm jealous of someone who can just ride Amtrak for fun!
I wouldn't call it a hobby, but I adore riding subways and light rails when in cities. On a recent trip to a city that is renowned for its various forms of "old fashioned" public transportation, one of the funnest things we did was just ride various street cars and trolleys and light rails all over the city. So fun. I'm like a dog on a car trip to the park.
For some reason I know a few people who love to take pictures of trains. There is a thing with it's own terminology which I forget now...where they race the train to it's next stop in order to take a picture of it coming in. I do appreciate the work and structure of some of the old engines and cabooses,even the graffiti on some of them, but not as much as these guys.
I used to travel extensively for the government, and my late husband would accompany my whenever it was feasible. One of the trips was to Hawaii. With all of the wonderful scenery available, he went to the local airport. (He did at least take a glider ride though.) There wasn't one trip that he traveled with me that he didn't visit the airport. That man sure loved planes!
I like riding trains for fun. Streetcars and even some buses. It is nice to be able to just sit back and look. Usually I am driving and can't be a looky-loo. I don't get any fun out of going to the airport.
I cannot support this with numbers, but as a life-long railfan let me give impressions of 2018. First of all, modelers far outnumber those interested in ordinary freight and passenger trains. People get a kick out of the craftsmanship of making model towns, etc. Note the interest in the train show at the New York Botanical Garden.
---
Steam and diesel railfans outnumber those interested in multiple-unit electric trains (that is, not hauled by locomotives, but with motors under most coaches). Preservations are hardworking, intense, accurate. We have many rail museums in our country, with a mixture of mostly volunteer and some salaried staff.
---
Those interested in urban rail transit are yet fewer in number. As with the above groups, some rail employees get to be very enthusiastic about their jobs, and these knowledgeable enthusiasts may make up about 25% of railfans.
---
A less numerous but growing group are the bus fans.
---
My trains are not models. They are the 12-car trains of the LIRR that can each whisk 1,300 passengers to Manhattan daily.
---
For a sense of U.S. railroad enthusiasts: http://www.railroad.net/forums/index.php
1. One loves aviation. He'll go park near runways at large airports and just sit there and watch planes take off and land.
2. Another loves railroads. He'll ride passenger trains for fun on weekends, for short distances. (He lives in a big city with commuter trains and Amtrak.)
Is this unusual?
I used to do 1 . Just watch planes and even waited for 747's that used to takeoff/land between 2-4 AM.
And used to take videoes of diesel engines just roasting everything on its way..
Last edited by shanv3; 12-29-2018 at 06:41 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
