Become a Railfan
Are you a railway enthusiast? If you want to become a big railfan, one key to the process is trainspotting.
Steps
- Research trains. To be a real rail enthusiast, you'll want to understand what you're talking about. Do some research into the development, history, and current state of train travel.
- Make sure you read up on what kinds of trains you can spot in your local area, too. Once you get an idea of what you might be able to see, you'll be ready for some trainspotting.
- Get together with other train enthusiasts. The railway actually has a lot of fans, and people with this common interest enjoy getting together for activities ranging from taking photographs of trains to collecting/setting up model railroads to trainspotting itself.
- Go trainspotting. Start out by picking a day you are free for around an hour to two hours. The train may take a while to pass by; in the mean time, you can play a game while you wait.
- Find a good location. You'll obviously want to be by a train track, but it's also ideal to find an area with a good view of the whole train. Make sure it's legal for you to stand where you do, since you don't want to trespass in the process.
- Wait for the train. Try looking for signs a train may be coming by. Looking at the signals; if it is red then there is no train coming from the direction it is facing. If it is yellow congratulations, now the real show starts! You can also try checking your local train schedules so that you can know when trains are likely to pass by.
- Watch the train as it goes by. When you see the train pass, it may look best to wave to the train engineer. Try also to review the train - see if you can spot what kind it is.
- Keep records of the trains you see. If you're interested in keeping track of your train "finds," take some notes so that you can identify the train. Some railfans like to keep records of what they've seen so that they can try to get a full "collection" and spot all the local possibilities.
Tips
- Try to get a CB Radio; it would work best to find out if a train is coming.
Warnings
- If you want to go rail fanning stand a safe distance form the tracks.
- If you use a CB Radio to find out when a train is coming, you are not allowed to talk to the train engineers. You can get in trouble for talking to them, but listening is usually okay.
Things You'll Need
- CB Radio (Optional)
