Murphy's Law and Railfanning

Is it just me, or does it seem that when rare sights show up on the rails (like foreign power) that your camera is unavailable, or the lighting conditions are too poor, or you screw up the shot, or some other thing?Jonathan Nikiforovs.
Milepost 180, CP Belleville Sub.Repainter for Yonder Locomotive Works.

"A crictic is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased - he hates all creative people equally." - Lazarus Long

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RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, IcyFire, Nov-23-03, 00:35 AM, (1) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, csxt602, Nov-23-03, 01:40 AM, (2) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, BNSF4999, Nov-23-03, 02:22 AM, (3) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, smp11512, Nov-23-03, 03:07 AM, (4) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, SVTS, Nov-23-03, 10:20 AM, (5) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, sawblade5, Nov-23-03, 11:43 AM, (6) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, shoskins, Nov-24-03, 03:07 PM, (12) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, CGW409, Nov-23-03, 11:47 AM, (7) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, JonN, Nov-23-03, 10:05 PM, (8) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, parailfan312, Nov-24-03, 00:51 AM, (9) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, smp11512, Nov-24-03, 00:53 AM, (10) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, John 136 6000 GO, Nov-24-03, 09:19 AM, (11) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, West_Coast_Railroader, Nov-28-03, 04:16 AM, (13) RE: Murphy's Law and Railfanning, Dokkensound, Nov-28-03, 07:27 AM, (14)

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I tend to go, and Rails break, MOW is busy, or traffic is just minimal, For the record, Single track foaming blows

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Or the best lashup of the day comes 10 minutes after sunset (like today's K650 northbound Juice Train down on the RF&P)!Chris Denbow - Baltimore, MD
TKW Paintshop Technician

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And as if the above things arent true enough...how many of you have noticed that if you sit for an hour and see nothing then meander into the hobby shop across the street as soon as you get inside you here a bunch go by, so, figuring its busy you go back but then its dead again? Happens to me ALL the time!
And yes, you never have the camera when you need it!

Kevin V.

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-23-03 AT 03:08 AM (EST)

Or you just happen to be visiting someone and they take you too a pool that is right near a RR track and UP's 2001 comes rolling by at 10 MPH while your playing Mini Golf with NO CAMERA ( Ok so there aren't many like that )
Shane Palus
BNSF Railfan

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My biggest kick in the butt always seems to be when I think there will be no more trains for a while, even though I have waited an hour with not one yet, as soon as I leave, bamm, here they come! This has happened just about every where I have railfanned.Chris Bogley
tailsnrails@hotmail.com
Syracuse New York
www.tailsnrails.com

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How about seeing a Coaster F-40 in the BNSF Argintine Yard, only to find it gone when you come back with the camera. It is very weird to find a locomotive like that in Kansas City.

Chris Knight
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>How about seeing a Coaster F-40 in the BNSF Argintine Yard,
>only to find it gone when you come back with the camera. It
>is very weird to find a locomotive like that in Kansas City. Yes, it is a tad odd...Coaster 2102 made a trip back to Indiana to be overhauled recently. It should be coming back west after the first of the year, at which time 2101 willbe making the same trip.So keep your eyes out and camera ready!!!

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Chris
There was a story related in Trains magazine about 20 years ago by a raifan who was trying to get pictures of the NYC's 4-8-4 Niagra class steam engines in their last days of operation.
He told of how he'd borrowed the family car, drove the distance(IIRC)about 2 hours from home and set up to photograph NYC trains but particularly to get one of the last Niagras.
As he spent the better part of the day with nothing but diesels going by and light soon to be fading,he started to get ready to pack it in and head home when he noticed that the signals had just lined for a westbound and decided he had time for one more train,since there was a curve east of his posistion he couldn't see the train approach but when he heard an air horn thought that it was yet another diesel powered train and hopped in the car and drove away only to see the Niagra roll by in his rearview mirror apparently he was unaware that the Niagra was equipped with both whistle and horn.
Talk about Mr. MurphyGary S

"Some say this country's just out for a fight. After 9/11 man I'd have to say thats right"
"Have You Forgotten"
Darryl Worley

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Happened again to me a 4 hours ago(grr...)! A shiny UP AC4400CTE (complete with the "Building America" paint scheme) rolled through on a CP train, but it was too dark to get a picture.Jonathan Nikiforovs.
Milepost 180, CP Belleville Sub.Repainter for Yonder Locomotive Works.

"A crictic is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased - he hates all creative people equally." - Lazarus Long

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What usually has happened with me is that I'll pull away from my train-watching spot to answer the call of nature or some other reason...and just as I get to where I am going, guess what I hear? A train whistle. Drives me nuts and my chauffeur (a/k/a my Mom) never seems to get why. Oh well. She's not a railfan. *sighs*Too busy to check out anything this weekend or past week, but I'm looking forward to going out for a little bit of railfanning in the next day or two and also next Saturday. It seems that Saturdays are especially busy on the NS Harrisburg Line...but so is night and it takes scheduling to get trackside at night when you don't drive...Keep safe, everyone!

Tim Herman (parailfan312)
MP 98 - Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line
Hershey, PA USA

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LOL Yeah , me and my mom have something going for just that , We always Pretend to leave so the trains will come Sometimes it work
Shane Palus
BNSF Railfan

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Or how about seeing a CN train with a BNSF loco as it's second unit while I'm on my way to my lousy (rotten hours and very low pay) job. no camera, no time, and if I did have them, the shot would have been very difficult without a telephoto.Last week came by the CN Level crossing at Blair Street S. (in Whitby, JonN will know that one) and found some clean up going on beside the spur that runs down to towards Whitby harbour (used to feed coal to the long-defunct pumping station). Excavator-type machine with a business end that looked like the head of a Tyranosaurus Rex was chewing up debris in the field besid the track - some of the debris looked like it might be the remains of a box-car. Now one near enough to talk to. Drove down to Watson, where the spur line crosses the road and found a tanker car parked on the track just beside the road, ladder to the loading hatches more than a little bit askew, and the ends somewhat damaged, and hoses lying around. This gaurded by a guy in in CN Emergency Response pickup truck who pointed to his hands-free headset and his radio when I approached. Again no camera, and by the time I returned it would have been too dark. And I had missed the main event. The timbers where the track crosses Blair St show signs of damage as of derailed wheels crossing the road. Never did find out what actually happened.CheersJohn

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-28-03 AT 04:18 AM (EST)

I seen a few "strangers" to the Vancouver area, all this past summer.1.SOO SD60M with a CP AC4400CW
2.Wisconsin Central GP38 with a CN SD60F
3.Conrail C40-8BW with BNSF Dash 9's
4.Union Pacific SD50's (leaser units - NEFX) with BN,SF SD40-2's
5.different leaser units like HLCX CEFX
6.CSX SD50 with BNSF Dash 9
7.Norfolk Southern Dash 9 with BNSF/Santa Fe Dash 9'sCouldn't get the Norfolk Southern unit because it was in a yard and behind a cut of cars.
Wisconsin Central I got on film not digital...beside it was shot from the wrong side on a sunny evening.the others I do have photos of.
Theodore Webster
Port Moody,BC
CPR Cascade SubdivisionAmateur Photographer,Railfan,Train-SimmerWhen near the tracks expect the unexpected.

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Yeah, what we do is stop all the trains in the sidings until you leave or it gets dark and then turn them loose!! Just kidding but yeah, I remember feeling that way sometimes. I'd sit trackside for two hours and see nothing, then go home and hear the horns blowing the nearest crossing.Cheers, Rob

Dokkensound
Train Artisan
Lighting & Sound

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