Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!

On JUNE 20,1984 I had the biggest thrill of my life. I was allowed to ride in the cab of a 6 axile Union pacific engine 3/4 of a mile down the track. Two weeks later on July 6,1984 i met the same engineer again and he allowed me to do the same thing! They were stopped at a siding both times on the Soo Line in Bettendorf,Iowa wating for another train to go thru. The engineer looked out and saw me standing there , a conversation started which each time led to me being invited in to the engine. I was so excited i was shaking, this was one of my most exciting moments in my 21 and half years of rail fanning. Mike M.

Peck Park Galesburg, Illinois

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RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, SVTS, Nov-18-04, 07:07 AM, (1) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, henry3, Nov-18-04, 11:14 AM, (2) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, shoskins, Nov-18-04, 11:22 AM, (3) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, Grimace780, Nov-18-04, 01:46 PM, (4) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, westerngy, Nov-18-04, 04:46 PM, (5) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, NewEnglandRailFan, Nov-18-04, 08:47 PM, (6) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, Jonatan, Nov-18-04, 09:27 PM, (7) RE: Big Thrill on 6/20/84 and 7/6/84!!!!!, mjs2101, Nov-19-04, 06:45 PM, (8)

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Riding in the cab for 3/4 of a mile is thought to have been the greatest moment in nearly 22 years of railfanning? Yikes.....I guess I should feel pretty lucky, I am only been a serious railfan since October 2001 after my first trip to Tehachapi, and not even 2 years later, and me and a good friend of mine got a cabride from Bena up to the loop. About 3 hours of of the best 30 miles of mountain railroading.Chris Bogley
Syracuse New York

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>Riding in the cab for 3/4 of a mile is thought to have been
>the greatest moment in nearly 22 years of railfanning?
>Yikes..... Consider yourself lucky.Due to the times, circumstances and increasingly litigous nature of society, I suspect most North American railfans have never set foot inside a locomotive cab. And I imagine that the chances of doing so have gotten appreciably worse since 9/11....Henry

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My grandfather was an engineer on the New Haven, so from a very young age I got a lot of cab rides in...must have ridden the cab of each and every New Haven FL-9 and EP-5 there was, and only one of their GP9's (my grandfather told another engineer to take me for a ride on a local freight...)And then when I moved to Long Island at 10 years old, I started hanging around the LIRR, and before long every engineer around was giving me cab rides in their C420's, RS3's, and S2 switchers. Funny thing was, after being away fro LI for about 10 years or so, I went back one week, ran intoone of my engineer friends working a SW1001 on a switch job, and he said "Come on up! Where ya been for 10 years?" So I got to ride while dragging strings of coaches out of the LIC yard through the wash rack near Hunterspoint Avenue for the afternoon (yes, the LIRR did wash the trains believe it or not...) Moved to the west coast and politely struck up conversation with many engineers out here, mostly on the SP, and got plenty of cab rides on H24-66's, GP9's, FP7's and SDP45's (that ought to narrow down where it was happening...) Even got to ride an SD39 from Bakersfield to Tehachapi once....And the cab riding hasn't stopped. Won't say where, when, or what type engines, but in the past month alone have gotten two cab rides on Amtrak.I've gotten so many cab rides, it just isn't exciting any more. Nowadays it's more of a thing to enjoy the company of, and engage in interesting conversation with, friends who are engineers. Cabr ides are actually VERY boring when you do them so often.

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Like a lot of things, it is a thrill if it only happens once in a while but boring if it happens all of the time.I have been in the cab of a loco only once. It was a steam locomotive at a museum. It was smaller than I expected but it gave me an appreciation of what is essentially a boiler on wheels. I also realized I am in no shape for the fireman's job. Cheers,
Gary Cameron
Grande Prairie "The last civilized stop before Alaska," AB
Canada

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-04 AT 04:47 PM (EST)

My first cabride came when I was 11.I rodein the cab of a F unit on the Super Continental( CNR) from Edmonton to Edson.I was hooked.In later yrs I've had cabrides from different folks on BCRail and have never forgotten the workers on that family friendly railroad.Yes times change and favourite RR's get taken over and the larger RR's inforce there habits but the BCR still has some of the friendliest crews around.
I've meet some great people on other RR's but not the family atmosphere that prevailed at BCRail
Just Rollin Down The Tracks

Dale

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My first cabride was when I was about 5. I had just got into trains and my dad brought me up to the Housatonic RR garage in Canaan, CT. We met the crews and talked for a while and watched them switch the 5 GP35's and at the time one GP9 into the shops. One engineer said to be down in Falls Village (the next town south on the line) the next day at 5:00. Sure enough, he stopped, let us in and we both rode up to Canaan with the crew of train NX-11, about four or five miles. (your never too young to start learning train symbols ). Sence then, its a regular accurance, and has still never worn off.Aaah, the advantages of living next to a short line
-Dave

You can e-mail me at davej8010@aol.com -or- hrrc_7324@yahoo.com -or- feel free to aim me.

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My biggest thrill was when I actually got to run and fire a steam loco 22nd August this year, whoopie! Have a diploma to prove it./JonatanSteam rules!

Train gifs from Dans Railroad Gif RoundhouseNever trust computers. If you do, they will betray you.I'm the steam freak, ph34r me!!

My E-mail jonatan.gronoset@telia.com

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WOW, you can remember the dates! That is pretty good.My first (or one of the first) cab rides I had was in a Southern SD-38 - long hood forward of course - pulling a rail grinding train. Sadly I was pretty young and don't remember much about it other than it being very exciting. I also got a cab ride in one of Allegheny Centrals pacifics (ex-CP I think) during the late 70's and it stinks being a steam fan and not being able to remember much about this one!Unfortunately it looks as if being able to get cab rides these days will be pretty difficult without knowing the employees in a particular area and signing a mountain of paper work. At least we have memories of the good ole days! Mykel

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