I've never been motivated enough to write to TRAINS Magazine's Letters to the Editor section in response to something I read, but their recent issue devoted entirely to the 1970s was such a jolt to all of my fondest memories as a railfan I fired off an email tonight (fingers and toes crossed it gets published). I thought I'd share the body of it here, after reading it over before sending I realized it was a nice summary of how I came to love trains in the 70s even though the decade seems to get looked down on a lot by "old school" railfans, at least in the Northeastern US where I lived. Call it my "railfan raison d'etre", if you will.I am not only a child of the 70s (born right at the beginning of the decade) but a railfan of the 70s as well, and the entire issue hit my memory dead on. My mainstay was spending afternoons with my grandmother watching late PC, early Conrail, Amtrak, and SEPTA action at Moore/Prospect Park station in suburban Philadelphia when the variety was at its peak -- GG1s in PC/Amtrak/CR paint, E44s, MU Metroliners, MP54s, Budd Pioneer MUs still fully lettered for PRR, Alco-powered work trains, rainbow-era CR freight, occasional glimpses of Chessie System paint on the B&O through town -- I saw it all. Holiday trips added to the mix even more. Easter and Thanksgiving were spent in Clarks Summit hoping to catch an EL freight or two coming under the Knapp Road bridge. Someone with the EL in Scranton was always happy to tell Grandmom what was coming through when we were there; I remember looking down the tracks, straining my eyes to see the EL logo coming into view. When the Freedom Train came through Scranton, we all woke up at 4am to run down to the bridge with coats over our PJs just to see it go by, then it was back to sleep for a while before waking up again to go see it in town! Summertime meant camping with my uncle in Thompsontown, and that meant dinner at McDonalds in Harrisburg with a clear view of the Rockville bridge (best view from a McDonalds I've ever seen) and glimpses of Enola and action along Route 22. One day trip to Horseshoe Curve, even in 1975 at PCs weedy nadir, and I was hooked for life. Finally, late August would come and we would spend 2 weeks at the beach in Ocean City, NJ where I was guaranteed at least one sighting of a PRSL RDC, and often at least one ride. By far the highlight of my early railfanning days was a cab ride from Tuckahoe to Cape May and back in 1978 aboard a CR freight pulled by 3 ex-PRSL GP38s in the CR black dip scheme. In spite of the track's condition then, I distinctly remember the speedometer hitting 42mph at one point -- to my young mind it might as well have been 90. I will never forgive myself for not pestering my Dad more to get the film from that trip developed before it was too late, but it sat in his desk drawer for years, never developed. Could that be the railroad equivalent of "Once I caught a fish that was THIS BIG" ?I've always had one thought regarding the decade that the 70s issue just drove home -- it didn't matter if the tracks were weed-choked, the rails were kinked, the company was bankrupt, and the locomotives were battered, belching smoke and wearing peeling paint -- it was still railroading, they were still trains, and they could still capture a young railfans' affection. I am living proof of that.
Mr. F
"I drank WHAT??" --Socrates
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RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, stationmaster, Feb-14-05, 11:38 PM, (1) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, Mr Fuzzums, Feb-15-05, 00:44 AM, (2) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, Gixxer86g, Feb-15-05, 07:04 AM, (3) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, FURX, Feb-15-05, 10:03 AM, (4) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, Mr Fuzzums, Feb-15-05, 06:38 PM, (5) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, thebluecomet, Feb-16-05, 10:52 PM, (6) RE: A 70s railfan manifesto, Mr Fuzzums, Feb-16-05, 11:11 PM, (7)
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Ron
