A train fan today is the same, someone with a passion about trains, railroads, the history, the scale, the industrial might, the joy of travel, and the experience of the people, places, technology, and complexity of railroading. That hasn't changed, but the level of exposure and experience of that world has changed.

Some of that world has disappeared, and is ever changing. Some of that world is being made anew, even as this is written. It is a "hobby" interested in a brilliant human endeavor that has lead us into and transformed the modern world we live in, and is a microcosm and reflection of that world, and the possibilities in it. It is a love of trains, and what they represent, mobility, freedom, and our place in a modern world, where we came from and where we are going, and a technology and culture we have created to take us there.

Trains, and being a train fan, are about our sense of wonder in a world of wonders come alive in each of us.