For once, let's try for some discussion that is potentially informative and certainly interesting. Or we can name call and anonymously post more vitriol. I prefer the former, so…

There was an interesting article in a recent Trains issue that hit the nail on the head on the subject of younger fans in my mind. Sadly, the very magazine that published the article probably won't heed the advice (they are too busy writing the same damn Amtrak/high speed rail articles monthly to notice the article's significance, but I digress).

Anyway, the point of the article was simple but true in my mind: "if you weren't alive to see it, you simply aren't that interested in it". Granted, it's an oversimplification, but a valid point nonetheless.

Take me for an example. I am 27 and my earliest train memories are from Donner in the 1980s. If I could shoot an SD 45 with its full light package oscillating or a cab forward pulling out of tunnel 6 on Donner, I go with the SD 45.

Now think about yourself and what you are most interested in on the RR. Odds are it was what you just barely caught a glimpse of in your youth. I am not a psychologist and won't even begin to analyze why this is the case with railfans, but it is a common theme amongst all of us and it is likely why we are out there shooting or at least why we got into shooting originally: we can't recapture our childhood memories, but we can capture things still in use today before they are gone.


Second, maybe it's cuz I am younger, have a life with many interests beyond trains, etc. but I just don't give a s&%t about the flame wars on here, hate for TO, etc. The same is true for many younger fans that laugh at the "experts", foamers, know-it-alls, etc. on here and other sites. Keep it up. You are just being laughed at by a large percentage of us fellas.

In reality, this is a hobby that won't die because simply because since trains have been around, people have always been fascinated by them! You can't change this human interest no matter how much the machines alter in form and function.

For example, in the last 6 months living in Davis, I have met three different railfans aged 7 to 14 and all are fascinated by trains. None had heard of TO, this message board, probably could care less about all these excursions, etc. BUT they were all shooting video and posting to youtube.

Long story short, this hobby will not die, it will only transform. I hope Trains and other publications as well as preservation societies take note, or indeed they will suffer the same fate of steam: a gradual decline on a slippery slope simply because it has outlived its usefulness.