What made you a transit fan?

[SubwayGuy]

I'm not much of a people person anyway, but after having heard (well read, you know what I mean) about what goes on, on a portion of these r/f trips in posts back on subchat/straphangers, I definitely didn't want to partake in any of the ones that were "broadcasted/plastered" on the transit forums.... that, plus I personally was never big on the photography part of the hobby....

 

I go on the premise that, you're bound to get into some type of trouble, the more people you hang around.... little thing called peer pressure.... others may disagree w/ that, but w/e....

 

plus shit, you get more of what you want done when you're by yourself anyway... hate the feeling of having someone wait on me, and I definitely hate waiting for other people.....

 

Yeah, I can see where r/f-ing w/ others would be more about the people than the actual rides themselves.... way I see it, you don't know these people from a hole in the ground....

 

that's why Solitude is what it boils down to for me.

 

It's very rare something comes along I want to ride or photograph. Most of what I want to do involves working on cars.

 

A lot of railfans get into trouble because they don't know how to carry themselves and several are just mopey idiots who blatantly break the law and the TA's rules in pursuit of their "hobby"

 

I stay away from trips organized by railfans because they are always the same stupid foamy shit.

 

The official trips and special services are better, but it's the non railfans that are the reason why.

[TrainFanatic]

I've never been on those official railfan trips or special services. Hopefully I'll be able to make it on the holiday train in Dec. I do like railfanning, but after an hour or so I start to get bored and want to go home. I don't know how some ppl can do it for almost the whole day.

[KNIGHTRIDER3:16]

I've never been on those official railfan trips or special services. Hopefully I'll be able to make it on the holiday train in Dec. I do like railfanning, but after an hour or so I start to get bored and want to go home. I don't know how some ppl can do it for almost the whole day.

 

If you can get some Empty Bus or Trains to ride on then you can stay longer but I can agree it's hard to enjoy A nice ride when 300 school kids come on or rush hours are pancakes sigh too many people , Well Enjoy what's out there and go check out some Special trips.

[B35 via Church]

It's very rare something comes along I want to ride or photograph. Most of what I want to do involves working on cars.

 

A lot of railfans get into trouble because they don't know how to carry themselves and several are just mopey idiots who blatantly break the law and the TA's rules in pursuit of their "hobby"

 

I stay away from trips organized by railfans because they are always the same stupid foamy shit.

 

The official trips and special services are better, but it's the non railfans that are the reason why.

 

Touche.....

I've also come to that same conclusion....

 

It aint much of a "trip" for me when I can wake up out of my bed, leave the house w/ sleep in my eye, in flip-flop's & a wife beater & pull off the same itineraries some of these dudes post up....

 

 

I've never been on those official railfan trips or special services. Hopefully I'll be able to make it on the holiday train in Dec. I do like railfanning, but after an hour or so I start to get bored and want to go home. I don't know how some ppl can do it for almost the whole day.

 

I can't 'fan in NYC (within the 5 boroughs) for a whole day...

 

However, I've done a couple trips where they took longer than 24 hrs.... 1 of them, I didn't eat anything the whole day.... that's how focused I get sometimes....

 

Best way I can explain it, is....

You kinda sorta (w/ no real intent) condition yourself to do it... not that it's something that you even want to do, but if you've been on a couple of lenghty trips of the sort, you (well, I) go by, how my body feels after taking 'x' amount of buses or whatever.... like, "yeah, I think I can endure about 3-4 more full routes, etc etc"... and then I do what I like to call "the home stretch", where you start to think about once you get back into nyc, after having been OOS (state), what modes do you want to take to get back home - for me, it's usually the express bus... seldom do I take the subway home on a saturday night/sunday morning after a long fantrip ....

 

^^ I know that sounds geeky as all-hell, but aye, it is what it is...

 

 

If you can get some Empty Bus or Trains to ride on then you can stay longer but I can agree it's hard to enjoy A nice ride when 300 school kids come on or rush hours are pancakes sigh too many people , Well Enjoy what's out there and go check out some Special trips.

 

when I used to go fanning between [the time I graduated (college)] & [before I started working], I had this thing where I would ALWAYS leave the house before 7am... I didn't want to run into the rush hour crowd b/c:

 

a] the crowds themselves, and..

b] it made me feel like, yo, these people are going to school, these people are heading to work... and here I am on the same train, hustlin to catch a [MNRR/LIRR train in the opposite of peak direction].... just to bus/railfan....

 

It's an awkward feeling...

 

On the flipside of that, I couldn't just sit @ home checkin out newspapers & sifting through webpages on the internets 4-5 hrs a day, every weekday; sometimes you need to unwind from the stress of searching for a job, and fanning was my way of doing it....

 

real spit....

[East New York]

It all started for me around 1985. My mother said my first word was mommy, and my second word was bus! She said if I heard the sound of one I would run to the window of our appartment screaming "bus," while pointing out the window at the same time. It always amazed her that I would never mix-up the sound of a city bus with a truck, or school bus. New Looks, RTS', and Flxibles were all I knew. I used to catch the latter, along with old MCI MC-9's I think when they were at NJT. I wasn't allowed to ride the subway by myself until around 1997, but I would sneak off and catch an RTS inbetween the times I had to "check in at home." I was allowed to take my first solo bus trip in 1993, when I was just turning 10. I was like, "Mom, you gotta let me go out sometime by myself! I'm 10 years old now. I'm more than half way grown!" I bothered her everyday untill she finally let me go. That was probably one of the best days of my life, and one of the worst for her. LOL. I hung out with B/O's and in depots back before the days of worry about terrorism, and stuff like that. Buy the time I was 15, I knew the ins and outs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. I didn't really get interested in trains until around 2005 when I began to ride R143's daily on the . By the time I was 16, I had been on countless transit systems from here to Sydney, Australia and back! Then I found NYCTF and TTMG(transiTalk) in 2008, and the rest is history!

[LRG]

I've never been on those official railfan trips or special services. Hopefully I'll be able to make it on the holiday train in Dec. I do like railfanning, but after an hour or so I start to get bored and want to go home. I don't know how some ppl can do it for almost the whole day.

 

If I don't have school then I railfan...I've done all five boroughs in one day as well except I only stepped foot in four of them.

[Joe]

I'm not sure what led to me being interested in transit but i've never seen so much grease and dirt in my life before.

[Ftrainfan]

My first ride on the train.(1997)

 

you get the idea...

[Dan05979]

The grafitti era of the 80's drew me in, made me think the subway system was a dark mysterios place.

[St Louis Car 09]

 

The grafitti era of the 80's drew me in, made me think the subway system was a dark mysterios place.

Yeah.Like walking down the train station steps and all you see is dim incadescent bulbs and tags.The real subways!!!

[EE Broadway Local]

I was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in a wonderful transit area - the New York Metropolitan Area.

 

Growing up, two of the places I liked to visit were Greenville at 119 Merritt Street and the Central Avenue IBOA at 297 Communipaw Avenue. It was here I learned buses were called G.M.C. Old Looks and New Looks (Fishbowls).

 

When I was in elementary school, PATH came by and gave a presentation during which they spoke about the danger of the third rail and playing near/on tracks. They showed a short film and distributed courtesy pens. I became hooked.

 

In 1972, I watched my first movie, A Short Walk To Daylight, a television movie about the New York City Subway during an earthquake and featured R1-R9s.

 

I set out to learn the Jersey City bus routes and how to get from Jersey City to Bayonne and to Union City, Weehawken, West New York, Guttenberg, and North Bergen. Unfortunately, a slightly bad incident in Hoboken left a bad impression and it wasn't until the summer of 1990 that I returned (except for weekend trips on PATH which ran via Hoboken). I learned which bus routes served which libraries, especially Greenville, Lafayette, Miller and Hudson City.

 

I remember I was blessed to take at least one ride on the then Central Avenue IBOA, Bergen Avenue IBOA, Montgomery And West Side, Lafayette And Greenville, Downtown Bus Company (#5/6, #31), North Boulevard Transportation Company, South Boulevard Bus Owners Association, Transport Of New Jersey #7 and #9. I learned Broadway was served by an IBOA, that Avenue C was served by the #14 and #14X, that Palisade Avenue was served by the #44 and #99 and that Summit Avenue was served by the #16 and #18. Trips to New York City added an occaisional treat ride on the then North Boulevard #5 via the Lincoln Tunnel to PABT.

 

Trips to New York City got me hooked on PATH, subways, the M10, M9 and especially the B67 and Mr. Jackie Gleason Depot (formerly the Fifth Avenue Depot).

 

In the summer of 1988, I purchased my very first-ever subway book, Uptown Downtown A Trip Through Time On New York's Subways for $12.95 at City Books on Chambers Street.

 

That summer, I made my very first-ever ride out to the Rockaways, on a R27-R30 train to Beach 116th Street-Rockaway Park. The following summer, I took an train to Mott Avenue-Far Rockaway. The Rockaways (especially Far Rockaway, Arverne, Broad Channel and Rockaway Park) became a favorite place. I also took my very first-ever ride out to Dyre Avenue on an R26 train and became interested in the Dyre Avenue line.

 

I fell in love with our transit museum and especially with the R36 WF car in aquamarine and cream and the R1-9 car.

 

And there was Princelex, a person we called "The Patron Saint" of The Bronx I.R.T.. He knew all about the and in The South Bronx but also about the (2)70(8) and even the .

[gtNovaBusRTS9369]

Well in my case I don't know. Maybe my liking for classic NYC sounds maybe? I remember sometimes when my dad would sometimes both on weekends & afterschool would take me on the Q9 (Green Lines) to Jamaica. Most of the Time it would be GMC RTS. Then there was the buses such as their GMC's & Nova's RTS (Sometimes) on the Q83 & later on the Q5 & Q85. Then I got interested in the Subway in 2006 when taking an R46 on the . Plus maybe an R32 on the as well. Good Times they were:tup::cool:

[R160]

I took the trains everywhere when I was younger except school and I live two blocks from the train and I can always seem them from my backyard and roof.

[B35 via Church]

My first ride on the train.(1997)

 

you get the idea...

 

yeah, I get the idea.

 

you haven't stopped foaming since !

 

 

And there was Princelex, a person we called "The Patron Saint" of The Bronx I.R.T.. He knew all about the and in The South Bronx but also about the and even the

not goin lie...

 

when I saw the name "Princelex", I thought you were talkin about dude on the forum here... lol...

[checkmatechamp13]

I thought so too. IIRC, he does live in the Bronx.

[IRT Bronx Express]

I started to collect Bronx bus maps in 1998, then bus schedules afterwards, and later subway maps. Unfortunately, I don't have any old maps before late 2002 anymore. I still collect the 3, but since I can always download them on the MTA site, it's somewhat rare for me to grab a bus schedule and the maps themselves, unless they get anupdated version.

 

The subway transit used to be unique with different fleets running around at various places, and I enjoyed that at a young age. I did ride some of them, and the other half, I never did. The NTTs however ruined the uniqueness and everything looks the same now. The only good thing I like about the NTTs are the LED signs, but other than that, if there were a slanted version of the R143/160s, then I'd enjoy it very much.

[error46146]

for me, it was the RFW, BVE and Photography...

 

As long as i can remember the first thing id do when get on a train is to run up to the RFW (slants on the west end B ftw)..

 

I discovered BVE about 6-7 years ago, and later started developing for it..

 

To be totally honest, now, the NYC subway has lost its appeal (it just isn't what it used to be anymore), most of the trains look exactly the same (soon it'll be all of them) on top of the fact I've pretty much seen the entire subway (except woodlawn) and now im just in it for the photo ops lol

 

As for fantrips, I still never been inside a bus depot or train yard or rode a MoD train or other special fantrip lol

[Q Broadway Express]

I was introduced to PATH and the subway at an early age by my parents. I can remember railfanning in March 1978 when I was fifteen years old.

[KK 6 Ave Local]

Not sure if this counts as a bump, but I was made a train fan by either Thomas the Tank Engine (11/10 would watch again) or just looking at a train and deciding "Hey this is fascinating!"

[MassTransitHonchkrow]

The connected nature of public transit makes it a great place to see new people, places and approaches.

Obviously, not everyone does transit as badly as the nation's largest.

Historically, I've been socially inward and public transit gives me an opportunity to stride outside my comfort zone.

It keeps me sharp and punctual.

It's a great stand-in for vehicle ownership, which is as expensive and convoluted as registering to vote.

[FamousNYLover]

I was not born as transit fan, but I think I became obsess with bus and train when I started taking  M15 LTD during my Simon Baruch JHS afterschool since my mom thought subway was unsafe for me.  Then during summer school for Simon Baruch in different school on 25th St, I stopped taking Mad Av bus and  train.

Then during HSES, I started taking M31 bus since my house was last stop on M31. Then started taking subway again.

Then I got interest after meeting Trevor from ttmg, Forest Glen when we had transitfan trip thru New Jersey. I think @Matthew was in it too.

[Union Tpke]

I just have always been a transit fan. No reason why.

[Airplanepilotgod8888]

I became interested in transit and how subways and train systems worked at an early age. I'm more of an Avgeek, but the railfan is still in me.  

[Missabassie]

On 12/24/2019 at 8:39 PM, Union Tpke said:

I just have always been a transit fan. No reason why.

Same here.

[alleyquit]

Love to visit one place to another.