My five stages of railfanning: 1) Go on bike rides near railroads, begin to watch trains 2) Bring plane spotting camera on next bike ride, take pictures of trains 3) Quit plane spotting 4) During free time, research local spots to see trains to get unique shots 5) Ride commuter rail or Amtrak to different towns to see different trains. So far I'm having fun and probably won't "quit" anytime soon. I'm also still in college.
You forgot stage 6, getting absolutely hooked on railfanning again and trying to find friends that are also railfans again after being out of the community for years, while other aspects of your life suffer you are just trying to chase that initial high again by going out like every weekend lol In all seriousness this is way too accurate and this is some top tier content, I've been railfanning for over a decade now and your channel is super unique in terms of presentation, I hope for nothing but the best for you moving forward. Your content honestly makes my day sometimes :) Still Merry Christmas and here's to 2024 hopefully being a good year for railfans lol
"Not even accurate" this exact story happened to me, i got into railfanning i was in the fanbase for a while then i left the fanbase for cars, rejoined less than a year later and now im uploading my own content,
I only really started in the hobby because of inspiration from many Railfan channels I view, not to mention I was already 19 when I started and I regret not going sooner. At one point early on I was really considering to just give up because nothing was passing by, but I later got over it and continued.(really, I’ve actually cried out of frustration of no trains of any kind passing through) Shortly after continuing I encountered my first special unit. Most of my life I wasn’t even familiar with the whole Railfan thing and naturally got into trains thanks to TTTE, and binge watched several classic videos on YT at the time. As the years went by I kinda lost interest and began focusing on other things, in recent years I would go back to it. I have no care for money and have no plans to monetize in the future, all of my Railfan vids are for plain old fun.
I honestly had no plans to ever monetize but I kind of figured it's a good idea once I reached the threshold, at least just to save up some extra money to help pay for gas and stuff to help get me to different locations and have even more fun. In my opinion, it never hurts to have a hobby that helps pay for itself
Haha, thanks OMK, I will try! It can be a little tricky to come up with ideas all the time but I'm trying to put them out at least once a week. Merry Christmas!
My first phase was that my dad got me into the hobby. He also told me later on that I shouldn't be complaining about the same GEVO's or unit trains since all he saw back then were just the same EMD's or box car consists.
I have been casually watching and observing trains since i was a kid but only started filming and photographing trains a few years ago, as trains became duller and duller i began taking more and more pictures instead of just watching as i think it adds to the fun and photography/filmography is something really fun to do on its own. 10 years ago, i really went out for trains because i found interest in it, but as of now, i go mostly because of the interest in photographing them rather than in seeing actual trains... How long until i reach stage IV? I guess when i will run out of shots and ideas hahaha Merry christmas and happy holidays!
Bro this is actually so accurate. Literally it all started out as me looking at trains. Then filming them. Then posting them to TH-cam. Then quitting. And now I have recently regained the passion for railfanning
That list pretty much sums up my journey: Stage 1: been into trains since I was little. Stage 2: and Stage 3, which happened at the same time: used a phone to record and upload it to youtube and although I didn't become a foamer, I do like to be quiet when filming. Stage 4: although it looks like I'm quitting, I'm not. I haven't gotten to go out as much because of busy schedules and personal life. Also, the railfan spots I usually go to, I can't access that anymore. Stage 5: Haven't made it that far lol
I saw my second heritage unit 2 days after my first (Lehigh Valley). I wasn't expecting it and my inner foamer was activated. (I began screaming like hell)
Heck yeah buddy another awesome video! I will never quit unless I get extremely bored lol. I’m glad I got my TH-cam name the way it is now, it’s unique and not a common name like productions or something lol. Just my favorite railroad and my first name. The crazy thing is the only reason I tried TH-cam was because I had no internet at my house and was super bored.
I watched Thomas when I’m 2 years old stays the same for about a few years like actual Lotus he likes Thomas and is old enough to appreciate the more mature elements now
I’ve always had a fascination with railways since I was like 5 or 6, but only around a year ago I started filming train and posting them, before that I did some train spotting (British version of railfanning), no pictures most of the time, just watching the stuff go by, like my 2nd proper train spotting video ended up being the best performing video of mine, how? I don’t have a clue, but I did enjoy uploading and trainspotting quite a bit so I just continued, and now I’m at a point where I think I’ve done well for myself with this whole thing, and I’m probably gonna continue for a while
I started out sitting by the tracks when I was a kid, then got a camera for Christmas. I started filming in 2012 (at least that's my oldest surviving videos) and gradually progressed. My channel name is just my name. 100 percent agree about the most boring stuff getting lots of views, P42s get lots of views on my shorts while unrebuilt SD40-2s and even HUs are ignored. The only times I quit was when I couldn't physically railfan (injuries, car trouble, etc.). Anyway, great video as always.
2:46 OH MY GOD IM GONNA TEAR UP you don't realize how much nostalgia this song brings to me. in 2016 i uploaded my very first youtube video, and it had this song.
I just started railfanning “full time” in 2019 but before that I would just get happy no matter what train it was and not even care how rare the thing was (I saw a H2 MAC Leader in 2016 and thought it was just regular power) I didn’t get any type of camera until 2018 when I finally started going just to the UP Omaha sub to see what was running.
This is so accurate for me only 1. I could never walk to find trains, that’s miles away 2. I wasn’t in highschool, I was 5 And 3…wait, there’s nothing else
BNSF 1458: " Time to start posting on TH-cam! You come up with a really unique and original name...." Me: ".........Yeah, I got nothing, sorry, but at least I caught some cool trains!"
I am currently in stage 5. Partially due to my recent interest into Model Railroading, but my connections through TVMRi have pretty much lead me to stage 5.
What about the stage where you start watching railfan youtube videos, think to yourself "hey, this is kinda cool, I might wanna get into this" and then by a stroke of pure luck you start a new job and it surprisingly involves working ON the rails and getting real up close and personal with the trains?
I live here in England, it’s great for train spotting and all other things, it’s not like America where all you see is diesels we see diesels, steamers and rarely electrics we also have tons of museums about the railway.
Who loves watching this man’s videos and a locomotive is sitting in the middle of the screen talking to you and it gets bigger and smaller while it’s talking to you
I've not quit my job to railfan. I have two jobs. I work at a restaurant and a college cafeteria, and I love my jobs. I've graduated from highschool (home school) and I'm planning to get my MBA.
Mine started off bike riding. There's a levee with a paved bike path parallel along some double tracks where I live and they move slow through there. Its fun to coast along side the engines if they arent going too fast. There's some houses next to the levee with the tracks and they're practically _under_ the trains when they go by and I've always wanted to ask one of those people what their property value was considering a train could crush them and everything inside if one derailed LoL
I started because I was a Thomas the Tank Engine fan when I was younger and got to ride the Thomas train (which sadly doesn’t exist anymore in my area). I also got into model trains and then from there it went to… what if I go see this stuff in person, which was hard because I wasn’t old enough to drive, but I eventually went to college which had a rail line that ran along the backside of the college and got myself a scanner that my dad used for police/fire back in the 90’s and was able to listen for when they were coming. I wasn’t going to put my videos up on TH-cam, but decided to so that I have a place to put all my videos while saving storage space. And that is pretty much where I sit now. Just casually going out to see trains at least once a day. Merry Christmas everyone
The 1K views out of nowhere moment usually happens when there’s an Amtrak video posted I’ve noticed. (One day you’ll see the pathetic government local train)
Another great video really enjoy the breakdown of stages lol never thought of it before what stage you are. I just do it for fun and enjoy the trains I see. Have a great day and enjoy trains 😎🚂🫵 Merry Christmas 🎄
I have a question. What would happen if you say, instead of just being someone who likes trains, you actually want to participate in the industry? I am taking Railroad training courses, and I plan on working for the railroad (most likely a local Class 3).
Im 100% a state 3 guy, and the 10-20-1000 Views comment was SO acurate, Most of my videos get 5-20 views, but my first, as of the time of writing this its over 11,000!!! Like i want to know what the algorithm did to push my video of some railbikes being truned around To literal THOUSANDS of peoples screens.
I'm quite lucky my State is known to have a lot of unique locomotives, From Cotton Belt to Warbonnets to Fakebonnets. We even get Heritage units such at 3023 and 8952, I started at the age of 2 Railfanning lmao and tbh idk what stage id classify myself as but one of things i have lucky to my Subdivision is no Foamers which idk if i should be really happy or not about it since my Subdivision yet gets so much rare and unique power is less railfanned than say the Scenic with its Cascade Tunnel or the Seattle because of the VRF Cam. At least i know theres people who railfan and live near (cough cough Coasterfan)
Dont quit...follow your passion of trains! NOT every train will be rare or specail....Its just about having fun! Awesome video BNSF 1480 and Merry Chrsitmas😊
I go to a pretty busy csx line and a not-so busy ns line and I sometimes get some pretty good catches . Like today, I caught a meet with csx 1850 l&n heritage unit Link to already uploaded video: th-cam.com/video/oGn2OeO1naE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BmNR-K8W_sNUkjZX
why did i make this
oh and no i'm not a high school dropout stay in school kids
no idea
Cause you ran out of ideas and I didn’t have any for you :)
Cause it’s christmas
I don’t know, why did you?
Because you’re a genius! Or because it’s Christmas! Actually maybe your just going insane, it happens to the best of us.
Stage 6: sell your soul to a railroad company
Once I get my driver’s license, I’ll fan the rails like a fan on the rails!
I blew a traction motor trying understand this.
w move fr lol
i can't unsee the fact 1458 has a ":3" face.
Guys if you don’t see it it’s the ditch lights and the cut bar
My five stages of railfanning:
1) Go on bike rides near railroads, begin to watch trains
2) Bring plane spotting camera on next bike ride, take pictures of trains
3) Quit plane spotting
4) During free time, research local spots to see trains to get unique shots
5) Ride commuter rail or Amtrak to different towns to see different trains.
So far I'm having fun and probably won't "quit" anytime soon.
I'm also still in college.
What if I'm A Planespotter And Railfan?
can definitely agree, i still do enjoy watching planes tho and rockets
You forgot stage 6, getting absolutely hooked on railfanning again and trying to find friends that are also railfans again after being out of the community for years, while other aspects of your life suffer you are just trying to chase that initial high again by going out like every weekend lol
In all seriousness this is way too accurate and this is some top tier content, I've been railfanning for over a decade now and your channel is super unique in terms of presentation, I hope for nothing but the best for you moving forward. Your content honestly makes my day sometimes :)
Still Merry Christmas and here's to 2024 hopefully being a good year for railfans lol
"Not even accurate" this exact story happened to me, i got into railfanning i was in the fanbase for a while then i left the fanbase for cars, rejoined less than a year later and now im uploading my own content,
Stage 6, get the cops called on you by supposedly “fIlMiNg PriVate ProPerty” by some karen
Hahahaha
I was actually stopped by a cop one time almost 2 months ago.
"five stages of grief- I mean uh
Railfanning"
Bro knew what he was doing 💀💀💀
3:02 we get tons of ex csx dash 8’s
I only really started in the hobby because of inspiration from many Railfan channels I view, not to mention I was already 19 when I started and I regret not going sooner. At one point early on I was really considering to just give up because nothing was passing by, but I later got over it and continued.(really, I’ve actually cried out of frustration of no trains of any kind passing through) Shortly after continuing I encountered my first special unit.
Most of my life I wasn’t even familiar with the whole Railfan thing and naturally got into trains thanks to TTTE, and binge watched several classic videos on YT at the time. As the years went by I kinda lost interest and began focusing on other things, in recent years I would go back to it.
I have no care for money and have no plans to monetize in the future, all of my Railfan vids are for plain old fun.
I honestly had no plans to ever monetize but I kind of figured it's a good idea once I reached the threshold, at least just to save up some extra money to help pay for gas and stuff to help get me to different locations and have even more fun. In my opinion, it never hurts to have a hobby that helps pay for itself
I've been through all 5 stages several times LMAO!!! Too Good George, keep making these videos, they are the BEST!!! Merry Christmas!!! OMK
Haha, thanks OMK, I will try! It can be a little tricky to come up with ideas all the time but I'm trying to put them out at least once a week. Merry Christmas!
My first phase was that my dad got me into the hobby. He also told me later on that I shouldn't be complaining about the same GEVO's or unit trains since all he saw back then were just the same EMD's or box car consists.
I have been casually watching and observing trains since i was a kid but only started filming and photographing trains a few years ago, as trains became duller and duller i began taking more and more pictures instead of just watching as i think it adds to the fun and photography/filmography is something really fun to do on its own. 10 years ago, i really went out for trains because i found interest in it, but as of now, i go mostly because of the interest in photographing them rather than in seeing actual trains... How long until i reach stage IV? I guess when i will run out of shots and ideas hahaha
Merry christmas and happy holidays!
Yeah I started taking a camera out with me as soon as they started getting duller around here as well haha
i second the railfan to photographer pipeline!
🤣🤣🤣 love it, Merry Christmas
Do you like the 747 @bnsf 1458
Bro this is actually so accurate. Literally it all started out as me looking at trains. Then filming them. Then posting them to TH-cam. Then quitting. And now I have recently regained the passion for railfanning
So relatable! (I started liking trains because I rode a Class 380 or 320/318 pretty much daily)
i feel called out, thank you
Oh like I named my self Pasco Rail Productions named after Pasco Washington. Im a stage 3 railfan
Haha it's perfectly fine
That list pretty much sums up my journey:
Stage 1: been into trains since I was little.
Stage 2: and Stage 3, which happened at the same time: used a phone to record and upload it to youtube and although I didn't become a foamer, I do like to be quiet when filming.
Stage 4: although it looks like I'm quitting, I'm not. I haven't gotten to go out as much because of busy schedules and personal life. Also, the railfan spots I usually go to, I can't access that anymore.
Stage 5: Haven't made it that far lol
I saw my second heritage unit 2 days after my first (Lehigh Valley). I wasn't expecting it and my inner foamer was activated. (I began screaming like hell)
Almost perfect!! I never quit railfanning though (but it's early and I'm old, so who knows). This was the video that got me subbed :)
Heck yeah buddy another awesome video! I will never quit unless I get extremely bored lol. I’m glad I got my TH-cam name the way it is now, it’s unique and not a common name like productions or something lol. Just my favorite railroad and my first name. The crazy thing is the only reason I tried TH-cam was because I had no internet at my house and was super bored.
Thanks for watching!
@@BNSF1458what’s your favorite Amtrak heritage unit?
I watched Thomas when I’m 2 years old stays the same for about a few years like actual Lotus he likes Thomas and is old enough to appreciate the more mature elements now
I’ve always had a fascination with railways since I was like 5 or 6, but only around a year ago I started filming train and posting them, before that I did some train spotting (British version of railfanning), no pictures most of the time, just watching the stuff go by, like my 2nd proper train spotting video ended up being the best performing video of mine, how? I don’t have a clue, but I did enjoy uploading and trainspotting quite a bit so I just continued, and now I’m at a point where I think I’ve done well for myself with this whole thing, and I’m probably gonna continue for a while
This is accurate! Great Job! 👍
Im honestly happy when I see any train with any type of power. Merry christmas dude!
like how bro used basically all his gevo clips for stage 4, very accurate
Yay! I’m at stage 3 right now!
I started out sitting by the tracks when I was a kid, then got a camera for Christmas. I started filming in 2012 (at least that's my oldest surviving videos) and gradually progressed. My channel name is just my name. 100 percent agree about the most boring stuff getting lots of views, P42s get lots of views on my shorts while unrebuilt SD40-2s and even HUs are ignored. The only times I quit was when I couldn't physically railfan (injuries, car trouble, etc.). Anyway, great video as always.
2:46 OH MY GOD IM GONNA TEAR UP
you don't realize how much nostalgia this song brings to me. in 2016 i uploaded my very first youtube video, and it had this song.
First thing I found when I looked for "sad music" in the audio library lol
lol, my first ever video was me playing roblox in october of 2016@@BNSF1458
As someone who lives right on a cpkc mainline, it's right in front of my house, I was railfanning since I was able to walk.
I just started railfanning “full time” in 2019 but before that I would just get happy no matter what train it was and not even care how rare the thing was (I saw a H2 MAC Leader in 2016 and thought it was just regular power) I didn’t get any type of camera until 2018 when I finally started going just to the UP Omaha sub to see what was running.
The TH-camr name thing is actually spot on
It’s 4:30 AM on my birthday when I’m watching this, thanks for another awesome release 1458!
Happy Birthday
@@BNSF1458 much apprecizted
Aw man, I’ve gotten called out again lol.
Hey, I’m not from the area, and I’m not sure if your aware, but UP 1988 leads MCBIT. Hope you’ll be able to catch it!
Thanks!
Can't stop won't stop
This is so accurate for me only
1. I could never walk to find trains, that’s miles away
2. I wasn’t in highschool, I was 5
And 3…wait, there’s nothing else
You got us with those stock train channel names🤣🤣
BNSF 1458: " Time to start posting on TH-cam! You come up with a really unique and original name...."
Me: ".........Yeah, I got nothing, sorry, but at least I caught some cool trains!"
ErM aCtUaLlY iM a YoUtUbEr AnD iM iN sChOoL
ok
I am currently in stage 5. Partially due to my recent interest into Model Railroading, but my connections through TVMRi have pretty much lead me to stage 5.
Absolutely accurate... except for my channel being named after a relatively obscure fictional character 🤣
You know a TH-camr managed to save the locomotive that became the mascot of his channel.
Maybe the same can happen here :)
Why is this kinda accurate
What about the stage where you start watching railfan youtube videos, think to yourself "hey, this is kinda cool, I might wanna get into this" and then by a stroke of pure luck you start a new job and it surprisingly involves working ON the rails and getting real up close and personal with the trains?
I live here in England, it’s great for train spotting and all other things, it’s not like America where all you see is diesels we see diesels, steamers and rarely electrics we also have tons of museums about the railway.
YEAH WE GOT ANOTHA ONE!!!
Whats your favorite type of locomotive my favorite is the ES44AC
Don’t forget the stage where you learn to hate the community and railfan by yourself.
Merry christmas BNSF 1458 i hope you have a wonderful new year
Who loves watching this man’s videos and a locomotive is sitting in the middle of the screen talking to you and it gets bigger and smaller while it’s talking to you
I started out railfanning because I had nothing better to do, kept doing it and didn't quit
So relatable
2:30 for me i got 600 views from a KCS unit on a BNSF train, and you couldn't even see the locomotives to this day idk how
❤amazing
No Way i had all that Stages on Recording Trains & bus here in Brazil dude
I've not quit my job to railfan. I have two jobs. I work at a restaurant and a college cafeteria, and I love my jobs. I've graduated from highschool (home school) and I'm planning to get my MBA.
Awesome! Yes I was kidding about quitting job & dropping out haha
Mine started off bike riding. There's a levee with a paved bike path parallel along some double tracks where I live and they move slow through there. Its fun to coast along side the engines if they arent going too fast. There's some houses next to the levee with the tracks and they're practically _under_ the trains when they go by and I've always wanted to ask one of those people what their property value was considering a train could crush them and everything inside if one derailed LoL
Lovely
Oh yeah. Definitely guilty of the naming
In all honesty, this is exactly how it went for me 😂
I have been through all five Stages I have no footage of me Railfanning when I was in Louisiana
I'd say I got to the first step, third step and then the second step. Lolll
Nice! Great video
I started because I was a Thomas the Tank Engine fan when I was younger and got to ride the Thomas train (which sadly doesn’t exist anymore in my area). I also got into model trains and then from there it went to… what if I go see this stuff in person, which was hard because I wasn’t old enough to drive, but I eventually went to college which had a rail line that ran along the backside of the college and got myself a scanner that my dad used for police/fire back in the 90’s and was able to listen for when they were coming. I wasn’t going to put my videos up on TH-cam, but decided to so that I have a place to put all my videos while saving storage space. And that is pretty much where I sit now. Just casually going out to see trains at least once a day.
Merry Christmas everyone
I’m usually a causal railfanner
This is So True For me
My life is layed out right here
Except giving up on school
@@bnsffan6584 That's good
@@BNSF1458 I want to work for the railroad so at some point in the near future I'll go from railfanning to being on the train
1:59 Feels like I never caught on to this trend, luckily
The 1K views out of nowhere moment usually happens when there’s an Amtrak video posted I’ve noticed. (One day you’ll see the pathetic government local train)
Another great video really enjoy the breakdown of stages lol never thought of it before what stage you are. I just do it for fun and enjoy the trains I see. Have a great day and enjoy trains 😎🚂🫵 Merry Christmas 🎄
I actually started at casual railfanning, bypassed stage 2, and went straight to stage 3.
I have a question. What would happen if you say, instead of just being someone who likes trains, you actually want to participate in the industry?
I am taking Railroad training courses, and I plan on working for the railroad (most likely a local Class 3).
People compare me to Peter Dinklage when it comes to "watching trains"
2:13 I'll admit, for the first few months of my channel, it was named Burlington Northern 325. 😂
That wouldn't have aged well 💀
New Subscriber Here
I can rarely see trains because their isn't a lots of tracks in my area so im excited even when i see a gevo
I’m basically a level one railfan tbh
Im 100% a state 3 guy, and the 10-20-1000 Views comment was SO acurate, Most of my videos get 5-20 views, but my first, as of the time of writing this its over 11,000!!! Like i want to know what the algorithm did to push my video of some railbikes being truned around To literal THOUSANDS of peoples screens.
My name is original, right?
Why not do a video on the real life polar express? Catch a locomotive with lights? Something like that for a special.
I can't just spawn one lol
@@BNSF1458 and I can't give better ideas because I live in El Cajon where the only "trains" I see are gevos mostly.
Interesting i seem to have skiped stage 2 and moved straight to 3 and haven't been able to move forward, i see this as a win
Also can we get the Roblox train developer in the types of railfans series, I'm a hybrid of a Railfan and Roblox trains creator.
What about going into cabs and hanging out with the crews?
For Christmas im getting some action figures
Good and funny video
This is to true ❤❤❤❤❤❤😂
I'm quite lucky my State is known to have a lot of unique locomotives, From Cotton Belt to Warbonnets to Fakebonnets. We even get Heritage units such at 3023 and 8952, I started at the age of 2 Railfanning lmao and tbh idk what stage id classify myself as but one of things i have lucky to my Subdivision is no Foamers which idk if i should be really happy or not about it since my Subdivision yet gets so much rare and unique power is less railfanned than say the Scenic with its Cascade Tunnel or the Seattle because of the VRF Cam. At least i know theres people who railfan and live near (cough cough Coasterfan)
2:38 as a TH-camr myself this is accurate
Pretty accurate man 😂
I really wish all GEVOs looked different, like how the EMDs look different
Those GE locos are like Porsche 911s. They make small tweaks to the aesthetics over the course of decades
Dont quit...follow your passion of trains! NOT every train will be rare or specail....Its just about having fun! Awesome video BNSF 1480 and Merry Chrsitmas😊
I got an idea for you for Christmas a 2023 Year in Review
Already been working on that for the past couple weeks, posting it next week
@@BNSF1458 Imma try posting mine tomorrow also because I just hit 1K but I need to re-edit it
I’m currently at stage 3
I go to a pretty busy csx line and a not-so busy ns line and I sometimes get some pretty good catches . Like today, I caught a meet with csx 1850 l&n heritage unit
Link to already uploaded video: th-cam.com/video/oGn2OeO1naE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BmNR-K8W_sNUkjZX
Are there any trackers that could show me locations of freight trains?
Merry Christmas to you too bnsf 1458
You totally haven’t described me, I’ve gone through every stage 💀(for me all the stages weren’t just a joke lol)