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www.railfan.com/departures


www.railfan.com FOUNDING PUBLISHER


HAROLD H. CARSTENS (1925-2009)


PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER HENRY R. CARSTENS


VICE PRESIDENT JOHN A. EARLEY EDITOR


E. STEVEN BARRY


ASSOCIATE EDITORS WALTER C. LANKENAU OTTO M. VONDRAK


CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JAMES D. PORTERFIELD


COLUMNISTS R&R DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING JOHN EARLEY AND HIS BRIDE GAIL ON NOVEMBER 9, 1991/HAL CARSTENS PHOTO So... You Want to Marry a Railfan?


I NORMALLY IMAGINE MYSELF talking to your average newcomer to the hobby, someone who has only just picked up a copy of RAIL- FAN & RAILROAD to learn more about this great pastime of ours. Given that this hobby is traditionally a male pursuit, I imagine such a reader as a younger man, and if he is typical of his generation in the United States that means he is probably still single. This time, then, I want to talk to a slight-


ly different audience: the women who are about to marry these railfans. I hope here to give you some insight into what your futures may look like. To prepare, I have enlisted the support of a few wives of railfans, who were more than glad to assist me. Their names — as well as the names of their spouses — will be held back, to protect the guilty and innocent alike. Some behaviors you are likely already fa-


miliar with. For example, maybe your part- ner has dragged home a rusty piece of iron he swears is a rare antique. Perhaps the two of you will be walking down the sidewalk deep in conversation, and before you know it you are having that conversation by yourself. Your husband has stopped to take a photo of a passing train, (or abandoned depot or derelict caboose or dusty trail that used to have tracks on it) and did not bother to tell you. Or better yet, when driving a road along- side the tracks, he will ask you to hold the wheel so that he can get a photograph of a steam-powered excursion you are pacing at a comfortable 76 m.p.h. Most unsettling, you may find yourself sleeping in the car at a rest stop parking lot, so he can get that 3:00 a.m. night shot in some remote location. “Embrace the idea of being flexible in planning your weekends, your vacations, and pretty much your whole life!” warns one of my informants. Weather will seemingly dictate all. The sun will come out, and you will find yourself at a social event alone, ex- plaining why your husband is not with you. Or there’s the vacations that turn out to be “the forced ‘relaxation’ of a 32-hour train ride – or longer!” If you do end up accompa-


4 JULY 2013 • RAILFAN.COM


nying him on his train-watching journey, be prepared for lots of waiting: “If you think the train will magically appear when you want it to, you’re wrong.”


Then there are your friends and your fam-


ily. The fact that your husband likes trains will not escape them. He is, after all, proba- bly the only person they know who has this hobby. Your friends will begin to email you railroad pictures to forward to him. Rela- tives will mail you newspaper clippings of train museum events and main line railroad excursions. Those who do know something about trains will likely tell you, at great length, all about their great-great Uncle Jim who worked for the Podunk Northern, or about their “crazy” neighbor’s giant base- ment full of model trains.


The most frightening thing of all, howev- er, is how it will change you. You will even- tually begin to understand “train speak,” and begin to anticipate the jargon and ter- minology that will pepper everyday conver- sation. You will become a staunch supporter of Amtrak and begin correcting your friends when they tell you that trains are old-fash- ioned and outmoded. You start to notice un- usual moves on the railroad and call your significant other to give him the heads up. The idea of celebrating your anniversary aboard the popular local dinner train opera- tion crosses your mind more than once as something that could be “kinda fun.” The last thing that I want to warn you about is that your personal reading habits are about to change. “When your husband is not looking,” one of my informants warns, “you’ll start to voluntarily read the [rail- road] magazines that come [for him] in the mail.” So I say to you, congratulations on your pending nuptials, and welcome to our newest reader!


Alexander B. Craghead is a writer, photog- rapher,


watercolorist, and self-described “transportation geek” from Portland, Ore. You can reach out to Alex on our web site at www.railfan.com/departures.


ALEXANDER B. CRAGHEAD THOMAS KELCEC GREG MONROE GEORGE M. SMERK JEFFREY D. TERRY WES VERNON


DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING JOHN A. EARLEY


ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER PIETER UPTEGROVE


DIRECTOR OF MARKETING GEORGE RILEY


BOOK ACQUISITIONS MANAGER CHRIS LANE


ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER LARRY DEITCH


ART AND ADVERTISING PRODUCTION TAMMY J. HAVENS


ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER PHYLLIS M. CARSTENS


CUSTOMER SERVICE LYNN GOOD


DEALER SERVICE CATHY STREETER


Visit us at carstens-publications.com


RAILFAN & RAILROAD (ISSN 0163-7266) is published monthly by Carstens Publications, Inc., 108 Phil Hardin Road, Newton, New Jersey 07860. Phone 973/383-3355. Henry R. Carstens, Publisher; Phyllis M. Carstens, Secretary-Treasurer. Periodical Postage paid at Newton, NJ 07860 and additional mailing offices.


POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RAILFAN & RAILROAD, 108 Phil Hardin Road, Newton, NJ 07860. Copyright © 2013 by Carstens


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CONTRIBUTIONS: Articles and photographs from our readers are always welcome. Contact editor Steve Barry at editor@railfan.com for details. The contents of this magazine may not be reprinted without written permission of the publisher.


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