Posted November 25, 200618 yr Blind rail buff listens to trains Saturday, November 25, 2006 Associated Press Fostoria - Like many train enthusiasts, Faith Fahnestock traveled to this northwest Ohio town because of the hundreds of trains that cross through each day. But she didn't come to watch the trains. She came to hear them. Fahnestock is blind... © 2006 The Plain Dealer http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/116445940331280.xml&coll=2 Below are shots of the old Baltimore & Ohio depot at Fostoria(a popular trainwatching spot). The area is so popular among rail fans, it is called the "Iron Triangle": nicknamed for the fact that several rail lines criss-cross each other very close to the depot. It is probably one of the most active rail junctions in Ohio. Alaos included is a shot I took of a freight train passing through.
November 25, 200618 yr Yep, Fostoria is indeed a good place for train watching. The woman's experience highlights what a lot of train enthusiasts understand, that non-enthusiasts don't. There's more to the fascination than just seeing trains; to fully experience them, you have to be up close and feel the vibration and hear the sounds and smell the smells. You can only get that at trackside; you can't even get it from the inside of a coach. The newer train cars have taken away the best part of train-riding, too. Some of my best memories are of riding in the vestibule with the dutch door open through the Sierras, or through canyons in full moonlight, with whitewater rushing alongside not far from the tracks. Most of the conductors on western lines didn't mind, so long as you weren't a danger to yourself and others. Even in the flatlands, standing in the open doorway and listening to the wheels hissing on welded rail at 80+mph was great. Can't do that any more.
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