Why I chase trains.

Last night at work a co-worker had asked me what I had planned for the evening, I told him I was going to "Chase a train tonight." He gave me that look, "Why in Gods name would you chase a train?" look. So I obviously had to tell him what I had meant by that.

It took me a couple of good seconds to really come up with a good explanation on why I chase trains for a hobby. So I decided to give him the long story as to maybe clear up a few questions.
It started out as a child way back when CN used to be the largest employer in Campbellton and surropunding areas. CN had several daily freights, the Campbellton yard was a very busy place, where I live I have the CN yard in Campbellton and the Casapedia sub that runs through my community about a good five minute drive from where I live. Since I was a child I would hear the train coming long before I could see it, so I would hopp on my bike and peddle as fast as I could to the crossing and wait for the train to come. I would offten excite my self with dreams of chaseing the train when I got older and follow it to it's destination, while taking photgraphs of the train along the way. Of course in Campbellton I would always get excited as any child would when the train would go by, I love trains, since I was a young child I have always liked trains, the sheer power those loco's have and the enomous weight they carry, the verious types of cargo they transport...Everything about trains has always had a great interest in me. So now that I am older and I have my own car and my own camera now I can take stills and video, (Moderen technoloigy) CN has long left Campbellton and the yard is all but dead and the Casapedia Sub is all but abandoned, where I live the forestry industry is pretty much the main industry and well we all know how that's working out in the market so that tells you pretty much you need to know about local rail transport. When I was a kid the trians through here on the Casapedia Sub were long trains, they would either come from the Mont Joli sub from Montreal or from Halifax and transport good to the Gaspe, and from Gaspe to Halifax or Montreal. Today the trains that go over the Sub are short trains usually consisting of four maybe five boxcars and a few flatbeds or some tanker cars that's ususally it. And of course twice a day VIA Rail Chelaur would rumbble by around 0600hrs and again around 2200hrs, durring the day two freights would fly by with a small train behind it. Since CN left Campbellton back in 1994 the trains through here are pretty small and don't usually consist of much since the chief export on the Gaspe Pennsula is forestry products. But my howle point is, I chase trains because it's a fun little hobby of mine and some of you may have seen my video of me being really close to a passing freight at a crossing, well that's the dangerous part to this hobby of mine, however it can be fun and safe, I won't make that same mistake again, because of my constant fears of being tramppled by a derailling freight.

It's a fun hobby, I plan on doing a lot of rail fanning this weekend, hopefully fuel up the car and head down some highway and wait for a freight or catch one of the Oceans rilling by.

I know it's not a throughal explantion on why I chase trains but just to give you an idea on why, it's just fun ok! I like it, and the trill of the chase is always rewarding. It's always fun to look at the pictures of the trains afterwards and to review the videos as well.