You Know You're a Railfan When...

... driving through intersections you blow your car horn two longs, a short and a long
... you approach a rail-grade crossing, the gates come down, you say "All right, a train!", other drivers complain "Oh no, a train!"
... you're fuming because there are cars between you and the crossing gates, thus ruining your view of the passing train
... the train on which you're riding pulls into a station for an extended stop, you walk around the train taking photos of it with your 35mm and video it with your camcorder
... planning your next vacation, you choose your travel route based upon the location of active railroads and railroad museums
... you notice that your collection of railroad video tapes outnumbers your other collections
... your license plate reads "My other car is a locomotive"
... you would rather sleep in a caboose than in a suite while on vacation
... you shop for a house by the tracks instead of away from them
... the world looks like one big train set
... you give directions by naming the names of the railroads that you cross on the way
... you wonder why automobiles don't come equipped with couplers
... while driving your car you put your arm on the window sill and wave your hand and blow your horn to all the kids standing on the street
... riding with someone who's backing into a parking space, you say "two cars...one car...that'll do"
... your wife opens her wallet to show off the relatives photos of the children while you open your wallet to show them your latest rail photos from last weeks fan trip.
... you install a pedal operated bell in your car and ring it while driving across railroad crossings
... you rent certain movies at the video store because you know there is a very cool train scene in it
... you tell your wife you would like to take a nice ride to look at scenery, and she says "I'll take some magazines to look at while you look at the scenery in the rail yard"
... .it would not be to your advantage for the railroad police to come to your house and look around
... you're driving you make "shooooo" sounds when you step on the brake, and "choooo" sounds when you take your foot off of it imitating air brakes
... your relatives only think of you when they see a train
... your family photo album is filled with photos of locomotives
... you end every phone conversation with "Roger"
... being served dinner, you say, "Easy, easy, that'll do!" as you've gotten enough
... you curse the dispatcher when you're held up in traffic
... you open your refrigerator only to find it full of film for the next fan trip
... you're in your car, you come up to a railroad crossing, the crossing lights are not flashing and there are no trains coming, but you slow down to a crawl anyway and look up and down the track hoping to see a train
... you stop at all railroad crossings and pray for the gates to come down
... you show up trackside to film the fantrip passing through and you have so much camera equipment that the locals ask you which t.v. station you're with
... you're reading a book about "choo-choos" to your child and you stop to explain that they've got the side rods drawn all wrong
... your door bell sounds like a steam engine whistle
... you're reading this list and not only understand every word of it but you said "Hey that's me!"

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Railfan When...is a list I compiled of my fav. ones from a list sent to me via email as well as from a couple of (unpublished now) lists from the www. "http://www.marketstation.com/railfan/railfan.htm" and "http://users.erols.com/mswurst/you_know.html". - webmistress