No trains has been my theme the first half of 2008.
June 01, 2008 It's true, I am closer to the railroad action! It has been pure torture. That is the best way to describe my new situation. I am now the closest to railroad country that I have ever been, and I can't really appreciate it... yet!
My dismay began more than a couple of months ago. Preparing our old home for sale kept me away from my favorite hobby. I suppose I would have found an hour or three here and there, if it wasn't for a new schedule at work that closely resembled "banker's hours." Daylight free-time was no longer free. And, it wasn't worth bringing an 11-month old trackside without Mom also; my daughter can point a finger and smile at trains, but not a camera. Besides she has been ambulatory since the day she turned nine-months-old. You don't need to be a railroader to know safety first.
March passed by in the slowest fashion possible. It also kicks off a string of birthdays which lasts into April, so weekends not at work were spent celebrating not salivating. Voluntary house work wrapped up, but peeling paint needed painting on the exterior of the house. The FHA Inspector assured us so. A purchase agreement had been worked out on our house; so the proverbial "crunch time" pulled in my reins to near strangulation and continued to prevent trackside fun.
This is how a theme - about the line between hobbies and addiction can become blurred - in my first rough drafts came about. Like most hobbies, a participant can easily rationalize spending more time than necessary to their passion. It just happens that I have a career which allows me to spend ample time sitting in my car, on my car or in a fellow railfan's ride. But, what you put off until later becomes a bigger deal in the future. Namely, in my case, housework and repair. Now I was paying the price for postponing some necassary labor. I went from 60 to 0 in no time flat. Now I lived vicariously through members of the forums (when I got time to get online). Jealous of all the BNSF ACe sightings, special run-through chases, and reading reports of all the changes going on with commuter rail projects.
Sure, I got around, in between duties. I caught the Chicago & Northwestern Dash-9 8701 by accident. My shift ended early enough for me to make an abbreviated chase of the Union Pacific 6939 with other TwinCitiesRailfan Bloggers. And on a rare sunny outing, I was able to photograph the DOTX 217 at Pig's Eye. But an hour here or maybe two there doesn't compare to seven or ten-hour stints at Uni or Pig's Eye.
April strolled by me slower than the previous month. Work required more shifts of me and the house more time. By now the withdrawl effects were wearing off, the edge was gone of going cold turkey over a month earlier. I was growing comfortable with not railfanning. But then, moving into the heart of railroad territory resurrected pangs of absence that had subsided.
Fade to May. The day I was to pick up our U-Haul, I had a few hours in the a.m. to post at Pig's Eye. Those minimal hours did much to recharge my batteries and whet my whistle, but what I had stored up quickly drained as I moved into our new house.
Two days of walking boxes into the house and organizing the garage subjected me to listening to horns of warning and engines notching up from less than a mile away. Far too busy to drive over to station sign Interstate, I returned to work without even finishing the move in. One morning I realized just how into the heart of railroad country I moved. The corner service station has a LED sign promoting all of their services. I did a double take to ensure that I read "Hy-rail Certified" correctly. In the coming days, BNSF and Canadian Pacific vehicles of all sizes waited service.
The most railfanning I did was driving to work. First, I would pass under Canadian National's inbound train at New Brighton; I would pass the Minnesota Commercial's trackage at MN 280; next I would see a holding train at Union Junction just before getting a bird's eyeview of Union Pacific's East Minneapolis; then, finally I could assess the activity on Union Pacific's Mankato sub from southbound 77. Then, ten hours later, I would complete the reverse.
Pure torture? A bit hyperbolic, yes. Give me another month or so and I will loose my bitterness. I have a great family, a nice house (and location), friendly and helpful neighbors, and a job. I am paying back all the hours I spent trackside when I could have been more productive.
In time, life will give way to my hobby again and I will sit trackside for untold hours. In the meantime, I will take what I can get when I can get it. And maybe, partake in a TCR railfanning excursion. I think they call this maturing. Hope to see you out there!