- News>
- Internet & Social Media
Avid trainspotters ride the web rails
New York, Fe 02: You don`t have to be Paul Theroux to take a rail journey to exotic locales these days. Web trawlers can board the Internet for a virtual ride as well as enjoy access to century-old railroad esoterica.
New York, Fe 02: You don`t have to be Paul Theroux to take a rail journey to exotic locales these days. Web trawlers can board the Internet for a virtual ride as well as enjoy access to century-old railroad esoterica.
For rail buffs, also known as trainspotters, the Net has become a global repository for data and a photographic timeline of equipment, scenic rail lines and train station architecture.
"It has changed the way rail fans look at each other. The Net is used for a sense of community they never had before," said Mark Hemphill, editor of the monthly Trains Magazine, the industry`s bible that is a source of general railroad news, history and information on the mechanics of railway equipment.
"I search the Web for real train material so I can incorporate it on my own little diorama I have at home. I consider my hobby a window to the world," said Hubert Dorsainvil, a New York paralegal who is a model train hobbyist and relies on the Net for research.
Dorsainvil says he uses the Yahoo search engine to gain knowledge about paint schemes for locomotives and rolling stock.
"I look for particular types of trains and paint them to specifications in real life," he said, adding that he`s now studying paint styles of Canadian Pacific equipment.
Among the types of disused rail equipment buffs find fascinating are cabooses and speeders, or gas-powered vehicles used by railway companies to inspect or maintain long stretches of track.
Also known as motor cars, speeders are best described as a successor to the hand-pumped car it once took two rail workers to operate. Usually painted a bright yellow, they are similar to amusement park bumper cars or go-carts built to run on tracks. They appear miniature in scale next to mammoth diesel engines.
Today, many speeders have been retired by the railways, which now use Hyrail trucks. Others have found their way into museums or into the hands of private collectors, and are the subject of memoirs and general Net chitchat.
To access collectors` sites, photos and memoirs of rail workers who once used speeders, use Google or another search engine, and type in the key word Speeder.
One collector`s photo chronicle showing a speeder being loaded on and off the tracks can be found at http://www.bowkera.com/speeders.htm. At another site, http://www.fedshra.org/skagit.htm, rail fans can access photos of a speeder that was used near Vail, Washington.
One of the better sites devoted to this particular type of esoterica is http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/speeder.html, which focusses on rail equipment used by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. There are color photos of speeders and a brief history of a prominent speeder manufacturer, the Fairmont Gas Engine & Railway Motorcar Co. of Fairmont Minnesota.
For rail buffs, also known as trainspotters, the Net has become a global repository for data and a photographic timeline of equipment, scenic rail lines and train station architecture.
"It has changed the way rail fans look at each other. The Net is used for a sense of community they never had before," said Mark Hemphill, editor of the monthly Trains Magazine, the industry`s bible that is a source of general railroad news, history and information on the mechanics of railway equipment.
"I search the Web for real train material so I can incorporate it on my own little diorama I have at home. I consider my hobby a window to the world," said Hubert Dorsainvil, a New York paralegal who is a model train hobbyist and relies on the Net for research.
Dorsainvil says he uses the Yahoo search engine to gain knowledge about paint schemes for locomotives and rolling stock.
"I look for particular types of trains and paint them to specifications in real life," he said, adding that he`s now studying paint styles of Canadian Pacific equipment.
Among the types of disused rail equipment buffs find fascinating are cabooses and speeders, or gas-powered vehicles used by railway companies to inspect or maintain long stretches of track.
Also known as motor cars, speeders are best described as a successor to the hand-pumped car it once took two rail workers to operate. Usually painted a bright yellow, they are similar to amusement park bumper cars or go-carts built to run on tracks. They appear miniature in scale next to mammoth diesel engines.
Today, many speeders have been retired by the railways, which now use Hyrail trucks. Others have found their way into museums or into the hands of private collectors, and are the subject of memoirs and general Net chitchat.
To access collectors` sites, photos and memoirs of rail workers who once used speeders, use Google or another search engine, and type in the key word Speeder.
One collector`s photo chronicle showing a speeder being loaded on and off the tracks can be found at http://www.bowkera.com/speeders.htm. At another site, http://www.fedshra.org/skagit.htm, rail fans can access photos of a speeder that was used near Vail, Washington.
One of the better sites devoted to this particular type of esoterica is http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/speeder.html, which focusses on rail equipment used by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. There are color photos of speeders and a brief history of a prominent speeder manufacturer, the Fairmont Gas Engine & Railway Motorcar Co. of Fairmont Minnesota.
Bureau Report