The author of this month's feature on the FM's of North Carolina shares
his story and railfanning philosophy this way: "Railfanning is a hobby
that will allow you to devote as much or as little time as you want to,
and it's always interesting! Over the years, railfanning has allowed me
to change. Some years, I have been as active as any railfan can be,
while in other years I've been able to step back away from the activities
for a while, but yet I always return. It can be an infectious hobby.

"I think I'm the average train enthusiast. My love of trains goes back
as far as I can remember. I was born in January 1951 in Johnson City,
New York, and can remember going to the drive-in and watching trains on
the Erie main line from the back seat of our old Nash. I've never been
able to 'not' watch a train going by. Railroads were in my blood. My
favorite uncle worked for the Lackawanna out of Binghamton, and he
arranged for a ride in the yards — wow! And my older brothers had Lionel
trains in the basement, the old cast-metal postwar types. Perhaps the
first girl I ever noticed lived a block away. Right now I can't remember
her name, nor what she looked like, nor how old we were, but she had the
Lionel Texas Special. Wonder what happened to that train set?

"Model trains grew into a fascination with the big ones. In elementary
school I got in trouble for watching the train tracks. In high school I
logged all the trains going by the windows. Too bad they didn't offer a
course in that. And then, depending on how you look at it, was a
discovery that went beyond man's first walk on the moon — train
photography. My older brother Steve allowed me to borrow his 35mm
camera, and it was all over. He never got the camera back, and Kodak
stock prices have been escalating ever since.

"Two items came into my possession at about the same time in the late
'60s, the first Diesel Spotter's Guide and a used copy of Trains that
showed a Baldwin switcher on the Lehigh Valley in Sayre, Pennsylvania.
My father was well aware of my moderate interest in trains and agreed
to take the family on a Sunday drive to Sayre. This first road trip to
the Lehigh Valley was the start of my modern day railfanning, and to
this day, my favorite railroad is the LV. A lot of other miles have
been driven over the last 30 years since that first railfan trip.

"In the early '70s, I went to Broome Community College in Binghamton
where I proceeded to excel in many subjects but spent most of my time
as taxi driver for college photographer, J.J. Young, Junior. On more
than one occasion John interrupted a class to let me know of a pressing
'emergency.' I'm not sure the instructor ever figured out that HF98
with an A-B-A set of F3s, or an eastbound pool job with BN F45s was
more important to me than Business Math 102. Nonetheless, I passed and
had a tremendous opportunity to railfan the Binghamton area in the early
70s with some skilled photographers. Hours and hours spent at
'Malfunction Junction' watching the daily Leaky Valley transfer are all
fond memories, some of which were captured on film.

"Other 'interests' have taken time from the hobby over the years. I met
my wife Nancy (Gavette) at Broome Community College. One of our first
dates was delayed by four or five hours because the D&H caboose I was
riding didn't have a telephone. She forgave me. She had a lot going for
her. First, she didn't 'dislike' trains. Also, she had worked summers
at the lunch counter at the Lackawanna Station in Binghamton and had
already met several area railfans. Hmm, she would still date one! One
of her grandfathers, Leigh Gavette, worked as a mechanic in the Lehigh
Valley shops at Sayre. Her other grandfather, Norman Orcutt, worked as
a Lackawanna engineer out of Binghamton on the Syracuse line. She had
railroads in her blood too! Little did she know what was ahead for both
of us!

"We were married in 1975, and honeymooned in Florida. Along the way we
happened to find Baldwin locomotives on railroads in Virginia, North
Carolina and several places in Florida. One of my first photographs
published was a portrait of Nancy on the Baldwin switcher at the
Jacksonville Port Authority. We've had many trips since that time and
most (if not all) wound up along the tracks of some railroad. To this
day, my wife is sure that I subscribe to some travel service that lists
only motels with rooms overlooking train tracks.

"After college, we both got staff positions at Cornell University, and
by the late '70s it was time to really settle down. We bought a house
in Dryden, N.Y., and have since had two daughters, Lisa, now a Dryden
High School senior and cheerleader, and Maria, now 13. We are proud
of both of them. Both have been exposed to the infectious railfanning
disease, but due to early detection and immunization, they have
successfully avoided acquiring it. Both have shown tremendous patience
over the years while their dear old dad had to check out 'just one more
train yard. A few years back, due to a family tragedy, our niece
Melissa, now age 15, moved in with us. Three girls . . . dad needed
to compromise in order to keep seeing trains. We now know all the
shopping malls near all the train yards throughout the East. Vacations
in 1996 included Nova Scotia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Both
yielded great family vacations while allowing me to get up early and
track down any local trains. Three teenage girls may be slowing down
my hobby, but I wouldn't trade them for all the Baldwins in China.

"But with all kidding aside, after over 20 years of marriage and a full
family, my wife and I still share our time together, trip after trip,
compromising both on trains and other activities so that we both enjoy
the travel. Trains have taken us to so many places, from California to
Montana to Montreal to New Orleans and even to Montego Bay, Jamaica.
I'm not sure that without such a traveling partner either of us would
have ever been to so many places.

"Railfanning keeps me busy, even though my home is 50 miles from any
main line. In the late '70s, I was one of the founding members of the
Cornell Railroad Historical Society, our local NRHS group (Cornell
Chapter, Cornell University). Our group is active throughout the year
including an annual train show and assisting the Owego Railroad Museum
in Owego, N.Y., on the Owego & Harford Railway. For over 20 years my
equipment was all Nikon but I recently switched to a Canon EOS ELAN IIE.
That Canon gets most of the work now. Someone sold me a bill of goods
a long time ago, so my cameras only use Kodachrome and mostly on sunny
days. (Coming from the Binghamton area, that doesn't allow photography
often!!) To combat the area's perpetual cloud cover, I have tuned my
night photography skills. I still use flashbulbs, and have been known
to take trips spend the nights railfanning and sleeping during the day.

"My photographs and articles have appeared in many railroad
publications, University publications, museum postcards and the like.
In 1989, I was asked by editor Tom Nemeth to edit the New York State
column for Railpace. Through the Empire State Limited column I have
met literally hundreds of fans willing to share their knowledge of
trains with others. I enjoy not only the hobby, but also most of the
railfans. It's a good hobby. And, as always, I'll close by saying,
"see you trackside."