Closing in on 1,500 posts and today I had my first live meeting with another forum regular....
I met Chris Guenzler and his railfan companion Chris Parker as they passed through Asheville, NC enroute to the Great Smoky Mountains Railway from the North Carolina Transportation Museum. We chatted about train trips and railroad museums over supper in the Depot Restaurant, the former Southern Railway Biltmore station last used for regular passenger trains in 1975, for about an hour. (A weekend excursion train down to Old Fort continued to operate for another couple of years but that wasn't the real thing!)
It was really fun comparing notes with a fellow enthusiast who has nearly 10 times the rail miles I do about trips I hope to take 'someday'. What a pity that the only 'action' we saw was a pair of switch engines pulling a single covered hopper before we went inside. I can't wait to see the Trainweb reports on the places Chris is visiting this time because his photographs are usually more interesting than what the different museums have on their own websites!
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Mr. Presley, I think I have met about six Railforum members face to face, and about twelve that are members at railroad.net (some post here as well). I have not met anyone who posts only at trainorders.
Some, such as yourself, I think have seen me when passing BNSF Chicago Sub MP18.00. I extended same invitation to one mamber at trainorders, but have no confirmation whether or not he did so.
But I know one thing I heartily share; with regards to the two Forums noted, Will Rogers applies 100% - 'I've never met a man I didn't like".
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
Having been one of the lucky ones who recently met both Gil Norman and TwinStarRocket, I highly recommend arranging such meetings. It was great putting a face to the postings and the conversations (and dinner with Gil) were wonderful. I hope to meet more of my online friends on future trips. Of course, the location of Zephyr is unknown but my itineraries are never secret so who knows, maybe Zephyr will appear somewhere, someday. I should just look Chris up, he lives out here near me and I bet the tales of his adventures would be well worth it.
Posted by zephyr (Member # 1651) on :
quote:Originally posted by HopefulRailUser: ...maybe Zephyr will appear somewhere, someday....
Just keep your eyes peeled for a guy in a kilt.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
I've had the opportunity to meet Jonathon and Mr. Williams. Nice folks, both. I'd be delighted to have either as next door neighbors.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
Long list of folks I've met from TrainWeb and TrainOrders. All nice people. It's amazing to me when I'm out near anything related to a train, I'll run into someone who posts on this forum or the other one.
From this particular forum, let's see.....Anton (coaststarlight99), Jonathan (and his dad), "the amazing" man himself (Guenzler), Steve (moderator/owner of TrainWeb), Carl Morrison, Chris Parker.....I'm missing some people I think. From the other forum (Trainorders), I think there are about 25 people so far. I guess our community is pretty small once we get near the train tracks!
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
Meeting the legendary Mr Toy was the highlight of my trip to the West Coast last year!