"They are looking for the rare and difficult to see views from the rail system and add it to their wealth of experiences," says Ed Ellis, president of Iowa Pacific Holdings, which owns short-line railroads and rail-related businesses.
The most fanatical compete for bragging rights. "It's about who has this line, and not that one," says J. David Ingles, 71, senior editor of Classic Trains magazine and a Wisconsin buff whose collection of U.S. rail miles totals 116,000 miles.
Mr. Jackson almost didn't pull it off. When the California train was running hours late, he bailed out in Barstow and accepted a ride from his friend and fellow mileage collector Chris Guenzler, who was chasing the train in his car (a different hobby). Mr. Jackson made the flight.
Mileage collecting isn't new. Some collectors fancy themselves modern-day followers of rare-mileage pioneer Rogers E.M. Whitaker, the late New Yorker magazine editor who wrote stories in the 1960s about his rail-riding adventures under the pen name E.M. Frimbo.
MontanaJim Member # 2323
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Interesting read. what was the california train that was running hours late?
yukon11 Member # 2997
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Here is a listing, state by state, of some railroad lines no longer in use:
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