It never gets old. Sure do. Where we live, what we see is short line RRs, so it is not a difficult task.

I find myself doing it often enough that I'll consciously avoid YouTubers who typically edit out portions of their runby videos so you only really see the first dozen cars then the end of the train.

 

At some points I wish I could blacklist their accounts so their videos don't show up in my searches or as suggestions. In the meantime, knowing that a full-length single freight train video is about 3-4 minutes, I won't even bother clicking on any that are only a minute-and-a-half or so.

 

---PCJ

For as long as I've been able to count.

I've never counted cars, but on the PRR main line in the late Fifties, I used to count diesel units on the head end.  The most I ever saw was twelve.

 

Sometimes, mostly with unit trains. I used to count more when I was younger. Now I tend to make a quick study of the cars as they pass, looking at car type, weathering, graffiti, etc.

I began in grade school with the passing of the Soo's Laker and Mountaineer next to the playground which timed perfectly to recess. The foreign cars, the amount of express cars tagged on the end were duly noted every time. Why? I have no idea why this fascinated me.

The waiting for the caboose and a possibility of a wave from the brakeman or conductor on freights was another impetus. The billboard slogans on box cars was another that, made my imagination at that young age run amuck...Who is Phoebe Snow? Where is Everywhere West? Ma and Pa?

Now, it seems less of a preoccupation in comparison to back in the day.

Seems like it was more impressive and worthy when we witnessed a train with over 100 cars. I remember getting caught by long SCL phosphate trains near Tampa and every car was the same slow, gray, dusty-looking hopper, but it made it all OK when I managed to count 110 cars. The counting helped develop math skills too! 

I only have ten fingers and ten toes,.  Anything after that, well....

Real, or scale I end up counting....

 

Gilly

All the time! Real or Scale, it doesn't matter!

Besides, what else you gonna do sitting in your car at a crossing while the
train goes by?

Dennis
Piscataway, NJ


On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 11:48 AM, O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum <
alerts@hoop.la> wrote:

Same here...always have to count the cars.

That's how I learned to count.

all the time.

I like to watch trains go by, but the only portion of the train  I've ever counted were the engines.

I was counting cars on our little branchline the other day and was surprised to count 128 cars go by.  Two engines on the front and one on the rear.

 

Art

The only time that I don't count cars are when I pull up to the grade crossing and I have missed the beginning of the train.  It just wouldn't make any sense to count less than a FULL train.

 

But that is just me.  And yes I count model train cars as well on every layout I see.

 

When I was a kid back in the 1950s, Union Pacific freight trains in eastern Idaho were short with maybe 10 or 12 cars, and pulled by one engine.  So they were easy to count.  But the Yellowstone Special summer only passenger train had 2 engines and always pulled 10 or 11 passenger cars.  A 2-engine train was a big deal to us kids back then.

 

But nowadays, here in Utah and still Union Pacific territory, the trains are sooo long that I've given up counting the cars. Because after about 40 cars go by, I tend to  lose track.  Old age, I guess. 

Still do it. Sometimes I like to exercise the brain by only counting articulated well cars as single. Means I have to pay attention as some are 3-unit, while others are 5-unit.

I've been told that there are a lot of people with various issues like OCD that are into trains due to the structured nature of what it is. I can't help but wonder if counting cars is a byproduct of this. I'm not insulting anyone who does, just wonder if there might be a connection there. It's just that most of the people I know into model trains have freely admitted having some form of OCD.

As for me, I've never counted cars other than passenger trains (and rarely even then) and frankly, it's never occured to me to do so.

I actually count the locomotives as well as the cars. I usually lose count by 40 if there's a train that gets that long...

I always count the cars and the engines.  After all, I'm just sitting there with nothing else to do.

You bet! Growing up along the now BNSF line out of Chicago through the western 'burbs there wasn't a day that went by without time spent waiting at the gates!!

 

Now I try counting the cars as I zip by on the METRA commuting. It's a real workout for the eyes!!!

I count the engines and cars as well. 

My wife counts the cars for me.

Seriously use to count the cars, be it at home,NYC to the south of our farm Milwaukee to the North. Then when Cabooses were eliminated, slowly lost interest and no more. The engines still interest me, but what they drag behind no more.

I never count the cars. Modern trains barely interest me at all any more. I'm too busy looking for the last car so I can tell when the dad-burned crossing will clear so I can get across the track and get home to MY trains! 

I am with handyandy.  When I was a kid and there was steam on the front, and, an

exciting occasional double header, I counted cars.  They were interesting and varied

with obscure RR logos.  Today, high cube generic cars covered in rust and graffiti..?

naw.  I will still note interesting "foreign" cars, or unusual types,  that stand out from the blur passing.

I used to count the boxcars and read the different names to.But being the SCL who ran fast freights.I would almost always gets dizzy.So I would count the locomotives the most I,ve seen is 6 or 7.I don,t count unit trains to me there are boring.Now mixed freights I will count them.

Yes.

.....

Dennis

Do you count the cars?

Yes

Yes

 

Brent

Were all nuts,you know that don't you?

Yes , except unit trains then I try to find two or more with
consecutive numbers.

of course

Sure

Doesnt happen often on LI with very limited freight service. Usually will only cor the rolling stock and not engines

No.  I just like to watch the train.  I think counting takes away from looking at and thinking about the cars, etc.  I really enjoy just watching a train go by.

  Car counting is actually a very active hobby.  On numerous railfanning occasions I've been trackside with my camera waiting for the next train and one or more car counters have joined me in my vigil.  Most of them have lab style notebooks where they record what they have seen and they also have "clickers" to get an accurate count.  

 

  The last time I was in Fostoria, Ohio I was joined by a U.S. car counter and a car counter from Australia.  When the horn of a westbound made its presence known I positioned myself to get an oncoming shot with my telephoto and the two counters positioned themselves on the sidewalk on the side of the road which gave them the best open vantage point for counting.  While the train was approaching and I was busy tripping my shutter they simply stood and waited. 

 

  When the train entered the grade crossing they went to work.  All you could hear was the sound of the passing train and the clicking of their counters.  The second FRED passed by their heads went down and they began feverishly writing the details of their count in their logbooks.  I looked over their shoulders and noticed they were entering things like wheel/car combinations, locomotive numbers and ID's, consist details, etc.  

 

  The guy from the U.S. had been holding a clicker in each hand.  The one kept a continuous count and the other was intermittent.  As near as I could tell the secondary count was for a particular car type or perhaps a particular load (they were deep in their work and I didn't want to intrude on their thoughts).

 

  Once they had finished they turned to each other and started comparing notes on the most recent passage. Certain details became points in a lively discussion and during the discussion both of them would open their book and make additional notations concerning the most recent sighting.  As near as I could tell, the only real difference between what I was doing and what they were doing is that I was taking pictures and they were taking notes.

I count, and It's a bonus when there is the occasional caboose at the end instead of one of those blinking EOTD's!

Don