People Who Regularly Wave at Trains

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lthanlon

lthanlon

OBS Chief
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
653
Location
Chicago, USA
While researching the Southwest Chief in preparation for my trip next week, I found this great TrainWeb trip report from 1997 in which the author mentions a lady who's known for waving a flashlight at the SWC as it passes her home near the Colorado-New Mexico border.

Has anybody seen this lady lately -- and are there other trackside friends who regularly wave at Amtrak?
 
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There is a fellow in New York state who lives near the LSL Boston - Albany route and the conductor told me he is on his porch every day when the train goes by and waves. I was able to watch him do it. Near where the buffalo farm is.
 
MrFSS said:
Near where the buffalo farm is.
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Then I have to ask you - do buffalo really have wings?
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I never could figure out how those small wings can get all that weight off the ground!
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Now I have something else to look for on our LSL BOS-CHI trip this fall .... would he be on the right or left side going to CHI?
 
hello said:
Now I have something else to look for on our LSL BOS-CHI trip this fall .... would he be on the right or left side going to CHI?
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The fellow who waves would be on the left hand side. The buffalo (without wings) are on the right. If you are in the lounge car they usually announce it.
 
Unfortunately this is history but there was a gentleman by the name of Lewis "Shirts" Blanton who lived in Ashland, VA that would wave at all of the trains that went by his home along the tracks. He was in a wheelchair and would roll onto his front porch with a huge smile on his face. He has long since passed because I was witnessing this first hand back in the RF&P days before Amtrak. He was recognized a few times for alerting train crews to problems with their trains. The original Auto Train would make a stop in front of his house near Christmas to give him presents and wish him Seasons Greetings. Very nice memory for a pre-teen.

I always wave at trains when they go by.
 
Big Iron said:
Unfortunately this is history but there was a gentleman by the name of Lewis "Shirts" Blanton who lived in Ashland, VA that would wave at all of the trains that went by his home along the tracks. He was in a wheelchair and would roll onto his front porch with a huge smile on his face. He has long since passed because I was witnessing this first hand back in the RF&P days before Amtrak. He was recognized a few times for alerting train crews to problems with their trains. The original Auto Train would make a stop in front of his house near Christmas to give him presents and wish him Seasons Greetings. Very nice memory for a pre-teen.

I always wave at trains when they go by.
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I, too, always wave at trains. Most of my train travel has been on the Silvers and the Auto Train, which go right through the center of Ashland. I love looking out the window at the college and the beautiful homes. I am sorry that I missed seing Lewis Blanton.
 
ok well, my boyfriend totally makes fun of this, but i love to wave FROM the train. it started when i was on the zephyr for the first time, if i remember correctly. people were camping and fishing in the canyons in colorado and they all waved! it was so neat and made me smile, so i always wave. then i was in alaska with my parents on the alaska railroad and i was amazed at the number of people on the ground who waved at the train. it got to the point where the whole car was waving at people. it was great fun!
 
It's a very long standing tradition that all guests staying at the Issac Walton Inn are encouraged to come out onto the hotel's front porch and wave at the passing Empire Builder's both in the morning for the eastbound and the evening for the westbound.
 
I have heard and/or read all my life about both adults and children waving at specific trains,etc.

There have even been stories about animals knowing a train comes by at a certain time of day.

A conductor on a passenger train in Chattanooga used to give half of his sandwich to the depot cat and the cat seemingly knew when to meet the correct train.

Much of this gets back to people often being far more familiar with trains in the past.

I, too, often wave both to and from trains. Steam engine excursions are great for this.
 
I wave at #11 every Saturday...when I'm volunteering at SJC as a station host. It's corny...but I think Amtrak passengers deserve every bit of expressed-friendliness that I can give 'em. Crew too: I wave to the engineer, SCAs and dining car folks too. Coach attendants get "hello-ed" in person when we're boarding pax. :)
 
Wonderful responses! When I'm on a train and see someone trackside, I always wave. It's amazing how easy it is to make eye contact. This past winter these folks (look carefully to the right of the church) waved at the Southwest Chief as we pulled into Lamy, New Mexico.

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As railfans, we ALWAYS wave, first to the engineer/asst engineer, and continue waving as a passenger train passes. Sometimes you can see some of the people onboard waving back. When we are passengers, we do the same, when passing through towns or when we see people trackside, we wave to them,

We do the same for freight trains, waving to the head end crew, and watching the train as it passes, looking for any problems.
 
ourlouisiana said:
As railfans, we ALWAYS wave, first to the engineer/asst engineer, and continue waving as a passenger train passes. Sometimes you can see some of the people onboard waving back. When we are passengers, we do the same, when passing through towns or when we see people trackside, we wave to them,

We do the same for freight trains, waving to the head end crew, and watching the train as it passes, looking for any problems.
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I always do the same, especially when I see someone out along the route who looks to need encouragement.

It really is the train passing through someone's community, and there's that welcoming wave. The friendly thing

is to wave back.

Train travel can be one of the friendliest modes of travel.
 
A fun part of the Cascades route heading north of the border into British Columbia, is the slow passage through the bayside town of White Rock, the train tracks go along the shore which is all a park and promenade, and always full of people when the weather is good.

When the tide is out, the mudflats extend very far out, and everyone takes their dogs out there, so many people, and almost all of them stand and watch the train pass, many of them wave. I do wave back sometimes. The walking path is right by the tracks, so those people that are close can look right into the train.
 
Cascadia said:
A fun part of the Cascades route heading north of the border into British Columbia, is the slow passage through the bayside town of White Rock, the train tracks go along the shore which is all a park and promenade, and always full of people when the weather is good.

When the tide is out, the mudflats extend very far out, and everyone takes their dogs out there, so many people, and almost all of them stand and watch the train pass, many of them wave. I do wave back sometimes. The walking path is right by the tracks, so those people that are close can look right into the train.
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Aloha

From last month

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While on the TE last week, as we were near Marshall, TX, the conductor made an announcement that coming up on the left side of the train would be a woman who waves enthusiastically at the train every day. I seated on the left side in my sleeper and, sure enough, there she was! Too bad our politicians aren't as enthusiastic about Amtrak as this lady was!
 
When I travelled by train around the States last year a lot of people in California, along the Coast Starlight route, waved at the train, though I wouldn't know if these were regular wavers.

What about people who flip the bird at the train? I saw this happen a couple of times in the south.
 
There were several people waving at us on the CZ with their bare a$$'es from their raft on the Colorado River!
 
Keeno said:
When I travelled by train around the States last year a lot of people in California, along the Coast Starlight route, waved at the train, though I wouldn't know if these were regular wavers.

What about people who flip the bird at the train? I saw this happen a couple of times in the south.
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When I was in New Zealand in the early '90s I took a ride on the Auckland suburban railway (I forget what it was called). After I got off the train, I was walking along the platform when one or two passengers on the train waved at me--with just one finger (and it wasn't the index, ring, or pinkie--or even the thumb!).
 
I live a short walk away from the empire connection tracks (though in a few weeks that walk will sadly be longer)

On a few weekends I would go down near the tracks (Some New Yorkers think this is a good hike/bike trail :blink: )

And I would wait for the LSL to come in from Chicago and wave at the train. Always fun!
 
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