This apparently comes from an administrator at the "Save Mr. Webb's Railroad" Facebook page, which is a support page for the embattled Adirondack Scenic. The bulk of the post is not his, but he thought it important enough to share, and so do I:

This Post sums up the feelings of just not this one event, but the entire railroading community. the perfect example is the current battle the Adirondack line is in, the few people the line "inconveniences" well there are 100's more who love the train, and it should stay.. not be ripped up....

Let me preface this by saying that I take NO credit or ownership for the following statement HOWEVER I fully support what is written and it is summed up quite eloquently by Mr. Eric Shock:

"Its now the day after 611 made her historic trip home. I was beyond fortunate to be one of the lucky few to be able to ride behind her as she made the journey home from Spencer to Roanoke. I was amazed to see the crowds that came out and lined the tracks to wave, and blown away by the crowds that were there in Roanoke to greet her. Now after a restful night of sleep and contemplating just what I was a part of, I’ve been able to sit back and enjoy looking through some of the videos and images that were created yesterday.

I started seeing the signs on the various internet postings. The good, the bad, the people upset over the driving conditions. The people angry because a helicopter was flying overhead and ruining the sound. The grumpy people because there was elbowing for the photo lines and the best shots. And then, as I saw more of the crowds, and I realized something. For you high quality photographers and videographers. For you who were upset because the lighting wasn’t right, or a passing freight blocked your view planned out weeks ahead of time, or the fact that a professional photographer and documentarian was pacing with a loud helicopter… Yesterday was not about YOU.

One of the things that struck me about yesterday was how time stood still. Entire small towns turned out to wave to the train. Countless parents and grandparents brought their children trackside to watch a train go by. Families who have homes along the tracks had everyone – young and old – in their back yard waving. Firefighters extended their ladder trucks to get a view. Police officers guarding crossings had their cell phone cameras in hand. TV news crews showed up and did live feeds over something railroad related that did not involve a fatal accident. Entire restaurants stopped and turned to see those news reports. Without a doubt, yesterday was about those people. It was about the general public being reminded what made people fall in love with trains in the first place. It was about that grandparent or even great-grandparent having the chance to share their childhood. It was about that lady who lovingly carried an urn with her father's ashes as she rode behind 611, allowing her to have that one last special moment with her father. It was about that preschooler who got to see a real life steam engine thunder through her town, and to hear that low, mournful whistle in somewhere other than a movie.

To the “fan” who is still bitter over having someone step in front of them in a photo line. To the one who is upset that he couldn’t get to his picked-out spot because of the traffic jam. To the one who is angry over the fact that the corporation that made this possible hired a helicopter to document it, thus ruining his otherwise supposedly perfect audio capture. To the one who rudely told a grandparent and child to be quiet, or to move out of his way. To all of you, I ask this: How many life-long railfans were created on May 30th? Which young person in that sea of humanity will one day be on the throttle of a large steam engine and can trace their love and inspiration back to seeing 611 pull through their town? Which parent was so moved by the sheer look of awe on their child’s face that they will write the final check needed to finish off the 611’s building and ensure its long-term survival? Who among those thousands is now destined to be the next Wick Moorman, Scott Lindsay, Steve Lee, Bill Purdie, or (dare I say it) O Winston Link?

No… Yesterday was not about the railfan. Yesterday was about rekindling the public’s love and fascination with trains. And those who already had that love and fascination can respond in one of two ways: by helping to kindle that love and keeping that dream alive, or by selfishly and rudely complaining that the fate of the day did not cowtail to their personal expectations."

https://www.facebook.com/SAVE.MR.WEBB.S ... 0526593138

Amen.

My seminal moment came when I was barely five years old. My parents took me downtown in Confluence, Pennsylvania to see the 1st dieselized lightweight Capitol Limited blast through town on its maiden trip to Chicago.

Trains are magical. They can inspire people to live out those dreams they had as children. Who would have thought sixty six years ago that that child could own one of those glistening passenger cars that sped off into the night and into his dreams?

Yes.

"Who among those thousands is now destined to be the next Wick Moorman, Scott Lindsay, Steve Lee, Bill Purdie, or (dare I say it) O Winston Link"?

Remember that Amtrak commercial from so long ago?
"There's something about a train that's magic."

He nailed it.

The roster shot has never done anything for me, nor do the carefully stripped pictures in which not even the engineer is allowed to show from the cab window. I don't turn away in loudly expressed revulsion because somebody is taking the safe course and wearing a vest. There is a train. A TRAIN, running. In this case, steam in all its time machine glory.

And Ah, the thought of those kids. Someone else's grandpa put her up on his shoulders and said "Remember, sous, remember!" And she will.

Yeah, good luck with that concept, in this 'legend in my own mind,' Facebook age where everyone not only considers themselves to be the center of their own universe, but expect them to the center of yours, too.
I'm a train fan and have staked out locations for shots in the past. I don't get ticked at others, the weather, or the other random things that usually will happen in such a moment. Instead, I shrug, think, "better luck next time" and feel thankful I got to see it at all (I'm easy to please, having grown up in an area with hardly any RR activity at all). But I'm in a minority there.
Among fans, the entitlement mentality is alive, well, and downright scary.
When 844 came to Washington state in 2007 and was double-heading with 4449, I was sitting along the right of way waiting for the train. A group of foamers had apparently scouted a location about 100 feet behind where I already was, and they collectively almost had a stroke at the idea I was ruining their shot. Never mind that I got there first. One had the nerve to come up and try to threaten me.
I'm no John Wayne, but I served in the Army and had hand to hand training to the point where I can readily hold my own in a fair fight (and make it decidedly unfair in my favor when I need to). I stood up and found I had a good 5 inches height on the foamer in question. I said, "You're a foamer, and I'm guessing the only fights you've ever gotten into were where you got your lunch money taken from you, right?" In a calm manner, I told him to go choke himself (yes, I said that, it really takes people aback) and to shut up lest he find the fight he was looking for, followed by a trip in an ambulance because the term, "fair fight" isn't in my vocabulary.
They left without their shot.
Go figure.
Sorry, but I had to share that, though I hadn't thought of it in years.

I couldn’t agree more! Years ago I used to make myself nuts with f stops and worrying about someone “ruining my shot”. Nowadays, when I go to see something like the #611 excursions, I take a camera, but barely use it. I have found I get a lot more enjoyment from just watching and listening.
This past weekend, I took my father with me to see #611. While he has seen our engines and trains at Strasburg countless times, he had never seen a “big chooch” operating before. As much as I enjoyed seeing and hearing her again, I got much pleasure out of my father’s reaction to #611’s appearance and voice. While he is not what one could ever call a railfan, he certainly appreciates heavy machinery and what railroads are and how they function. At one point, we were on a bridge at Linden, VA at the top of the ruling grade a few miles east of Front Royal. #611 came hammering up the grade and it felt/sounded like she was going to blow the bridge off its supports when she went underneath. Watching my father and the folks without cameras react to the “magnificent canopy of sound” (As David Morgan once said) was really cool! The people with cameras rushed to the other side of the bridge to get the going away shot and immediately ran to their vehicles to get the next one. I doubt many of them even noticed several 5 foot long pieces of tree branches lying on top of her canteen that had been torn off of trees from her exhaust. The rest of us grinned at each other and even compared observations with what we just saw and heard. What we just saw and heard was big time steam railroading being made possible by a classy Class 1 railroad and a great bunch of folks with the Fire-up #611 group. I’m certainly not knocking the folks with cameras, but they are missing some of the show when viewing it through a view finder. I know, because I used to do that too!

Rick

When I was a kid, my dad said you could experience something or record it but you can't do both.
Standing in a photo line with 30 other people, all getting the exact same shot, seems to me to be the very definition of insanity.
I've found that the older I get, the less photos I'm taking of things.

I gotta agree with Mr. Musser. I've pretty-much given up photography, except for the occasional "record" shot. I find the mental videos much more enjoyable than seeing everything through a viewfinder. And I have grown to enjoy the reactions and responses of the non-railfans that I find along the line. I still enjoy an occasional chase, but I'm not going to endanger the lives of others or myself to be the leader of the pack.

My observations:

I went down to the Front Royal line on Sunday expecting the mass chaos I had seen on video of the 611's return from Spencer to Roanoke. My two fellow chasers and I were expecting that, at best, we were going to get one location shot each way during the two round trip runs, with no hope whatsoever of seeing anything in Manassas or Front Royal proper, even though I was a veteran of the 1980s and 1990s when NS provided a photo run-by to buy the chasers time, and a lengthy layover in Front Royal for the passengers.

We were happy to be disappointed. We managed three locations each way, and had my fellow riders been still photographers and not video guys with follow-through shooting and tripods to worry about, we could have easily beaten the train to a couple other locations as well. The old caravans of crazed chasers had largely been replaced with large swaths of locals watching the event through their cell phone screens as they took photos or video. And a new generation of Plowdens, Steinheimers, Hastingses, Ziels, and Balls were in evidence, learning the ropes of frantic chasing (and learning the hard way that gates go down on your head or right into your photo if you don't plan properly!). NS photographers and crews were in evidence, along with a few diligently-flown drones, a few ladders to get cameras/photographers above crowds (one used by yours truly), and a couple non-railroad safety vests (ditto). And a scant few "old-school" guys were in evidence with vintage film cameras, but even digital SLRs now seemed to be a distinct minority.

One experience reported, but not seen by me personally: An NS agent swept into a location where a number of locals and at least one railfan were deep onto NS property awaiting the train. The agent reportedly said in a calm and business-like manner: "You all are lucky I'm wearing my 'Safety Promotion hat' instead of my 'police hat' today. Now, I'm politely informing you all that you are trespassing on railroad property, but as long as nobody's here five minutes after a certain train passes, I'm letting this slide. Do we have an understanding?"

I witnessed none of the rude and crude behavior by railfans that had come to mar such events--possibly because a certain few noted repeat offenders of such boorish behavior were nowhere to be seen. I came close in having to broker a truce between one photo line and a late-coming woman wearing painfully loud colors probably not found in nature, when I had to go to her and simply state: "Ma'am--the dozen or so photographers back there behind me have been on a public road for half an hour waiting for their chosen shot, and you're walking right in it on railroad property wearing bright colors that distract. Could we kindly ask you to join us back on public property?" She replied with terse, impolite language, but her companions eventually took up the suggestion and sort of mentally dragged her along.

What distressed me more was the casual, and at times galling, nature of the "civilian" population out to see the spectacle. At times, it seemed like a throwback to the 1960s excursion era when "anything goes" was the name of the game. Now, certainly, railroad safety officials occasionally err in being hyper-cautious to the point of paranoia about the railroad environment or railroad property, and dispensing with plain old common sense. But after a few too many instances of kids darting too close to the tracks and folks stepping in front of an accelerating train to get a photo or "selfie," I felt like belting a few folks. One particularly egregious example just outside of Front Royal: one bunch of grown-ups with a cluster of kids actually prompted a Warren County sherrif/deputy to swing around and tell them to get the kids in line and stop frolicking on the tracks. Which they did--until the sheriff's cruiser was out of sight. . . The one kid shows up plainly in one video jumping up and down maniacally beside the track as, just on the other side of the crossing, two women all but "played chicken" to get their shots/videos. I also witnessed one guy after the excursions walking into the Manassas yard from the orderly photo line at the crossing to set up a "GoPro" camera on a mini-tripod at ground level, as he was followed by a polite NS Police Special Agent in uniform and vest, who quietly called to the man to stop and return..... then louder.... then louder still, almost shouting... the guy just wasn't listening. The agent showed incredible restraint by letting him leave it there, for the agent to pick up after 611 backed past it. Sure enough, the switchman lining the switches for 611 to get coal on another track came within a literal inch of tripping over it, and lost his balance momentarily doing the polite thing and avoiding it.

There were a few folks remarking about the "slow sales" of tickets.
My observations:
Disregard prices or the economy. This wasn't ONE round-trip to Front Royal like they used to run along with a trip to Charlottesville/Lynchburg or elsewhere the other day of that weekend. This was THREE full-length trains. We should be amazed two trips sold that well. First Class is its own problematic situation--as I understood it, another dome was added to the consist at the last minute, and it hadn't even been cleaned before shipment!

More thoughts later.

Selfies... they're certainly a product of the 'everyone is famous' generation and frankly, I just don't get them.
But then again, it's just an extension on what a guy who worked the photo counter at a Eckard's drugs told me in the pre-digital age when he'd see everyone's photos. His theory of genders in photography was that generally:
-Men take photos of things ("Hey, get out of the way, I'm trying to get a shot of the front of the locomotive!")
-Women take photos of people ("Junior, you go up to the front of that locomotive so Mommy can get a photo of you. Just ignore that loud overweight man with all the cameras yelling at us to get out of his way...")
Either might have the other in the photos, but in most cases it wouldn't be intentional. Primarily, he said, that's the difference.
Time was, a railroad employee had to be most worried about a fan walking out on a bridge or something to get a train shot. Now, it's all about these stupid selfies.
A pal of mine at a civil war re-enactment over last weekend told me that an area around a loaded cannon (no cannonball down the barrel but the blast and wadding could easily kill or main you) had been cordoned off right before going off, and a couple leaped from under the safety tape, ran in front of the muzzle of the gun and took a selfie. One crewman on the gun had his hand on the lanyard and was (correctly) looking back at the gun's commander to give the order to fire so he didn't see them. The rest of the crew did and they all leaped on the back of the barrel to prevent the gun from going off. The couple, totally oblivious to how close they came to a horrible death and still smiling, ran back into the crowd.
The future will see more of this stuff, I can assure you: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b5f_1432048865

For me, the seminal moment came way back around 1970, with one of the High Iron Company's trips to Binghamton, NY. Nickel Plate 759 was just standing there in the station, neither moving nor doing anything except panting like the race horse it was, and it suddenly occurred to me: "This isn't just a machine! This thing is ALIVE!"

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.

I am reading this and some other comments, and I can't help but think you fellows ought to be hired by the Washington Post; you all write better:

Not a bad story, but then what can one say when you remember David P. Morgan and Lucius Beebe?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr- ... untryside/

If it all "goes away" without warning, this will be why. And what you see here wasn't even the worst of it.

Like a damned fool, I did the "right thing" and walked in the long way around and under the overpass and off the street through the parking lot to the wall I'm standing atop. Almost everyone else in the picture walked down the right of way over the street overpass from the station, beside or on the track. And when 611 chuffed south to head back to the yard, they all walked back the way they came, all over the track/bridge.

Amtrak had two trains inbound; I think they had to hold the one outside of town until they got this mess out of the way.

NS has to realize that people will want to do this. This isn't a charter bus; this is an EVENT. There were always "fusterclucks" like this around the loco during every layover at Front Royal or any place else 611/1218/4501/etc. laid over for passengers to discharge at the "other end." With no deboarding during these new excursions, they're going to do this at the beginning and/or end, and they're going to be peeved if they don't get an opportunity.

Note the guy wearing the yellow "event staff" shirt, taking a picture.

I took a close look at him because of that.
The "event" of his shirt had naught to do with 611/Manassas Heritage Railway Festival.