Dear American Railfans,
I am a railfan from Taiwan. Although we are from different
places, we love those trains. I've loved trains for a long time. When I
was 5 years old, my father came to America to study in USC for master
degree and I had chance to come to the U.S. with him. At that time, he
bought me an N-scale Santa Fe
F-unit model and I started to love the beautiful Warbonnet locomotives.
I became a railroad columnist in Taiwan in 1990 and have
published 5 books about Taiwan Railways.
I came to America for studying last years and start to enjoy American
railroads again. I am writing a book to introduce American railroad for
my readers. I observed the train enthusiasm here and found the American
railfans are very, very fortune, because they still have many treasures.
However, there are many American railfans don't cherish these. They
don't think that's important!
I always believe to be a new generational railfan should have
global view for trains. We can not just know the trains in our own
country. However, there are not too many good experiences for me during
these years. The trains in UK already changed to another faces. The
traditional JNR trains are hard to see in Japan. Most of them were
re-built and became JR styles. The trains in Taiwan which have been
used over 50 years were retired these years. That's very need to
introduce new trains and instead of old trains, but we still need to
preserve those old trains and their spirit.
Today, I should say American railfans are lucky. You still can
see the traditional painting schemes on the newest locomotives. In BNSF
kingdom, you have Santa Fe's beautiful Warbonnet and Great Northern's
spirit of Empire Builder. In Union Pacific kingdom, You can see amour UP
yellow trains , Southern Pacific's red nose locomotives, and C&NW's
green & yellow engines(the spirit of Route of 400).
Even Amtrak took over all the inter-city businesses. They still
maintained the traditional names for those trains. You still can ride
Santa Fe's Chief and San Diegans, Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, Burlington
Northern's Zephyr, Southern Pacific's Sunset Route, Union Pacific's
City Trains and Great Northern's Empire Builder.
There are many railroads in the world didn't maintain the
traditional trains' names and painting schemes ,because they want to
give people new images ,but they lose the spirit. Thanks for those
American railroad company. They gave the world a good example. Although
those painting schemes were established 60 or 70 years ago. They still
look nice on newest trains!
You have many railroad museums, preserved rails, and hobby
stores in your country. No one will think you are abnormal here.
However, there are many people in some countries still don't realize
railfanning is a hobby. About 15 years ago, when I brought a camera to
station in Taiwan and took photos of trains, many people think I AM
CRAZY! But we have done a good job, we created the hobby of railfanning
in Taiwan. Today, most people there know what's railfan and what's
railfan will do.
The American railfans are lucky enough. You don't need to
explain why you love trains all the time. Although some people are not
railfans, they still know that's a hobby and respect your hobby!
I always tell my readers to enjoy the trains you like right
now. Don't wait until they disappear and regret you didn't see them and
ride them. America is a heaven of traditional trains. Your grandparents
enjoyed Santa Fe's Warbonnet ,and you can enjoy it, too.
I should tell you: Not all the railroads in the world like this.
Please cherish them!
Finally, I would like to tell you about my wish of American railroad.
1) We know Union Pacific did a very good job on historical fleets, but I
really want to see UP does the same way for ex-CNW ,SP or Rio Grande
engines. I know it will cost a lot of money, but it is very need to do.
I don't want to see Rio Grande ski train with amour UP yellow engines.
UP already took over CNW and SP. I wish UP can choose JUST one kind of
CNW and SP engines to preserve their old painting schemes. I think no
one want to lose those historical railroad companies' spirits in
America. Please , Union Pacific!
2) We still can see lots of historical commuter trains (bi-level coach)
in many big cities, but I think not too many people cherish them. I
enjoy the railroad capital, Chicago's METRA very much. However, the
colors on those trains are very ugly. I wish METRA can use old-CNW
yellow and green color on ex-CNW bi-level commuter trains, and BN green
color on BNSF line's engines. METRA can still use their big logo. I just
wish they can repaint those trains on a historical and beautiful colors.
Please , METRA!
3) Those years, Amtrak changed a lot. They introduce many new coaches
and engines on their lines. At the same time, a lot of historical
trains were retired, but we didn't see Amtrak have any policy on them. I
know it is time to preserve them. If American don't do it now, it will
cost more money in the future. At the present time, you still can easy
to preserve EMD FL9, ex-Santa Fe high-level coaches, F40PH, and many old
baggage cars. However, after they all disappear, it will hard to do. We
know Amtrak lose too much money, but they can preserve them and provide
publics to rent them. It still can make money! Please Amtrak!
Sincerely
Chih-Wen (Jason) Hung