Funnel Fan

[TrainWeb Editor's Note: This is a truncated version of the original TrainWeb.org/funnelfan website. The web author of this website moved it to another hosting service and then it vanished at that new website. I've tried to recover as much of the website as I could from the content that was still located on the TrainWeb server.]

My Funnelfan site got going in August of 1998 and has been growing ever since. The centerpoint of my site has been the Railfan Guides (The Funnel, Marshall Canyon, and the Hi-Line in Northern Idaho so far), but photo features and railfan trip reports have also played a roll in the development of the site. The primary focus of this site is the Pacific Northwest which includes western Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.  BN, UP, SP, MRL and their successors all have a roll to play, as do the countless shortlines that serve the region.

I set out to have fun railfanning, and a lot of that is reflected in my features. A main ingredient of railfanning is getting to where the action is, I like most, use a car and even walk to trackside (with the tracks just a few hundred feet away, it ain't much of a walk though). But sometimes conventional means of transportation just isn't enough, that is when resort to other vehicles in our arsenal. This arsenal includes everything from restored muscle cars to snowmobiles and jet boats.

Another part of railfanning is choosing a medium to capture the experience. Most people take photographs (either slide or print) and some just prefer to memorize the event. For a few, the sounds and movement are also important in their media of choice. But for some, like myself, we proudly proclaim "All of the above"!. There are those days that the sun shines with such brilliance that only a sharp crisp photo will do.  Then there are those days when a string of EMD SD units are struggling to pull a lumber drag uphill on soggy rail in a foggy morning. Then is when video camera can capture the stirring effect of a headlight piercing the blanket of moist air and the howling turbochargers reverberating across the valley.

Another important part of railfanning is having railfan friends. Railfans quite literally come from all walks of life. You find railfans that are shortline owners, and others who are truck drivers. You'll find firefighters with their scanners tuned to the local mainline channel, and media types who wish their newsdesk could get it right. I've met so many other railfans over the internet by E-mail or on discussion boards, that I almost can't fathom how I got along before.

This site is here for FUN! following this simple rule I will add features that are fun to look at, helpful, and sometimes humorous. But please don't chide me on the finer points of locomotive serial numbers.