Update: I know some of you may think I am making this stuff up, but I’m not. See for yourself.

I used to work as a Civil Engineer for Norfolk Southern Railroad. While I was in school my co-op job was with CSX Railroad. I have to tell you that working for the railroad is the coolest job I have ever had. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job I have now, but nothing beats the coolness of the railroad.

First, there is the thrill of working for such a large and powerful company. When I was on a job site, I had a swagger to my step and I held my head a little higher. I used a gruff voice and learned to sound like a railroad man. I was also mindful of the bad reputation railroad men have had through the years and I tried not to be too arrogant.

Second, I was part of a very select group of engineers. Here in the U.S. there are about 6 major Class I railroads. Each of these has an Engineering Department. Let’s assume that each department has 20 people in it. That means that I was one of only 120 - 150 people in the entire U.S. who was a railroad engineer. And no, not the kind that drove the trains.

I worked with a bunch of “old timers”. These guys all had over 20 years of experience and had a million and one stories. Road trips with them were a hoot. Man the life they had lived! It was amazing.

One of the other parts that I miss is being beside a mainline track when a fully loaded freight train comes barreling down at 60 MPH. In some cases you are standing only 15′ away. The entire earth shakes and the noise is unbelievable. Many times I turned to a fellow worker and shouted, “You know, if this thing de-rails now, we don’t stand a chance.” He would grin and nod in agreement. We were like kids. After the train had past, we became men again and went back to work, but for the few minutes when the train was passing we were like kids.

I think most people have the same feelings about trains. However, there is a whole other group out there. These people take pictures of trains. Not just pretty pictures with nice scenery, no, they take pictures of individual engines and cars. They have whole scrap books of photos of just engines. They have lists of which engine numbers that have seen and where they saw them all. They travel all around the country to take pictures of trains, to be around trains and to generally annoy railroad workers. They call themselves “Railroad Enthusiasts”.

We however, had a different name that we called them: FRN’s. F**king Railroad Nuts. It seemed to fit.

I know that not all of them were so hardcore, but most of the ones we encountered trespassing on our tracks were hardcore FRN’s.

That is why this story from CNN.com struck me as so funny. Someone needs to write into CNN and tell them the name that they should be using for these folks!

But they did capture the feeling among those in the industry:

Some in the industry view them as get-a-life annoyances, their endless pursuit of the next train causing safety problems and security issues — the latter of particular concern in the post-9/11 era.

They also captured how clueless some of these folks are, especially after 9/11:

“Some people don’t understand that it’s just a hobby when I’m standing out there by rail tracks with my video camera,” Dowdy said. “Most people are just waiting for the train to go past. They’re looking at me like, ‘What’s he doing?”‘

Gee, I wonder why? Darn FRN’s!