After 30 years of enjoying this hobby, I have hit the end of my patience with foamers and in many ways the hobby in general.In a country that we call home
In a land that's skin and bone
There's a place that's hardly known.
When I was younger, I was pretty much a solitary railfan. Only a few other fans where ever encountered in my daily rounds of the areas in which I lived, and those that where encountered would be the classic definition of a foamer; buttons, patches and knows everything about nothing and proud to inform you of it. Those where the days, I truly miss them. Today, well that's another thing.
Mountains appearing with the sun
Rivers of light they westward run
Night is draining from the firmament.
Growing up watching CNW GP15-1's and GP7's rocking and rolling over roadbed that was horrible when it was good combined with Trains, Railfan and early CTC board articles by the "Masters" caused me to want to explore beyond the dead end town I grew up in. Its too bad those "Masters" didn't include the foamer element in their works, I might have very well have stayed on the farm if it had.
Railway fettler broken down
On a branch line somewhere south
Off the map and off the world.
There is no end to the world that I see
The 20 or so years up until the last 10 or so, where good years for me in regards to being a railfan. I was blessed with opportunities to live in and visit many of the railfan meccas with the exception of the "holy grail" of my railfan dreams, California. That all changed in 2002 and in retrospective was the beginning of the end of my enjoyment of the hobby.
There is no end to the world that I see
As we swing from star to star
We're not going very far
The land is hard and gives no quarter.
The end of the last century brought about a new beginning in the methods in which foamers interacted. It was no longer a casual encounter or a planned one at a public meeting but one in which the idiot was presented. Now having grown up in a no nonsense, take no crap manner I was immediately on the defensive and offensive against what I was brought up to regard as pure ignorance.
The o'cannon garrison falls down
You cannot hear the church bell sound
The sun beats down and gives no sanctuary.
The manifestation of ignorance is extremely pronounced in the less than 30 foamer. The overwhelming sense of entitlement and empowerment is a common theme. The instant gratification is multiplied 1000 fold via the Internet and is cancerous, spreading quickly to the older more easily influenced foamers. Myspace, Railroad pictures.net, text messages and cliche message groups have replaced the old process of communicating in person. The hobby has become a popularity contest among individuals who have no idea why they are even participating.
As sure as I stand on this place
The spirit comes
Let lightning strike and leave no trace.
Buttons, patches, bad clothes and uninformed expert opinion would be pretty good about right now.
Midnight Oil
World That I See lyrics
