Pole Spotting

I frequently get questioned about why a railfan would collect photographs of an entire series of locomotives - after all, aren't they all the same? Well ... maybe. When they leave the factory, locomotives are like peas in a pod; but after a few years of service, each takes on a personality of its own. Whether it's baseball cards, beanie babies, or locomotive pictures, there's a certain kind of satisfaction that comes from collecting an entire set. I suppose it's a kind of addiction. There was a movie released some years ago entitled "Trainspotting" that came out of Scotland. It was based on a novel of the same name; but somehow the actual spotting of trains was omitted from the movie - instead the movie focuses on an addiction of another kind. Railfans have a need to collect train pictures; and in turn, they provide an invaluable reference source to model railroaders. If you enjoy building and detailing model locomotives, you really need good photographs to work from. I know there is an OCD factor involved here, but it could be worse. When you set out to collect all of the locomotives in a series, you might be talking about twenty, or fifty, or maybe even two hundred pictures. What if you were trying to keep track of all the sparrows in the fields, or all of the hairs on everyone's heads ... now that would be a tall order!

And that brings me to today's post. It's 20 degrees outside and the wind is howling - the wind chill is down near zero. It would be a good day to curl up with a blanket by the fire and read my favorite book. But what if you are a member of the North American Pole Spotters' Association? How can a NAPS'A member sit home on his only day off when there are so many poles to see? I've included a couple of shots from a recent outing. The upper photo shows stamped aluminum numbers mounted on a strap band. The lower shot shows a newer plastic number strip. Notice that the plastic number strip has broken loose in the wind and is hanging upside down. Who would chance missing an event like that? And look at the numbers ... look how far apart they are. Every pole has a number, and back in the offices there are maps - and tax records - accounting for every one. It's amazing when you think about it: millions and millions of poles - all unique - and someone keeping track of them all.

I ran a Yahoo search for North American Pole Spotters' Association and the number seven result was this Wikipedia site on:

Streetcars

You are hereby warned that a body could spend eternity following up all of the links in this article.