Andy, a railroader since way back, taught me a word a few years back. The term: foamers. It is a derogatory term used by railroaders to describe railfans. The term comes the belief that railfans gets so excited when they see a train, they begin to foam at the mouth.
As I setup east of Nevada waiting for the Big Boy to come through, I was definitely with a group of foamers. They were exchanging notes and details about the Big Boy. From the number of wheels on the train to its size and horsepower and who knows what else. I realized that many of them were working in teams. They were set up here and they were communicating with teams set up elsewhere to provide real time scouting on where the Big Boy was currently chugging along.
It is always interesting to be submersed in a subculture of people that have an extreme interest that deviates from my own. This was no different.
Here is the final collection of images of the Big Boy
They haven’t currently set the schedule for the next tour by the Big Boy, but I’m sure it will be back around here again in 5 years or so.