Idiotic railfan behavior

[bikkuri bahn]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/gbpPqghJT6k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/gbpPqghJT6k</a>

On the Meitetsu Seto Line, a railfan, in the foreground, tells other fans to get out of his camera viewing angle, despite the fact that they are on public property and will not obstruct a shot of the oncoming train.  The occasion was the last run of the 6750 series. Some of the comments also note that the same railfan has a tripod set up on the platform, which is a no-no in the unofficial railfan code of behavior.

*btw, "DQN" stands for dokyoon, which means "yobbo", "bogan" or similar type of person/behavior.

[yakumo381]

This is nothing compared to the displays of arrogance you get in the UK especially when they are photographing "kettles" on the main line! I am happy to keep a general sight line clear on a heritage line but on an ordinary railway station I usually respond with a well known anglo-saxon gesture 

[miyakoji]

This wasn't as bad as I expected  .  Somewhere there's a video of probably a dozen or so railfans yelling at a single station staffer who was blocking their view.  It was the last run of some JR East service, iirc.

[bikkuri bahn]

That would be this incident at Omiya Station (aka bad railfan central).  It was broadcast on national TV.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5SMIgGAHAoU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/5SMIgGAHAoU</a>

[gmat]

I didn't know that it was bad behavior to set up a tripod as I've seen fans do it many times, but usually at the end of the platform, and not where passengers will be bothered.

Best wishes,
Grant

[scott]

This is really odd. I mean, it'd be tempting to just dismiss it as selfish, obnoxious behavior, but--what is there to be gained from it? It's one thing to quietly observe and take in whatever's there, but trying to control the content of your pictures to the point of expecting people, especially working people, to move out of your scene so you can have pure, unsullied machine p*rn is pretty disturbing.

[cteno4]

yikes, quite distressing. lack of a life and cant see past their tiny world that is them...

jeff

[Mr Frosty]

If I was station staff, I would chuck them out of the station.

[westfalen]

"Sorry mate, don't speak Japanese."

My general rule where ever I am is not to get in front of any railfan who is already there but those guys he's yelling at are hardly even noticeable.

[Shashinka]

While, I had not had any misfortune at Omiya, it was a much younger crowd there than from what I experienced in Osaka, where the railfans were much older and a lot nicer.

[nik_n_dad]

but trying to control the content of your pictures to the point of expecting people, especially working people, to move out of your scene so you can have pure, unsullied machine p*rn is pretty disturbing.

This is why we have powerful tools like photoshop.  I used to skip shots because there were people, clutter, bad lighting, etc etc.  While it may not be a capture of the actual scene, photoshop allows one to create or alter a scene to what one has in mind, without being an obnoxious jerk...

[marknewton]

trying to control the content of your pictures to the point of expecting people, especially working people, to move out of your scene so you can have pure, unsullied machine p*rn is pretty disturbing.

I used to see this a lot when I worked at Eveleigh on the heritage/steam trains. We'd be stopped somewhere, with only limited time to service the loco and train, and get abused by blow-ins with cameras who wanted us out of their shot. I'd say to them - politely at first - that the train didn't get there by itself, and that the crew had a job to do, so deal with it. If that didn't get the message across, I'd tell them to get f*cked, and keep on working.

The worst incident of this nature that I experienced was on a charter trip for Camp Quality - http://www.campquality.org.au/public/home.aspx. We took a trainload of kids on a Christmas trip to meet Santa at Moss Vale. I'd arranged to put as many of the kids as I could on the engine for a footplate ride during the run, and then to get them all in front of the engine for a group photo on the platform when we arrived. While this was going on, a group of wankers railfans who were waiting for us there started shouting at us to move the kids out of the way, as it was "spoiling" their shot. So I made absolutely sure they didn't get their bloody photo - I chased them off with the coal pick.

But to be fair, there was another day when two very polite and pleasant young American railfans from California came up to us at Gosford, and asked would we mind if they took our photos while we were servicing the engines. We were more than happy to oblige them, and they even went to the effort of sending us some prints afterwards, which we throught was great. It's a pity there aren't more blokes like this in the hobby.

Cheers,

Mark.

[scott]

See, what would you rather have--an actual railroad scene showing what was going on, or a pointless record of a machine with no context or life in the picture?

Makes me think of the people who used to upload 10 or 20 pictures of *exactly the same stupid train* from many angle on the EMU group I started on Flickr. I had to limit the number of uploads per user per day just to keep a few people from burying the group and making it really boring.

Birding (another of my hobbies) can be the same way--you get people who are just checking the birds off their lists as if they were doing some sort of obsessive puzzle, and people who are actually interested in what they're seeing. I tend to like (and take) bird photos that show some of the habitat, where some people's biggest thing is to get the bird and its perch and have everything else out of focus. To the point that people will compliment the DOF control and not even mention the bird. Weird.

[bikkuri bahn]

I've mentioned this before, but with last runs of rolling stock, how come these fans didn't take their ideal, pristine pics earlier (even a week before)?  It goes without saying that the last day will see crowds, bobbing heads, and cellphone cameras thrust into the line of sight...

[scott]

Yeah, but then it wouldn't be the *pure* and *authentic* last run!

I don't get that either. It seems sort of ghoulish to only come out for the last of something. If you're interested, go look while it's going on, instead of waiting around for it to die. Geez.

[bikkuri bahn]

There is one thing about the "last run" appeal- it's a kind of a social event, and some misguided fans get caught up in the fever and overdo it.  So far I haven't witnessed any bad incidents in person, but when I have gone to such events, I just step back (literally) and watch the spectacle, as I usually have already gotten my pics previously.