Greg Anderson wrote:
Since I'm a cartographer by trade and railfan by advocating I'll
weigh in for my two cents worth. When ever possible use cardinal
directions (e.g., north, south, east, and west) when giving directions.
One person's left turn is another person's right. Another pitfall for
rail fans is that we often refer to rail lines by their founding
company's lexicon. An example is the way the Southern Pacific referred
to all routes heading away from San Francisco as "eastern" routes even
if their geographic orientation might be something entirely different.
These sort of problems are more prevalent on the east and west coasts.
Another directional pitfall is related to the one giving directions
and their personal bias unintentionally woven in the response. For
instance if you stop and ask a school age child directions you're likely
to get something along the line of "...turn left at the grade school, go
three blocks and turn right at the playground". As railfans what we
think of significant landmark may be invisible to the lay person. Just
think of all those place railroad "ghost towns or interchanges" that are
long gone except for a listing in a railroad time table. Hell we even
refer to a specific line by its original railroad. Here in the St.
Louis area you're more likely to here a track referred to as the Frisco,
Wabash, or Alton rather than their more current title. I could go on
but I'm sure you get the idea.
Greg Anderson
Dieter Zakas wrote:
> Hi, all!
>
> A recent experience has led me to discuss the issue of giving someone
> directions to a particular railfanning location.
>
> A teenage railfan on AOL gave me directions to four New Jersey
> railfanning hotspots. (I was already familiar with getting to one of
> them.)
>
> I tried following his written descriptions to the two locations along
> the Lehigh Line by using a large-scale Hagstrom atlas; one set of
> directions made no sense when I tried to follow the route.
>
> Thus, it only follows to say that when you give someone directions to
> a
> particular spot, take notes on the landmarks and streets, and compare
> everything against a map or atlas. The person you're directing to a
> spot
> may not be familiar with the area, so taking the time to check the
> accuracy will make for a better trip.
>
> :::Getting off my soapbox now:::
>
> Dieter
>
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-> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
-> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs
-> Message © SPORRS® 1998 - All Rights Reserved
