Well, that's just it...it's the noise and the smoke from these giants of the rails that attracts a railfan in the first place. As kids, how many of you stood in awe (and maybe even fear) of the first locomotive you ever saw? And as kids, how many of you waved back when the engineer tossed a wave in your direction as a train passed by? Those of you who DID wave back were probably budding railfans but just didn't know it at the time.
As a general rule, railfans can be placed in three categories...casual, avid and obsessed (also known as 'foamers'). A casual railfan will admire a train crossing a road, won't complain about it holding up traffic, possibly comment on the type of locomotive(s) and even go so far as to snap a photo or two. An avid railfan will take the time to note the number and type of each locomotive, count the number of cars in a train, make a comment about a type of railcar or specific load, and will definitely take the time to visit a favoured location to spend an hour or so photographing trains. An obsessed railfan (or foamer) takes the hobby even further. A foamer will definitely have a radio scanner so he or she can listen in on railway communications AND a copy of a railway guide in their back pocket; they will know the number of each and every train, whether heard on the scanner or is currently passing their location. They are able (and usually MORE than willing) to tell anyone within earshot what type of locomotive is leading the train, when and where it was built, the horsepower rating, who may have owned the locomotive previously, where the train originated from and its destination, etc., etc., etc.
