By Elijah Penn, Editor-in-Chief
When you think of Dade City, the first thing you think of probably isn’t trains, but the passing railway is widely known throughout Florida by railfans, or railway enthusiasts, as one of the best places to watch trains in the state.
The small, quiet town Saint Leo University students have grown to love has several places for hobbyists to enjoy, such as exploring its numerous historical buildings, nearby nature trails, and local stores selling everything from antiques to kumquat pie. However, it is not any of those attractions which draw some visitors to the train tracks east of downtown.
In fact, the recently reopened Dade City Heritage Museum, which is in the historic 1912 Dade City train depot building, hosts an annual “Railfan Fest” each June.
Niklaus Yager, a young man who lives in Zephyrhills, has spent a lot of time watching trains near the historic depot.
“Some of my earliest memories of life was riding alongside the tracks out on County Road 35A, seeing all the signals, crossings and occasional trains that rolled by,” said Yager. “Eventually, my dad chased a train or two with me in the car from Dade City, all the way to Plant [City] in his 2002 Civic.”
His early fascination with trains began before the age of two, thanks to a wooden Thomas the Train set.
“Having grown up being in cars and planes, it had always intrigued my little mind that this mile-long vehicle rides two metal rails hauling around such an amount of freight,” said Yager.
As he grew older, Yager’s enthusiasm didn’t fade. When he moved with his father to Arizona, he would frequently watch along the Santa Fe Transcon Line, which is used by 60-100 trains a day.
Yager says the community has had the biggest impact on him while railfanning. Moving back to Florida from a sheltered social life in Arizona, Yager continued the hobby with his uncle at local lumber tracks. He soon began frequenting the railways in the greater Tampa Bay area.
“My social skills were way behind. When I started railfanning in Plant City around 2018, it didn’t take me long to develop a good pair of people close to me.”
Yager has since traveled around Florida and Georgia with his friends, keeping up with train schedules and connecting with fellow railfans in online forums.
While some people may see modern trains as all the same, Yager notes that it is the unique ones that attract most watchers. Some train engines have unique paint jobs, honoring emergency service branches or railroad history, and occasionally novel cargo will pass by on the tracks.
However, these higher-priced sightings are less common in Floridia compared to other states. There are only two major railway companies, Brightline and CSX.
“Georgia out trains us, put simply,” Yager said. “CSX almost has a monopoly on the entire state in terms of railroad tracks.”
This means many Florida railfans will travel out of state. This is how Yager and his friends witnessed a man riding on top of an ethanol tanker car on a Tampa-bound train while watching trains late at night in Folkston, Georgia in 2020. The conductor was alerted about the rider and stopped to find that they had disembarked near a bridge.
Train enthusiasm is often associated with autism by people, and Yager acknowledges that this is not uncommon.
“This is a very popular thing among autistics like me,” said Yager. “If it wasn’t for them nitpicking every detail such as when one locomotive was made, what exact horn configuration it’s equipped with, how many times it’s hit a car and the last time it did, it would be a lot less interesting of a place.”
For those pursuing their own hobbies, Yager advises: “To the more sensitive lot, lay off the drama!”
Yager stresses that the company you choose to be around makes all of the difference, and unneeded drama isn’t worth the trouble. He cites railfans intentionally giving bad information to rivals and other petty actions as reasons to be mindful about who you trust.
Whether you enjoy watching trains or some other hobby, sometimes the company you’re in is what really makes it worthwhile. New hobbies and friends often come from unexpected places.
