ive unfourtunately let my interest in aviation burn out almost all together, i re sparked my interest in trains from when i was a young boi. but i havent forgotten anything about aviation, i fell in love the loud growl of a 2000 horsepower v12 merlin in a spitfire, wide open over the cliffs of dover back then. but i never have heard this sound in real life, i was just surrounded by all these train sounds as if they were just calling to me. overtime i grew my knowledge of trains to the point where i knew more about trains than planes. for me, railroading just captures an essence like no other, which explains americas love affair with trains. but id be at the crossing, sitting there with the original iphone 6 i started my simpleplanes career on, reminiscing on old times. but off in the distance on this particularly smoky day, because of the montana wildfires smoke blowing all across eastern iowa an unfamiliar horn, atop an EX British Columbia Rail C44-9W, as it went over crossings before mine, then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFPWUj06JUs
we go forward in time to modern days when i was no stranger to watching Canadian National Trains climbing out of Downtown Cedar Rapids, up and out of the Cedar River valley passing bye me before completing the grade out of the steep river valley and on to the hilly plains northbound for manchester, iowa. i first would be greeted by the first few horn blasts over the crossings before me as they get closer and closer to mine. it was when i fell in love with the sound of an EMD 16-710G3A wide open in an SD60, on this day, it was CN 5489. the blast of the horn for my two crossings gave flashbacks to the older days. it was the first catch of summer 2018. the echo of the horn was perfect, along with the constant whine of the turbo and the low howl of the cooling fans. as the lead unit passed, the engineer gave a friendly wave, bringing back even more memories. here was that day: https://youtu.be/i4z3Z9aCY_E?t=10s
the next day was a perfect welcome back to railfanning, tow sd60s were leading and i brought 2 friends with me. the horn was absolutely perfect and everything about that day was perfect.
it was yesterday but better.
https://youtu.be/ymP4Na5tJvk?t=7s

thats the story so far. and its just begun too.
prequel anyone?