What do you notice in a glance?

[Green_Elite_Cab]

but I'll be darned if I could tell you whether it was a GP-20 or 38 or a dash-8. A rivet counter might ID that before they even notice the road name, or so I would think. It would be nice to be able to do that, which was my point.

Oh okay, I see where you're coming from. Thats actually a whole different topic i'm curious about, but I try to keep my psychological probing of forum members to a minimum!

If I had to reccomend a good way to get to that point, I'd say go for "A Field Guide to Trains" by Gerald Foster. This book contains most existing diesels and electrics in its pages, and is very similar to the "Peterson Guide" books like you might buy to identify birds and other things. The locomotive entries are organized by visual similarity, with a brief description on the left hand page, and a VERY clear pencil sketch of the locomotive on the right hand page. All important spotting marks are pointed out by arrows.

This book can probably be had for cheap on amazon if you hunt around. If you can find it for a few dollars, do it.

I couldn't answer the poll because I would notice the first and second choices.

Then I would notice the train type (coal, grain, stack, pig, mixed freight).

Then I would notice car mix (and initials if its a unit train).

Several years back when I spent more time near the tracks, I could pretty much tell you which train it was by the mix of cars in the train and its direction. i have friends who can tell which intermodal train it is by the general time of day and the mix of containers/trailers on the train.

Well, technically, I was talking specifically about the locomotive. I can see I may have been unclear with the wording of the question. Its easy to tell box cars from tank cars, but maybe not individual boxcar types from eachother in some cases.

Notice or remember? I frequently drive alongside a former ATSF line that parallels a state highway here in Texas for over twenty miles from Alliance yard north. I used to notice road-names, types and what it was MU'd with in the years immediately after the BNSF merger. Even then I didn't remember all that I noticed after I got home. Poll doesn't have enough choices for me to answer.
willie

This is a good point, but I would assume whatever you can remember roughly 10 minutes later is what I'd count.

I would also count road names under color.

Depends on knowledge, training and experience. The more you already know about a subject, the more you can "pick up in a glance". That's why those who can do so are referred to as "trained observers".

thats also fair to a point, but then there is the time limit. You may know in a half second whether the locomotive is a GE or an EMD, but then you're about to pass it. If its an EMD, do you remember to count the radiator fans? If its a GE wide cab unit, did you remember to check the length of the Central air intake, the size of the left-hand equipment box, or the configuration of the radiator intakes?

Those ARE tricky if you don't know to look for them, but even if you do, you're going to be passing this locomotive very quickly (at 45 mph, you don't get a whole lot of time). I suspect that though people may be aware of these spotting features, they simply don't have enough time to remember every spotting feature in time to think to look for them until the train is passed.

Also, I find intentionally looking for certain vents and things often ruins the enjoyment of watching the train, since rather than take in its glory, you may find yourself focused on counting engine doors!