By David G. Firestone
By the time you read this, I will be taking a very badly needed vacation. I had thought I would have something ready, but this came up, and I wanted to talk about it.
As I mentioned previously, I am a railfan. I’m not the kind that goes out and films random trains, but I like railroads, and I like trains. While most railfans are good people who respect the railroads and their property, there are a subgroup of railfans referred to as “foamers.” Foamers are railfans that can’t control themselves around trains.
I’ve talked about one specific foamer on this blog and my podcast. This individual hails from Nebraska, and was arrested after causing a BNSF train to hit a coal hopper car, causing a derailment, and over $350,000 in damages. I’m not mentioning his name or social media channels, since he does not deserve any views or engagement.
Well, the justice system has spoken. He was convicted of one count of criminal mischief costing over $5,000. Last week, he was sentenced to five years’ of probation. To that, I say…GOOD! This idiot, and his fellow foamers are the kind of fans that will mess things up for everyone else.
I’m glad that this is being taken seriously. These kinds of fans are terrible. We’ve already had a fan run on to the track during a red flag at the 2026 United Rentals Driven to Serve 250, a fan ran on to the track and engaged one of the drivers. This brain genius didn’t account that since this was on Naval Base Coronado, this was a federal offense, and he was arrested bt federal authorities.
Again, anything and everything that can be done to dissuade this behavior is warranted, and I love that people are facing consequences for their actions.
With that, I’ll see you in August!.
Sources Cited:
The Driver Suit Blog 