How I became a Ferroequinologist

The word Ferroequinologist might be an obscure term for you. But if you already know it we can become very good friends.

The word Ferroequinologist is made up of three words viz- Ferro which means Iron, Eqino which means Horse and Logy meaning the study or research in any particular topic. Adding all of these would make it the study of Iron-Horse which is study of Rail Transport or Trains which is the only thing I do. It's not an official discipline of research but a term used by rail enthusiast, people engaged in the rail transportation industry and more.

I was born in a family with close relations with the Indian Railways as my dad was a loco pilot. I have lived my earliest childhood in a railway quarter near the railway station of a small industrial town in India. I have had travelled half of India in trains that I have yet to experience how it feels to fly. I don't exactly remember when I first saw a train since I've heard my parents brought me from the hospital on a Commuter train but I guess that's when I knew we would have a great relationship.

When I was old enough to understand silly things I used to love riding trains and even watching trains just pass by that my favourite hobby was to sit in the station for no reason but to watch trains until any cop comes in my way. The Behemoth Machines and whoever first called it Iron Monster wasn't wrong. Perhaps hanging out with trains in my childhood made me an introvert that I don't have many friends now nor am I good at socializing. People consider me a psychopath but it's true I guess because when I see a train, my adrenaline level rushes above normal. I used to visit my dad's office beside the railway lines below a railway bridge but I hardly understood anything. Despite having such an affection for trains I didn't know much about it until I got access to the internet when I was 11. After googling enough about trains and rail transport, I realized that I'm a ferroequinologist aka rail enthusiast.

My family transferred to a big city when I was 7. It had a really big railway station where each trains in the Delhi-Howrah mainline stops. But our home is pretty far from the Station. My dad retired as a loco pilot and now lives doing social work and also tells me to accompany him. But I would rather prefer to go for trainspotting than to help him do social work. But I don't do that either because I'm homesick and introverted.

My parents are rather strict, they don't either allow me to wander everywhere alone. Partially because most teenagers of my age here are on the verge of collapse and also not to forget that I suffer from chronic asthma.
But sometimes, I went for trainspotting without telling them. I went to another railway line near my house which is used only by freight trains.
While looking for trains, I had to answer the locals what I was doing there because they were suspicious of me being a petty thief.

Once when I was 13, I went there for trainspotting on my bicycle near a rural area with narrow mud alleys. I met with an unfortunate accident of badly crashing in the muddy swamp and fracturing my left wrist. A local man assisted me to stand up and somehow I had to cycle home with my fractured wrist. I lied to my parents that I just fell from my bicycle on my usual ride to home and they never got to know what actually happened.

I don't go for trainspotting anymore but my love and affection for trains is still the same as before. Though I wonder if my knowledge about trains have at all increased because even if I do know about a lot of new things about trains now than before but at the same time I have forgotten a lot of things too. But somewhere I'm still connected to railways, trains and rail transport, still thinking about trains, comparing different trains and railways, making fictional train routes like from London to Tokyo and last but not the least, making train quizzes in Jetpunk.

I didn't want to make this blog so long that it becomes boring even though for most people it already is. But actually, this wasn't supposed to be my first blog post but certainly became, but if you would like to know more about trains and my life revolving around these Iron Monsters, comment down below and also if you want to know about anything else from me feel free to comment (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

I apologise if I've made any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes since English is not my native language. Feel free to point out any errors in this blog and tell me in the comment section below, I would be rather happy to improve my English

Thanks a lot for reading my first Blog. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤