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Celebrating the two year anniversary of YouTube's 'Excited train guy, New York!'

Listen to that horn!

Christopher Hooton
Tuesday 17 June 2014 15:59 BST
Comments
'Oh, oh, it's a BL2, too!' The video has racked up 2.7 million hits
'Oh, oh, it's a BL2, too!' The video has racked up 2.7 million hits (Steven Torrico/YouTube)

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This week marks two years since 'Excited train guy, New York!' was uploaded on YouTube to millions of views. You might ask why this is worthy of celebration, and I'd tell you it's because six billion hours of video are uploaded to the website every month and none of them can match this two minutes and 28 seconds in terms of sheer joyous, unbridled enthusiasm.

The excited train guy in question is one Steve Torrico, a foamer by hobby and profession, who works at the Pullman Sleeping Car Company in Chicago, Illinois.

I caught up with him to get some much needed answers to some very important questions.

Steve, for the uneducated, what makes the SNC 52 so damn special?

The SNC 52 is a rare locomotive…only 50 of these were built, this one in the late 1940s. They are designated as a BL-2 type locomotive….hence my comment "it's a BL-2 too!"

Have you since found a train worthy of such celebration?

No…this was indeed a special moment, we had been waiting for both vintage (heritage) locomotives to be placed back in service.

Did you ever find out who T.C. Durant is?

Thomas C. Durant was the original builder of the rail line that is now the Saratoga & North Creek Railway, way back in 1864. He was also the builder of the famous Union Pacific Railroad.

How far have you travelled to trainspot?

I typically go on vacation to places where I can ride a train.

Solid. Let’s talk about ‘that horn’. If you could give me a simile for how it sounded, what would it be?

An elephant trumpet? One thing for sure….it’s special!!!

For new foamers, what is the first think they need to check out?

HERITAGE EQUIPMENT….YEAH!

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