Stop, look and listen.

Most folks take those actions out of necessity when encountering an approaching train.

While some impatient drivers may become annoyed by having to wait for the rumbling behemoth to pass, other individuals go out of their way to meet a passing train, or two, or three, or even more.

These people also stop, look and listen-often for hours at a time.

Jeanne Trump, 82, of Macungie, firmly rests in the latter group.

Sitting in the open-air Macungie train station next to the colorful community garden, Trump says she visits the site often since retiring from her administrative job at Lehigh County Prison.

"I come here to relax. I sit and prop up my feet on the wall and just think," she explains.

She's not alone. "A group of local retired men are often here when I am," she notes, marveling at the men's railroad expertise.

"They know so much more than I do. I learned a lot about trains from them," she reveals, sharing tidbits with bystanders.

For example, all trains that pass through Macungie are part of the Norfolk Southern line.

And whenever a train comes to a railroad crossing, it will signal its approach by blowing its whistle two long blasts, one short, then one long.

Trump's passion for trains was fueled in her childhood. Growing up in Allentown, with train tracks running right behind her house, she remembers that her mother made sandwiches for the steam train engineer.

"And when the circus came to the Allentown Fairgrounds, it would come on the train. That was so exciting," she reminisces.

"We'd sit out and watch. We'd see the animals and the tents on the train cars, and each elephant would be holding the tail of the one in front," she adds enthusiastically.

Trump could not get enough of trains. She recalls how she and her two siblings would cross their fingers and "hope the gates came down when my parents were about to drive across railroad tracks. Then we'd all count the cars," she says.

These days she shares her love of trains with her nephew, a train aficionado. When he visits her from New Hampshire, the two head to the Macungie station and watch passing trains for hours.

So does Louie Giandomenico, of Lower Macungie, a retiree from both Mack Trucks and De Sales University.

With his ever-present scanner set to the railroad frequency, Giandomenico says he and other retirees who gather almost daily at the Macungie station plan their walks according to the train schedule, so they don't miss any trains while they're exercising.

Like Trump, he became hooked on trains in his youth. "I grew up on the east side of Allentown near the train yard," he explains.

Giandomenico easily could win a railroad trivia contest. He knows that Norfolk Southern runs about 40 trains through Macungie in a 24-hour period.

He knows the speed limits at various crossings; in Macungie, it is 50 miles per hour.

He knows where the trains are going, where they came from and what they're hauling.

Pointing to an eastbound train with auto rack cars, he said the new automobiles were headed to New Jersey, "probably for shipment overseas."

Westbound trains go to Reading and Harrisburg before heading to Chicago or as far as California, according to Giandomenico. He says he sees westbound trains hauling trash from New Jersey.

He knows where the talking defect detectors are located along the tracks. A computer-generated voice will notify an engineer of any problems on his train as it passes by the detector.

Giandomenico is so passionate about trains, he, along with a group of like-minded souls, sometimes pulls an all-nighter at the Macungie station, watching trains until early morning's light.

A party atmosphere prevails as the rail fans bring food, drink, conversation and enthusiasm, he maintains.

Although she has not participated in any of the overnight festivities at the Macungie station, Jeanne Trump understands the motivation behind such behavior.

"Trains get in your blood after a while," she states simply.