"How to Spend 47 Hours on a Train and Not Go Crazy"

The key seems to already be crazy before you get on said train. From The New York Times:

Long-distance-train passengers tend to belong to one of four categories. ... The second category belongs to train buffs, known less commonly as rail fans, GERFs (glassy-eyed rail fans), or foamers, a term coined by railroad employees to refer to people who became so excited by trains that they seem to foam at the mouth like rabies victims.

More description follows. At least it's less tedious than reading through Darren's train journal archives would be.