SELMA, N.C. — Aaron Davis has about all he needs in life -- an engineer's cap, a tattered lawn chair and a front-row seat at the train tracks. For 40 years, he has watched trains mostly at the station in Selma.

Davis, 79, often sits at the Selma station, bolted to his chair like a rusty track, waiting and watching for the train.

"I spend hours and hours and hours watching them. That is my hobby," Davis said. "I keep right on waiting until I see something."

Davis said he has always loved the trains. He said he loved them as a boy when they would rumble by his house.

"I'd hear one blow. I'd go out there and watch it," he said.

Davis dreamed of working for the railroad, but polio left him with a bad leg. Diabetes also causes him some trouble.

"I didn't ever apply because I knew it would be no good on account of my leg," he said. "I watch them. I'm hanging in there just as close as I can by watching them and not working for them."

Davis is retired from the welding and steel business. He has been known to watch trains day and night, but he is not always alone. He has a group of friends who join him.