What is a train spotter?

XPTE · Post by **XPTE** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:00 pm

Are you only classified as a "train spotter" if you hang out on station platforms jotting down engine numbers in your note pad? Or are you still classifed a "train spotter" if you occasionally hang about on stations watching or filming/photographing trains but don't bother jotting down the engine numbers in your note pad?

buffy500 · Post by **buffy500** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:28 pm

I would suspect so.

I would suspect that to most people, if you do anything which shows an interest in trains then you are a spotter.

simont · Post by **simont** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:06 pm

Yeah, technically, and to other rail fans, you would have to actually collect numbers to be a spotter, but to the general public, anyone with an interest in trains would be considered a "spotter".

petermakosch · Post by **petermakosch** » Mon May 24, 2004 8:27 pm

Train Spotters write down numbers and things
Train Watchers just enjoy watcing.playing trains!

jdjonny · Post by **jdjonny** » Mon May 24, 2004 8:41 pm

Theres;

-bashers
-photters
-spotters
-cranks

Bashers and cranks are very similar, both refering to people who ride rateable trains. Bashers tend to be a little more "hard core" than cranks - that is, they don't tend to care what traction is on the front (when really they do - they need the haulage) and are usually drunk out of their heads. Cranks tend to be a little more sane! There is a sort of language used by both these groups, ie;

a basher wrote:spoon 811 is on the up beds tonight, 'c99 return tomorra'

translated = 47811 is on the up sleeper tonight, and returns on the down sleeper tomorrow.

Photters are people who take photos of trains. However, bashers, cranks and spotters can all fall into this character if they do photography. As a rule, a spotter with a camera is still a spotter if he's taking photos of stuff like bogies, number/nameplates. If he's going for a shot of the traction in a scenic location, or getting the whole train in frame, it can be classed as photting.

spotters are people who take numbers. Also, there are the "sub class" of spotters who take wagon numbers... generally regarded as "sad" or "very sad" by cranks and bashers. There is also a type of spotter who will follow around cranks/bashers hungry for gen, info on what train is going where. These are referred to as "cling-ons" If a spotter is seen to be pratically drooling over a loco (perhaps last in it's class to be ticked off) they earn the nickname "veg" or "drooling veg". This name is perhaps unfair, considering many bashers started as taking numbers.

These are how I see things

All written out by me... it looks copied and pasted somehow..

I consider myself to be a crank/photter. I used to take numbers, back when it was worth doing (pre-units), but moved on to photting, then cranking.

How do you class yourself?

JDJonny

Rfairlie · Post by **Rfairlie** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:10 pm

I consider my self to be a railway enthusiast which is just someone who is intrested in Trains but does not have desire to take numbers or stand in a field for hours waiting to take a picture.

Tim

Post by **martinhodgson** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:20 pm

I just photograph occasionally

southcoasttrains · Post by **southcoasttrains** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:25 am

martinhodgson wrote:I just photograph occasionally

Ditto, or when something interesting or special is planned.

arabiandisco · Post by **arabiandisco** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:00 am

I have no interest in numbers, I don't like to stand around for hours waiting to take a picture of a specific train, and I've never been on a railtour. I do find it relaxing to stand on a bridge or something and watch the trains go by, and I like to get up close and see how things work. Nothing I like more than crawling around in a diesel's engine room working out what's what. The other thing that I like is the noise you get when working diesels (and kettles to a lesser extent) really hard. The noise of a HST or a Peak when they open it up is fabulous. They look good too.

To the uneducated masses that probably makes me a train-spotter, and frankly I don't care what they think.

mattvince · Post by **mattvince** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:21 am

To the Public, you are 'Trainspotters', and need to get a life.
To the Authorities, you are 'Terrorists', and need to be locked up.

I've done spotting, bashing, and photting. What does that make me?

boeing126 · Post by **boeing126** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:19 am

In the 1050s a trainspotter was somebody who tried to collect all the engines in a specific class then he\she would record the numbers in a book to be transfered into his\hers Ian allen combined edition which due to the very high price of 9shillings and 6pence never left home in case it got lost,wet,dirty, torn or nicked.For the under 40s, 9shilling and 6pence converted is 47 and a half pence.

P.S I recently bought a reprint of the Ian Allen 1958 combined edition from the Ian Allen shop in Manchester and paid Â£10:99 for it.

arabiandisco · Post by **arabiandisco** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:34 am

you have to be older than 40 to remember the 1050s...

boeing126 · Post by **boeing126** » Tue May 25, 2004 11:44 am

I was refering to the reference re pre decimal coinage.

davidaward · Post by **davidaward** » Tue May 25, 2004 1:07 pm

To most people at college (when I was htere, I left last week), anyone with a remote interest in railways was classified as a spotter, but two of us have convinced them we are photographers (and hopefully someday steam driver).................

Then some soon change their mind when universities see us as interesting people and take note of our CVs....

arabiandisco · Post by **arabiandisco** » Tue May 25, 2004 1:23 pm

zactly, better to have an interest than be a sheep and just watch eastenders! Anyone who has an interest (in anything, not just trains) is classified as a "trainspotter" round where I grew up.

If the fact that I take an interest in railways makes me a trainspotter, then I'm proud to be a trainspotter. It's just a shame that the term is basically an insult now.