You know, like proper ‘anoraks’?
The reason I ask is that I went ‘train spotting’ yesterday (just to actually spot the train my stepson was driving under instruction) & when I got to the place that he told me he’d be passing at exactly 16.10, there was a guy there with a notebook & pen & very time a train went past he wrote in his book. Now I don’t know what he was writing, whether it was the type/class of loco or it’s number or whatever, so, what do trainspotters actually ‘spot’?

I asked him if any Freightliner stuff had gone past & he said, ‘no but there’s one due at ten past four’ (& he was right!)
Just wondering.

Terrorist.

I’m always amazed at the number of plane spotters I see at aiports.
I’m sure they are very happy but i always ask myself wtf are they doing there on the side of a road with binoculars getting excited at every plane going by.

No a real train spotter but I often wait at level crossings to see a train go past. Sad I know!

Living where I do in the only region/county in mainland Britain without a railway station seeing a train is a bit of a novelty!

The station statistic is about to change later this year.

what do trainspotters actually ‘spot’?

Each train [ and carriage iirc] has a number

they spot this and record it

Date they have seen it, what rolling stock it’s pulling, what loco was hauling it all, the time, how late it was etc.

It lets them know what locos are working what freight and stock, which, while I am not a spotter, is useful for model railway nerds like myself to put together accurate trains.

^^ what he said. Never seen the appeal myself, even as a railway nerd. Watching trains… Yep, but not actively recording each coach, the working, delays etc.

That said I have now discovered realtimetrains, which provides all movements on the network, so I now know when to bother looking out the window to see something interesting. Whole new element of excitement on the journey to Manchester yesterday.

No a real train spotter but I often wait at level crossings to see a train go past. Sad I know!

Well I stop on particular bridges to watch trains go past (when I’m out on the bike, not the car!) but I don’t write the numbers down.
Must be a simple pleasure in life I suppose.

A few years ago I was lounging around on the beach by the airport in St Maarten. This one:

Anyways this chap turns up and says he works for BA, but he’s never had the chance to see the jumbo come in and land this particular airport. At that time it only came in on a Thursday lunch time and boy, it was a sight to behold. He went on to say he’d been waiting 14 years to get the right cruise ship which would have him on the island at the same time as the jumbo coming in.

He’d got a taxi from Phillipsburg all the way to the top of the island to see the plane and only had a couple of hours to sit and chill with a couple of beers… and the damn plane was late! All that effort and he didn’t even get to see it! 😆

I used to, making a note of locos seen, and going up to the station in the evenings. Never interested in rolling stock at all, but when the locos are Castle, King, Hall-class GWR steam locos, with sometimes Evening Star or one of her sisters pulling an express, then things are a little more interesting. Even the little 0-6-0 tankies that shunted around the station yard were fun, especially when a schoolmate’s dad drove one!
The diesels were more interesting as well, the Warship and Hymek locos had character.

Evening Star or one of her sisters pulling an express

Not into my kettles, but surely you didn’t tend to see a 9F on anything with passengers…

When I was about 7 I had one of those Ian Allen train books where you crossed the numbers of the trains off as you saw them. I vividly remember seeing Mallard & Silver Link, among other steam loco’s bombing (?) through Durham.

When I was about 7 I had one of those Ian Allen train books where you crossed the numbers of the trains off as you saw them. I vividly remember seeing Mallard & Silver Link, among other steam loco’s bombing (?) through Durham.

Yep, except it was Deltic’s for us.

Yep, except it was Deltic’s for us.

sadly after my time for ‘spotting’, born in 1956 me. 😕

Note pads are old school now, they now use digital cameras (as in small Hubble Telescopes) and tablets/laptops. Train or Loco comes past, pictures get taken and within minutes are uploaded to the spotters website!

Note pads are old school now, they now use digital cameras (as in small Hubble Telescopes) and tablets/laptops. Train or Loco comes past, pictures get taken and within minutes are uploaded to the spotters website!

How TF did you know that??

I am quite envious of spotters, their hobby seems so simple, stand at end of station with pen paper or tablet and enjoy themselves.

All my hobbies have at some point or another put me in hospital or nearly bankrupted me.

Obviously it’s the school hols at the moment, but having travelled up the west coast main line on Weds and ECML yesterday it was really noticeable how many kids were out watching trains with parents. Never noticed it before, but absolutely loads stood at the ends of rural stations, or in fields and stuff. Lots of cameras, couldn’t see notepads.

Gricers

And Concrete Bob

I often wait at level crossings to see a train go past.

I do this at least once a day – it’s not by choice :/

Train spotters are less obsessive than air trip reporters who post detailed accounts with loads of pics of their meal, the terminal, the seat in front, etc, on sites like Airliners.net

On my commute to work I pass a Eddie Stobart lorry yard. Guys hang around that with cameras that good that the 1st time I thought they were paparazzi! Unfortunately because it’s a quiet road they tend to get a bit excited and step out on to the cycle path without looking. The path is covered in cycling skid marks!
One guy who did it to me heard me and moved out of the way, but was most upset with me that he lost his photo!
From stopping and talking to a few they seem to be obsessive almost like autism

I used to be one, given my current location (Isle of Wight) there isn’t much point!
One thing I will say is it really helped me get to know my country and geography whilst travelling about.
Used to do a bit of bashing and worked at a preserved railway at weekend for a few years. That was great fun, although HSE would have had a fit at some of the goings on in the evenings.
Derailing our ballast train wasn’t one of my finest moments…… 😳

there was a guy there with a notebook & pen & very time a train went past he wrote in his book. Now I don’t know what he was writing, whether it was the type/class of loco or it’s number or whatever, so, what do trainspotters actually ‘spot’?

i used to note the number and day and location and anything diferent about the stock eg , freight loco hauling passenger stock etc, you meet some right weirdos and some intresting people, just like riding a bike.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk for all train times except the royal train in real time at any location,

I suspect that trainspotting is a translation into action, of a psychological condition. Something like an obsession with detail and the precise functioning of systems. Perhaps mild autism or suchlike.

Its quite well documented that aspergers is often linked to trainspotting / collecting.

Realtimetrains doesn’t seem to show freight times, or I can’t see it.

I did it two or three times when I was younger and I’d suspect there’s a bit of that Woppit, but a lot of it (from my point of view) is because trains are flippin’ cool.

7500hp!

esselgruntfuttock – Member

Realtimetrains doesn’t seem to show freight times, or I can’t see it.
Depends on where you’re looking, and yes it definitely does. If you search for the station you want to look at and then click on “switch to detailed” in the top RH corner you should see freight etc.

Concrete Bob’s my favourite too. I like the Dirty Thirties in general but 37425 will always have a special place for me

I did it two or three times when I was younger and I’d suspect there’s a bit of that Woppit, but a lot of it (from my point of view) is because trains are flippin’ cool.

😀

Of course, back in the mists of prehistory, when I were a nipper…

Realtimetrains doesn’t seem to show freight times, or I can’t see it.

As said – if you go to detail they’re there, but it shows a lot as “runs only when required” or something, which means it’s not actually running that day. You can work out what it is from where it’s going and the operator as well. Most are container trains, but you do get a reasonable number of oil, coal and aggregate trains too if you’re in the right parts of the country.

I did it two or three times when I was younger and I’d suspect there’s a bit of that Woppit, but a lot of it (from my point of view) is because trains are flippin’ cool.

Double-headed 70s?! That’s a rarity!

I can only think of one occasion in my life when I’ve actively gone and watched trains (in the UK, done it a few times in France and the US too) and even then I was just killing time, but like Munrobiker, I think it’s because they’re impressive, moreso than any autistic tendencies. But then I didn’t make notes, maybe that’s the extra bit.

Geekiest thread ever.

Of course, back in the mists of prehistory, when I were a nipper…

When you were a nipper you watched Tornado? Launched in 2009!?

My wifes uncle is quite a name in the steam train world. Land speed records, television appearances and royal trains over his 50yr career. He retired last year and as someone who has little interest in trains I was quite surprised at how many articles had been written about the man.

He was/is an avid spotter too. Basically he is a man who was mad on trains as a boy and followed his dream and did it for 50yrs. He travels the world (These guys are fairly well paid)spotting trains in Africa, Australia etc etc for months at a time.

He gives talks on trains and I had the pleasure of moving house for him recently and discovered hundreds of slide cassettes for his pictures. There was also note pad after note pad after note pad with numbers and things about trains.

I really don’t understand it but the guy has lived a full and happy life earning good money and traveling the world doing something he loves. I would never diss it because I don’t understand it.

Oh and when we moved his train collection my brother in law said not to even ask how much it was worth.

Aye, plenty of stuff out there that’ll make bikes look cheap, and of course you need loads of different trains for the enjoyment (obviously you need loads of different bikes too, but not quite the same!)

That said, stuff holds its value really well, so I don’t mind taking a punt on something on eBay if it looks good value, you can sit it on for 2 years and sell at a profit. Stark contrast to second hand bike stuff!

I’m not sure why I like trains, I just do. It’s not note taking thing, I don’t do that and I’ve never been spotting in the traditional sense. It may be the sound, a 67 pulling away does make a lovely sound, or it could be the sense of power you get, but I just find them fascinating.

My brother in law has an old train set his uncle supplied the bits for 25yrs ago. He recently built it up for his son as a Christmas surprise. One of the guys helping mentioned that he would be keen to buy the turntable he had for the local train club and offered £100. BIL wasn’t keen to sell so said no. The guy gave up when BIL turned down £500. That’s one piece of a kids garage setup. Its a great investment

I don’t think they can do it often because the ugliness will shatter anything reflective in a 500 yard radius. 60s and 66s are more my thing.

A mate of my mum took me when I went and gave me the book where you tick them off, but I just wanted to look at them and hear them. Now if I happen to see something interesting going by I’ll have a look, but nothing more than that.

My dad used to do it in the 50s and 60s when I think it was more exciting- steam trains seem to do more stuff with smoke firing out all over the place and so on. He’d grown out of it all well before my age though.

Spotters come in all shapes and sizes.

One of the chaps I work with records miles travelled by traction type – he breaks it down by unit number so he can tell me how many miles he’s travelled being hauled by individual loco’s. He’s not interested in standing in one spot and recording numbers. Don’t accuse him of that! Oh no!

Another colleague records the routes he’s travelled and goes out of his way at weekends to travel on trains that are diverted via unusual routes due to engineering works – this can involve many miles/hours of travel just to ride across a particualr junction for a couple of hundred yards.

Both of them lovely chaps and working in an industry that is also their passion…..

And god, yeah, trains is expensive if you want it to be. Spent more on trains than on the bike in the last 6 months, and it’s very easy to “just buy” some bits and pieces every now and then. Fortunately I got a bike to a spec I was very happy with before I got into modelling again and now the bike doesn’t get upgrades, just maintenance. And I run mine on a very strict budget.

In fact, the last irrational bike purchase I made was these-