Took my son to Oxenhope today to see a vast array of rare and vintage diesel engines, not really my cup of tea but he’s going thru a train phase. Standing upon the platform taking photos of anything on rails the massed spotters took me for one of their own, one man told me of the problems a certain engine had pulling freight up to Huddersfield, i nodded blithely….
Upon my return my bro officially labelled me an official trainspotter, now it occurs to me that we forum users spend an inordinate amount of time waxing lyrical about bearings, cranks, rebound et al. Are we a marginalised peer group such as the humble train spotter?? Do we deserve derision for dribbling when 4k worth of bike porn passes us??? I merely ask……………..

I think everyone has some sort of hobby whether its riding or being a couch potato.

Some hobbies are not as excitingly perceived as some.

Who cares as long as you’re happy-train spotting, ridng, butterfly collecting or stamps or sky diving.

Be proud of yourself. Better than drug taking or getting hammered. 😀

Maybe i’m just feeling guilty for having a history of what i’d like to call trainspotter negativity!!!!

I’m not usually one to judge, but when you do see those guys out standing in the rain alone on a station platform taking pictures of an old, dirty, boring looking freight train in the middle of some town, you do think “WHY?”

meanwhile, on trainspottersworld.com/forum …

I’m not usually one to judge, but when you do see those guys out riding in the rain alone on some muddy track on a filthy bike in the middle of nowhere, you do think “WHY?”

+1 Realman. Men are all aspergers, one way or another.

I think there is a definite trainspotter tendency in mountainbiking but it is only a subset of mountainbikers.

To me the bike is a tool and a toy – but I don’t obsess over them, I cannot identify bikes from their appearance and I never read the magazines

I’ve been mulling this over, trainspotters are a pretty obssessed bunch, i and i guess alot of others on here are total bike whores, my bro grows and discusses chilis, my pa grows and discusses orchids. Men are totally aspergic!!! (Tho the train spotters do get a bit over enthusiastic!! And by this i mean that they score points off each other according to what they’ve seen and someone else hasn’t) Unless we do it subliminally?? I.e “I’ve just done the mega you know!” Whilst thinking “have you hmmmm?? Maybe i need to get a life!!!