Is "train-spotting" a real pass time?

Question

Can you give me more details on this somewhat quirky "sport"?

Answer 1

Train spotting is the collection or noting down/record keeping of the serial numbers of trains,locomotives multiple units. Most of the remaining train spotters are fairly elderly now and they do it because they enjoy it, as with any other interest or hobby. Boys today would consider train spotting to be uncool;

most seem to be dating girls or each other several years before puberty and or gathering in gangs to terrorise the local neighbourhood. For me 50 years ago aged 7 Train Spotting was the first expression of a great love for railways that has stayed with me all my life; I haven't collected train numbers since I was about 14 but it laid the foundation for what is now a great love of train travel, and a fund of personal knowledge of the history and current operational practices of

our very complex semi privatised rail system

Answer 2

Can someone please explain to me the rather quirky 'sport' of 22 men kicking a spherical object around a field which might better be used for growing food?

Answer 3

Yes its a real pastime alright. The idea is to note down the number of the locomotive, since each item of rolling stock is SUPPOSED  to carry a unique one (though sometimes there is duplication!). Then you underline that number it in a pre-printed book which has them all in. These stockbooks are available in some big shops like WH Smith etc, or Rail modelling shops, and they are usually updated every year as new stock is built and old stuff withdrawn from service and sent to the scrapyard (or local preservation site). The aim for most spotters is to see everything in your chosen field.

It may sound odd, but its strangely addictive -especially if youve got that compulsive obsessive streak, because once you start, and its easy going at first, you tend to want to finish and see the last one you need. But of course thats not always easy because in the end youre looking for maybe 1 loco in a few thousand. However, you do get some clues as to where in the country it might be, and you can even cheat by getting a rail employee to check on the national computer database where it is at that moment -though theyre not supposed to do that really!

Eventually you will see them all if you stick at it long enough. Then you have several choices. You can spot locos again (some do it 'for the year' -they see how many they can get in 12 months and start again each January 1st. Personally I'd be bored with that, so I choose to spot something else instead of locos, then try and see all them, then progress onto the next item, and so on. (I did locos, then moved onto diesel and electric multiple units, carriages, departmental coaching stock, airbraked wagons, vacuum braked wagons, engineers wagons, in that order, and I still havent touched private owner wagons, rail tampers, or Continental wagons yet, as there is still plenty of the above stuff as yet 'unseen'). Doing it this way you can make it last a lifetime and youre not repeating anything (remember too that the railway is always building new stuff so you MAY have once seen all the locos, but that will change, as you have to keep up with the latest ones!).

Apart from collecting 'for sight', as its called, you can collect 'for haulage' (only count the train as 'got' if youve had a ride behind it), or you can collect them by photographing them, etc etc. There are almost as many ways of getting involved as there are spotters, and no one way is better than the other (though many will argue their case!).

Finally the term 'train spotter' isnt normally used -it has too negative connotations (the jokey image and all that) -so they like to think of themselves as 'rail(way) enthusiasts'. Do you know that these people call non-trainspotting people 'normals'?

Personally I dont give a monkeys what we are called, I'll just do it regardless anyway. And for me it really is more satisfying than watching 22 men chase after a leather ball on a pitch....

Hope this helps solve the big mystery!

Answer 4

It's not a sport, it's  a  novel and film.

Answer 5

no i do not think it is  a sport but i do think its fun!!

:D

Answer 6

hi yes train spotting is a real pass time

Answer 7

it is v ery real, I am not sure "sport" is the term, it is not competition in any way, more of a pasttime I would think

in the States the people are usually called rail fans and it is quite popular

they have meets where they share photos and stories

there are a lot of people who will set a particualr goal, for instance getting a photo of each locomotive in a company's fleet, or collecting as many vintage photos as possible.

we call them "foamers" becuase they start to foam at the mouth at the sight of a train

most are harmless, (usually)i have talked to a lot of them, back in the old days we could offer them a ride if they were polite and respectful, not any more.