Where have all the trainspotters gone?

Question

This is a follow up question to one I posted a couple of days ago (link to original question about trainspotters at Clapham Junction http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1aThkdWZ2BF9TAzIxMTU1MDAxMTgEc2VjA2Fuc19ub3QEc2xrA2Fuc21vcmU-;_ylv=3?qid=20080108190246AAnTQ9A )

Having now spent a couple of days loitering around platforms 10 and 11 at Clapham Junction (and dallying with a little naive trainspotting of my own!) I am dismayed at the lack of active rail enthusiasts jotting down engine numbers! Is this a nationwide situation? Where are these chaps most frequently to be found these days? Are heightened security measures to blame? I am a photographer and I'm very interested in this waning pastime and would appreciate any information at all! I would like to make portraits of rail enthusiasts / trainspotters. I had originally intended to focus on the activty in Clapham Junction, but am able to travel anywhere in the south that may yield more results.

Thankyou!!

Answer 1

I have no 'scientific' evidence for whether you suggestion is true or not, but I think you may be correct, however. The answer which suggests it is 'uncool' may be right - I don't know enough young people to make my own judgement. I'll go back to my own boyhood (1950s!), when I could be regularly seen on a bridge abutment right next the the West Coast Line in a north west London suburb taking numbers. Why did I do it? For a start, there was little else for us to do. There were evening youth clubs and scouts (for those that liked that kind of thing) - I haunted the local library. But we had no computers, video games or all day TV. It was something to do during school holidays to get us out from under mum's feet. Then, there was variety. What would be coming through next? A 'Coro', a 'Princess', a 'Scot', a 'Jub', a 'Pat'? Or another 'Black 5' - groans all round from the thronged youth. And then there were numerous goods locos and tankies. What would I see now? Nothing but Pendolinos and whatever 'London Midland' are using on their services - which, I guess will be just one class. Even here, in mid-Sussex where I now live, there would have been variety in the EMUs - now it is just a procession of 'Electrostars' (looking very handsome I admit, in their 'Southern' livery), and the odd Thameslink service, just one class.But hardly something, in either case, to make a kid want to stand on a draughty platform. You refer to 'engine' numbers. Did you know there aren't that many engines these days? Most passenger services are provided by the equivalent of DMUS and EMUs. The only real exception in the London area are the East Coast services out of King's Cross (which look like EMUs at first glance)  and the Norwich etc services out of Liverpool Street. Locos tend only to be found on freight services. I honestly don't know where, on the main lines, you will find the spotters in any numbers, except on days when there is a steam special through. However, go to a gala weekend at a preserved railways and little boys from 10 -100 will be packing the platforms and the linesides. The last time I saw this was at the Bluebell's 'Giants of Steam' weekend back last October (my own humble efforts at http://picasaweb.google.com/wysehillwiza...

Answer 2

What is trainspotting

Answer 3

The railroad frowns on that now. They think we're terrorists.

Answer 4

I think nowadays you will find that many enthusiasts have turned their attention to the Heritage Railways because most of them are into steam.  I have noticed that a main line steam special passing through e.g. Bristol Temple Meads brings a lot of enthusiasts out of the woodwork.

There are however a few dedicated souls who follow the modern image. I travel through Newport from time to time and they can often be seen at the Cardiff end of platforms 2/3, faithfully recording the passage of the class 66  diesel-electrics and other machines to be seen on the frequent freight workings. I am sure there are other places where such enthusiasts may be found.

I must confess I am a steam buff rather than a follower of modern image and although I have photographed the contemporary scene a few times, steam remains my no.1 preference.

Do you read the railway press? I'm sure the Railway Magazine or Modern Railways would keep you up to date.

Answer 5

They were all run over by trains because they are too ignorant to stay off the tracks.  

One less hassle for hard working engineers to have to put up with!

Answer 6

Trainspotting is quickly becoming the 8-track tape or betamax of it's field.

Since trainspotters aren't tagged with radio transmitters to track their migration (Ooh, that would make a nice Animal Planet show...), you're going to have less luck finding them...

Answer 7

They got tired of being harassed by railroad police and security and treated like terrorists because they were taking pictures or trains and train infrastructure.

Answer 8

I'm an engineer in the U.S. Don't know where they went in the U.K., or here either. Used to see 'em all the time here in the '90s. They'd even set themselves up with lawn chairs and coolers near busy railroad locations. I thought they were a bit "touched", but they're harmless. Sure don't know what happened to them all.

Answer 9

I think all the 'spotters are slowly disappearing because as they grow older there are no kids to replace them because trainspotting is seen as "uncool".

When I was young I used to go 'spotting and from my early teens went all over the UK in search of locomotive numbers.

But now parents won't even let their kids go into the local town centre on their own...no wonder kids grow up with no independent streak!

And I don't belive the Uk is any more dangerous than in the 1970's...not as many pub bombings etc!,and with there being so many CCTV systems it's probably a lot safer traveling today.