Why should this be so? The s were an era of fast streamlined steam locomotives culminating in July when Mallard took the world steam record reaching mph. Trains became luxurious and were a glamourous way to travel. The war then brought austerity and hardship and at the end of it, some train number books were published for train spotters.
A Southern Railway clerk received an increasing amount of requests for locomotive information so he decided to compile lists of engine numbers and publish them in books as well as with individual locomotive names plus operational and construction details. Ian Allen. Thus started his publishing empire which turned into a world famous company. Just before WW2, there were tens of thousands of steam locomotive numbers to collect. In for example, there were 19, steam locomotives pulling 42, carriages plus , freight wagons 17, Guards Vans.
It is thought that in the aftermath of the war and its chaos, there was a desire for order and permanence by the kids of the day. Train spotting provided this order as well as instant companionship on platforms because complete strangers knew they shared a common interest. Collecting locomotive numbers evolved into more extreme types of spotting with many turning to collecting wagon and carriage numbers.
We hope that this guide has been useful. Hey there, thanks for the advice. I have two questions. Should I go with someone, and is new barnet spotter friendly? Can anyone help? Hi, this is really helpful thank you. Any suggestions on how I can help nurture this interest would be appreciated.
Hi Can anybody tell me where I can get some training spotting log books. I would like to get the ones with the numbers in and letters so they can be ticked off when we see the engine.
Great western railways. Cross country railways. Plus the transport trains that transport containers. If anyone can help me Many thanks. Guide to Getting Started with Train Spotting. SE-Gen groups. Includes information about RHTT allocations, rare movements on the mainline and heads up about future uncommon workings.
Railway Forums Railway forums are also a useful resource such as railforums. Freightmaster — hand compiled train timetables for services that often run, and the locomotive class that runs them paid. Do not cross the yellow line at stations. This includes legs of tripods and legs of human beings.
Do not wave with both arms in the air — this should only be done in an emergency and you need the train to stop for safety reasons. Advise station staff of your presence. It wasn't worth getting caught on railway property. I'd had it—it must have gone out. And it might be months before it's back again. Rats, rats, rats. Well lying is one thing but dishonesty is another. I never did underline it in my Ian Allan spotter's book. That would be sacrilege.
On the 3 September , one of the many 'scrap' trains was moving redundant steam locomotives from Salisbury Shed to South Wales, via Gloucester. These trains were not allowed through the Severn Tunnel due to the possibility of a hotbox failure whilst inside the tunnel. This particular train consisted of 4 locomotives. Whilst heading northwards towards Standish Junction, it was discovered that one of the locos was running hot. The train was brought to a standstill at Coaley Junction, and sure enough Salisbury was found to have an overheated nearside centre driving wheel axle.
This was a regular occurrence whilst moving these dead steam locos to the breaker's yard. For this reason the trains had strict speed restrictions. The other 3 locos continued on their way to Cashmores, Newport. Salisbury aroused great interest in the area from railway enthusiasts and the general public until its removal to Gloucester some two weeks later.
Upon arrival at Gloucester the loco was stored in a siding at the side of the main running shed, very close to the wheel drop building. Once again the very large community of railway enthusiasts who congregated at Tramway Junction crossing would visit the shed to see this strange streamlined locomotive.
Back then, very few Southern Region locomotives made it to Gloucester. The shed staff were clearly enjoying having a celebrity loco in their shed, and tolerated the never ending 'bunking' by spotters. Probably they turned a blind eye because the loco was well away from the running lines of the shed. Quickly one or two enthusiasts started cleaning the cabside to reveal the number.
This led to the tender being cleaned with the shed foreman providing the rags and cotton waste. The day before it was due to leave Gloucester shed we thought that the now gleaming loco should receive a final touch. Tins of paint were purchased and the name, crest and eventually the scroll were painted directly onto the streamlined casing. Also added was a smokebox number and shed code as well as other embellishments we had seen on locos in the railway press. The day came, 24 September , when we knew we would lose our 'centre of attention'.
A class 47 diesel or Brush Type 4, as they were originally labelled arrived with three other locos in tow.
They were stopped in the middle road at Gloucester Central Station, and the diesel was detached, ran back to the shed and dragged Salisbury out of the shed yard. There was just enough time for us to paint the West Country Class scroll below the name crest. There were many sad faces when it left the shed, enthusiasts as well as shed personnel. In no time at all she was on her way to Cashmores scrapyard where, within two weeks was nowhere to be seen.
Little did we know it at the time that we would see many more scrap trains, but none would be as close to our hearts as Salisbury. At least we made certain that just this one went on her final trip with some dignity restored. We would spend the days watching trains pass in every direction. When we weren't, we would get up to mischief. Putting old pennies or half-pennies on the line was a favourite as the train would flatten them. Scrumping in the local orchards was another. By the age of 12 we were becoming more and more adventurous.
We were allowed by our parents to take train journeys further afield and while there are many very interesting and exciting adventures that could be relayed this is possibly the best of the many. Steam was in decline and increasingly the passenger trains were being pulled by diesel or diesel electric locomotives. Steam engines were disappearing rapidly and were increasingly only used for freight trains. The decline resulted in the scrapping of hundreds of steam locomotives.
What better place to go and take the numbers of locomotives that would soon be gone forever? We then had an hour at Barrow Road shed—which we bunked in of course as we had no permits. We tried to get into Bath Road shed as well but that was much harder and we failed. Then we went back to Temple Meads for a train to Cardiff via the Severn Tunnel—an experience in itself.
When we got to Barry Island we had a ball. Almost all of the engines were without their number-plates so we looked for the chalked-on numbers that had been put on to identify them. We climbed on those of interest so that we could say that we had 'cabbed them'. I also removed a tap and valve gauge from a locomotive as a souvenir. We spent hours taking numbers and generally enjoying the day. I suspect although my memory is not clear on this that there was a sadness that these great locos were for the most part going to be cut up and turned into steel for bridges, cars, buildings or worse diesel engines.
The friendly shed foreman welcomed our large group, a motor coach full of impatient spotters. Being a Sunday morning, there was no disappointment at the quantity of locos numbers to record. After our visit, we all piled back into our coach very happy. I felt it was time for my favourite snack, the infamous Lyons individual fruit pie. A few mouthfuls later I wound the coach window down and launched my empty fruit pie box into orbit, boomerang style, out the open window.
After a quick glance towards the coach rear window, shock horror came across me as I saw my pie box score a direct hit on the helmet of a cycling police constable. The constable began swerving from side to side while desperately trying to grab his whistle from his breast pocket. My last view, as we sped away, with a broad smile breaking out, was of the constable, notebook and pencil in hand, no doubt recording the coach number. So I wasn't the only one that Sunday taking numbers. Another Sunday saw us visit Langwith Junction shed.
It was the only shed that day which we had no permit to visit. All 30 of us made it into the tiny shed. All the numbers pencilled in our notebooks, and ready to go, before half a dozen footplate staff waving shovels emerged from the smoky gloom. The chase was on. I headed towards the way out, only to find our coach speeding away, lads in chase. Half a mile later I climbed aboard.
Gradually one by one we all made it back, the air full of foul verse against our leader for abandoning us to the peril of the footplate mob. I occasionally accompanied my brother Dennis on his trainspotting pursuits. When I went to Queen Anne Grammar School in the s my friend Helen and I were excited to find that the main London line was at the bottom of the school's hockey pitch. Every lunchtime we would run down to the end of the pitch and have our packed lunch whilst waiting for the trains to go past.
We were particularly thrilled when we spotted a Deltic. They were so much more interesting as there were only a few of them and they had names rather than just numbers. A favourite was St Paddy. Sometimes in summer we would be in class with the windows open and we could hear the distinctive sound of the Deltic in the distance and Helen and I would give each other a knowing look. One day as we were sitting behind a line-side advertising hoarding, we were accosted by a uniformed policeman who told us we were not to sit there.
He told us that it was dangerous and we were technically trespassing on the railway. I think I was six or seven years of age at the time and this was our first encounter with the police. Needless to say we never sat there again but instead transferred our attention to the platforms of the station. This change of venue allowed us to watch the main line passenger trains in addition to the freight traffic and any light engine movements. The entrance to the station was off through a small booking office which had a large rack of wilting and dusty excursion leaflets.
Wooden stairs gave access to the up and down platforms. The footbridge was glazed but the windows were never cleaned and the only way to see over the tracks was through the occasional missing pane. Our usual position was on the down side where we could sit on platform trolleys under the footbridge or if it was cold, in the porter's office, where there was always a roaring fire.
There had to come a time when we ventured further afield. Unbeknown to my mother we purchased return tickets, the fare being, as I recall three pence which was cheaper than tuppence each way on the bus.
We spent most of our time on City North and, among many other trains, saw the Thames—Clyde express come in. I was much disconcerted to note that on the footplate was my next-door neighbour, Mr Lucas, as he was very likely to mention to my mother that he had seen me that day. But I wouldn't knock something I don't have an interest in - its ignorant.
In my limited experience, most train spotters enjoy collecting things - and its not unknown for many of them to move into collecting bus and plane numbers. In some ways spotters are the most visible part of the hobby and this is one reason why the general public think everyone spots - they don't.
Whereas I wouldn't go as as for to say as spotters are not rail enthusiasts, it is frequently forgotten is it is one element of rail enthusiasm, which in my experience annoys many other enthusiasts simply because spotting has been given negative connotations - something the rail press and groups have failed to right.
To me, this is the number one reason people are put off, especially younger people. Spotters probably make up less than 1 in 10 of enthusiasts - as rough guess from 30 years of being in the hobby. Overall, there are around , serious enthusiasts and 2 million casual rail enthusiasts in the UK. The National rail museum is the most visited museum outside London.
The latter are by far the biggest group. Most enthusiasts will fit into one or more groups of the above, but some never cross into the others. For example some people love basing, but would never buy a railway book or model, others love modelling, who would never spot.
Its a very wide church, although prominently male unfortunately covering all social classes, ages, and types of people. I have friends who are enthusiasts who stock shelves in Tescos right up to Cambridge University. There are geeky enthusiasts, famous enthusiasts - such as Pete Waterman, Rod Stewart and many others, and just regular people.
Railway enthusiasts can also have an interest in other forms of transport and vice versa - planes and cars are common, but also cycling and stuff like narrow boats, and buses, there is a very large crossover. Well the point of 'train spotting' really depends on how one likes to go about exercising their chosen hobby. When it comes to trains, railways and transport etc there is a huge list of associated groups and many might only exercise their hobby to a very specific aspect.
For example your main interest might be in ticketing or signage and you may not have a huge interest in trains as such. But 'train spotter' is probably a generic term used to describe everyone that has an interest in trains, so not everyone that has an interest in trains would be seen track side with a clipboard and a camera. JJUK Member.
I used to be one. I dunno rerally it was more of a thing like you write the numbers down and then on your travels you can say i saw that at so and so. Death Established Member. Joined 23 Oct Messages 1, Location Sat at the control desk of Hail all! Personally, I don't do the stereotypical trainspotting thing myself as my personal interest in the railways mainly centres around the fact that they're the fastest form of land transport available to My main interest in that regard is in finding ways that the speeds of modern rail services could be increased to levels that I would find reasonable - Such as increasing Pendo speeds on the WCML to around mph or so!
On that note though, I don't consider the same stereotyped trainspotting itself to be a waste of time After all, if someone likes spending their day on the platforms at Stafford with a camera and notebook in hand, then who the heck am I to go telling them that they shouldn't?
In my view: If someone performs a safe activity that is socially acceptable, then they should be allowed to do it without any form of trouble from anyone else. Irrespective of whether or not other people consider it to be "a waste of time" or not, the fact that they are doing something that they enjoy means that they're not really wasting their time at all And as I've never had a train held up by spotter activity in almost 30 years of rail travel, I've certainly got no objection to them using their time in the way that they choose.
In my numerous trips into the city of London Latrine over time, I've seen some people spotting with notebooks, some spotting with mobile phones, some spotting with cameras And there's a group of youths around the Wembly area who spot LuL stock with cans of spray paint! FusionRail Member. Joined 3 Sep Messages Location Shackerstone. MCR said:. One would have to ask, what is the point in doing anything?
Jord Established Member. Joined 21 Jun Messages 1, Location Aberdeenshire. Doesn't it depend on what you class as 'Trainspotting'? Now down to just 13 66s! I get a buzz out of doing it and don't care what people think of me or it.
0コメント