Train Spotters not all are the stereotype

[43021HST]

How many of you are tired of the image the media are giving trainspotters?

Many train enthusiasts are not all thick rimmed glasses, Bobble hats and anaraks. But I get teased endlessly at school about my enthusiasm for trains. Also no one likes trains there so I have no one to talk to about trains. What are your views and experiences?

 

[martyn29]

hello, is the same across the board, even at work! I work for a railway company and luckily I work with a couple of people who are fello enthusiasts so its nice. There are alot of people that do take the mick and stuff.

 

[GNERman]

That's fair enough but i have some friends who do like trains...

 

[Phoenix]

How many of you are tired of the image the media are giving trainspotters?

Many train enthusiasts are not all thick rimmed glasses, Bobble hats and anaraks. But I get teased endlessly at school about my enthusiasm for trains. Also no one likes trains there so I have no one to talk to about trains. What are your views and experiences?

Well tuesday I decided to put my AC electric loco badges on my jacket before going into uni and I did get some greif off my mates but I took it on the chin and just laughed it off.
All I say to people when they call me a spotter is "I can drink like the rest of you guys and I dress normally and I do in fact have a girlfriend so you can take the mick but you can't call me sad can you"
The more you get annoyed by it the better it is to take this mick cause it is indeed funny winding your mates up so just don't care and ask yourself.

What you rather...........

A) No greif but no trains.
B) Putting up with it but still be able to do what you love.

As it says on the cans of the drink Relentless "Suffer for your art"

 

[jon0844]

I'm not a trainspotter in the stereotyped way either, and don't care for spotting individual numbers or standing on a cold platform taking photos and noting things down in a book - but I do have an interest in them from a design point of view, just as I like to travel on different planes, coaches and cars.

I am also interested in the industry in general, as I am involved with it even if only as a passenger. That's the journalist in me though, I always like to know about the workings of things and the 'story behind the story'!

Each to their own I guess. Traditional spotters do no harm (mostly, except the idiots standing by the track to get that 'perfect' photo) and were once considered the eyes and ears of the railway for security. Now they're looked upon as terrorists, and the Government can use these people as scapegoats to pass laws restricting our freedom. Anyway, that's an off-topic rant in the making so I'll shut up!

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

For me an interest in trains is no different to an interest in cars (which is very popular) or planes (military or commercial).

As I said in a previous thread I have an interest in the railways - I don't phot, spot or bash - but if I did I would'nt let the opinions of others put me down. On another note I think alot of people do have an interest in railways/trains but don't like to express it for the negative stereotype potrayed.

 

[Pumbaa]

For me an interest in trains is no different to an interest in cars (which is very popular)

Whenever I get some grief for liking the railways, that's the first argument that comes out of my mouth. And usually it shuts them up.

 

[90019]

Ah, the simple joys of the stereotype
I just laugh about them, because there are so many against me and honestly I don't fit into almost all of them, so it doesn't matter anyway

And honestly, if people have an issue with it, it's their own problem, not mine

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

Don't get the **** taken out of me at school. They're dead interested about it although I have had to convince them im not a 'trainspotter' but a person who bashes the railways. Plenty of them in my school. 7 that I know of and a few closet ones. Deputy head, 2 Geo Teachers and a physics teacher are also cranks

 

[thefab444]

No cranks or veg of any kind at my school.

 

[delt1c]

Never bothered me, I am an individual not a clone. I like trains, have a caravan, like 4x4's and follow Newcastle United . Others opinions dont count after all who are they to judge . As for the media I wont even start on that subject. If you enjoy your hobby and it doesnt harm anyone else dont worry about it.
Heaven for me is finding a caravan site next to a railway line and then watching the trains from the comfort of my caravan

 

[jopsuk]

Of course, the most noticable spotters ARE the stereotypes.

 

[Golden Gripper]

There is a difference between spotters and enthusiasts. I don't take down numbers or obsessively 'bash routes' (both activities I consider slightly autistic).

I do enjoy travelling by train, I also enjoy what I think of as the 'poetry' of railway operation (similar to the appreciation a mathmatician has for a good equation) and I like to understand how the railway works and what is happening to it. So I'm an enthusiast.

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

Its like the old stereotype that people up north drink bitter, eat pies and breed wippets or the view that English people are yobs who drink beer and cause trouble wherever they go. Its alright as a joke but when people start believing that nonsense things can get a bit over the top.

In my opinion people intersted in railways, enthususiasts, spotters, photters and bashers represent a wide part of the British demography - men and women, young and old, students, working men, retired - just ordinary people who have a hobby just like everyone else.

The_Rail_WAy

 

[TDK]

I work on the railway and railway workers see a lot more than the entusiast and in my opinion there are a lot of annoying spotters/enthusiasts about who think they know how the system works however most do not. I get some strange comments like "you should be driving a 37 as it better than what you are in" in fact a 37 is dated, terrible to drive, would not pull my train and also less economical and not at all good for the environment, this person also said he would live his life around my train if it had a 37 on, I find these comments strange and not normal to be honest. Flash photography in my face is another annoying thing and also spotters wearing HV vests so they get the drivers to blow upfor their videos is another annoyance. Obviously there is normaland abnormal and it's about 50/50in my opinion.

 

[yorkie]

No cranks or veg of any kind at my school.

There probably is, but you don't know who they are

 

[90019]

the view that English people are yobs who drink beer and cause trouble wherever they go.

That's not true!? hock:

 

[generalvegitable]

the wise man does not stereotype

 

[jon0844]

Never bothered me, I am an individual not a clone. I like trains, have a caravan, like 4x4's and follow Newcastle United

Freak.

 

[upnorth71]

But I get teased endlessly at school about my enthusiasm for trains. Also no one likes trains there so I have no one to talk to about trains.

Schools below the uni level can sometimes be suffocating places where different ideas and interests tend to be looked down upon (I should know- I work at one!). You don't have to apologize or feel bad about your hobby- especially one that can be so diverse and confers knowledge of geography, engineering, economics, and social history. I bet (and others here have alluded to) that there are actually closet enthusiasts at your school. They just haven't mustered the courage (or self-confidence) that you have in openly expressing interest in railways.

 

[BlythPower]

Never bothered me, I am an individual not a clone. I like trains, have a caravan, like 4x4's and follow Newcastle United .

Started well, went downhill, levelled out then descended into Hell!

 

[Matt Taylor]

No, not everyone fits the stereotype:

http://matthew-taylor.fotopic.net/p43705056.html



Matt