Annoyingly for me, Phoenix hasn't listed the two classes that I'd fit in:
Insane Engineer, and
Imagineer 
One of my biggest reasons for having an interest in the railways is not so much in the system or the stock that exists
today, but more what may exist
tomorrow - At least as far as HSR and XHSR (eXtreme High Speed Rail) is concerned. 8)
As many of ye will have already noticed, I have a rather protracted view on speeds and distances. I personally feel that the 1,100(ish) line miles between Penzance and Wick should be coverable by train in a start-to-stop time of no more than thirty minutes, and - To me, at least - The concept of trains travelling along the WCML at four and five figure speeds is a perfectly plausable one!
hock:
Though many BR traction workers and enthusiasts may have given it up for dead by now, I personally feel that the Class 370 APT-P had a potential truly unparallelled by any other rail vehicle built even to this day, the Transrapid and JR maglevs being the only possible exceptions. In it's short life, the APT-P was only ever taken up to a paltry 162mph in passenger service...And even at that speed it was operating below half power!
hock:
So - Though it'd only be the starting block in a lot of R&D work for an XHSR system - I feel that if the APT-P was returned to the rails "as is" and thrashed along the ECML at maximum power, speeds of well over the 225
mph mark could easily be recorded...And that's with the train at 1979CE specifications!
Upgrade the APT-P with modern traction motors (So 2,250bhp, insted of the existing 1,000bhp units) and that Behemoth of British Rail would show her true colours in full thrash...
Anyhow - Moving back to the original point, I'd say that I'm probabally a
Basher out of all of the above listed options...Maybe also a latter-day
Preservationist because of my interest in the APT-P. I have no real interest in any of the other areas, although a while ago I took a slight technical interest in photting as I was wondering if automating rail photography - Using a high-res digital camera, virtual "trip-wires", and ANPR software to read unit numbers - Could be possible.
8)
