Claimed record for most locos seen?

[6Gman]

Has anyone ever claimed to be a "record holding" trainspotter in the sense of having seen more locos than anyone else?

I'm thinking in a lifetime (which I presume would be someone who lived through the steam/ early diesel transition) but also in a single year. For the latter I'm thinking the early/mid 1950s might be the best period - I've been doing a bit of a speculative analysis of what could be achieved and reckon c.12,000 would be possible.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Well I saw a lot of steam towards the end as I lived in the Northwest. In the 1970s and 1980s I cleared all my locomotives 3 times. 1st time around 08663 was my last on seen on number 1 target point Swansea East dock July 25th 1976. So I saw warships, westerns, Hymeks, North British, class 71 and 74s, Claytons as well. That includes 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 shutters too. Then I cleared them again seeing 08784 as my last one Northampton signal box September 24th 1978 being hauled by 86011. Then for my 3rd time round my last loco was 37043 seen on Scunthorpe in May 1983. I know people who have seen more than me - both alive and no longer alive. People often did not believe me so I set out to get a photo of everyone too. I failed by about 250.

My best single year was 1976 where I was 243 short of clearing for the year.

 

[etr221]

There was someone who published a claim in the Railway Magazine (?) a few years back; someone I know, who took it seriously, but was more modest about it (too modest to make any claim), reckoned to have seen rather more, in the 80 - 90 thousand range (globally, on a lifetime basis), and thought c100000 was a likely record...

BR inherited c20000 locos in 1948; add their new builds, industrials, etc. and you've probably got a post 1948 UK total of c30000 as a starter (and I am sure there a people who can claim to seen all, or almost, of these as a starter)