Famous rail enthusiasts?

[30907]

Loads of clerics (not just The Revd W Awdry and The Rt Revd Eric Treacy!) and umpteen church organists. Depends on how you define fame!

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Ruswarp.

 

[richw]

Richard Wilson

Julie Walters did that documentary series and confessed her love of railways

 

[infobleep]

John Betjeman. Has he been mentioned?

 

[Merthyr Imp]

The composer Arthur Honegger.

 

[Cowley]

Sinatra was a Class 25 main man, along with Sammy Davis Jnr and Dean Martin they were regulars on the North Wales Coast, hence the name 'The Rat Pack'.

Brilliant. Made me laugh out loud on a Sprinter...

 

[NoOnesFool]

Follow along from the Famous people on Train I was wondering how many people are enthusiasts?

Many moons ago, I worked with the brother of the drummer from Lieutenant Pigeon. His bag was soundtracks of steam trains, I heard some and they were bloomin' good.

Pixie Lott is a big fan of Class 142s.

 

[jamesthegill]

Pixie Lott is a big fan of Class 142s.

With legs like hers I'm surprised she can fit in the seats!

 

[Western Lord]

Yes seen Tim & Pru boarding the Waverley at Penarth many years ago. I think Tim is a big fan of anything steam.

On last Sunday's Great Canal Journeys Tim was wearing a F & WHR cap. Presumably Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Ian Hislop ? (unless mentioned already)

 

[bastien]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark did an album called 'English Electric'.

 

[pompeyfan]

One of the ITV news casters (not the grumpy git from Alton who does the half 6 news) was on celebrity mastermind a good few years ago and done his specialist subject on ‘the workings and area of operations of the former Network SouthEast area)

 

[Journeyman]

Captain Sensible loves his trains.

Indeed he does, he's done a few train-related videos on YouTube.

 

[Journeyman]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark did an album called 'English Electric'.

The band Blyth Power are obvious examples - besides sharing a name with a Class 37, there's quite a few rail references in their songs.

 

[43096]

The band Blyth Power are obvious examples - besides sharing a name with a Class 37, there's quite a few rail references in their songs.

Class 56, I thought?

Amongst others they wrote a song called “Signalman White”, which starts with the lyrics
“Down beyond Wyke Combe Bottom
Blackened bushes screen
In the darkness of the railway cutting
The signal cabin's gleam
There among the brass bells and buttons
And iron lever frames
The hand lamps and the smoking stove
And the passing diesel trains

Signalman White keeps a watchful eye

It was halfway through the night shift
The empty stock was due
And an engine down for Kingmoor bound
To stable and refuel“

 

[Journeyman]

Class 56, I thought?

You're right - 56 134. Coulda sworn it was a 37!

 

[AlterEgo]

Surprised nobody’s mentioned the world’s only performing flatulist - Mr Methane. Not only is he a train enthusiast, he was also a driver at Buxton in the 90s.

You can watch Macclesfield’s famous son break wind through a Deltic horn here:

Perhaps his finest work:

 

[bastien]

Surprised nobody’s mentioned the world’s only performing flatulist - Mr Methane. Not only is he a train enthusiast, he was also a driver at Buxton in the 90s.

You can watch Macclesfield’s famous son break wind through a Deltic horn here:

Perhaps his finest work:

I'm surprised a man with such a talent even needs a day job.

 

[DarloRich]

Chris Rea loved a Deltic. ( I assume he must have changed at Darlington for Middlesbrough)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltics

EDIT - Beaten to it by @KevinTurvey

 

[DarloRich]

While fictional Roy Cropper from Coronation Street is a massive train spotter. I am unsure if the actor ( David Neilson) is a spotter but he plays Roy VERY well right down to the obsessive/aspergers nature of many with an interest in trains and buses. I think the actor gives a very good and strangely sensitive portrayal of someone it would be very easy to mock. His character is odd but he is a decent bloke who is moral, decent and honorable.

I suspect that if real Roy would be a regular poster here!

 

[pemma]

Pete Waterman.

The heading makes reference to both enthusiasts and spotters. As Pete Waterman has a transport role with Cheshire & Warrington LEP I'd suggest even if he turns up with a notepad at stations recording train numbers (which many who post on here would find incredibly boring), that he's an enthusiast as he's made trains more than just his hobby.

 

[HaggisBotherer]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned some bloke called Portillo and Straw Dickbridge.

Always amuses me how there are some train spotters who like nothing more than to put themselves in front of a camera at every opportunity (on YouTube, etc), in an attempt to pursue the dream of becoming some sort of 'personality'. From what I've seen, without exception these people have great faces for radio.

 

[bionic]

Floella Benjamin

 

[6Gman]

Re the OP, I remember an issue of the Railway Magazine circa 1976, which had an article on all of Lt Pigeon, including Mum, being huge Western fans with a piccie of them all at Swindon recording them.

Funny what you remember.

May 1976, I recognised the cover.

I have the record!

 

[6Gman]

Nicholas Owen? I know he's connected to the Bluebell Railway in some way.

And Volk's Electric Railway. Believe he may volunteer there.

 

[6Gman]

The composer Arthur Honegger.

Antonin Dvorak was another classical composer who was - literally - a trainspotter. One day he was busy completing a symphony so sent his wife down to see what was around. She came back with a list of numbers.

But they were tender numbers! #



# (Another version says it was a music student. Remarkably, despite this failing, he later became Dvorak's son-in-law.)

It is also said that he died after catching a chill while chatting to loco drivers when he was already poorly.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Jools Holland

 

[Condor7]

Ian Anderson seems to have a soft spot for railways, particularly the GC/GW joint route.

....and he has ‘Locomotive Breath’.

 

[EM2]

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark did an album called 'English Electric'.

Warm Digits did an album called 'Interchange' all inspired by T&W Metro, and also a track called 'Trans-Pennine Express'.

 

[EM2]

BBC News reporter Ben Ando also writes on N gauge for Model Rail magazine.

He's also one of the prime movers behind RevolutioN Trains - https://www.revolutiontrains.com/