Origin of your Forum Username?

[CharlieSpotted]

Mine comes from the game "Battlefield Vietnam". Set in the Vietnam war, whenever a Viet Cong player spotted a US soldier they would shout "Charlie Spotted!".

 

[EM2]

I like a popular dessert made from ice cream rolled in sponge.

And I like a crappy pun.

I've seen this spelled incorrectly so often, that this actually looked wrong to my eyes at first!

 

[chris89]

Mine comes from the game "Battlefield Vietnam". Set in the Vietnam war, whenever a Viet Cong player spotted a US soldier they would shout "Charlie Spotted!".

That was a fantastic game way back (Imagine you mean the proper release, not the Bad Company addon)

I would though suggest looking at Rising Storm 2 for a new Vietnam game coming early next year.

 

[CharlieSpotted]

That was a fantastic game way back (Imagine you mean the proper release, not the Bad Company addon)

Oh yes, I spent many a happy hour hovering my chopper over the enemy base spawning many of my colleagues into battle whilst over the radio, Credence Clearwater Revival played out...

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red, white and blue...

 

[Butts]

Arguably mine is the most distinctive Avatar on the whole forum

However I cannot claim to be it's creator as I had to get my daughter to sort it out for me

Butts is the name of a sadly deceased Cat ( no not due to passive smoking !!)

The cigarette is an indicator of one of my favourite hobbies.

I don't like anyone else to feature a real cat - there was one by the moniker of Bungle but his has been altered I believe. Cartoon Felines are acceptable.

 

[krus_aragon]

It is a traditional saying used by fans of BSG to agree with any comment - in this case, young padawan, I agree...

Mixing sayings from different science fiction films is highly illogical, Captain. :P

 

[asylumxl]

Arguably mine is the most distinctive Avatar on the whole forum

However I cannot claim to be it's creator as I had to get my daughter to sort it out for me

Butts is the name of a sadly deceased Cat ( no not due to passive smoking !!)

The cigarette is an indicator of one of my favourite hobbies.

I don't like anyone else to feature a real cat - there was one by the moniker of Bungle but his has been altered I believe. Cartoon Felines are acceptable.

I genuinely thought it was cos you're an arse :P.

 

[Crossover]

I changed mine a few years ago now as the previous one was related to my name

Crossover is merely a term that is associated both with railways and also my other interest (and also career) in IT, spefically networking

My name is Alex, and ATW (Arriva Trains Wales) was the most railway-like alliteration device I could think of that would fit with my name! The 101 is just a generic number and is nothing to do with a class 101 or anything. I just thought the numbers looked good. Heck, 6 years ago that was!!

Around about early 2013, it turns out people were reading my name as 'AT Walex' and that's pretty much what I'm known as up until today! Especially on forum meets, that's what people will call me! Around August '14 i changed my name and included spaces, so that any subsequent new members would then know I'm not 'Walex' and indeed 'ATW Alex'.

I've had a few avatars in the past, the earliest one I can think of was a Super Voyager at Chester, but I'm really not too sure. I'm pretty certain they've all been trains. The current one has been in place since September '13 and it's a picture of a FGW Class 158 at Chester, photoshopped so only the train is in colour. It's an image I quite like and am proud of and it's a rare occurrence outside FGW-land, so I thought it's a sound choice as my avatar and there it's been since!

I think you tend to associate avatars with the member, quite often I find if a member has changed their avatar, I look for a moment and this who the hell is that? .

Only the other day I referred to you as Walex! It's going to be a difficult one to shake :P

I agree with the avatars - it often confuses me when a regular poster changes theirs!

I'm sure I've told the story of mine plenty of times over the years, but mine simply comes from both the science discovery centre in Cardiff I loved in my childhood and from the nameplate on 43002 in the mid-2000s.

Ah, I remember going to that place in Cardiff myself

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Speaking of avatars, it seems that most members' don't actually correspond to their username- for example a user with name 1587xx having a photo of a 153 as their avatar. This plays havoc with my mild OCD!

 

[Cowley]

Speaking of avatars, it seems that most members' don't actually correspond to their username- for example a user with name 1587xx having a photo of a 153 as their avatar. This plays havoc with my mild OCD!

Maybe he looks more like a 153 than a 158?

I was thinking of starting a thread about trains that look like people but it's just because I've had a few late nights this weekend.

 

[Busaholic]

Arguably mine is the most distinctive Avatar on the whole forum

However I cannot claim to be it's creator as I had to get my daughter to sort it out for me

Butts is the name of a sadly deceased Cat ( no not due to passive smoking !!)

The cigarette is an indicator of one of my favourite hobbies.

I don't like anyone else to feature a real cat - there was one by the moniker of Bungle but his has been altered I believe. Cartoon Felines are acceptable.

There used to be a 'character' in Penzance, a female antique dealer, who transported her cat Ginger on her shoulders to work every day. Her other cat Fred was partial to a lick of whisky, as was his owner (rather more than a lick, to be honest). Said owner smoked about 60 a day too, but never inflicted the habit on her cats. Fred pre-deceased her, but when she died I took Ginger in and he lived to be 19 or 20.

 

[90019]

Speaking of avatars, it seems that most members' don't actually correspond to their username- for example a user with name 1587xx having a photo of a 153 as their avatar. This plays havoc with my mild OCD!

Mine is correct on that front, and has only briefly changed once or twice since 2008.

 

[Techniquest]

Speaking of avatars, it seems that most members' don't actually correspond to their username- for example a user with name 1587xx having a photo of a 153 as their avatar. This plays havoc with my mild OCD!

Ah now I can explain why my username doesn't match my avatar. I could go into lengthy detail on that, but my avatar is me at the controls of D1013 on a driver experience course in May 2006. Ridiculously good fun and I would love to one day have the money to do a course like that again!

I do look for people's avatars in a thread, as it is a handy way of bookmarking where I got to in a thread! So when they change it can be a bit of a shock to begin with!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Speaking of avatars, it seems that most members' don't actually correspond to their username- for example a user with name 1587xx having a photo of a 153 as their avatar. This plays havoc with my mild OCD!

It's crossed my mind that if this turns into a discussion on avatars, it's going to make very confusing reading if someone comes back to it in a couple of years - by which time lots of us will no doubt have changed their avatars.

Butts is the name of a sadly deceased Cat ( no not due to passive smoking !!)

I genuinely thought it was cos you're an arse :P.

Wouldn't that grammatically have to be two or more arses?

 

[asylumxl]

Wouldn't that grammatically have to be two or more arses?

Shh. Don't ruin the joke.

 

[EM2]

Mixing sayings from different science fiction films is highly illogical, Captain. :P

 

[D6975]

A late running Pompey - Cardiff, a Canton driver impatient to get home and 37275 on fine form produced my fastest ever run through the Severn tunnel (sub the magic 3 minutes), hence D6975, its original number.

 

[Mike395]

Mine used to be just my first name and first initial of my surname, but I changed it upon request (was about the same time I joined the forum team) as I was being muddled up with another member :P (see also Post 35!)

As I came up with this one in a bit of a hurry, no imagination was used, was simply my first name & the stock I travelled on most often at the time (I was at uni in Kent)

 

[Butts]

I genuinely thought it was cos you're an arse :P.

That to

 

[Blamethrower]

A Reuben song called Blamethrower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNrcNFq7OuA

 

[317666]

The first 317 (my favourite EMU class) I travelled on when I started ticking them off in 2009.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The first 317 (my favourite EMU class) I travelled on when I started ticking them off in 2009.

The Devil's Bedpan?

 

[317666]

The Devil's Bedpan?

I'd love to laugh but my inner 317 geek can't ignore the fact that, as a /2, it was built for Great Northern services and not the BedPan

 

[adrock1976]

Mine is obvious as my first name is Adam, and with me originally being from the West Midlands, I am a huge fan of some of the finest bands to have originated there.

Those being Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Magnum, and Napalm Death.

Combined with me being a rail enthusiast, it's all metal if you think about it.

 

[Lampshade]

Nearest inanimate object to where I was sitting.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'd love to laugh but my inner 317 geek can't ignore the fact that, as a /2, it was built for Great Northern services and not the BedPan

I'm not one to let facts get in the way of a joke!

 

[Harbon 1]

Surname + 1

 

[gordonthemoron]

'punk' single Jilted John by Jilted John from 1978

 

[fowler9]

'punk' single Jilted John by Jilted John from 1978

Love the station on your forum ID picture.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

And my username doesn't match my avatar simply because I don't have my own matching picture....

First 4 Cep marked off in my spotting book in the 1970s....last unit in a 12-car that stopped literally just short of the level crossing at my local station...