Why are trainspotters so unfriendly ?

[Techniquest]

That sort of person is not a spotter, more a moron who wants their own way and willing to risk getting in serious trouble to get the loco travelled behind! No spotter worth his salt would want to vandalise something on the railway in the first place, less so just so they can get what they want!

 

[Sprinter153]

The socially awkward platform end dwellers are fine, it's the cocky ones that will tell you what to do. I had one recently tell me to give my driver 6 on the buzzer (with the doors open!) to draw forward so the positioning was right for a photo. Also been told to keep my head in the train whilst leaving platforms. No thanks - I like my time with management with tea and complimentary Jaffa Cakes!

Having said that, if I can help, I will. I carry a camera in my work bag myself, much to the pity and head-shaking of some colleagues!

 

[Harbornite]

The majority of spotters I've encountered seemed alright, there were a few squares, weirdos and freaks but these can be found in all walks of life. I've also noticed that in some of my pictures, I can see the driver waving but I didn't wave back because I simply didn't notice. What I do find stupid is when spotters do that gesture to get the driver to use the horn.
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That sort of person is not a spotter, more a moron who wants their own way and willing to risk getting in serious trouble to get the loco travelled behind! No spotter worth his salt would want to vandalise something on the railway in the first place, less so just so they can get what they want!

Indeed, people who would do that are twunts. They should realise that the railway isn't run for spotters.

 

[trash80]

I wonder when these tired old stereotypes about train spotters will finally die, obviously not 2016.

 

[Ianno87]

The socially awkward platform end dwellers are fine, it's the cocky ones that will tell you what to do. I had one recently tell me to give my driver 6 on the buzzer (with the doors open!) to draw forward so the positioning was right for a photo. Also been told to keep my head in the train whilst leaving platforms. No thanks - I like my time with management with tea and complimentary Jaffa Cakes!

Having said that, if I can help, I will. I carry a camera in my work bag myself, much to the pity and head-shaking of some colleagues!

Oh yes, reminds me of a youngish guy I saw hanging around Cambridge a few months back shouting at people to "stand away" from a departing train with the doors yet-to-close as the first whistle blew. Leave it to the fully competent people who are paid, trained and insured to do it, mate....

 

[AlexNL]

I'm a bit of a hobbyist, as well as a photographer. When I'm out and about, a lot of my attention goes to my camera (although I do look after my own safety, of course .

If a driver salutes me by waving at me, I simply don't notice it. That's not because I'm an unfriendly anti-social chap, it's because I'm hard at work to get the best shot that I possibly can. Check (and adjust) settings on my camera, finding a good viewpoint, and once again checking my own safety.

Take this picture, for example...

I really did not notice the driver saluting me when I took the shot. It was not until I opened the photo on my PC that I saw his greeting. So err, hi driver

 

[Harbornite]

I'm a bit of a hobbyist, as well as a photographer. When I'm out and about, a lot of my attention goes to my camera (although I do look after my own safety, of course .

If a driver salutes me by waving at me, I simply don't notice it. That's not because I'm an unfriendly anti-social chap, it's because I'm hard at work to get the best shot that I possibly can. Check (and adjust) settings on my camera, finding a good viewpoint, and once again checking my own safety.

Take this picture, for example...

I really did not notice the driver saluting me when I took the shot. It was not until I opened the photo on my PC that I saw his greeting. So err, hi driver

This is a good of way pf putting it, I've missed quite a few waving drivers as a result. y the way, where was that taken?

 

[AlexNL]

This is a good of way pf putting it, I've missed quite a few waving drivers as a result.

Yep, me too! It's simply too hard to notice a driver waving when you're looking at a train through the lense.

I do try to greet the driver myself though.

y the way, where was that taken?

I took the picture back in 2012, at a footpath crossing near Cossington. I was in the area again a few weeks ago and I saw that the crossing has since been removed.

 

[Rapidash]

Drivers should take this course? And you are suggesting that all trainspotters are autistic?

To be fair, it's a useful bit of knowledge for anyone, not just in a public facing role. Not all spotters will be on the spectrum, but I'd would wager that many of the older ones will be, but undiagnosed. Not all Aspies are Trainspotters, and not all Trainspotters are autistic.

I've spent the last five years supporting people on the spectrum. Of the fifty I am acquainted with, only a couple have had a passing interest in trains. Ornithology, soviet nuclear missile systems and the growth patterns of bonsai cacti. ..but not trains.

I think it's been noted before that for many it's less the machines that people are interested in, but the unit numbers and headcodes. All part of a consistent system that be catalogued, by photting, or jotting down the numbers.
.
This is all personal conjecture of course, others will have differing opinions.

 

[70014IronDuke]

And before you knock the 'spotters' have a good look at yourself and your hobbies. you may like going to the opera,visiting the Tate Modern, going horse racing, playing golf. watching porn even. to you normal activities, to others perhaps these activities are considered 'strange' to people who are not interested in them. Are you therefore autistic in their eyes? What next taking the urine out of Downs Syndrome people?

... But you think it is alright to class trainspotters as autistic. have 24hrs doing what i do and them come back to me and bitch about train spotters.

Just live and let live and dont 'dis' others who dont conform to your ideas of normality.

Some people spend much of their winter weeks waiting for Saturday, which is deemed good if 11 people - with whom they have almost no real personal relationship - put a ball past a white line and between a crossbar two posts. If they don't, they think it is miserable.

Is that normal?

Probably not, but I do it, at least to some extent.

Rant over.

I don't consider your post a 'rant' - it contained a series of cogent arguments that needed to be made.

 

[Steveman]

I had the unfortunate bad luck to be sitting near 2 obvious spotters both late teens about 6 months ago and I had to move away and stand up as their body odour was overwhelming.
I saw a guy sit down on my old seat and noticed he moved too after about 5 mins.

 

[6Gman]

I think that point is 100% spot on,though they are an hybrid of another type of spotter Bus, yes Bus spotters taking down numbers.

Can you explain what this sentence is supposed to mean?

 

[Haig paxton]

You're unlikely to get noticed whilst someone is in the process of taking a photo. Whilst the screens on today's digital cameras are not bad, they won't pick out a driver in a dark cab - and that's unlikely to be the part of the view the photographer is concentrating on anyway. So in many cases it wouldn't be a case of being ignored, but not actually noticed. Generally expecting to get someone's attention whilst they're in the process of carrying out a particular task is not necessarily the best way of getting a result - so perhaps a misunderstanding all round in this aspect of things.

No, he was staring right at me whilst I was waving like an idiot at someone who was a minor celebrity at the time. It lasted about ten seconds which is a long time. He was there to take pictures but not actually engaged in the act at the time. Oddball.

 

[Freightmaster]

Can you explain what this sentence is supposed to mean?

I think he meant to say...

I think that point is 100% spot on,though they are an hybrid of not as bad as another type
of spotter - Bus (yes Bus!) spotters taking down numbers!!

HTH.

 

[bramling]

I think is is unwise to conflate the words enthusiast and spotter.

I am enthusiastic about railways but I am not a spotter. The number on a loco or wagon is of no interest to me, other than perhaps identifying a subset with different characteristics which may be of interest.

Conversely, I have known spotters who have no interest in the railways as a whole, to the extent of vandalising locos in a siding to ensure a preferred loco appeared on a given service.

Yes good point.

Being a diverse hobby (which many outsiders wouldn't think), there's far more to being interested in railways than train numbers. Architecture, technology, diagramming, people stories, history, industrial design, etc. etc. etc. My impression is it's probably the case that many 'spotters' probably aren't interested in much or any of this.

 

[Howardh]

I've never been interested in train spotting, and I couldn't care less if the Flipping Scotsman was going past.

But a weeks train spotting on Alderney does have an appeal.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

I am a fairly seasoned photographer. I enjoy the railways but also like photography too. I'm sure many like me of a certain age used to enjoy bunking depots as schoolboys and thanked ourselves lucky if we got away with it or just got round before being shouted at by the Foreman to "get out".

I suppose I could consider myself a bit of an antisocial. But to be honest (and please, no offence), I don't like talking to spotters. I'm there to photograph something specific and have been distracted in the past talking to others, only to miss the shot because I wasn't ready. What riles me are the unprofessional spotters who run around hoping to snap anything that moves. These are the people who get in the way. I want to photograph a specific train - not a group of spotters standing in the way.

Another reason why I don't wish to socialise with spotters (generally) is situations like Flying Scotsman. I saw many who had no regard for anyone else and were loud, noisy and causing a nuisance. Sometimes these events bring out the worst in people.

Apologies to the (many) drivers who have given me a wave. Obviously I am focused on getting my picture and may not always be able to acknowledge. But I have exchanged a friendly word or two when their train is standing at the platform before I photograph it leaving. I'm sure there are many who know me by sight as I am the nerd with a white lens.

Train spotting (collecting numbers) is certainly a harmless hobby but is not the preserve of autistics. But it is often the autistics that don't get in the way of others and keep themselves to themselves

 

[Calthrop]

I don't think most Enthusiasts look down at railway employees most enthusiasts would say its the other way around.

I'm more wary of them than I used to be as I've found an increasing tendency not to be particularly Rail Enthusiast friendly, the Enthusiasts are perhaps shocked that the thread starter wants to actually wave and talk to them.

People about. About three neds whose main concern was the engine and a few others who were really into the railways judging by their conversation. The rest was made up the the local residents waiting for FS. A Few children were also present with parents, so all in all a good cross section of society and the place was wedged.

So waiting for the 'main event' about two dozen or so of the children and Adults were waiving at the normal day to day services as they approached the bridge. about 70% of the drivers acknowledged with a horn blast, the rest, well they just carried on. These drivers come under the general concensus

'Why are they so grumpy and not 'hooting'?' and this from people in the age range 30-70

so drivers, and employees it does rub both ways.

To be a bit contrary: there’s a reverse side to the “unfriendly railway staff” coin, which perhaps merits a thought. People as a whole, are a very mixed bag. While the majority of us would seem to be by default, pretty friendly in the right circumstances: some folk are introverted / taciturn / naturally glum / misanthropic in various degrees; and some hate the way in which they have to spend their days earning their bread by the sweat of their brow, and being at work tends not to improve their mood. Even normally genial folk, can have “off days”. This variety among humanity, IMO overall makes life more interesting.

I recall a letter to one of the railway journals, back in the times when the Vale of Rheidol line was still working as a part of British Rail. The letter-writer contrasted a recent visit of his to, I think, the Talyllyn Railway; with one very shortly after, to the Rheidol. He wrote of the train crew on the preserved line obviously revelling in their task, doing it with great panache, and engaging in jolly banter with the watching enthusiasts and general public. At Aberystwyth, on the other hand, the loco crew’s demeanour was silent and un-keen, doing their stuff efficiently but seemingly without pleasure, and ignoring the “punters” watching the show. In the time shortly before departure, the driver was standing in the cab, smoking a cigarette, looking straight ahead and appearing bored out of his mind while awaiting the “right-away”. The letter-writer expressed appreciation of this scene, as being refreshingly proper to a “real railway” – as opposed to what he perceived as the rather cloying Disneyland-like doings on the preserved line.

The letter was, I think, a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I can see a genuine and legitimate sentiment here – at least re the enjoyment of, once in a while, a change and a dose of reality. Inevitably, humans will not always be all about euphoria and “hail-fellow-well-met”.

 

[Techniquest]

Oh crikey, aye, we all have 'off days' and I will admit to having had one not all that long ago. Not too helpful when you're partly responsible for bringing up the morale of your fellow colleagues...

 

[Requeststop]

During my last visit to the UK on my quest to cover all the UK rail lines I ended up in Doncaster on one cold and dismal day in early February to find that there were seventy to eighty train spotters at one end of the platforms all dutifully noting numbers and taking photos, but hardly talking to each other if at all. One poor woman, I nicknamed Mrs Trainspotterswife seated with the flask and seemingly telling hubby the numbers of the trains he already had, and generally looking bored and terribly cold.

When I had the temerity to walk to one end of the platform where one "spotter" was filming, I got the most dirty look when I pulled out my Sony Experia phone to take a couple of shots of the track layout and a couple of trains passing by. I felt like standing in front of the camera to spoil his "fun".

Although I'd really like to see some steam specials on main lines such as the Flying Scotsman and so on, I'd really not want to be involved in the scuffle to get a decent photo. In fact when at Alton, there was a train on the Mid Hants in the station waiting for departure, but I had absolutely no chance to get a decent photo, in spite of a few "excuse me pleases!".

Conversely, at stations, and on board trains, I had some really decent conversations with staff, who showed interest on where I'd been, where I was planning to go and gave advice quite openly. This was from Markinch and Perth all the way down to the Cambrian Coastline and on the Nottingham-Worksop lines which I recall with great pleasure.

 

[Bertie the bus]

During my last visit to the UK on my quest to cover all the UK rail lines I ended up in Doncaster on one cold and dismal day in early February to find that there were seventy to eighty train spotters at one end of the platforms all dutifully noting numbers and taking photos, but hardly talking to each other if at all.

What on earth were you expecting? For them to all be involved in a group hug and inviting each other round for dinner? When you go to the supermarket do you greet and engage in conversation everybody you meet just because you happen to be in the same place?

The truth is most enthusiasts will talk and are mostly pretty normal people. Many don't seem to instigate a conversation with strangers but are pleasant enough if you bother to speak to them.

 

[AndyPJG]

Don't forget the Eddie Stobbart spotters as well !!

Nor the BBC TV Outside Broadcast Van spotters too! They do exist, according to a TV cameraman I know.

 

[Harbornite]

During my last visit to the UK on my quest to cover all the UK rail lines...all the way down to the Cambrian Coastline and on the Nottingham-Worksop lines which I recall with great pleasure.

Did you cover all of the Cambrian Coast line? It's a lovely route.

 

[Bertie the bus]

No, he was staring right at me whilst I was waving like an idiot at someone who was a minor celebrity at the time. It lasted about ten seconds which is a long time. He was there to take pictures but not actually engaged in the act at the time. Oddball.

Have you considered that you might have freaked him out? Waving like an idiot for 10 seconds at complete strangers isn't normal behaviour for an adult, and you refer to enthusiasts as misfits. :roll:

 

[railnerd]

Hi.

Ive got some great shots where a driver has waved at me. One of my faves was taken at Tallington footbridge where a driver of a HST clearly saw me taking the pic.

Another was taken on a visit to Wrawby Jn SB where a driver of a Lincoln freight purposely kept waving til i gave him the thumbs up to say 'ive got ya'!

On a simular note, i do have some footage (which i hope will soon go public), of diverted EC trains down the joint where drivers hav gone mental with the horns knowing that they are being filmed. I think its great.

 

[GarethJohn]

It's pretty obvious that they are social misfits. The two lads that used to hang around with the teachers at break time went on to become Trainspotters. While on a training course with a few colleague,s away from home a guy I worked with watched and chatted about the fascinating Buses going past at least he was open about it. It made for an uncomfortable and very boring evening.
Some are even embarrassed by there own hobby. Try watching one writing a number down while cameras are about, they hide the notebook while pretending to not be interested in the Train. It doesn't work it just looks even sadder.

 

[Haig paxton]

Have you considered that you might have freaked him out? Waving like an idiot for 10 seconds at complete strangers isn't normal behaviour for an adult, and you refer to enthusiasts as misfits. :roll:

He's a television star, he should learn to accept this though. Typically, the fame must have gone to his head.

 

[Bertie the bus]

He's a television star, he should learn to accept this though. Typically, the fame must have gone to his head.

He should learn to accept judgemental weirdoes making a spectacle of themselves? I doubt that is the reason he embarked on a TV career.

 

[bramling]

From an Ex spotter,in my youth planes,trains, buses, if it had wheels it was noted!!!!
Nowadays just video Steam on the Main line, and try and find a secluded place if possible. Especially so because of the 60103 problems. But this is what happened yesterday
Location Warren Bridge Twyford ( to most people Sonning cutting and it is the 'high' bridge that has a 'see through metal fence'
People about. About three neds whose main concern was the engine and a few others who were really into the railways judging by their conversation. The rest was made up the the local residents waiting for FS. A Few children were also present with parents, so all in all a good cross section of society and the place was wedged.

So waiting for the 'main event' about two dozen or so of the children and Adults were waiving at the normal day to day services as they approached the bridge. about 70% of the drivers acknowledged with a horn blast, the rest, well they just carried on. These drivers come under the general concensus

'Why are they so grumpy and not 'hooting'?' and this from people in the age range 30-70

so drivers, and employees it does rub both ways.

And before you knock the 'spotters' have a good look at yourself and your hobbies. you may like going to the opera,visiting the Tate Modern, going horse racing, playing golf. watching porn even. to you normal activities, to others perhaps these activities are considered 'strange' to people who are not interested in them. Are you therefore autistic in their eyes? What next taking the urine out of Downs Syndrome people?
I work with people who have these disabilities and more, one lass just sits in a wheel chair all day, possibly severely brain damaged another just rocks, yet these are people like you and i and desreve a life without people like you. And we speak to them like i would speak to you, with respect and consideration, after all they may understand every word that is said, yet cannot reply in kind But you think it is alright to class trainspotters as autistic. have 24hrs doing what i do and them come back to me and bitch about train spotters.

Just live and let live and dont 'dis' others who dont conform to your ideas of normality

Rant over.

To be fair, drivers can get stick for using the whistle particularly in residential areas. Local residents can and do complain, especially those living near footbridges often frequented by waving children. So it's not necessarily a case of being miserable.

 

[Mag_seven]

Judging by some of the posts on this thread it seems that "trainspotters" are the last minority group that it is deemed acceptable to stereotype?