Railfan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A railfan or rail buff (American English

American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

), railway enthusiast or railway buff (Australian

Australian English

Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....

/British English

British English

British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

), or (often with a more specialized meaning, described below) trainspotter (British English), is a person interested in a recreational capacity in rail transport

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

. Railfans can be found worldwide.

Other names

Excessively enthusiastic railfans are sometimes referred to pejoratively as foamers, especially by American rail workers, in reference to the joking notion that they foam at the mouth in their excitement over train operations.

In the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, railfans are mostly called railway enthusiasts and sometimes trainspotters. The term trainspotter has become somewhat derogatory when used by the general public. They are also known as Zeds due to the fact that many special trains have a reporting code with a 1Zxx prefix. There are still some pure 'trainspotters' (see below), but a large proportion of UK enthusiasts have wider interests than mere 'spotting'. In Australia, they are sometimes called gunzels.

The term metrophile is used by some to identify a railfan with a particular interest in metro

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

(subway, underground) systems.

The study of railways, or a general interest in them as a hobby, is sometimes known as ferroequinology (literally, "study of iron horses"). The term is rarely used by non-railfans. The Railway Magazine
The Railway Magazine
The Railway Magazine is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it has been, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in the U.K., having a monthly average sale during 2009 of...

attempted to popularise the term railwayac without success in the early 20th century.

In Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, railway enthusiasts are commonly called 'train enthusiasts'.

Activities

The hobby

Hobby

A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time.- Etymology :A hobby horse is a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like a real horse...

extends to all aspects of rail transport systems. Railfans may have one or more particular concentrations of interest, such as:

Railway locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s and rolling stock
Railroad car
A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...
Still-used or disused railroad lines, bridges, tunnel
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s, stations
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

, and other infrastructure
Subways and other local rail transit systems
Railway history
History of rail transport
The history of rail transport dates back nearly 500 years and includes systems with man or horse power and rails of wood or stone. Modern rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s...
Railroad photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
Railway signaling
Rail transport modeling
Timetable collecting
Railway art or architecture
Railway operations, economics or commerce
Railway preservation/restoration
Level Crossing
Level crossing
A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...

. This is where the railfan can be interested also in the railroad or "grade" crossing signals.
Monitoring railroad radio communications with a radio scanner.

Indeed, the scope of the subject is so large that fans may additionally concentrate their interest on a particular country, town, operating company, field of operations, or era in history – or a combination of any of the above.

Railway photography

Train photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

is a common activity of railfans. Most railfans do their photographing from public property, unless they have permission to use a specific private property owner's land. Occasionally, they run into problems with law enforcement, especially due to post 9/11 paranoia

Paranoia

Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...

, because they are sometimes viewed as suspicious. In 2004, for example, the New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

attempted to institute a photo ban. This was met with fierce opposition, and was ultimately scrapped. Railroad companies also sometimes dislike railfans, considering them a nuisance. Railfans respond that their presence makes the railroads safer, since they typically know what is normal behavior and can detect criminal behavior, or something that appears to be abnormal.

Some railroad photographers have become well known for their works. Many railfans are familiar with the works of H. Reid

H. Reid

Harold A. Reid was an American writer, photographer, and historian. Reid is best known for his lifelong love of railroading and related photography and published work...

, Otto Perry

Otto Perry

Otto Perry was an American photographer and railfan specializing in railroad photos. Perry worked as a mailman in Denver, Colorado, where he met and became friends with Louis McClure, another noted photographer....

and O.Winston Link; in the UK with Derek Cross (1929–84), John Whitehouse, Maurice W. Earley (1900–82), Rev. Alfred H. Malan (1852–1928), Brian W. Morrison, Ivo Peters

Ivo Peters

Ivo Peters BEM was an English railway photographer. Peters spent his life in Bath, Somerset and is best known for his amateur photographs and cine films of steam railways in the British Isles, particularly of the Somerset and Dorset Railway.-Early life:Ivo Peters took his first railway photograph...

, Jim Spurling (1926–Present), H. Gordon Tidey

H. Gordon Tidey

Herbert Gordon Tidey was an English railway photographer. Described as "one of the fathers of railway photography" he was active from the 1890s through the 1950s.Writing in 1954, he described the background to his work as follows:...

and Rev. Eric Treacy

Eric Treacy

The Rt Revd Eric Treacy MBE was an English railway photographer and Anglican Bishop.Born in London, Treacy was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School and at King's College London, though he left without taking a degree...

; in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, with W.W. (Bill) Stewart (1898–1976); or in Germany with Carl Bellingrodt (1897–1971).

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

all photography is prohibited on the Tyne and Wear Metro

Tyne and Wear Metro

The Tyne and Wear Metro, also known as the Metro, is a light rail system in North East England, serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, South Tyneside, North Tyneside and Sunderland. It opened in 1980 and in 2007–2008 provided 40 million public journeys on its network of nearly...

without written permission from Nexus

Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive

The Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive using the brandname of Nexus, is the Passenger Transport Executive for the Tyne and Wear region of North East England....

the operators of the system. As of 2010 this is the only system in the UK where such policy is in place.

Photography is allowed at all stations on the National Rail

National Rail

National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...

network.

London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

allows tourists and rail enthusiasts to take pictures and videos while passing through a station however flash and tripods are not allowed. Anyone that wants to take pictures and videos for more than 15 minutes at a station has to obtain a permit from the London Underground Film Office.

In Singapore

Singapore

, all photography is prohibited on all the MRT and LRT lines unless one gets permission from the staff (CSOs) at any MRT station.

In Australia Connex Melbourne

Connex Melbourne

Connex Melbourne was a wholly owned subsidiary of French company Veolia Environnement, which had a franchise from the State Government of Victoria to operate all suburban passenger rail services in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In August 2007, Connex's contract was extended to 30 November 2009....

require any railfan wishing to take photographs to obtain a permit, which are valid for various lengths of time. This system has been met with resentment from the railfan community, with the permit scheme seldom enforced.

The Spanish RENFE

RENFE

Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

railroad company also requires an application for a permit. In the United States this requirement is illegal. Even on private property, photographers cannot be forced to delete digital photos or destroy their film. It is their property, and cannot be taken or destroyed without a court order.

In Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

railway photography is prohibited on all networks, without proper legal justification. Casual family photography is sometimes tolerated, but railfans are frequently confronted by security guards, who attempt to seize cameras and do not hesitate to call the local police. This prohibition has been actively enforced in Athens Metro

Athens Metro

The Athens Metro is an underground rapid transit system serving Athens, the capital city of Greece. It was constructed and owned by Attiko Metro S.A. and operated until 2011 by Attiko Metro Etaireia Leitourgias S.A....

and ISAP

ISAP

I.S.A.P. is the acronym for the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways , the oldest urban rapid transit system of Athens metropolitan area in Greece. It is the second-oldest underground metro system in the world, after the Metropolitan Railway, of 1863, now a part of the London Underground...

stations since 2004 and was recently extended to the mainline network of OSE after orders of the former managing director Mr. Psilianos in October 2007.

With the advent of digital photography

Digital photography

Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...

and desktop PC graphics software, many railfans have begun augmenting their railway photography through digital manipulation of their railway images

Digital manipulation in railway photography

Digital manipulation of railway photographs is the practice of image editing using graphics software to correct flaws or improve the aesthetics of a digital photograph of a train. The ethics of the practice are debated amongst railway enthusiasts, as it allows the creation of images that may appear...

.

The Union Pacific railroad corporation makes available to its employees and shareholders a full color calendar

Calendar

A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...

each year depicting its trains in different parts of the United States where it maintains its rail lines.

Trainspotting

Those who are "trainspotters" make an effort to "spot" all of a certain type of rolling stock. This might be a particular class of locomotive, a particular type of carriage or all the rolling stock of a particular company. To this end, they collect and exchange detailed information about the movements of locomotives and other equipment on the railway network, and become very knowledgeable about its operations.

A trainspotter uses a data book listing the locomotives or equipment in question, in which locomotives seen are ticked off. In Great Britain, this aspect of the hobby was given a boost by the Ian Allan "ABC" series of booklets from the 1940s onwards. Sometimes, trainspotters also have cameras, but railway photography is mostly linked to railfans. Moreover, in contrast to modern railway companies' attitudes, at its inception in 1948 British Railways handed out free copies of a locomotive data book to school-children.

Some trainspotters now use a tape recorder instead of a notebook. In modern times, mobile phones and/or pagers are used to communicate with others in the hobby, while various internet mailing list

Mailing list

A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the...

s and web sites aid information exchange. Railbuffs can maintain private computerised databases of spotting records as well. Radio scanners are common equipment for listening to railroad frequencies in the US to follow rail traffic.

It is a misconception that all railfans are trainspotters. Many enthusiasts simply enjoy reading about or travelling on trains, or enjoying their rich history—this may extend to art, architecture, the operation of railroads, or simply modelling, drawing or photographing them.

Certain train operating companies in the United Kingdom are banning trainspotters from taking photographs on railway station platforms (although, in theory, such activity may be possible if permission is requested beforehand). The reasons for the ban appears to be security and concerns about terrorism.

Basher

A term used by railway enthusiasts to mean several different things.

"Bashing" used on its own is a general term for a railway enthusiast's trip, excursion or holiday involving train travel and observation.
"Line bashing" (see "complete riding" below) is more focused, and would be an attempt to cover as much of a railway network as possible. This can also be called "track bashing" especially if the person wishes to try to cover individual sections of track such as crossovers and sidings, in addition to completing an "A to B" journey on each section of line. In the UK (especially), Germany, and to a lesser extent in other countries, railfans often use a special excursion train for railfans (usually known as a "railtour") to cover freight-only railway lines in order to complete their coverage of a country's rail network.
Another development from trainspotting (almost unique to the UK) is the "haulage basher" or locomotive haulage
Haulage
Haulage may refer to:* The business of being a haulier or hauler , also called haulage contractor, common carrier, contract carrier, or private carrier, in other words of transporting goods by road or rail for other companies or one's own company.* The horizontal transport of ore, coal, supplies,...

enthusiast These individuals attempt to ride behind or in the cab (some people do not count the latter as proper "haulage") of as many locomotives as they can, marking them off in a book as would a regular trainspotter. Even the shortest haulage will count, such as being hauled for a few hundred yards by a shunting locomotive when one portion of a train is being hooked up to another at a junction. In some cases fans who like the sound of a particular type of locomotive working hard hauling a train will ride behind them as much as possible, even following English-built locomotives exported abroad, Portugal's 1800 Class (similar to BR Class 50) being one example. 'Haulage bashers' sometimes use unusual words and language known as "basherspeak".

Complete riding

Another enthusiast activity is attempting to ride the complete railway network of one or more cities, state, or countries. This may take months or years in the case of dense networks. The definition of 'complete' riding may change from person to person, and non-passenger routes may be included by travelling on special excursion trains, others may attempt to ride on each individual track and curve, rather than the route as a whole, some may not include riding during night, and others may require visiting each station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

rather than just passing though. British enthusiasts who attempt to cover a railway network are usually referred to as "gricers" or "track bashers" (see above).

There are informal competitions for visiting all the stations in a particular network in the shortest time; examples include the Tube Challenge

Tube Challenge

The Tube Challenge is the accepted name for the Guinness World Record attempt to visit all the stations on the London Underground network in the fastest time possible. Participants do not have to travel along all lines to complete the challenge, merely to pass through all the stations on the system...

on the London Underground and the Subway Challenge

Subway Challenge

The objective of the Subway Challenge is to navigate the entire New York City Subway system in the shortest time possible. This ride is also known as the Rapid Transit Challenge and the "Ultimate Ride".There are two primary variations of this challenge:...

on the New York City Subway.

Timetables

Timetable

Public transport timetable

A public transport timetable is a representation of public transport information to assist a passenger with planning a trip using public transport. A timetable details when vehicle will arrive and depart specified locations and may be organised for by route or for a particular stop...

s (or time-tables, or time tables) are a source of train schedule information which are useful for railfans planning photography expeditions. Timetables are also useful for railfans who attempt to cover an entire city's railway network in one day, riding from first to last train. Other railfans collect old train timetables, and imagine trains not existing now, or search for historical matters relating to the railway.

Collecting railroadiana

Many railfans also collect "railroadiana

Railroadiana

Railroadiana or railwayana refers to artifacts of currently or formerly operating railways around the world. Railroadiana can include items such as:* public or employee timetables...

" or "railwayana". Railroadiana refers to artifacts from railroads and railroad operations and could include nearly anything to do with a particular railroad, including public or employee timetable

Public transport timetable

s, locomotive number boards, dining car

Dining car

A dining car or restaurant carriage , also diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant....

china, passenger train ticket

Ticket (admission)

A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...

s, tools and pieces of equipment such as lanterns, or sometimes items as big as train horn

Train horn

Train horns are audible warning devices found on most diesel and electric locomotives. Their primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to the presence of a train, especially when approaching a grade crossing. They are also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees Train horns...

s, or track speeder

Speeder

A speeder is a maintenance of way motorized vehicle formerly used on railroads around the world by track inspectors and work crews to move quickly to and...

s. Although few can afford the acquisition cost or the space for storage, some railfans collect full size rolling stock

Railroad car

A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

or locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s.

Collecting unusual tickets is a pursuit for some railfans. For example, China Railway does not sell round-trip tickets officially, but one could buy a multiple-trip ticket with the identical starting and ending station, making a round trip. This problem was fixed in the latest ticket-selling software. Another example is the two railway stations Dongfanghong (The East Is Red) and Taiyangsheng (The Sun Rises) in Heilongjiang province, approximately 600 kilometers apart with no direct train connecting them. Someone bought multiple-trip tickets from one to another so the ticket read Dongfanghong -> Taiyangsheng, this is a famous lyric in a Chinese song The East Is Red.

Fantrips

Many railway preservation groups run special trips for railfans using restored trains

Restored trains

Restored trains are historic trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, as opposed to having never been removed from service, like UP 844, the only U.S. steam locomotive to never be retired. They are operated in present day service as moving examples of...

, often on "rare mileage" locations that do not see regular passenger service. These trips are both social events, as well as an opportunity for railfans to photograph unusual trains. Chasing a fantrip by road for the purposes of photography is often referred to as "Motorcading" in Australia.

Exploring abandoned railways

Searching for and exploring abandoned railways is another area of railfan interest. Using old maps, one may find the former route, and the abandoned railway station

Abandoned railway station

An abandoned railway station is a building or structure which was constructed to serve as a railway station but has fallen into disuse...

s, tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

s and bridges may remain after a railway closure. Some abandoned rail rights-of-way have been converted to rail-trails for recreational use such as bicycling, walking

Walking

Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...

, hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, running

Running

Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...

or jogging

Jogging

Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running.-Definition:...

. This would be considered railbanking, where the right-of-way is preserved, by keeping it intact, for the potential reactivation of rail service in the future.

Other activities

Some railfans are interested in other aspects of railroads not directly dealing with the trains. They may be interested in studying the history of the railroad companies, their infrastructure, law, financing and operations

Rail transport operations

A railway has two major components: the rolling stock and the infrastructure .-Operation:...

, including never-built plans. Abandoned railroad grades can often be found long after the railroad stops using them. Trams (and occasionally even monorails) may also be of interest.

Some enthusiasts combine their interest in trains with the hobby of monitoring radio communications, specializing in listening to radio communications of railroad operations using a scanner

Scanner (radio)

A scanner is a radio receiver that can automatically tune, or scan, two or more discrete frequencies, stopping when it finds a signal on one of them and then continuing to scan other frequencies when the initial transmission ceases....

. Some websites such as railroadradio.net offer live audio feeds of railroad radio communications.

Various magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

s, club

Club

A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...

s and museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

s are designed mainly for railfans, concentrating on the history of trains and railroads. Some clubs organize fantrips, either by car or by train; the New York Transit Museum

New York Transit Museum

The New York Transit Museum is a museum which displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, bus, commuter rail, and bridge and tunnel systems; it is located in a decommissioned Court Street subway station in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City...

owns some old equipment with which fantrips are occasionally run on the New York City Subway.

Origins of interest

The motivation for someone developing an interest in railways ("becoming a railfan") can come from many sources.

Many railfans have a fixation with steam locomotives, which sometimes also fascinate the general public, as seen by the attendance at stations to view steam-hauled railtours. Sometimes the appeal of trains is nostalgic

Nostalgia

The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...

, recalling an earlier era when the railroads played a central role in commerce

Commerce

While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

and transport

Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

ation, and the depot was the center of every town. Nostalgia

Nostalgia

may also result from the long, lonesome wail of the train's horn, which mimics vocalizations that want for a more simple time, as heard in country or folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

worldwide. Sometimes the appeal is due to a fondness for large machinery that can be inspected and photographed up close. Sometimes there is an appeal of the scenery of the railroad running through open, uninviting terrain, or the gritty ambiance of the urban train yard

Classification yard

A classification yard or marshalling yard is a railroad yard found at some freight train stations, used to separate railroad cars on to one of several tracks. First the cars are taken to a track, sometimes called a lead or a drill...

. In this case, urban exploration

Urban exploration

Urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...

poses a similar appeal. Some people were raised near streetcar tracks or railways. Everyday activities were associated with railroad, which seemed to be a part of life. This may lead to an interest in railcars, how they move, numbering, and other rail systems in the world and how they compare with their native ones. If these people move to another locale, their interest in railroads might be nostalgic.

Another appeal of the railroads is the business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

side of railroading. Railroads were long central to economic growth and commerce, and still are to some extent. The history of railroads and railroaders (such as James J. Hill

James J. Hill

James Jerome Hill , was a Canadian-American railroad executive. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest...

) is a fascination for some, whether they view them in a positive way as capitalist

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

heroes or in a negative way as robber barons

Robber baron (industrialist)

Robber baron is a pejorative term used for a powerful 19th century American businessman. By the 1890s the term was used to attack any businessman who used questionable practices to become wealthy...

. Ayn Rand's

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....

novel Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...

features the troubles of an American transcontinental railroad.

An interest in model railroading

Rail transport modelling

Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale...

can often lead to an interest in "the real thing", perhaps to aid in building more accurate models or operating more accurate trains.

Many railfans once worked in railroading, or had relatives who did, leading to a lifelong interest in trains. Others may develop an interest in trains through a hobby, such as model railroading.

Many people who would not think of themselves as railfans just like trains. Most cannot explain why. Songs and stories have glorified railroading ever since the invention of the locomotive, especially in the United States, while children's toys and books about trains continue to be popular (such as Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...

). The Railroad Tycoon

Railroad Tycoon

Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon is a business simulation game. There are five versions; the original Railroad Tycoon , Railroad Tycoon Deluxe , Railroad Tycoon II , Railroad Tycoon 3 , and Sid Meier's Railroads! .Railroad Tycoon was written by game designer Sid Meier and published by MicroProse and...

series of simulation

Simulation

Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....

computer games

Computer Games

"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...

is another example of railroads' enduring popularity.

Safety

Railfans in America have been asked to keep railroad areas safer by reporting crimes and suspicious activity. In the United Kingdom the British Transport Police

British Transport Police

The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...

have asked trainspotters to report any unusual behaviour and activities at stations.

In the United States concerns about terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

have led to situations where railfans are followed or confronted by local law enforcement or transit police

Transit police

Transit police are a specialized police agency or unit employed by a common carrier, which could be a transit district, railroad, bus line, other transport carrier, or the state...

.

The BNSF railway instituted the "Citizens for Rail Security" (CRS) scheme for the general public to report suspicious activities on their railways. Obtaining this card is common for railfans and is a derivative of the BNSF "On Guard" program for employees. However, this card does not recognize members as employees or contractors, and asks them to keep off railway property. No other U.S. railroad supports such a scheme.

Many experienced railfans have enhanced knowledge of railroad operations and hazards that can help the railroad, such as reporting malfunctioning crossing gates and other equipment.

Network Rail, the British rail infrastructure owner and station operator, has produced guidelines for the behaviour and responsibilities of railway enthusiasts at its stations. In May 2010, the dangers of train spotting were highlighted after an enthusiast, standing next to the tracks filming a steam train, failed to notice an express train coming in the other direction, and was nearly killed.

In popular culture

In the United Kingdom in particular, trainspotting is seen by many of the individuals who are not themselves involved with the hobby as being virtually synonymous with "dull" and "geek

Geek

The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...

y," and the term has gained an ulterior meaning as any sort of activity that appears pointless to outsiders.

The activity of trainspotting was briefly mentioned in a passage set in a railway station, in Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...

's novel of the same name

Trainspotting (novel)

Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...

; however, it was left out of the 1996 film adaptation

Trainspotting (film)

Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...

altogether. The novel Trainspotting and its film adaptation are not directly related to the hobby, although it may be inferred from the movie's opening scene that either the title expresses the author's view that the hobby is pointless, or that it seems pointless to outsiders, or alternatively, that trainspotting, like heroin use (the subject of the book) is a recreational activity very foreign to outsiders.

In episode 2.3 of the BBC television series Primeval, a trainspotter (with a camera) is a witness to the attack of a Sabre-toothed Tiger.

Jargon

Railfans have jargon

Jargon

Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...

that can be foreign to others. See:

List of Australian railfan jargon
Glossary of Australian railway terminology
This page contains a list of jargon used to varying degrees by railway enthusiasts / railfans and trainspotters in Australia, including nicknames for various locomotives and multiple units. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist,...
List of British railfan jargon
List of American railfan jargon
List of New Zealand railfan jargon
List of Chinese railfan jargon

External links

Gallery of a 1939 railfan camera excursion

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Other names

Activities

Railway photography

Trainspotting

Basher

Complete riding

Timetables

Collecting railroadiana

Fantrips

Exploring abandoned railways

Other activities

Origins of interest

Safety

In popular culture

Jargon

See also

External links