BS: trainspotting - how to

Subject: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 11:47 AM

In a few years my husband will be retiring and will need some new interests. He is showing signs of becoming a trainspotter. For example, when he sees a locomotive he cries 'There's a nice 2-4-2!'.
After I showed him the thread about the new Tornado locomotive, he went to Youtube and watched all the videos.

I did some searching but didn't find anything on how to become an accomplished trainspotter. Are there clubs? Guidebooks?

The only thing I could find was an icky-looking novel with skulls on the cover. That's not what I'm after.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 11:53 AM

Consider therapy and strong drugs...

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 11:57 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainspotting_(hobby)#Trainspotting

The equipment of a trainspotter consists of a data book listing all the locomotives or other equipment in question, in which locomotives seen are ticked off, and a notebook and pens, to note sightings for transfer to the book at leisure. In the UK, this aspect of the hobby was given a boost by the Ian Allan "ABC" series of booklets from the 1940s onwards...

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 12:00 PM

A parishioner of ours has extensicve railroading history materials, and access to others I am sure. If you do not find any of the data books described above, please PM me with an email address and I can pass that along to him for you to correspond.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 12:15 PM

Fingerless gloves, warm jacket (an anorak is ideal), notebook and pencil for writing engine details and a platform ticket.
I-Spy book of trains.
Job's done...
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 12:32 PM

We saw the A4 Pacific Bittern a few months back steaming her way past Manors Car Park in Newcastle & I confess to having a tear in my eye... Thing is, just because I know such things (just as I know Bittern herself once languished as a bogus Silver Link in a shed on Tyneside; just as I know the original Silver Link appears in the opening scenes of the 1937 Will Hay film Oh, Mr Porter!) this does not make me a trainspotter, just a normal bloke with a eye for a beauty all too rare in this world.

But then again, I don't think of myself as a folkie either...

Hmmm - needs must I do some serious soul-searching!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 12:57 PM

Pens do not write well on paper in the rain. A pencil is more reliable.
Oh, and these days you will probably need a police check and letters signed by government departments to prove that you aren't a member of some terrorist organisation, checking the movement of trains, or from some consumer protection group checking that the rail company is making some attempt to stick to published timetables...
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 02:38 PM

Don't know about trainspotting per se, but to be a true GRICER you must:

Own a gander bag, a long raincoat and a thermos containing mulligatawny soup

Be able to rummage through braincells and instantly produce useless info about the Master Shot you did not get in 1967/1968

Possess the ability to drive at 80 mph on single track roads in snow, be able to vacate car in 5 seconds, and set up at least 2 cameras (for colour & B & W) on a tripod in another 5 seconds. If the cameras are already bolted to a wooden frame - 3 seconds

Be able to explain to your partner why the front end of your car has been stove in

Carry a brick to throw at the guys who arrive at the same time as the steam train and stand in front of you

Blag trips on trains without payment

While on holiday with your partner, find a steam line, or failing that a narrow gauge railway, within 5 miles of your location, also an excuse to chase the train and ride on it

Be able to cope with a messy divorce (I've actually not come up against that problem so far, I must admit - my wife's given up protesting)

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 02:39 PM

Come to think of it, with digital you only need one camera - but that's cheating innit.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 02:44 PM

There, his hat and railway ticket. There, his ever-faithful cricket. But his shoes were far too tight.

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Wasn't there a movie that had nothing to do with this?

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 03:59 PM

I like to think I live on the most famous railroad the world has even known - the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. We can see only the downhill trains - the uphill tracks are in a tunnel when they go past our house. The tracks are far enough away that the noise isn't overwhelming, and I like to sit in the yard and watch the trains go past. I keep hoping to see a steam locomotive in its way to an exposition at the Railroad Museum in Sacramento, but I haven't had that luck yet. Occasionally, I'll see a wonderfully-restored private passenger car hooked to the back of a train - that's a thrill.
Most of the locomotives are big, yellow Union Pacific General Electric Dash 7, Dash 8, and Dash 9's - I admit I can't tell the difference. Oftentimes, a train will have five locomotives. Quite an impressive sight.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:14 PM

'I-Spy' books, that brings back some happy memories!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-Spy

I was amazed to see on the A1 'Tornado' thread, the lengths to which Network Rail seemed to be going to, to stop people photographing on railway property!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:44 PM

The I-Spy badge, how many remember it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/368278746/in/set-72157594459693146/

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 17 Feb 09 - 08:46 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/368278746/in/set-72157594459693146/

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Tangledwood
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 04:23 AM

"I like to think I live on the most famous railroad the world has even known - the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. "

Not sure that I know that one, but I've heard of the Trans Siberian Railway. :)


Train spotting was something that all of us kids did in England back in the '60s. I have a clear memory of "Caledonian 123" coming through one day. Thinking back on it now it must have been something special at the time, being on the Southern region between London and Brighton just where the line branches off to Lewis.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 04:52 AM

Yes I remember that too when it came through where I used to live on the W.Coast main line - there were other loco's from the national collection involved too, I think they were being moved to temporary storage at Preston Park just outside Brighton, Gordon Highlander, the 'Jones Goods' , 1000 Midland compound.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:13 AM

Tangledwood, I bet Caley 123 was spotted by you when the loco hauled the "Blue Belle" railtour in 1963, double headed with LSWR "T9" no. 120. See photo link.....

http://gallery62603.fotopic.net/p11395725.html

I remember seeing photos and reports at the time but only started going on special trains in 1964. First one was behind A3 60051 "Blink Bonny" no less, on an LCGB special to Crewe, saw the surviving Duchesses and photted them - with a Brownie 127.

There I told you, a gricer must have total recall of all useless facts!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 07:44 AM

I can remember seeing "City of Truro" in 1957, when I was three. She was pasing through Shrewsbury taking a special that was to link up with the Festiniog.
The sight of those whirling outside cranks as she cruised along the platform towards me was very impressive, much more so than on the occasional "Dukedog" which had smaller wheels and so were lower down.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:16 AM

Thanks to everybody who posted a meaningful reply, even if jocular.

I have to go to a meeting and can't really respond right now, but keep 'em coming.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Phot
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:44 AM

The 'platform 5' series of books list all locos, E/DMUs, coaching, and departmental stock, in use at the moment.

Well thats my cover blown!!

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 10:45 AM

"Duchess of Buccleuch" pulling the "Comet" London-Manchester pulling in at Manchester London Road.

(That dates me, don't it ?)

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 03:01 PM

To give a (relatively) serious reply to Leeneia, I reckon for a railway enthusiast, friends with similar interests are a great advantage. In the UK, the outside world thinks we're all mad or childish, although the recent publicity surrounding "Tornado" has made people think twice about this. So one needs friends and acquaintances to bounce off.

In my own case, the fuse was lit by a schoolmate giving me an enormous number of 1930s "Railway Magazines" belonging to his late father, who was a District Engineer with British Railways. The mags contained wonderful reports and pictures of the famous A4 and Duchess record runs. Also there were lots of historical articles going right back to early tramroads. As a result I became much better educated about British (and world) industrial history. And there were little vignettes illuminating the wider picture - such as the news item about a well known British enthusiast with a camera being detained by the Nazi police in 1935 (couldn't happen now of course). At the same time Hitler was wining and dining the British railway establishment to celebrate 100 years of German railways - there was the most creepy report in the RM, going on and on AND ON about Der Fuhrer striding through the ecstatic crowds to open the exhibition.

So in my case it's deep rooted, later helped even more by sharing houses with several other rail photographers who are still good friends.

I'd say the best way of lighting the spark is first to get copies of the (US or UK) railfan mags, read them thoroughly, and ride on a preserved line. Once the infection has taken, it's possible to volunteer to help on a railway - or even something like Tornado's support group! Whatever, oily stains, dirty hands, 03:00 starts to get the shot or light up the loco, and large magazine/book/DVD/camera bills are inevitable. Enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 03:12 PM

Aw, Tangledwood, I'm sure you've heard of the First Transcontinental Railroad, built in the 1860's. The Union Pacific Railroad built from east to west, and the Central Pacific from west to east. They met at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869; and celebrated by driving a golden spike.
A Sacramento developer has proposed building a golden skyscraper, shaped like a railroad spike, to commemorate the event. Local response is less than totally enthusiastic.
Now the Union Pacific owns the whole length of the route.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: ced2
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 03:31 PM

Two sites will be of assistance in making matters much more steamy are the U K Heritage Railways site, dealing mainly with preserved stuff and having links to most preseved lines, data bases on locomotives (not engines) carriages, wagons, widgets etc and the site that lists most steam tours and loco movements on the national rail system uksteam.info. One step further is to become a volunteer on a preserved line... golf widows?.. you aint seen nothin yet!! Alas my computer knowledge is only a fraction of the railway rubbish contained within my cranium so I'm not clear how to translate the sites in my favourites box to blue clicky things.. And sorry as lb/in2 rules am not really bothered to learn. Must get back to the hundreds of photos from the weekend's gricing before they get overwhelmed by even more next weekend!!! SAD SAD

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 05:23 PM

I should have mentioned that I live in the United States, though I do appreciate hearing from UK train lovers. We go to Britain occasionally.

Last summer we stayed at a hotel in Winslow, Arizona called La Posada. This hotel catered to trainspotters to such a great extent that the lobby had a computer with a chart of the nearby railyard. It showed what trains were on the tracks nearby and what trains were due to arrive in near future. (These are all modern trains, nothing historic.)

Outside the hotel were men who were watching the trains and making observations about the engines, etc. They taught the DH how to tell an empty car from a full one and other arcane lore.

All this implies a certain amount of organization, and I'm looking for the name of the organization.

Somebody mentioned railfan mags. Does anybody know the name of one?

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Tangledwood
Date: 18 Feb 09 - 06:26 PM

OK Joe, I'll admit to hearing of The Union Pacific Railroad at least. :)


Ed and Jim, thanks for the information about Caley 123; still interesting even so long after the event. 1963 would have been about the right time but from what I recall it was just the loco that travelled through, no carriages. I take it that "Blue Belle" referred to the colour, rather than any connection with the Blue Bell line's preserved fleet.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 01:00 PM

Never mind. I found one.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 01:21 PM

I should mention that it was the words railway + fan that found me what I wanted. 'Trainspotting' did nothing.

I've never heard of a gricer before. What exactly is a gricer?

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Phot
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 04:32 PM

A Gricer is to trainspotting, as the SAS are to the Forces!

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Feb 09 - 10:22 PM

Since I was a kid, Kalmbach Publishing Company of Wisconsin has been a major publisher of train magazines and books.

There's a television program on PBS (U.S. Public Television) called Tracks Ahead. It's a great show.

I guess I've always loved trains. The summer after I was in fourth grade, we lived near the North Shore Line station in Racine, Wisconsin. I used to race to the station on my bike every hour, to watch the train come in.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Phot
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 03:17 AM

How about a trainspotting Mudgather?

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Paul Burke
Date: 20 Feb 09 - 08:16 PM

Leenia- he'll be welcome here- as will you- we train folk are quite ordinary.

Where did he find a nice 2-4-2?

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 06:21 AM

Leeneia, the etymology of "gricer" has never really been established.

These days it seems to mostly refer to maniacs with cameras who chase steam trains, but historically could be applied to yer average trainspotter and originally meant somebody who tried to get to as many different railways as possible.

There were several articles about this around the end of British steam in the 1960's. One person claimed that it was the plural of "grouse" and had got attached to railfans in the 1930s from their habit of charging through grouse moors and upsetting the birds. I'm not making this up, honest! Later on there were a bunch of guys, some of them at Newcastle University, who had an obsession with getting "the ultimate master shot". A couple of them wrote for the railway press and the term "gricer" got into common railfan usage.

Incidentally, while some of these guys later held extremely responsible positions on the railways and in the preservation movement, in the 1960s they were, shall we say, eccentric. One of them, Paul Riley, who is no longer with us, once got the master shot by climbing about 60 feet up an electricity pylon. The stories are endless and I hope someone (not me!) will collect them and write a best seller.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 01:15 PM

'Where did he find a nice 2-4-2?'

Sorry for the false alarm, Paul. It turns out he had merely seen the 2-4-2 in a book.

Ed, I wonder if 'gricer' comes from a Germanic word for 'old man.' There's a line in 'Mack the Knife' with that word:

Und das grosse Feuer in Soho
- sieben Kinder und ein Greis -
in der Menge, Mackie Messer,
der von allen gar nichts weisst.

...and the big fire in Soho -
seven children and an old geezer -
in the crowd there's Mack the Knife,
who doesn't know a thing about it!

To get back to railroads, I have subscribed to one magazine and will look into Kalmbach Publishing. I'm familiar with Kalmbach since I get their 'Birder's World,' a beautiful publication.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 06:06 PM

Ian Allen publications are available from their website.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: ced2
Date: 22 Feb 09 - 03:16 PM

There will be websites in the USA for steam trains, I keep seeing dvds and videos of "big boys" etc. I know there are preserved steam lines there but have no idea of their names. Other things that could be typed into a search engine are names like Baldwin, ALCO and LIMA(Ohio) Products of those locoworks (locomotives because they moved) finished up in Europe and the UK as a result of both World Wars. The Churnet Valley Railway here in the UK have restored one such LIMA loco, tis magnificent!!
Despite the despariging comments about chappies with cameras, if you want to see brilliant railway photography in the States "O Winston Lock" is the guy to check out. There must be a website of his work; it was super!
And as for 2-4-2s there is one ex L&Y 2-4-2 tank engine in the National Railway Museum at York.. (UK)
Here's to steam in the lungs!!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 23 Feb 09 - 07:48 AM

And just to bring the music side of things back in, the L&Y 2-4-2 (number 1008) is often associated with the Horwich morris side beng pictured in their various badges created to celebrate the Harwich day of dance (nearest saturday to St. George's Day).
The loco was built at Horwich works and I think it may well have been the first one to be toatally constructed on that site.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 23 Feb 09 - 07:51 AM

That is, obviously "Horwich Day of dance". My keyboard is getting worse and worse at spelling!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 23 Feb 09 - 09:32 PM

'ced2' - it was O. Winston Link. Tried to access his website, but no joy, found this however:

http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/owlink.html

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 07:41 AM

There was a documentary on O. Winston Link shown on BBC TV a few years ago. He had one set of flash bulbs left that he used for his night photos and they arranged to set him up to take a photo with a preserved loco. As I recall, everything went OK except they forgot to take the dark slide off the plate so the last flash bulbs were wasted.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 08:41 AM

'Each a Glimpse' was the title of a book and 'and Gone Forever' another by a wonderful railway photographer, Colin T. Gifford:

http://www.newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/colin_gifford_photographer.htm

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 24 Feb 09 - 10:39 AM

I do hope nobody thought I was disparaging railway photographers. I did a lot of photting myself from about 1965 to 1985, but nothing which got within 100 miles of Colin Gifford (above all), Paul Riley, Ian Krause, John Hunt, Alan Castle, Bill Anderson, Derek Cross, Ivo Peters and many other UK guys. In truth I simply hadn't got the staying power - you have to be used to getting up at all hours, driving hundreds of miles, and very often coming back with no shots, or ones suitable only for the bin.

I just wish Colin Gifford's "Decline of Steam" could be reprinted using modern digital technology. The photos in that book are unbelievable but the publisher managed to crop some badly and some are a bit muddy. It was a revelation to see some of Colin's efforts in large format at the National Railway Museum some years ago.

One of the best examples of how to do a photo book is "Daylight Reflections" compiled by Nils Huxtable. It's a colour album about the Southern Pacific RR "Daylight" trains and features marvellous shots from the 1940s on. A really good recent album is John Snell's "Mixed Gauges" - it's very expensive but worth every penny.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: ced2
Date: 26 Feb 09 - 10:10 AM

Thanks Jim clicked on the Link. Great pics. Although there have been many very very good phograhers in the UK, OWL simply takes the biscuit because of his flash-lit night photography of big trains, one bulb was just not enough!! Very Clever!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Feb 09 - 10:38 AM

We saw the reconstructed Planet steaming away on our impromptu jaunt to Manchester last Friday. A sight for sore eyes from the window of our ultra modern Trans-Pennine from Poulton-le-Fylde...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFXFgR0bHY

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Feb 09 - 10:46 AM

Oh my God.. Here's some footage from Backworth Colliery, circa 1974. I grew up near here & would regularly skive school to watch the colliery engines steaming between the collieries... A long vanished landscape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZquKcTUcM

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Jack Taylor
Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:07 PM

Long time since I came across the word 'grice' or 'gricer'. I was one many years ago, for most of my early teens. I believe the term derived from the name given to the street which ran adjacent to the railway line and station shown on a map which illustrated the front cover of the 1954 engine shed directory - Grice Street.

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 09:42 AM

And what city was Grice Street in?

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 10:33 AM

35028 - Clan Line is passing through Friday at about 3:10pm - I know where I'll be!!

Subject: RE: BS: trainspotting - how to
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Mar 09 - 11:21 AM

Missed this thread last month ! When I was a kid we lived within sound of the Birmingham London Main Line (God's Wonderful Railway) and spent many happy hours logging Manors , Halls , Castles and Kings ! The Excitement when the cry went up " Double On The Main" and the hope it would be a King Class pulling the express !
The end of steam and the arrival of Diesel Locos killed the thrill for a lot of us !