Favourite Words

[judith]

w***er boats

[David Flower]

garment

[john poole]

What I don't understand is - what are the trainspotters recording? Random numbers on trains, like standing beside a highway and writing down car license plate numbers (which no one does, though they might record out-of-state plates)? Are they recording manufacturer's numbers? Are they recording information which correlates to train schedules? I guess what I'm wondering is if an Anorak is archiving (in their mind) something? Also, are there many trainspotters or very few? And, is this an English occupation or is it found elsewhere in the UK or Europe?

Of course trainspotters do not record "random numbers" - they recorded (at least when I was a lad) the numbers of engines which could then be underlined in a reference book - a little like collecting all the records on the Motown label. The practice commenced in the UK after WW2 when there was probably not a lot for young boys to do (I don't recall seeing any female trainspotters). This article does however suggest that trainspotters exist in the USA.

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Trainspotting

[Chris P]

At last year of Junior School (age 10 or so) our classroom had an elevated railway line running behind in clear view of the window. Nearly every single boy, and a few of the girls too, had a little A6 sized hardback book (from WHSmith & updated periodically) that listed all the different types & models of diesel train along with every train's individual number &/or name. The trick was to spot the train, especially the rarer or more charismatic ones, & to underline in the book along with a barely supressed buzz of gestures & facial expressions, without the teacher noticing & incurring a flying wood-backed blackboard duster. Even the breaktime football match would break for a trainspot. A year later at secondary school nearly every boy, and many girls too, were wearing the polyester snorkel parka with fake fur trim & proudly grubby orange lining (as recounted in the anorak article), but noone would've given a flying duster or w**ker boat about train numbers, just one of the many sequential crazes of the seventies.

[Hugh Weldon]

Chris

Nearly every single boy, and a few of the girls too, had a little A6 sized hardback book (from WHSmith & updated periodically) that listed all the different types & models of diesel train along with every train's individual number &/or name.

Reminded of these. There was a whole series, when you'd filled in a book you sent it off to Big Chief I Spy, Wigwam-by-the-Water, Bouverie St EC1, and got a badge or something.

[NormanD]

I used to go trainspotting with an older brother and some mates when I was still in primary school. The reference books were published by Ian Allen and there'd be a separate book for each region. We lived in the LMS region (London-Midland-Scottish), and each company had its own particular livery and colours for coaches, and many trains would have name plates (this was the last days of steam).

The deal was pretty much as Chris outlined above. The difference was that we'd all go out for the day to a nearby train junction where different lines intersected, and more trains went by. We'd go out the station, then walk down the tracks to where we'd get a better view. Like being in the War (so it's said), there'd be hours of nothing much happening, broken up by flashes of excitement when a train sped by. The boredom was broken up by:
- putting pennies on the tracks
- trying to find the fog-warning detonators
- trying to get an invite into the staffed signal boxes
- travelling without a ticket (naturally)
- getting into fights
- listening on the tracks for trains.

The train spotter list books were (also naturally) stolen from the book shop.

Looked at objectively, it was a ridiculous hobby. You underlined numbers from a printed list. One kid, we somehow found out, was underlining numbers without seeing the trains!. My god - what a sin! I wonder if he went on to become a successful businessman?

I will be boringly romantic and sentimental and say that the sight of a passenger train of a dozen or more carriages being pulled by two steam trains (both gleaming with brass name plates) was magnificent. That sight will stay with me always - as will the memory of the rival trainspotter who ended up being felled by half a brick for making an anti-Jewish comment. But that's another story.

[Dayna]

I love trains. There used to be one that went by here every night, & it was so lovely. These powerful diesel engines have such a way of making their own music, it put me to sleep every night. Now the steel mills are dead, & it has stopped. This one was moving along the edge of the Ohio river this summer. You can see the number if anyone wants it. I'll just remember the nice looking guy that waved from the window at me.

[judith]

Finally, thanks to everyone's posts and great reminiscences, I loved reading them all and I now have a very clear picture of trainspotting. I'm still trying to think of something we did as school children that is at all similar (on the west coast, fewer trains, more agricultural than urban). We loved trains but there were no stations nearby and they hauled freight - usually a single train passing through on the edge of town once or twice a day (the tracks did separate the poor or the industrial sections) hauling freight, not passengers. Our excitement was to see the caboose.
I still miss the sound of the train whistle in the middle of the night.

Norman, at first I couldn't imagine you hurling bricks, but then you hadn't said it was you.

Of course trainspotters do not record "random numbers"

What may be a matter of course to some may not seem so to others :)

This article does however suggest that trainspotters exist in the USA.
http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Trainspotting

One of the things I have noticed about the English (and perhaps the rest of the UK as well), is their acceptance of, and even fondess for, eccentricity. In America, the word eccentric is most often seen adjoined to the word 'rich' - rich eccentric. Everyone else is weird or insane or non-functional (horrors!). Also, this article reveals, sadly to me, a difference in attitudes of the 'authorities' in the UK and the US of Today: It states that in America trainspotters are treated as suspected terrorists while in the UK their knowledge is considered an asset.
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Chrysopoetics

[Des]

Tittle-tattle. Only ever used by disgraced MPs.

[kas]

Tittle-tattle sounds like a cheery small bird. A bit like chiffchaff (the Finnish name for chiffchaff is 'tiltaltti' by the way)...

[Des]

'Tiltaltti' Delightful, kas!

[Dayna]

prat ; It's a good word!

[Philellinas]

Sinecure. According to the dictionary definition, "an office without work" such as the post of Middle East envoy for the Quartet. The prospective position of EU President could become just a sinecure for superannuated politicians.

[Hugh Weldon]

Pellucid

Propinquity

Egregious(ly)

[Philellinas]

Thaumaturge. Urgently being sought by the Scottish Football Association as a successor to the hapless George Burley, a mere mortal. You don't have to be Scottish to apply, but it does help...