We are recognised by the BBC Breakfast show

[lmsforever]

We have finaly been recognised by the BBC this morning on the Breakfast Show they did a piece about our hobby and for once they did not take the wee wee ,evidently it all started in 1861 when a young girl took down the numbers and names at Paddington.The NRM is doing an exhibition about it all.and has commissioned special films to go with it .The programme talked to the chaps on platform four at Doncaster and asked sensible questions ,just recently I saw quite a few at Leamington Spa down platform so the hobby is doing well.

[southern42]

Link to the NRM's Plan a Visit section : Trainspotters

 

http://www.nrm.org.uk/PlanaVisit/Events/Trainspotting-preview/main.aspx

[roundhouse]

Just seen it on the news on the TV in Wetherspoons.

 

Seemed a fairly sensible bit of reporting. Even showed some one using Realtimetrains Trains on their ipad.

[TonyA]

If you missed it earlier, you can see it here.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28934268

 

Tony

[Captain Kernow]

We have finaly been recognised by the BBC this morning on the Breakfast Show they did a piece about our hobby and for once they did not take the wee wee ,evidently it all started in 1861 when a young girl took down the numbers and names at Paddington.The NRM is doing an exhibition about it all.and has commissioned special films to go with it .The programme talked to the chaps on platform four at Doncaster and asked sensible questions ,just recently I saw quite a few at Leamington Spa down platform so the hobby is doing well.

 And yet at the end of the report that arrogant moo Naga Munchetty casually dismisses Charlie Stayt's use of the term 'railway enthusiast' by saying that she still prefers the term 'trainspotter'.... IMO subliminal undermining of the BBC's attempt to report the subject in a serious, respectful manner...

[Pete 75C]

Just seen it on the news on the TV in Wetherspoons.

 

Nothing quite like a pint for breakfast...

[PhilJ W]

As I said on another thread it would be interesting to find out if the young lady in question has any living descendants.

[Southernman46]

Yup - the "between the lines" piss-taking was still there..........................

[Jol Wilkinson]

That's a piece about railway enthusiasts - which is rather different to railway modelling - so I didn't see it as about this hobby.

 

Of course there are some similarities, the smart attire and grooming, the occasional "geek" personality trends, etc. The benefit of being out doors is probably that poor personal hygiene  may not be so obvious.

 

Joking aside, I thought that the last interview piece was very enlightening, by comparing fishing (or angling, or whichever branch of that pastime someone follows) with "train spotting". And why it is seen any less socially acceptable than being a football supporter for example, I can't imagine.

[TheSignalEngineer]

The Railway Magazine started in 1897, so that pre-dates when most people think 'Trainspotting' started by a good margin.

['CHARD]

 And yet at the end of the report that arrogant moo Naga Munchetty casually dismisses Charlie Stayt's use of the term 'railway enthusiast' by saying that she still prefers the term 'trainspotter'.... IMO subliminal undermining of the BBC's attempt to report the subject in a serious, respectful manner...

 

Yup - the "between the lines" piss-taking was still there..........................

 

I've never warmed-to Nagger (as the heaven-sent Carol Kirkwood  pronounces it), and she was supremely dismissive and arrogant in both her verbal and body language this morning.

 

I'm by no means a trainspotter in the media's sense, but I'd like to think I'm reasonably knowledgeable about what is a fairly complex overall subject involving systems, logistics, engineering and geography, amongst many other things.  

 

I will also passionately champion the industry I work for, as well as defend it when the usual dissenters start crowing and offering snide commentary at the hint of a crisis.  So I would be fairly defined as a railway enthusiast.  And I don't see that as any less unworthy or deserving of mockery that being a football enthusiast, a classical music enthusiast or grime-rap exponent, a Morris dancing enthusiast, chess player, or dare I say it someone who follows any other arcane 'religious' or quasi-religious faith.  

 

I seem to recall Goths were afforded protection in law after some high profile cases of personal violence.  I ain't thin-skinned, but I know many who wouldn't like their interest in railway stuff to be widely known, as they feel vulnerable to personal mockery.  She wants to sneer, so what.  She's nothing to us, and why should she 'get it.'   I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Charlie Stayt admitted to the studio film crew later that he's got a fondness for trains and railways.

 

 

PS: Naga is a fan of golf and plays five times a week.  Just putting it out there.

[Pugsley]

I've never warmed-to Nagger (as the heaven-sent Carol Kirkwood  pronounces it), and she was supremely dismissive and arrogant in both her verbal and body language this morning.

Totally agree.

 

I still would, though

[Torn-on-the-platform]

I consider myself a railway enthusiast. Whilst I do take to the lineside, I'm not there to 'spot', I'm there to take the best photos that I can and therefore reject any claim from my friends that I'm a 'trainspotter'. Others may differ in their definition but I will stick to mine! I would certainly have been a spotter had I been born several years earlier though, and see the appeal of the activity.

 

However, I do feel that as the chap in the video is literally spotting, he can't be too peeved about 'trainspotter' being used as a descriptive term. When spotting was a more 'socially accepted' hobby, I can't imagine many would take offence to the term. The practice itself hasn't changed, so why should the name? I understand that he will want to avoid the negative connotations that are now associated with the term, but if he's literally spotting trains, there can be no complaint in my view! 

 

With regards to how it related to railway modellers, I think that 'Railway Enthusiast' is rather an umbrella term that encompasses us all. There can't be many railway modellers who aren't actually interested in railways!? Trainspotter and railway modeller however, are certainly not synonymous.

 

I thought the report was pretty good. The reporter seemed genuinely interested when at the NRM, and whilst it seemed to me that what the spotters were saying to him at Doncaster was going over his head, he at least did not patronise. I have only watched the video online so can't comment on the presenter's attitude afterwards. Also a good bit of advertising for the NRM's upcoming exhibition.

[Davey]

As an aside to this discussion, but on the theme of how we and the railways are perceived, there's a term now almost universally used, which I find extremely irritating, and that is the constant reference to 'train stations'! I, and people of my generation (mid 60's) and earlier generations always referred to and continue to refer to them as railway stations. To me the term 'train stations' seems very childish and is yet another instance of how the media likes to dumb down something about which we are extremely passionate.

[gordon s]

I've never warmed-to Nagger (as the heaven-sent Carol Kirkwood  pronounces it), and she was supremely dismissive and arrogant in both her verbal and body language this morning.

 

I'm by no means a trainspotter in the media's sense, but I'd like to think I'm reasonably knowledgeable about what is a fairly complex overall subject involving systems, logistics, engineering and geography, amongst many other things.  

 

I will also passionately champion the industry I work for, as well as defend it when the usual dissenters start crowing and offering snide commentary at the hint of a crisis.  So I would be fairly defined as a railway enthusiast.  And I don't see that as any less unworthy or deserving of mockery that being a football enthusiast, a classical music enthusiast or grime-rap exponent, a Morris dancing enthusiast, chess player, or dare I say it someone who follows any other arcane 'religious' or quasi-religious faith.  

 

I seem to recall Goths were afforded protection in law after some high profile cases of personal violence.  I ain't thin-skinned, but I know many who wouldn't like their interest in railway stuff to be widely known, as they feel vulnerable to personal mockery.  She wants to sneer, so what.  She's nothing to us, and why should she 'get it.'   I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Charlie Stayt admitted to the studio film crew later that he's got a fondness for trains and railways.

 

 

PS: Naga is a fan of golf and plays five times a week.  Just putting it out there.

 

 

…and now you've gone and spoilt it by adding your comment about golf.  Puts you in the same league..:-)

 

Leave us golfers and football fans alone.

 

From an ardent trainspotter on Platform 10 many years ago, who now plays golf four days a week and a Spurs fan since 1958.

 

PS Agree with your comment about Carol.  A well supported lady if ever there was….

[Guest]

Even the BBC have confused them selves... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7179030.stm

['CHARD]

As an aside to this discussion, but on the theme of how we and the railways are perceived, there's a term now almost universally used, which I find extremely irritating, and that is the constant reference to 'train stations'! I, and people of my generation (mid 60's) and earlier generations always referred to and continue to refer to them as railway stations. To me the term 'train stations' seems very childish and is yet another instance of how the media likes to dumb down something about which we are extremely passionate.

 

Davey I don't disagree, it is one of my pet hates too.

 

In fact, I'd go one stage further.  It was, when I were a lad (the Seventies), commonplace to refer to it as simply 'the station.'  Because unless you are in the process of accompanying a police officer, or going to work at an AM/ FM broadcaster, reference to going to the station or having a lift to the station, or being generally at the station was accepted shorthand for the railway station.  It didn't need qualification.

 

However, where I think the dumb phrase 'train station' has crept into common parlance, is through a new generation of public transport users.  Due to the growth in passenger numbers, especially in the demographic groups that use social media and adopt transatlantic colloquialisms, the phrase has come in simply because none of this new user group had ever had to describe a railway station before.  So they have opted for the most basic form.

 

Sadly the battle is unlikely to be won either, as I have seen signage for 'Train Station' in three different cities in the past week.

[HeatherKay]

To me the term 'train stations' seems very childish and is yet another instance of how the media likes to dumb down something about which we are extremely passionate.

I can understand your point of view, and for some time was equally narked by the change in usage. Then I had a think about it.

 

Do we say "road station" or "road stop" when referring to buses? Follow that logic - bear with me - through, and railways don't stop at stations, trains do. It does sort of make sense when you think of it that way.

 

I'll get my duffel coat and bobble hat in the way out.

['CHARD]

…and now you've gone and spoilt it by adding your comment about golf.  Puts you in the same league..:-)

 

Leave us golfers and football fans alone.

 

From an ardent trainspotter on Platform 10 many years ago, who now plays golf four days a week and a Spurs fan since 1958.

 

PS Agree with your comment about Carol.  A well supported lady if ever there was….

 

Gordon, I'm confident you know, I was simply using golf (and soccer for that matter) as a useful point of reference, it wasn't intended as a slight against any members here!

[trisonic]

I did my trainspotting in the sixties - by that I understand it to mean taking down numbers, names and any other details and filling in those books. To be honest there was one rather odd looking chap in that film, in full Hi-Viz suit complete with hard hat attached to his back- pack, he may have been legit but he looked a little young to be part of the pw crew.

 

Nowadays I take photographs from time to time  of the more mundane as well as interesting - then I come home and look them up on the internet.

 

It kind of sounds better now. My Wife still thinks I’m weird. I can live with that.

 

Best, Pete.

['CHARD]

Do we say "road station" or "road stop" when referring to buses? Follow that logic - bear with me - through, and railways don't stop at stations, trains do. It does sort of make sense when you think of it that way.

 

This has expended many thread inches previously.  

 

In summary - the logic always seemed to hold that you visited the railway station for a whole range of purposes in the Railway's heyday, that the station was a community hub attached to the railway and not just to 'a train,' and that the word railway was used to reflect the system and its many attributes, not just the narrow definition of the passenger train.

[Guest]

Slightly O-T, but...

'Cool' is simply a matter of perspective, and it can be argued that nothing is 'cool'! It is based on what people like, don't like, and are interested in! What is 'cool' to one person, may not be to another. Then, what is portrayed as 'cool' in the media is only based on what the majority of the opinions are. If most people think that 'Football' (Just to name an example, no offense) is 'cool', then it becomes a major subject, and is deemed 'cool'. Then, the majority starts pushing it's weight around a bit, and some people are are fans of what is deemed 'cool' start looking down on those that aren't a fan of it. We are just a bit unlucky (To say the least) that although it is popular in our community, we are still in the minority, and are still by some, looked down on!

Just my honest opinion...

Matt

[HeatherKay]

the word railway was used to reflect the system and its many attributes, not just the narrow definition of the passenger train.

That's fair enough. I still call them railway stations. If the usage changes, though, that's the joy of language. It's ever-evolving.

[Pacific231G]

Hmm. I do see a difference between train spotting and railway enthusiasm or rather that spotting is one aspect of the much wider hobby. I have noticed though that a surpisingly high proportion of plane spotters have no real interest in aircraft except as carriers of the registrations they want to collect. For others though it is part of a wider interest and I wondered is that the same for railways?

 

BTW Train Station is definitely an Americanism. I heard it being widely used there in the early 1970s probably to distinquish it from the Bus Station or Depot  which between the decline of passenger trains and the real take off of deregulated mass airlines had become where most people went to access long distance public transport.  I've also  just discovered that Greyhound, which is a real American icon, is now owned by First Group plc. I suppose that's no more shocking than many of the London double deckers round here being run by RATP the Paris transport authority. 

[Torn-on-the-platform]

I think its important to point out that, regardless of what other people think about your hobby, its better than having no hobby at all! Even watching other people standing in a field occasionally bowling and hitting a ball is better than nothing 

 

My housemate just sits and watches repeats on Dave all weekend...