Bullying surrounding trainspotting

[CharlieSpotted]

With my current partner neither of us have to pretend about things. We are both a bit odd and can happily be odd together! We have, for instance, taken up lighthouse spotting. Dont ask................

Sounds illuminating!

(Sorry, move on...)

 

[70014IronDuke]

Interesting reading - at primary school mid to late 1950s nobody bothered much; bullying was mostly about other differences - I admitted to being in a church choir which called forth some criticism until they found out I could get half a crown for 45minutes work at a wedding on a Saturday! At secondary school late 1950s many of us were trainspotters as the school playground backed onto the Mid-Kent line near St John's station - as we moved up the school must of us paid less attention as school work picked up pace as 'O' and 'A' levels approached; also as we 'discovered' girls....

I think trainspotting was far more common in the 1950s and very early 60s than later.
As one lad put it to me, when at school in that time, if a lad in a class wasn't a spotter, HE was the odd one out.

I noticed how, with dieselisation, numbers slumped at one major spotting venue between 1961, when diesels were coming in. Of a summer evening in 61 there usually be 4-5 there. A year later, with almost all passenger traind diesel, it was unusual to meet a single person.

When I started at a grammar school, trainspotting was kind of banned by an unwritten rule. It wasn't that the boys bullie you for it, more the school implied 'it was not an edifying thing to take part in.'.

A year or two later, helped by one understanding master, a school railway society was formed, but only for those in the third forms and above, ie about 14 and more. This was later relaxed.

There were also people who had been avid spotters who, aged about 15 or so, would feel it was childish, and harmed their "adult" brand that they wished to have.

Ironically enough, several of the earliest and keenest members of the school railway society turned this way.

I think looking back, generally, a lot of it was jealousy, immaturity, insecurity and a desire to be popular in the people causing the problems. They were so worried they might be found out as not being the super cool yoof they wanted desperately to be that they covered up by behaving like a simpleton towards others. There is also a pack mentality. If someone else is getting attacked that means it isn't you for a few hours so peopel join in!

Saved me writing on these lines. Yes, it's the persecutor's insecurity which makes them wish to persecute 'someone' for whichever reason in order to feel superior. IT's false, of course.

Although I think in one person it was sadism. They were the sort who would burn insects with magnifiers.

You mean you didn't?

it is not that people are into trains but that people are ONLY into trains that causes problems. No one wants to feel second best in a relationship do they? I like trains and have no issues with women. Why? Because you have to recognise they aren't really bothered about the tractive effort of a class 66 or the correct livery for a DMU shown on casualty and you have to recognise that sometimes you have to do what other people want to do even if it is dull and boring

Funnily enough, last night I explained to the Mrs that the locomotive on the Xmas card on our shelves (Sent by an old friend) was a "Royal Scot", and that these were banned on some lines because of their axle weight.

She struggled patiently with this, until I explained that the entire weight of the locomotive had to be born by five axles and ten wheels. She sort of got that, but when I mentioned rebuilt Patriots, which looked like Royal Scots but were a tad lighter, she sort of turned off.

 

[Thornaby 37]

It's interesting because train enthusiasm is a lot more male dominated than car enthusiasm in my view, more women are definitely into the latter, yet trains are less manly than cars. Funny how different hobbies are percieved.

Whilst it's true that railway enthusiasm always has been [and probably always always will be] male dominated, one thing I have noticed over the years is that there are more female enthusiasts now than there were, say, a generation ago.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I would say from my own observations that the hobby was just about 100% male, and any female involvement would almost certainly be wives, girlfriends or other family members of participating enthusiasts
However, in recent years, with the advent of social media, and in particular YouTube, it is noticeable that the hobby isn't exclusively male as it used to be
I think these days with inclusiveness and diversity being tolerated [and encouraged] more than it used to be, boys aren't always pressurised into doing "boys things", girls aren't always pressurised into doing "girls things", hence there is now more female participation in what is/was often perceived to be a male hobby

 

[YorkshireBear]

I was bullied at school and I purposely hid my love of all things transport for a number of years to reduce that bullying, in my late teens I came back to it once I was more confident and able to handle it. Since then I have never once hidden it and am openly passionate about it to anyone who listens, I find it much better for it.

Even at work, plenty don't admit it but I very much am the opposite. It's more healthy than loving love island in my eyes anyway!

 

[Gloster]

I went to a moderately well-known public school in the mid-1970s and trains in any form were definitely ‘uncool’. How much it added to the bullying I suffered, which sometimes included some quite serious physical violence, I am not sure. I think the fact that I did not have money to flash about or contacts and experiences to boast about was a greater factor: trains were just another thing to use when picking on me. I was not interested in much of what others were, or professed to be, interested in, nor was I good at the things such as sport and art that the school was keen on. It wasn’t helped by a couple of masters who disliked the railway because it was strongly unionised, one of them being particularly sneering. (That master really should not have been a teacher: he had extreme politics and attitudes and used to pick in any way he could on boys who in some way offended him, such as the boy who had a Russian (probably White Russian refugee) grandmother. ”Filthy, dirty commie.”)

 

[Egg Centric]

While I wouldn't call it bullying, the banter from "normals" hasn't stopped as an adult tbh!

Of course most of my friends are roughly the same age at me (37) so would have been at school in that 80s-00s period mentioned as the nadir of train enthusiasm acceptance.

I did have one friend at school who liked trains but the rest certainly didn't. Even now I know relatively few people in real life who are interested, most are indifferent to actively hostile.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Eeew girls !. My granddaughter won't let me go out without taking her. I have indirectly asked her how people are about it at school. She gets a bit of respect from two lads one who cannot yet identify classes apparently.

There was a lot of bullying during my primary years (up to 1972 iirc) before I had noticed trains. But by secondary school bullying became a lot less despite me then discovering trains. Perhaps I got smarter at side stepping the attempts or the losers that bullied did not make it to my secondary school. At secondary school I remember being quizzed on - "whats the point". My reply was that well there is no point and if there was it would cease to be a hobby - though I conceded (cleverly) that I liked the travel that came with it.

By the 1980s I had learn't my enthusiasm was career limiting so I have kept it secret ever since. It says more about other peoples prejudice than it says about me. It at least cut out the banter.

I wait to see what happens with my granddaughter as she gets older. Maybe she will grow out of it - ha my mother always said I would, let her down there me thinks. Granddaughter likes the travel aspect and cannot sit at home doing nothing - she has cleared a few classes and is getting a bit focused there. I make her problem solve and resolve my convoluted map queries/routes when we are out. Most of the family put up with it but her mother is strongly in favour.

Bullying only happens if there is a victim but also is impossible without someone who has the need to bully. By secondary school I had learnt to field the attentions of potential bullies. There was a lad in our class who I kept at arms length as he was quite physical with many boys and girls - tiresome at best. I used to throw words at him - "oh your getting ready to attack someone are you" or "why don't you just behave". Some kids used to keep within range of me because he wouldn't !. Years later I discovered he had eventually confessed that he found me hard work - kept him at bay !. But looking at it the other way round was I in danger of becoming the bully with my entourage of hangers on ?.

Once bullying starts in a certain setting it is very hard to wipe it out. This is because peoples insecurities once aroused lead them to identify differences and commonalities. Being into trains is a difference - but then maybe I never wanted to be one of the flock desperately enough.

There is also the prejudice side of it. Being thrown off Kings Cross station in the late 1980s (with our season tickets). I refused, threatened with the police, bring it on.

Works the other way. Granddaughter is not comfortable with me walking up to the barrier and me asking to be let on. Nearest I have come to a refusal is twice asked to get a platform ticket and both times I was sent back to the barrier line having been told the ticket clerk did not know how to issue a platform ticket. Given a platform ticket is only valid for an hour I felt slightly safer without one !.

 

[DustyBin]

It's interesting because train enthusiasm is a lot more male dominated than car enthusiasm in my view, more women are definitely into the latter, yet trains are less manly than cars. Funny how different hobbies are percieved.

I agree. My other half is into cars and sometimes takes her own car to shows, and we often meet/see other young women doing the same. It does seem to be more young women at the shows we go to, but that may be to do with the models of cars as much as anything.

Whilst I don't think it's ever been as male dominated as rail enthusiasm, I think there's certainly been an increase in the number of female car enthusiasts over the last few years, to the point it's now seen as perfectly "normal" (or cool even). Mrs DB does however feel a sense of geekyness when discussing things like power figures and model years apparently!

 

[HST43257]

I’m 17, in upper sixth (Y13). Not a note-taking spotter but an enthusiast and occasional rail photographer. I wanted to talk about this in relation to my education experience. At none of my education steps have I followed the majority of friends, so I’ve never had the conventional core long term friend group to back me i guess.

Primary school: Grew up with these people, vast majority just saw me as a nice person who was a “train nerd”.

Secondary school: Only one from my primary to go to this secondary. Struggled in Y7 with first impressions as the “weird train guy” and this lasted. Suffered greatly physically in Y8 mainly as groups (and seemingly enemies?) formed, I guess I was targetable. Y9 covid break perhaps changed things as less desirable people who were targeting and hurting me one way or another (quite a lot of people) seemingly forgot about me - no complaints. In Y10 when we came back these people weren’t as bad to me but were hardly kind. Y11 though was a really good year - The undesirables never really bothered to do anything and I just stayed away from them, but best of all, all the more desirable people finally noticed me as a good person rather than the train weirdo. I finally formed a proper friend group and support structure and this was the best year of my life even despite exams etc.

Further Ed so far: A little reverting to train weirdo naming I guess, as all of my friends went to the same sixth form, whilst I couldn’t due to realistically not being suited to the academic demand (unfortunately I still stand by this). Lost most of my support structure and struggled to integrate with new classmates as I was just different as the train guy. Realistically over the next 6 months not going to change.

Future: My hope is that I can get into my Uni choices and do something I actually want to do, and be around a load of desirable, actually kind people???

Moral of the story (disclaimer: this is a personal experience and personal life lesson): do everything you can to be more clever and realistically the people you move through the school system with will be more desirable, kind and accepting.

The attitude is like no other in my experience. Even cars and planes don’t bring the same attitude, which I’ll never understand.

PS thank you all for posting, this is very thereaputic

I kept strictly to my love of ice hockey and Spurs.

As a fellow Spurs supporter, this was hardly a positive twist on opinions for me!

 

[87electric]

People with hobbies are expressing themselves as individuals. Those without, follow a herd mentality that seeks to ridicule because of their own inadequacies. It's easy to see which side has the problem here. I was bullied with terrible hate speech (and I would use that term even though I'm talking of 1979 here) that I snapped. A swift kick in the goolies from me.....and it never happened again. The bully avoided me like the plague for the next 3 years. Wrong or right, that was the only way to stop the mental fear and dread on my part in going to school. Nowadays, I don't suffer fools and stand up immediately to be counted.

 

[Rail Quest]

Future: My hope is that I can get into my Uni choices and do something I actually want to do, and be around a load of desirable, actually kind people???

Whilst I never went to uni full time (I'm halfway through a degree apprenticeship), my experience is that if you end up in a course or workplace full of other nerds, even if none are rail enthusiasts - you'll do great as fellow nerds just seem to be interested by us having such a hobby and conversations about it move from mockery and lack of understanding like we might find during school years, to genuine intruige and curiosity . Hope you manage to get into said uni choice and accomplish this!

A swift kick in the goolies from me.....and it never happened again. The bully avoided me like the plague for the next 3 years.

I never tried this haha. We (me and other trainspotting mate) were always pretty passive in our reactions to bullys - would be interesting to know if things would have been different had we tried the same! I'm also not going to conclude whether it's right or wrong but I'd just be interested to see how it would have changed people's perception of me.

 

[75A]

People with hobbies are expressing themselves as individuals. Those without, follow a herd mentality that seeks to ridicule because of their own inadequacies. It's easy to see which side has the problem here. I was bullied with terrible hate speech (and I would use that term even though I'm talking of 1979 here) that I snapped. A swift kick in the goolies from me.....and it never happened again. The bully avoided me like the plague for the next 3 years. Wrong or right, that was the only way to stop the mental fear and dread on my part in going to school. Nowadays, I don't suffer fools and stand up immediately to be counted.

Similar thing happened to me in the early 70's, I am 6 foot 7 tall which is great, but when you're on the same site as 17/18 year olds, and are 12, you become a target for the much shorter, inadequate older boys.
For the first couple of months I was forever in front of the headmaster for 'dealing' with it.
Good point was by the time I was 14 I was playing for the school 1st XV, which was great, this was long before rugby went soft.
When I was @ Uni I earnt money by being a 'Bouncer' in a Night Club long before 'Door Staff' were licenced and had to think about CCTV's, this was in Portsmouth where the Naval Provost were our best friends, they stick the Matelot in the back of their van for a few minutes!

 

[Trackman]

When I was at school a very long time ago, it was actually seen as a cool thing as all the tough kids did it - There was definitely no bullying. Mainly we were enthusiasts, photographers and 'bashers' as the terminology goes.
As time went by, we found out quite a few of the teachers were enthusiasts too, so much so we used to cast loco nameplates after school. My female English teacher was a crank too, I remember having a deep conservation about loco wheel arrangements in class much to everyones surprise.

 

[Harry Douthwaite]

That's a really interesting perspective. I can imagine this really could have an additional affect on one's mental health. Hope you're doing better now

Turns out I am autistic as well, albeit with the mildest possible diagnosis. In infant school (year 1-2) what really ticked me off was how one bully of a kid played with the wooden train set, pushing it along while loudly yelling 'choo-choo Thomas!' over and over at me. Even though I often couldn't tell if someone was being facetious, this was definitely intended to insult me.
Junior school (year 3-6) was worse. Little things like being left out of activities, chosen last for anything at P.E, or insults thrown intentionally to make me flustered and defensive. Pretty much like the movie 'Dairy of a Wimpy kid'.

Anyway, most of this inspired me to write a book. Partly to try and heal my inner child. It's geared towards junior school/high school but should be able to be enjoyed by any rail enthusiasts, especially spotters. If anyone is curious enough to take a look, I've posted it under the W.I.P title of "Strife In Stanstead Abbotts" on Scribblehub. It's set in 2005, which is shortly after I moved to Canada. As an autistic individual I hate massive changes. The whole 'another planet' problem became even bigger after the move, not because of bullying, but because I didn't get to visit until 2006 and even then I was severely restricted. On my next visit in 2008, things had changed dramatically and it just didn't feel the same.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

I was at Secondary School 1991 - 1996 and was largely known as the "Uncool Trainspotter" in my half of the Year Group. I don't ever remember it ever manifesting itself into physical bullying though.
Guess this was down to the Railways at that time being very down at heel and the butt of mainstream comedians jokes (Curly British Rail Sandwiches, Wrong type of Snow etc etc).
 The name calling and ridiculing peaked possibly around the middle of my High School time, but by the time I left there was a begrudging acceptance by most. When I was at College soon after though it was embraced and accepted as who I was and I gained a lot of respect for it which I am lucky to say I still enjoy professionally today.
Granted You will always get the very occasional person who simply won't accept it. I remember about 20 Years ago at Work there was a Junior Manager who would take great pleasure in deriding me at every Opportunity, even going to the extent of saying that I "couldn't concentrate on my Work because I was constantly daydreaming about Trainspotting"! I didn't rise to the bait though and thankfully she (Yes it was a She) wasn't around for too long afterwards...

 

[Cowley]

I think that these days having an interest such as railways can actually mark you out as somebody a bit different in a sea of very similar types of fashions and people. I guess it also depends how you are with it though and whether you try and corner someone at a party to explain why the tractive effort of a class 60 is so superior (yep I’m having that one @DarloRich, along with the lighthouse spotting ).

It definitely wasn’t a cool hobby at high school in the 1980s, but I don’t think I cared too much about what other people thought and now I’ll tell anyone about it - although I think I’ve always known when to read the signs that someone isn’t remotely interested (glazed eyes, yawning, looking for exits etc).

Mrs C is great with it to be fair. She loves a train journey and enjoys a bit of English Electric thrash now and again too. She can tell a class 20 from a 37 but she also has her own hobbies, some of which are hers and some of which we share and that’s a nice balance as we understand each other’s needs to zone out in our own worlds now and again.

I really do agree with some of the comments above about people that bully those who have an interest in something like this. I don’t know how inadequate you’d have to feel about your own life to inflict misery on others that are enjoying doing their own thing? Go and get some counselling for gods sake!

I love hearing about peoples quirky hobbies. Their thing might not be my thing but I’ll always encourage it in others because it’s so good for your mental health if you can lose yourself in something now and again.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

At my grammar school, the Latin master was an avid enthusiast and has written books. Nigel Harris of RAIL fame met him and knew him. As such, inside school I was never harassed or bullied for the hobby.

 

[Rail Quest]

I really do agree with some of the comments above about people that bully those who have an interest in something like this. I don’t know how inadequate you’d have to feel about your own life to inflict misery on others that are enjoying doing their own thing?

Yeahh for sure. Its hard to sort of see into the heads of people like that most of the time so something that sounds so illogical to us must give them enough of a hit of something to keep doing it. Gosh this thread is reminding me how much I love psychology/sociology despite not understanding much about them!

At my grammar school, the Latin master was an avid enthusiast and has written books. Nigel Harris of RAIL fame met him and knew him. As such, inside school I was never harassed or bullied for the hobby.

Nicce! I think that shows another distinction perhaps with schools today (or at least mine) - if a teacher has a specific hobby or interest and a student also does said hobby, then that just leads to more harassment if people find out. Didn't happen to me or anything thankfully though I did observe it in other situations a couple of times. I think that probably links somehow to "Teacher's Pet" insults somehow.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Yeahh for sure. Its hard to sort of see into the heads of people like that most of the time so something that sounds so illogical to us must give them enough of a hit of something to keep doing it. Gosh this thread is reminding me how much I love psychology/sociology despite not understanding much about them!


Nicce! I think that shows another distinction perhaps with schools today (or at least mine) - if a teacher has a specific hobby or interest and a student also does said hobby, then that just leads to more harassment if people find out. Didn't happen to me or anything thankfully though I did observe it in other situations a couple of times. I think that probably links somehow to "Teacher's Pet" insults somehow.

I think @GRALISTAIR was saying it helped that the master was also interested in railways.

But I think being accused of being teachers pet is always a risk if you identify too close (in some peoples eyes) to someone in authority. But that is really just a price to pay - an indication of something good really. It is just jealousy and as long as it does not progress too far into persecution is just a part of life's ups and downs. We will never get life perfect and there will always be different opinions, people who do not accept you or you do not accept and plain old misunderstandings. It is how these transform into systematic bullying that is the issue to address as this leads to alienation and loneliness.

 

[DarloRich]

I guess it also depends how you are with it though and whether you try and corner someone at a party to explain why the tractive effort of a class 60 is so superior

take it as my xmas gift to you! I did recently attend a party where, seriously, there was a discussion of tractive effort of various locomotive types. I just said I like the class 37 as it makes a loud noise!

along with the lighthouse spotting

there is a book you can tick off the lighthouses you have seen..................

At my grammar school, the Latin master was an avid enthusiast and has written books.

my classics teacher was an avid railway modeler - he ran the model railway club at school - but he never mentioned "real" trains.

I went to a moderately well-known public school in the mid-1970s and trains in any form were definitely ‘uncool’. How much it added to the bullying I suffered, which sometimes included some quite serious physical violence, I am not sure. I think the fact that I did not have money to flash about or contacts and experiences to boast about was a greater factor: trains were just another thing to use when picking on me. I was not interested in much of what others were, or professed to be, interested in, nor was I good at the things such as sport and art that the school was keen on. It wasn’t helped by a couple of masters who disliked the railway because it was strongly unionised, one of them being particularly sneering. (That master really should not have been a teacher: he had extreme politics and attitudes and used to pick in any way he could on boys who in some way offended him, such as the boy who had a Russian (probably White Russian refugee) grandmother. ”Filthy, dirty commie.”)

that sounds like my school! Some of the stuff that went on would have a school closed in seconds today. No, I don't mean the kind of problems catholic schools have..............

 

[3141]

I was at primary school 1944-50 and secondary school 1950-58. While I was at primary school trainspotting was a normal thing - lots of people did it. We bought the Ian Allan ABCs and ticked off the loco numbers.

I didn't follow my interest in trains so much at secondary school, but there was a model railway club and two masters organised visits to depots or to large London terminals. I didn't take part in those (I can't now remember the reasons), but I don't recall anyone regarding an interest as trains as nerdish or undesirable. Maybe because the word "nerd" hadn't been coined yet, people perhaps being readier to accept that others might have interests they didn't.

Mention has been made earlier in the thread about stamp collecting. That's another thing that many people did, including me. We all thought it was quite normal. There was the Southgate Stamp Shop which traded in stamps, run by Colonel Beattie, which later developed into Beatties and became famous for models (trains and buses, in case you don't remember and were wondering!).

Some of the earlier posts lead me to wonder whether some of the problems that others, younger than me, have experienced are due to changes in society. Football fans weren't generally seen as notorious in the way that some are today. That's probably due to their inability to afford to travel to away matches 70 years ago and the much lower publicity any anti-social activities would have received.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

I was at school in the 1970s/early 1980s and was more of a "spotter for numbers" back then until I "got the bug" for various rolling stock types and mechanical signalling. Yes I was teased/bullied for it but when I told the perpetrators that I had cab rides or pulled signal levers in the local signal box; they were at awe.

But even then, it wasn't as sexy as Jaws, Star Wars, Elvis, The Buggles, Pink Floyd or ET

 

[Western Sunset]

We even had a model railway club at the co-ed grammar school I attended. Never had any trouble over bullying. And, as others have mentioned, stamp collecting was still a big thing back in the 60s/70s as well - we had a stamp club at school too.

There seems to be a whole new generation of "spotters" around at the moment; taking videos and posting on YouTube. Great to see all those youngsters taking an interest in the hobby.

 

[The exile]

This is actually a really difficult subject to broach and I don't think it's necessarily to do with trainspotting or railway enthusiasm in particular; I suspect that anyone who indulged in collecting stamps or coins as a hobby would probably be vilified in the same way (I used to collect coins).

The difference being that “trainspotting” by its nature is a very public activity - indeed, I doubt there are any other “geeky” activities (apologies if that word offends - it’s not intended to) which are performed so much in the public gaze.

 

[6Gman]

Perspectives on attitude changes over the years are interesting so I'll mention that at my secondary school (a state grammar school) from 1968 to 1975 we had a school railway society and a school model railway society - the membership was pretty much the same for both! The "hard cases"/bullies stayed well clear and I don't recall any bullying over it.

There was plenty of general bullying, but being interested in railways didn't seem to trigger it. Being the grammar school of one of the great railway towns of Britain may have helped!

 

[Rail Quest]

I think @GRALISTAIR was saying it helped that the master was also interested in railways.

But I think being accused of being teachers pet is always a risk if you identify too close (in some peoples eyes) to someone in authority. But that is really just a price to pay - an indication of something good really

Yeah for sure. My point was, more so that it I doubt that having a teacher also in the hobby would've helped in a more modern setting based on the teacher's pet thing.

Definitely, and I can imagine that mindset trails out of school settings as well. My mind goes to the business politics that I've seen caused in workplaces when people seem very close to their manager or manager's manager but thats a separate topic haha.

 

[Western Sunset]

There was plenty of general bullying, but being interested in railways didn't seem to trigger it. Being the grammar school of one of the great railway towns of Britain may have helped!

Come to think of it, my grammar school was also near a town with two railway workshops and a technical centre. So railway interset abounded with no bullying. Also Sir Henry Fowler had lived near where my school was, so railways were in the blood of many.

 

[PeterY]

In my school life 1962-74 I don't recall any particular bullying about my interest in trains and buses - it was well known and I was the 'go to' person for information on such things from both boys and girls. Were there a few bullies in the school - yes, so I steered as clear as possible and laughed off any issues - maybe that says more about my sensitivity than anything else?

Exactly the same time I when to school. I never had an issue with saying I liked trains and I did train spotting back in those days. My only regret is I didn't have access to a camera (or money). All the photos I could've taken .

My father was a bus driver and I only took a passing interest in buses but I used to get asked all the bus routes and bus times at school.

 

[Peter Sarf]

take it as my xmas gift to you! I did recently attend a party where, seriously, there was a discussion of tractive effort of various locomotive types. I just said I like the class 37 as it makes a loud noise!


there is a book you can tick off the lighthouses you have seen..................


my classics teacher was an avid railway modeler - he ran the model railway club at school - but he never mentioned "real" trains.


that sounds like my school! Some of the stuff that went on would have a school closed in seconds today. No, I don't mean the kind of problems catholic schools have..............

My bold.


Arrrrr. That is how it all started - A 1970s Ian Allan book of motive power with a crisp picture on the cover of a Class 50 on the WCML near the lake district. Being brought up on the Southern many of these classes of locomotive were in the exotic bracket. Birmingham New street, Paddington and Old Oak Common exposed me to the the Beauty of Westerns - carefully sculptured creations.

The difference being that “trainspotting” by its nature is a very public activity - indeed, I doubt there are any other “geeky” activities (apologies if that word offends - it’s not intended to) which are performed so much in the public gaze.

It is true it is not a hobby that works by staying indoors - except for a model railway. Now fishing is going to come up against it I reckon - all very public and involves hurting animals !.

 

[Andy317345]

I've been interested in trains in some form my entire life. I was never really bullied for it, but that was because I never really mentioned it to anyone. I hid most of my interests from Year 7-10 as I made the mistake of telling my classmates in Y7 about my interests before being bullied and picked on for months. I was called nerdy and had a rail magazine ripped up in front of me which basically killed my interest, so I forced myself to be interested in common things like football ect. It was only when I found my friend group in Y11 when I was comfortable about my interests and they somewhat shared my interests as well. Now I'm in year 12 at a new school and I'm quite open about my interests with my friends and have not experienced any bullying or even verbal abuse as of yet. Still, I don't really talk about trains that much around others as I still have a fear of being picked on again and being weird. The only problem is I have yet to meet someone from my school that is also interested in trains.