train spotting

Share your ideas on how to improve your English.
Mary

train spotting

Postby Mary » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:01 pm

In REWARD Intermediate I have found the leisure activity - train spotting. Could you explain me what it means.
Thanks

User avatar
nikita
Site Admin
Posts: 134
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:52 pm
Contact:

trainspotting

Postby nikita » Mon Aug 09, 2004 10:49 am

Hi Mary!

The first association I have with trainspotting is a film with the same title where "Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends." The film is graphic, so if such films are not on you list of favourites, I wouldn't recommend watching it.

I once heard a very long explanation from Sam, who at that time was working for International House, about trainspotting and trainspotters. Frankly speaking, I could hardly believe that such leisure activity may exist, so I did a search on the web. Actually, Sam was absolutely right.

About trainspotting. There is one great link on "British Studies Web Pages" http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/y_trains.htm about trainspotting. Give me a shout if you would like more info.

Article by Steve Heighes:

Trainspotting

The British have something of a reputation for being a little bit eccentric, and nowhere does that show itself more than in what they do in their spare time. From going for picnics in the rain (not usually planned) to playing cricket, we do many things which confuse people from other countries. There are some sports and hobbies, however, which confuse even British people, perhaps the strangest being trainspotting.

Some readers may be familiar with the word 'trainspotting' from the tide of the popular film starring Ewan McGregor, but may not be aware that it is the name of a hobby popular with several thousand people around Britain, known as trainspotters, or sometimes as 'anoraks' because of their choice of clothing, whatever the weather. These people can be found most often standing at the ends of platforms at major stations in the U.K., clutching notebooks and pens and sometimes pairs of binoculars, but they can also be seen staring over railway bridges or sitting on fences by the railway. The question is: 'What on Earth are they doing? '

Britain is where the railway as a public transport system started and it has been a part of everyday life, loved by some, hated by others, for over 150 years. At the peak of the popularity of trains at the end of the Victorian era, Britain was covered with railway track and there were many companies offering to take people where they wanted to go by this quick, but rather dirty and noisy method of travel. With time and with the increasing popularity of the motor car, the number of private companies got smaller until the government decided to create British Rail, one national company controlling all the railways. (Strangely enough, history wants to go in circles and recently the government sold British Rail back to private companies again!) Whoever controls the railways, for over a hundred years in Britain there have been tens of thousands of locomotives, hundreds of thousands of passenger carriages and millions of commercial wagons in operation at any time. These are what interest trainspotters.

Locomotives are not all the same: the Eurostar which takes passengers and cars under the English Channel to France is different from the Intercity 125s that rush commuters long distances at high speed, and they are both different from the little shunters that work around stations and railway yards. Not only are there different types of locomotive, but each locomotive has an individual number; some even have names like "The City of Birmingham" or "The Boy's Brigade". Trainspotters collect these names and, more importantly, the numbers.

In all weathers these fanatical hobbyists stand by railways for hours at a time. They usually take packed lunches of sandwiches and flasks of tea with them - and every time a train goes past they will write down the locomotive type, its number and its name if it has one, in their notebooks. Every passenger carriage and commercial or "goods" wagon has its own number too, and some extreme trainspotters will try to write down the numbers of every single carriage or wagon in a train! Experienced trainspotters will have shelves and shelves of notebooks at home full of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of numbers which really mean very little to anyone except other trainspotters or people who work for the railway.

When they meet, looking for trains or at trainspotters' clubs (which often meet in station buffets!) these unusual people exchange information about what kind of trains they have seen, where they saw them and of course what their numbers were. It is a happy trainspotter indeed who can tell his amazed friends of seeing an experimental train or a very old type of locomotive, or a normal train in a strange place.

So, that is trainspotting. Most ordinary people think it is a very abnormal hobby, and in everyday English, "trainspotter" means "a boring person". Judge for yourself!
Steve Heighes

GLOSSARY:

anorak - jacket with a hood
platform - flat surface at a station from which passengers get on and off trains
(to) clutch - hold tightly in the hand(s)
peak - highest point
commuter - a person who, travels to work in the town from his home in the suburb or in the country
shunter - a railway vehicle that moves wagons and carriages from one track to another
flask - a kind of bottle for keeping drinks hot or cold


Best regards,

Nikita Kovalyov
http://www.eclecticenglish.com/

...

Paul Tremaine

Trainspotting

Postby Paul Tremaine » Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:19 pm

For those who think that trainspotting is a unique English activity, we also have trainspotters in America.

America has, beyond a doubt, the largest locomotive works and the heaviest locomotives ever made. The "Big Boy" ran on Union Pacific's line (which runs not more than 250 meters from where I live) and the "Challenger" , a sister loco built in 1943 and still running on flat open prairie land near Wyoming, is currently the largest operating locomotive. To give you some idea of the size of these things you can start at the front and at a swift pace it will take you almost 15 seconds to get to the rear (42 meters long). The weight of the locomotive alone, not counting the tender (a second car which held coal, wood or oil and supplied locomotive with fuel and water) was 560,895kg! It had over 7,700 horsepower and could pull a train of over 110,000 metric tons.

Two years ago a group of enthusiasts completed rebuilding the famous 4449, a locomotive built in 1937 and oil fired. Their first run was through my town and they reached a speed of 180km/hr. I was about 4 meters from the track and thought the ground was heaving up and down about 20cm. Anyone who has seen such a sight, or ridden in the third or fourth car on an old wood burning locomotive knows the thrill (and perils) of old time railroading. So, trainspotting may seem like a strange affectation, but it is very addictive. Look at http://www.steamlocomotive.com/ for some pictures and information on this bygone era.

User avatar
nikita
Site Admin
Posts: 134
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:52 pm
Contact:

trainspotting

Postby nikita » Tue Aug 10, 2004 7:03 pm

Hello there!

First of all, thanks to Paul for his posting. Actually, I have loved steam engines and locomotives all my life. My mother's father started his career on a railway as a fireman and a driver on a steam engine. Unfortunately, I have never had a chance to travel on a real steam engine.

When I visited my grandparents in my childhood in Fayansovalya near Kirov (where he was transferred from the Far East), there was quite a big park of locomotives kept in case of war. From time to time, as a part of their maintenance, a steamer would travel past the house where my grandparents lived.

Almost all of the steam engines belonged to L series and were comparatively modern. You can see a photo of an L steam engine here: http://www.poezda.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=26

:)


Nikita Kovalyov
http://www.eclecticenglish.com/

...



Return to “Learning English”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest