Trainspotters

A trainspotter, railfan, rail buff, train buff, railway enthusiast or railway buff is a person who is interested in trains and rail transport systems. They have been common in the United Kingdom since the 1840s.^[1]

A group of trainspotters at Newport MPD in 1954.

Trainspotters collect numbers of condemned locomotives at Swindon locomotive works.

Trainspotters often congregated on stations platforms and adjacent to favoured railway lines. In the 1950s a trainspotting platform was erected adjacent to the main line in Finsbury Park to make room for the trainspotters who gathered there.^[2]

They often combine their interest with other hobbies, especially photography and videography, radio scanning, railway modelling, studying railroad history and participating in railway station and rolling stock preservation efforts. There are many magazines and websites for them, including Trains, Railfan & Railroad, The Railway Magazine, Locomotive Magazine, and Railway Gazette International.