It is not just your generation Talyllyn, Thomas has been the way into railways for youngsters since 1946!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

So, what got you interested in railways?
 

trains!!!!!

It was my daughter's passion for Thomas that dragged me back to the rails.:)

It´s hard to tell when I got interested....my father when I was young worked at the local steam railway and so I was always used as the chirstmas advertisement in the local paper meeting santa! That and Wolverhampton Wanderers christmas special advertisement were the start and end of my child modelling career...:( but I did become fascinated by the trains on these visits..so something good came from it!

Plus they always had santa specials and war week-ends and slowly I just became obssesed by it! I guess it just stook.

Hello Ron and welcome to the Railway Forum. There are quite a few members from the United States on this site now. I have always been intrested in US steam locos.

Welcome to the Forum Ron. Look forward to more news from "over the pond!"

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Well at the age of 5/6 my Dad first started taking me out on train trips, starting with a trip down to the Swanage Heritage Railway. I enjoyed it there and so he's been taking me on trips ever since, to hotels all around the UK. The most memorable is when we went to Grange-Over Sands in August 2003, and stayed in a big hotel. Nice little town, and I loved the viaduct near the station. We went to Windermere, and Beatrix Potter Town, but last year, we visited it again and It was great! I loved touring the Lake District. Now that he's getting old, we've stopped going away to Hotels, and only really go on Train Trips to Newcastle and Meadowhall, and Hull etc. They're not as fun as it is a short journey for all. We've go on all Heritage Railways in the UK. But recently he's discovered another line to do, but doesn't want to do it, so It is my goal to be just like him, go on every line in UK and Wales. I will have a long list and tick them off as I go.

Hello, fellow railroaders! My husband and I have always been interested in trains. And, in celebration of Union Pacific's 150th anniversary, we recently made a video that we'd like to share with you. If you enjoy it, please give us your "Like" and feel free to share with friends. Cheers!

http://up150.com/gbrr/video/133

Some kind of world record?
 

I cant believe that this thread has been running for so long now, is it any kind of world record thread does anyone know?? Will it reach 20K and beyond!!

I don't really remember when it started, it must have been long before I started school in 1950. The family always travelled by train when it was imperative to keep an important appointment. In those days most public transport around Lancaster was heavily used, and although the bus services were generally good, my dad always said "Buses can leave you behind, but you can always get on a train".
It has simply grown from there. Of course it always helped that several relatives and neighbours worked on the railway.

I,ll tell you how I rally got interested in "model railway" During me service time I was posted to India . It was during my posting to Rawalpindi That I got the chance to travel on the footplate of the Frontier Express fro Lahore to "Pindi" And there I had my first opportunity to DRIVE it !
And that started it, Its happened many times since but not like the first one ,its still there
Best regard to all from Bernard

I think what got me hooked was trips from London as a child to the South coast (lived @ Harrow, NW London) I vaguely remember going up in the cab after one trip back. Also after that when my mother & I went shopping at Wembley, she used to leave me at a footpath that led down some steps by the side of Wembley Central stn, so I could watch the trains from there.

I ask myself this question every day
 

I ask myself why I love the railways often I've come to only one conclusion. I have absolutely no idea lol.

If I had the option to travel by road, air or rail, I would choose rail every time. Whenever I see a train even a boring Desiro, I'm captivated. Although I might draw the line with a Pacer lol.....

For me it was discussions with a school mate at the adjoining desk. We popped down to Sunderland station just after school to see the Liverpool come through. It was a Thursday and was hauled by A3 60086. Went down the next day too and naively expected any one of the 202 ex-LNER pacifics to turn up. Needless to say it was 60086 again. But on the Saturday we collected a treasure trove indeed at Newcastle. We boarded the Liverpool back to Sunderland - 60086 again! But from then on I was well and truly hooked. I lost interest with the demise of steam but had it rekindled by my son around 1990 who got hooked himself out here in NZ.

I wrote this on another forum a year or so back:

It always amuses me that folk think "train spotting" is a completely useless activity.

Recently on "Who wants to be a millionaire" (UK version) there was the individual who didn't know where Berwick-upon-Tweed was. They guessed "Shropshire" :-) I have to say that my interest in railways has improved my knowledge of the countries in which I've resided immeasurably - UK, NZ, Oz. Same for the USA too to some extent because of my reading although I've never been there.

The words "fun" and "sanity" always loom uppermost in my mind too. Human beings started out as hunter/gatherers. Our need to be hunter/gatherers has not diminished just because we are all too often engaged in meaningless, soul destroying, bureaucratic jobs in what is now termed "The Information Society". In order to retain our sanity We have now had to replace our ancestors' real work for survival with games - treasure hunts, collecting hobbies, sports, etc. "Train Spotting", both in its specific and wider generic senses, caters for BOTH hunting and gathering. In other words the hobby keeps us SANE. And while we are remaining SANE we are having FUN at the same time. I could name other useless hobbies, but every time I think of one I could write a similar piece about why it too keeps us SANE. I could also name far more useless paid jobs than useless hobbies though that is, of course, coloured by my own particular world view.

I remember going down to the South Island with my son in 1992. We drove to most places where the railway went and had our goal to see every loco in the SI. We didn't manage that but we did see every main line loco. I recall discussing this outside Linwood depot with a couple of fellow "train nutters". I discovered that a couple of hitherto unseen DCs were in the repair depot. The only other one was DC4847 which turned up on the shunting service over in Greymouth on our last day. Our "treasure hunt" playing field was the entire South Island. We had FUN on that trip. We slept in the car on three occasions - at Picton (didn't get much sleep that night), Timaru, and Westport. We hurtled back to Picton from Greymouth that day and made the ferry with 5 minutes to spare at 7:25 pm.

I don't see how this form of collecting is significantly different from "more socially respectable" forms of collecting such as antiques or postage stamps. It's a darned sight cheaper too. So you can throw around all the pejorative terms for rail enthusiast you like. It's just water off a duck's back.

Well, my dad used to take me on specials from Nottingham to Plymouth in the early 1980's and maybe the late 1970's . . . . some were very special, we had breakdowns and trees on the lines and trysts between young football supporters and snogs between trains (them were the days) (think I was included there too!) . . we had tuck shops in the break vans.... what is not to find terribly exciting especially with a huge railway timetable in your hand . . . and then I rail rovered round UK and Australia . . . and now save up for steam train journies when I can, but always love a 37 or 50!

Im mostly interested in early american steam trains and working on the Frisco Scenic Railway at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo. I keep the Facebook page updated! Frisco Silver Dollar City Scenic Railway

Abit like Seth said if it flys floats or got wheels im in there,, but into steamers 1955 to 1961 just spotting number crunching just 2 rolls of film on my brownie 127 big big regrets, started again in 1967-1968 filled 3 albums, also working on Bittern Blue Peter as black hand gang,, then the BR ban,, now back into steamers at York thro the summer, very lucky,, but you wait for one loco when 50years ago they were coming all day, Oh how would pay alot for just one day in 1960,, and big regret packing up in 1961,, well you could,nt tell a girl your a train spotter at 16,, plus waiting time in the pub 18-25, now my wife in a home i have time to see my locos when ever i want for half aday at least:)

My wife bought me a Clive Groome one day Footplate Days experience. Wonderful:)

this is a test to see where it goes

There is a topic on unxeplained-mysteries.com that had something like 36,000 replies. It was quite mind boggling. I can't find it right now, but you can see one with 3,600 replies and 128,000 views if you follow the link.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showforum=7

Relapse
 

Been away to long.
After all the usual coming of age distractions I lapsed back into an enthusiasam for rail without noticing. It sort of crept up on me again, then the realisation you're hooked again.
Great to see and search for the stock and power from the eighties, suprised to see so many surviving. Just enjoying the number crunching for now with the some inklings of possible future specialised interest probably based on European rail stock and photo skills. Just now have patience in the forum for what may seem some dum questions but a little catching up is needed, so it's thanks in advance for the obvious answers from you all.
Gare Du Nord

My interest in trains goes back about 60+ years I think I was about 6 years old, my Mum and Dad took me on a holiday somewhere in the South of England, I can still picture the waiting room on this little station, the fire was burning and our suitcases were standing near a wall, it was a cold and dark night and I kept running to the waiting room door to see if the train was coming, sure enough out of the darkness the train arrived and was blowing steam and smoke as it chuffed through the station and eventually stopped, that was it I have been a train nut all of my life.

From about 1952 to 1957 when my parents chucked a mighty big spanner in the works and moved to Australia I was a fanatical train spotter, most of my spotting was done along the B'Ham - Bristol main line with frequent visits to Naw Street Station and Tamworth.

Train spotting got me into all kinds of trouble at school as I used to wag school and write my own notes, I could not bare the thought of all the trains I was missing while wasting time in school, I did pretty well really but felt awfully guilty when I went home and pretended that I had been at school all day, that ended with a clip across the ears when my Mum found out what I was doing but a couple of weeks later I was at it again.

I've always had a bit of an interest in railways. Over the past 25yrs or so i've done quite a few visits to local stations to photograph Loco's and DMU's. But admittedly my main interest has been in photographing shipping. When visiting docklands I often get a chance to see freight loco's in operation.

Just recently I haven't had much chance to do a great of photography as there has been a real downturn in shipping to Hull where I live. So i've decided to diversify a little and visit some of the local stations to see what's going on in the Rail scene.

Living in Hull places me in an ideal position to visit many really spots within an hour of travelling. Barnetby, Donny, Selby, York, Lincoln, Colton Jnctn are easily accessed.

My 3yr old is train obsessed at the moment so I can spend some time with him looking at my photos. My missus gets rid of me for a time so everybody is happy :)

I was about 8 years old staying at a farm on Carrington Moss, East of Warrington. The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) main line from Manchester to Liverpool ran close by and a friend and myself used to watch the trains. The one engine which imprinted on my memory was a D10 number 62655 "The Earl of Kerry", I can trace my love of railways back to seeing that engine fresh from Gorton works having been repainted in British Railways colours. That was in 1949 and that love has never died.

Girls and beer have never taken over me, as I am a female teetotalist lol. I was born into a life of railways, steam especially and rail events. My Dad saved 6024 from Barry and when I was growing up we would venture up to Quainton most weekends during the Summer Holidays to see the Kings rebuild coming on. Then while me and my brother were small we were taken to all the Railway events around the country with my Dad and his bookstall. Then we would spend the day making friends with the other kids. That's when I discovered Deltics......mmmmm Deltics!!! To us it was just a way to have fun, playing on the locos, I remember all the Steam weekends on Salisbury Station, they were great, but kept losing my little brother. Found him on the footplate of Sir Nigel Gresley telling people what everything did. He was only 7 lol. It sorta took hold from there. Found him at Coalville having a picnic with a random family in a coal truck, my Mum went nuts when he eventually came back to the stall. God only knows how we got away with it really, anything could have happened. I have so many memories of those days at the different Railway sites that it has never left me. Now it's me dragging my Dad and boyfriend around the country to go "trainspotting".

My dad. Hes mad on them!

My grandfather was an engine driver in the great days of steam. He worked his way up from fireman to driver, and drove all kinds of engines from small shunting engines right up to some of the famous ones. He drove Mallard, Sir Nigel Gresley, and some of the other greats. He also crewed on the Flying Scotsman at some point. Grandad lived in Doncaster from about 1898/1899 having moved there from rural Suffolk, and loved to take myself and my younger brother to the engine sheds and shunting yards at Black Bank, Doncaster. The days before the health and safety brigade and transport police!!

My Dad took us trainspotting at Doncaster station and to the Black Bank yards, great days out - sandwiches, flask of tea, numbers books, numerous pencil stubs, pacamac and hanky to wipe off soot and assorted grime!!

When the first diesel/electric trains were introduced, Grandad said he wasn't going to be brainwashed into 'new-fangled' trains because they wouldn't last!! He retired on the day he was supposed to start training on a diesel train. Let the young 'uns have it he said.

One little tale to add, when WW1 was in progress, my Nan decided she would try railway work because Grandad said it was hard but honest work. One day she was driving a little shunter in the sidings when she felt a lurch and the engine ended up off the rails. It turned out the the lady who was operating the points lever hadn't fully moved the points, and as a result Nan's engine left the rails!! She said no harm done but just embarrasment for her and the points lady!

the Thomas the tank life size engines at Newby Bridge in the lakes, does anyone know if they are still there

May I therefore suggest that the Railway Forum is not going to be of much interest to you!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

Has the post that this refers to been deleted ?

Looks like it Philip.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

And the poster sent packing :D

Strange really, I am the only one in my family (as far as I know) that is interested in trains. Just always loved the sound, speed and size of the fantastic machines and I love the fact that whatever train you see, where ever and at what ever speed, it won't disappoint!

Welcome mate, we all love the sound of trains rumbling by :D

Many years ago my parents used to "borrow" an old railway cottage near Bangor. It was so close to the line the kitchen window had safety bars on it.

I stayed there once or twice, and when the late night goods went past to Holyhead I nearly got vibrated out of bed.:D:D

We (my immediate family) used to travel between Johannesburg and Durban on the overnight train every year from since when I can remember early 1960s until the late 1970s, some sections of the line were steam. Most memorable occasions, impeccable service and well kept and maintained carriages. Always had a good night's sleep and even now, if I have insomnia I play a repeating recording of the sound inside a railway carriage. My last train journey of that nature was probably in the mid 1980s. Have a look in my gallery. There are still a few trains running these days (The Blue Train for instance) but veeerrrryyyy dear.

Have they managed to get the Outenequa Choo Choo going again from George? Managed to get one trip on that a few years back and just loved it. So sad to see that a landslide put it out of action.

I'm not sure. Their website indicates that it is running. You can see the gallery pictures by clicking the link http://www.outeniquachootjoe.co.za/gallery.htm