I was a
train spotter - I had all the books - and I always wanted to see an engine that was a 'namer.'" ."
Even my inner
train spotter shivers with anticipation.
I am old enough, being an avid
train spotter in the 1940s and 50s, to remember the pride that I felt seeing the city's loco thundering through Tamworth low level.
And hopefully, as we all go train crazy, the tiresome, lazy "
train spotter" cliches will, temporarily at least, go up in a puff of smoke.
After all, I was a 1950s
train spotter. Yes, I've admitted it.
He's a railway enthusiast, as opposed to a
train spotter, and there are mentions for Birmingham, Warrington, Wigan, Preston a
He's a railway enthusiast, as opposed to a
train spotter, and there are mentions for Birmingham, Warrington, Wigan, Preston and Carnforth, scene of Celia Johnson's Brief Encounter (1945).
GREAT BRITISH RAILWAY JOURNEYS BBC2, 6.30pm Michael Portillo has fond memories of rail travel as a child, travelling by steam train to see his grandparents in Scotland and crossing the Forth Rail Bridge, but admits he was never a
train spotter. For the final leg of his journey to John O'Groats, Portillo is back in Scotland in Invergordon.
TRAIN SPOTTER: Dempsey knows his way round Sandown's notorious Railway Fences
TRAIN SPOTTER: Claire Sweeney; SQUARE LOOK: Lucy and Kacey; SMART: Ant and Dec with their girlfriends; CAMP: Graham Norton; GLITZY: Holden, Deeley, and Ellison; SCRUFFY: Vegas; DAZZLE: Corrie's Tracey Shaw; Pictures: RICHARD YOUNG/ SAM BARCROFT
"We're all labelled 'anoraks' and you have the typical image of a
train spotter but we're more sophisticated than that."
With railways in his genes, the young James was an enthusiastic
train spotter from the age of 10, founding the railway society at his school, Bryanston in Dorset.