Railfan

In the United Kingdom, rail enthusiasts are often called trainspotters or anoraks. The term gricer has been used in the UK since at least 1969 and is said to have been current in 1938 amongst members of the Manchester Locomotive Society, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. There has been speculation that the term derives from "grouser", one who collects dead grouse after a shoot, but other etymologies have also been suggested.[3]

In Australia, they are sometimes referred to as "gunzels".[4][5]

Numerous terms exist for rail enthusiasts in Japan, including Toritetsu for fans of photographing and/or filming trains, Nori-tetsu (people who enjoy travelling by train) and Eki-tetsu (enthusiasts of train station architecture).[6]

In the United States, they can be referred to pejoratively as "foamers".[7][8] There is a dispute over the origin of this term. Some cite the extensive use of styrofoam to create scenery and landscaping in model railroad building, while others trace its origins to the related term "Foamite" (which stands for "Far Out and Mentally Incompetent Train Enthusiast") or claim it refers to "the notion of foaming-at-the-mouth craziness".[9]

"Ferroequinologist" derives from the use of "Iron horse" as a nickname for early steam locomotives.

Bill Nye looks over the model railroad display at the Pasadena, California model train club

The hobby extends to all aspects of rail transport systems. Railfans may have one or more particular concentrations of interest, such as:

• Railway locomotives and rolling stock
• Still-used or disused railroad lines, bridges, tunnels, stations, signal boxes and other infrastructure
• Subways and other local rail transit systems
• Railway history
• Railway photography
• Railway books and magazines
• Railtours
• Railway signalling
• Playing train simulators
• Railway modelling, both physical and virtual model railroading, toy train collecting, live steam and outdoor miniature railways, and model engineering.
• Collection of railway artifacts, in particular: tickets, timetables, railway paper, locomotive whistles, number plates, builders' plates, builder's photos, badges, uniforms, railway crockery and other railwayana. Many items, such as timetables and railway paper (i.e. internal railway documents), are collected for study and not just as collectibles.
• Railway art or architecture
• Railway operations, economics or commerce
• Railway preservation/restoration
• Level junction. This is where the railfan can also be interested in the railroad or "grade" crossing signals.
• Monitoring railroad radio communications with a radio scanner.

The scope of the subject is so large that fans may additionally concentrate their interest on a particular country, town, railway company, field of operations or era in history – or a combination of any of the above.

Railway photography

Railfans taking train photos at the Japan Railways Group (JR) Tokyo train center

Train photography is a common activity of railfans. Most railfans do their photographing from public property, unless they have permission to use a specific private property owner's land. Occasionally, they run into problems with law enforcement, especially due to post 9/11 security concerns, because they are sometimes viewed as suspicious. In 2004, for example, the New York City Subway attempted to institute a photo ban, which was met with fierce opposition and ultimately scrapped.[10] In sharp contrast, the Port Authority Trans–Hudson (PATH) successfully implemented a photo ban that is still in effect (although it predated the 11 September attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing); it has led to confiscations and arrests on the PATH system.[11]

• In the United Kingdom, photography is allowed at all stations on the National Rail network.[12] Transport for London, however, does not allow photography without permission and a permit issued by the TfL Film Office. However, photography for personal use, without ancillary equipment is allowed without a permit.[13] The Tyne and Wear Metro prohibits all photography without written permission from Nexus, the system's operators. As of 2015, it is the only system in the UK with such a policy.[14]
• In Singapore, photography and filming is permitted in all MRT stations for non-commercial purposes during weekdays between 10am and 4pm.[15]
• The Spanish RENFE railroad company used to ask for a permit, but since 2018 it is not needed.[16]
• In Greece, railway photography is permitted on all networks[17]
• In Russia, railway photography is permitted on all networks[18]
• In Italy, the Royal Decree n°1161 enacted on 11 July 1941, concerning "military secrets", prohibited all and any photographs and video recordings in and around a number of civilian and military installations, including public railways. Railway photography was largely tolerated by tacit agreement, but could be prosecuted as a felony. The law was repealed by Legislative Decree n°66 enacted on 15 March 2010.[19][20]
• In Germany, Deutsche Bahn allows non-commercial photography as long as no additional equipment such as tripods are used.[21]
• In Indonesia, Kereta Api Indonesia allows photography on a train station and inside the train as long is for private use, on a public area and without ancillary equipment such as tripod and drones. Such equipment must have additional permission from the station master or operating divisions' public relations.[22]

Railfans on a 1939 camera excursion train in the U.S. state of Ohio

Railfans in the United States have been asked to keep railroad areas safer by reporting crimes and suspicious activity.[31] In the United Kingdom the British Transport Police have asked trainspotters to report any unusual behaviour and activities at stations.[32]

In the United States, concerns about terrorism have led to situations where railfans are followed or confronted by local law enforcement or transit police.[33][34] This has also led to situations where certain transportation agencies have implemented photography bans systemwide.

A railfan was a factor in the 2008 Chatsworth train collision, as the driver responsible for the accident had been distracted by texting the railfan while in charge of his train, eventually causing it to pass a signal at danger and crash into an oncoming Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 and injuring 135 others.[35]

The BNSF railway instituted the "Citizens for Rail Security"[36] (CRS) program for the general public to report suspicious activities on their railways. Obtaining this card was common for railfans and is a derivative of the BNSF "On Guard" program for employees. However, this card does not recognize members as employees or contractors, asks them to keep off railway property, and is no longer obtainable. Amtrak offers a similar program, "Partners for Amtrak Safety and Security" (PASS).[37]

In Japan, toritetsu have been frequently criticised for their behaviour when photographing trains, including incidents of vandalism and trespassing into restricted areas to set up cameras, destruction of lineside property and plants to clear a view of the track, stealing goods to sell on to fund expensive cameras,[38] theft of railway equipment, being rude towards station staff and train drivers,[39] physical assault,[40] and attempting to intimidate passengers and road users for inadvertently interfering with their activities.[41]

Network Rail, the British rail infrastructure owner and station operator, has produced guidelines for the behaviour and responsibilities of railway enthusiasts at its stations.[42] In May 2010, the dangers of acting carelessly in the vicinity of an active railway were highlighted after an enthusiast, standing immediately next to a double track line photographing the Oliver Cromwell, failed to notice a Turbostar express train approaching at ~70 mph (112 km/h) on the nearer track in the other direction, and came within inches of being struck by it.[43][44]

• Anorak (slang)

• List of railroad-related periodicals
• Rail terminology
• Railway enthusiasts societies in the United Kingdom
• Rail transport modelling
• RR (2007 railfan film by James Benning)
• Sensible Train Spotting, the world's first computer train spotting simulator
• Train whistle
• Tracks Ahead

• Kisor, Henry (1994). Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America. Holbrook, Massachusetts: Adams Publishing. ISBN 1-55850-477-X.
• Heritage Railway. No. 122. March–April 2009. {{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Adams, Will (2006). Trainspotting Days. Kettering: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 1-85794-267-1.
• Carter, Ian (2008). British Railway Enthusiasm. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6566-8.
• Gray, Adrian (February 1986). "Rail Enthusiast No. 1". Rail Enthusiast. No. 53. EMAP National Publications. p. 43. ISSN 0262-561X. OCLC 49957965.
• Harvey, Michael G. (2004). Forget the Anorak: what trainspotting was really like. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3402-6.
• Harvie, Christopher (1992). "The English railway enthusiast". In Diller, Hans-Jürgen (ed.). Englishness. Heidelberg: Carl Winter. pp. 107–22. ISBN 3-533-04536-6.
• Marchant, Ian (2003). Parallel lines: or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-6578-3.
• Marsden, Colin J. (2010). Rail Guide 2010. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-3457-0.
• Mathison, Phil (2006). Shed Bashing with the Beatles. Newport, Yorkshire: Dead Good Publications. ISBN 0-9546937-3-6.
• Packer, David (2003). Well Trained. Leigh: Triangle Publishing. ISBN 0-9529333-8-1.
• Whittaker, Nicholas (1995). Platform Souls: The Trainspotter as Twentieth Century Hero. London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-05981-8.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Travel for rail enthusiasts.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rail transport hobbies.

• Rail fan sites at Curlie