Who is trainspotter

Trainspotting came to the attention of most Americans through the film of that name directed by Danny Boyle, and based on the book by Irvine Welsh. The practice and name of trainspotting had been well established in the United Kingdom for decades prior to this, dating back to the years shortly after the Second World War. One who engages in trainspotting is a trainspotter.

Train-spotting is evidently a serious business, and following my reference to the club in North Hull, I am told by year-old R. Evans, of Hessle, that a flourishing club has been in existence locally since last December. To railway officials the 1. But to the 40 or 50 kiddies who regularly crowd into it on Saturdays its the "Train Spotters' Special. Words We're Watching talks about words we are increasingly seeing in use but that have not yet met our criteria for entry.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! I almost got the impression that while trainspotters have a—perhaps unwarranted—bad name, end of life vehicle spotters have an even worse one.

From the Hansard archive. Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3. Do not exchange comments with a trainspotter. A trainspotter typically uses a data book listing the locomotives or equipment in question, in which locomotives seen are ticked off.

From Wikipedia. It is a misconception that all railfans are trainspotters. When a trainspotter sees a train that they have not yet seen before, it is referred to in the hobby as a cop.

The word's resonances were close to those of modern terms for individuals with obsessive interests in technical minutiae, such as nerd, trainspotter or anorak. It was the result of a sick mind, and a trainspotter's mind, and a musician's mind.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of trainspotter? Browse training manual. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. The term 'trainspotter' stems from exactly that A strange affliction. These are characteristically 30 - 40 year old men who still live with their mothers and quite possibly indulge in dubious sexual practices involving them.

Gathering on station platforms in all weathers and wearing old anoraks and bobbly hats, they note the make, model and characteristics of each train that passes. Thus 'trainspotter' has come to mean any obsessed character who insists on talking about nothing but their chosen specialist subject.