The first trainspotter

There is an interesting article I found on the BBC News web site about a chap called John Backhouse, who is claimed to be the world's first trainspotter. A letter that he sent to his sisters in 1825 detailing the opening of the Stockton to Darlington railway included a detailed drawing of the train and a sense of wonder at this new mechanical beast. The article goes on to say that trainspotting as we understand it today really began in the 1930s and peaked in the early 1960s. It is true from what I have read that there was a sudden and serious decline in the late 1960s as steam disappeared from the rail network in the UK - it is 40 years ago this year that the last steam trains were withdrawn by British Railways from the mainline. I am not so sure that trainspotting is still in decline, as the article suggests.

I think that the UK rail scene is certainly less popular than it was. Often when I am at meetings or see other rail enthusiasts they bemoan the lack of variety on today's railway and how it is so much more interesting on the Continent or further afield. Personally, I have never been that much interested in foreign railway systems either in Europe or America or elsewhere. The UK system is the one that I know and cherish. It has a certain aesthetic to it - we know how to make good-looking locos and units here - and it has a charm all of its own. There is I suppose something very 'British' about railways and that is what appeals to me. Foreign railways always seem too high-tech, clean and clinical; too fresh and modern, not Victorian in origin and complex like ours.

It does worry me though that there seems to be so few young people interested in our railways today and by 'young' I would say anyone under forty. At any meetings or groups I've been too, without fail, all the members are exclusively male and for the most part old enough to be my grandfather! There are of course some younger enthusiasts around but their numbers seem very small. Thus meetings are often reminiscences of the glory days of steam and how everything has changed now, remembering lines and trains that were lost long ago. Looking back is great and I get a lot of pleasure from reading about old railways and going through books which recall steam in the 1950s and 1960s. But I am most keenly interested in the present day, the modern scene. There is I think a lot of variety and much to excite and interest still. It also seems that some enthusiasts forget that the railways are not run for our benefit but for that of the passengers who use them!