An idea for trainspotters?

[paul1950]

It seems that most trainspotters keep their hobby to themselves, to some extent.

When I was 13-15 in the UK I was VERY keen on spotting car numbers, but I didn't want anyone to know about it. I think I started at the age of 11 or 12 and then I didn't care if anybody saw me writing down car numbers in a notebook, but when I grew older, I had to hide it somehow.

Then I got this brilliant idea!

I would buy the smallest notebooks I could find and some good quality pencils. Then I would cut the pencils into short ones, put a small notebook and a short pencil into my coat pocket and wow! I could walk along the street writing down PNF, JRH, FSD and so on in my pocket and nobody had any idea what I was doing! I even checked in a mirror, but I just looked like someone with his hands in his pockets, which is quite normal, especially in cold weather.

So if you're a train, bus, car or plane spotter and you want to keep it a secret, all you need is a notebook, a short pencil and a (longish) coat, preferably with big pockets. A bit more difficult on hot summer days, though!

I suppose it varies what trainspotters write down but if it's only the number, or the number plus time, date and location, it should be perfectly possible.

What's more, you can do it while e.g. waiting for a train at your local station, whereas if you jot down openly, you probably feel you have to travel some distance away from your local area in case someone recognises you.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

It seems that most trainspotters keep their hobby to themselves, to some extent. When I was 13-15 in the UK I was VERY keen on spotting car numbers, but I didn't want anyone to know about it. I think I started at the age of 11 or 12 and then I didn't care if anybody saw me writing down car numbers in a notebook, but when I grew older, I had to hide it somehow. Then I got this brilliant idea! I would buy the smallest notebooks I could find and some good quality pencils. Then I would cut the pencils into short ones, put a small notebook and a short pencil into my coat pocket and wow! I could walk along the street writing down PNF, JRH, FSD and so on in my pocket and nobody had any idea what I was doing! I even checked in a mirror, but I just looked like someone with his hands in his pockets, which is quite normal, especially in cold weather.

So if you're a train, bus, car or plane spotter and you want to keep it a secret, all you need is a notebook, a short pencil and a (longish) coat, preferably with big pockets. A bit more difficult on hot summer days, though!

I suppose it varies what trainspotters write down but if it's only the number, or the number plus time, date and location, it should be perfectly possible. What's more, you can do it while e.g. waiting for a train at your local station, whereas if you jot down openly, you probably feel you have to travel some distance away from your local area in case someone recognises you.

I don’t want to pour cold water on your bonfire, but these days is it not just easier to just type on one’s phone Notepad…?


As for car spotting, I think I’d take issue with someone recording my car’s number plate down.

 

[87electric]

I don’t want to pour cold water on your bonfire, but these days is it not just easier to just type on one’s phone Notepad…?


As for car spotting, I think I’d take issue with someone recording my car’s number plate down.

And those are the times we live in now, suspicious ones. I’d take the old days any time.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

And those are the times we live in now, suspicious ones. I’d take the old days any time.

Each to their own, but the OP is very clearly specifying trainspotting in a discrete and unnoticeable manner, so avoiding a pad and pencil in favour of the device most people are on pretty much all the time, seems the most discrete and unnoticeable way?

 

[StephenHunter]

I use an app myself. SpotLog. It even sets your location automatically using your phone GPS.

 

[paul1950]

Even though I no longer collect numbers, it was a very important part of my life at one stage, and I've obviously thought about a more "modern" way of doing it discretely. You can pretend to be texting someone but actually writing down numbers. However, this wouldn't work very well for me or anyone else who has to put on/take off glasses for changing from a relatively long-distance view of a number to the tiny numbers on your phone. You could use a tablet or something with bigger letters but then there would be more chance of others seeing what you were doing.

Unless someone on this forum convinces me otherwise, I still think writing in your pocket is the most discrete way.

It seems that spotters have to put up with quite a bit of harassment, and I wonder whether someone who spots openly has to travel some distance from home every time, but even then there's always the risk that someone you know could be in a passing train or at the same station and would then tell other people who know you. No chance of that if your secret is in your pocket!

 

[Sun Chariot]

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, my brother used a hand held Dictaphone (a mini tape recorder and mic) to capture all his railway numbers.
These days, you can capture audio notes on your phone. No need even to write it.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

As for car spotting, I think I’d take issue with someone recording my car’s number plate down.

Don't car spotters usually just take the area and year combination rather than the full registration?

Imagine the size of the Combined Volume for the full registrations...!!


PS No, I don't spot cars...

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I don't train spot, but even if I did, I would find it embarrassing given how people treat you. You barely have to know anything about railways before being accused of being one. Typical workplace conversation as follows:

"Why is it called Avanti 'West Coast' anyway?"

"Erm, because it runs along the west coast of Great Britain."

"Oh, ARE YOU A TRAINSPOTTER THEN?"

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I don't train spot, but even if I did, I would find it embarrassing given how people treat you. You barely have to know anything about railways before being accused of being one. Typical workplace conversation as follows:

"Why is it called Avanti 'West Coast' anyway?"

"Erm, because it runs along the west coast of Great Britain."

"Oh, ARE YOU A TRAINSPOTTER THEN?"

So true

 

[Forty29]

Yep, very true. A lady who l work with is always going on about why train drivers earn too much and driving one is easy. Telling her they have great responsibility and its not easy at all never seems to sink in .

 

[paul1950]

Don't car spotters usually just take the area and year combination rather than the full registration?

Imagine the size of the Combined Volume for the full registrations...!!

I imagine they do, if there's anyone interested in the boring new system. In the good old days (I was collecting in the early 1960s), I wrote down the letters only and ticked them off in a book called "Where's that car from?". The most exciting part (which I imagine applies to train numbers too) was completing a series, or rather "filling a gap", so if I had all the London registrations from JXK to JXY except JXN, and then one day I saw JXN - wow!

 

[ian1944]

If I saw someone apparently noting my car registration I'd wonder why, then decide they collected such and just forget it. Am I really going to stop and challenge them? No. There are so many CCTV and ANPR cameras around, I assume that most journeys are logged by "them" anyway, so a bit of amateur spotting is too trivial to bother about.

As an aside, it's noteworthy to see such a range of "local" identifiers on passing or parked vehicles. As a child I once collected registrations going by for an hour or so, and practically all were Manchester or Cheshire (this being in suburban south Manchester). Now when waiting for a bus, as a mental exercise I memorise the different initial letters of the identifiers, sorted alphabetically. Naturally most are S round here, but in ten minutes I can guarantee seeing at least twelve other ones.

 

[StripeyNick]

I don’t want to pour cold water on your bonfire, but these days is it not just easier to just type on one’s phone Notepad…?


As for car spotting, I think I’d take issue with someone recording my car’s number plate down.

I tried going down the route of noting numbers on my phone but I just can't type quickly enough and without looking at what I'm typing.....I find it much easier to use a notebook.

I couldn't give two hoots about what people think of me when I writing numbers down.....I fully embrace being a spotter! All my friends and colleagues know I'm a railway enthusiast. As for other people's opinions, well, they can have them!

 

[Spaceship323]

Why try to be discreet about what you're doing, no-one sees what you're doing anyway in my experience, they're all too busy looking at their phones to notice

 

[AlterEgo]

No idea why people are sensitive about writing number plates down. Thousands of people see yours every day on a big sign on both sides of your car. Mine is KW74 HMC.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

No idea why people are sensitive about writing number plates down. Thousands of people see yours every day on a big sign on both sides of your car. Mine is KW74 HNC.

Gosh, well each to their own

 

[birchesgreen]

If you want to try and look less suspicious, fumbling with something in your pocket does not seem to be the right way to go...

 

[paul1950]

I tried going down the route of noting numbers on my phone but I just can't type quickly enough and without looking at what I'm typing.....I find it much easier to use a notebook.

Interesting. I rarely visit the UK and the last time I saw railway enthusiasts on a platform (15-20 years ago?) they all had pens/pencils and something to write on. Does almost everyone use a device these days or are there still plenty who prefer pen and paper?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Interesting. I rarely visit the UK and the last time I saw railway enthusiasts on a platform (15-20 years ago?) they all had pens/pencils and something to write on. Does almost everyone use a device these days or are there still plenty who prefer pen and paper?

I still use use notebook and pen method...

1) I'm cloth eared so that rules out the voice recording method.
2) Any electronic method is at the mercy of battery life - you can't rely on charger sockets and powerbanks working when you need them.

 

[Sun Chariot]

2) Any electronic method is at the mercy of battery life - you can't rely on charger sockets and powerbanks working when you need them.

Re: post #7, Peter. My brother's Rail Rover travels included a healthy supply of Dictaphone batteries.

 

[43096]

I still use use notebook and pen method...

1) I'm cloth eared so that rules out the voice recording method.
2) Any electronic method is at the mercy of battery life - you can't rely on charger sockets and powerbanks working when you need them.

I use notebook (preferred type available here: https://www.125group.org.uk/product/intercity-125-notebook-and-pen/) and pen for recording haulages, although trips to work get logged on the phone. All then goes into an Access database.

Not done any spotting for decades.

 

[xotGD]

I still can't figure out how you can write anything down inside your pocket and then be able to read it afterwards.

 

[paul1950]

I still can't figure out how you can write anything down inside your pocket and then be able to read it afterwards.

Well, you could try if you're really interested. I did it for about three years and rarely found that I wasn't sure of a letter. I seem to remember that sometimes it wasn't clear if I'd written L or V, but then I would just ignore that one. A spiral notebook is best, then you can easily turn the page in your pocket. And when you write you press the notebook against your upper thigh for stability. Easy!