Where to start?

[deltic1989]

You know, I have been traveling on trains regularly all my life, and have been interested for about as long, but i have never given any thought to 'clearing' classes.
I'm pretty sure that if I had done I would have at least 153, and 91 in the bag by now maybe even 158. I shall have to start paying more attention and making notes.
I have however taken to 'bagging' stations. That can be interesting at an intermediate with a low dwell time.
(NB: For those not familiar with the practice of 'bagging' stations. It involves Having your photo taken next to the station sign. To prove you have been there.)

 

[wintonian]

Thinking about rail mags my local library (Winchester) gets Rail & Modern Railways, to list a few (plus back editions) which saves me having to go buy them, saving a good few quid. But then that's probably because it houses the Hampshire railway collection, with lots of books and DVD's, mainly steam but a good few more modern ones with C2C and Connex DVD's being the most up-to date I can think off.

In other words depending if you live near a good old railway town they might have stuff like this in the library.

The non-reference books are probably available for inter-library loans, the mags unfortunately I have to read in situ.

 

[Chapeltom]

I wouldn't say I'm an enthauiast as such but more fairly interested. As I do travel quite a bit it became useful to learn tips with regards to ticketing and when I started heading to new places, doing a new bit of track was interesting me. I know where to go on my phone if my train is delayed and can usually explain to any passengers why its most probably late.

 

[Strat-tastic]

This is certainly a cheaper interest than my other, playing guitar. I could bore people to death about various tunings that I found interesting. Swings and roundabouts ennit

Don't let me stop you

I always thought a good DVD would be 'Class 40 Overhaul - From Wreck to Trek' in 4 hour-long episodes. Fascinating, Captain

 

[L&Y Robert]

Never thought of my hobby as being the slightest bit strange. Reading this thread makes me wonder if railway enthusiasm is some sort of code word for a weird deviant and corrupt pastime from the twilight world!

Whenever I have a look at railways on U-tube, in the "You might also like" list I get a sprinkling of, shall we say "Specialisms in another direction"? It's as if, somewhere in the conciousness of the great 'Out There', it has been decided that Railway Enthusiasts are also wierd, deviant and possibly sexually deprived souls. Does it work the other way round, I wonder? - on the lines of "This chap's been looking at a lot of porn lately, lets re-direct him to a few steam engines, shall we?"

 

[Eng274]

I was interested in the railway (specifically rolling stock) from a young age. It deserted me, or rather I left it to rot in the metaphorical sidings, throughout my teens. In mid 2010 it came back with a vengeance, hence I joined these forums, reading up more on what the industry was doing, and started applying for railway jobs in my final year of university.

Lo and behold, I was successful. One of my childhood interests is now my career!

I am proud to work for the industry, however I do not class myself a spotter; like others before me I've no interest in rolling stock bingo. Being an 'insider' does make it slightly more acceptable to know plenty without being labelled a spotter.

Also, can this railmiles thing be done retrospectively? I've covered a decent mileage this year so far, between commuting and trips away, although I don't know anything about the head codes from each trip or how to find them.

 

[Starmill]

For me, its not a secret per se, but I don't advertise the fact that I take an interest. I rarely act in any way which could differentiate me from 'ordinary' passengers, even when bashing. Nor do I bring up the subject of trains - my friends picked it up slowly, by virtue of the fact that I would always know the answers when people were discussing how to get to places/how long it takes ect.

Actually, much of that has gone out of the window since I've been on a meet on here! Oh well!

Oh yeah, and my Facebook profile is now full of stuff about trains, where about a month ago it wasn't - I much prefer it this way, but I can't say nobody has noticed!

As for my geography, I used to be far more interested in roads than railways, and I think that actually helped me more. Nevertheless, one cannot get 'out there' and enjoy roads in quite the same way! It still helps though, for example, if there's somewhere quite small and down south, I probably won't know where it is, but if there is a station of a similar name, I'll likely get that!

I can't help but have a little giggle at this thread. Some of the posts sound as if we are professing our love for some strange or objectionable type of pornography .

Oh God! Hahahah!

 

[telstarbox]

Also, can this railmiles thing be done retrospectively? I've covered a decent mileage this year so far, between commuting and trips away, although I don't know anything about the head codes from each trip or how to find them.

Yes it can although it might take a while to put in a lot of trips! All the fields including the headcodes are optional - I don't put in headcodes or unit numbers for my trips, just the class e.g. '158xxx'.

If you do want to add headcodes, use OpenTrainTimes in 'Advanced' mode.

 

[ScottMathew]

Oh yeah, and my Facebook profile is now full of stuff about trains, where about a month ago it wasn't - I much prefer it this way, but I can't say nobody has noticed![/QUOTE]

^ This is exactly the same as me.

 

[pjnathanail]

Welcome PhilipF, you've come to the right place!



I treated myself to a boxed set of four DVDs plus a magazine, entitled Beeching's Legacy, on sale in WHSmiths today for £9.99. Looking forward to watching/reading them, but we haven't got our DVD player set up at the moment so it may not be immediately. Wondered if anyone else has bought this set, and what they thought of it?

I got them for Christmas, the magazine is really interesting
I haven't watched the DVDs yet, but I think they'll be good too

 

[MacRae13]

I got them for Christmas, the magazine is really interesting
I haven't watched the DVDs yet, but I think they'll be good too

I just bought them at the weekend and watched the first three so far - they're very good, at least I think so.

Seen this today. Was tempted. Anybody got that one??