Tintin Forums

Tintinologist.org Forums / The Members Lounge /

Railfanning

Captain Chester
Member
#1 · Posted: 9 Oct 2006 18:08
What exactly is Railfanning? It was listed as one of szplug's hobbies.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 10 Oct 2006 15:05
It appears to be the American equivalent of trainspotting, i.e. the hobby of watching trains and noting their serial numbers. Railfanning is a new word to me but a quick search on t'internet brings up a site dedicated to the art - https://railfanning.org/

Adding an 'ing' to words is very popular these days and has thrown up some strange and ridiculous new words (like 'studenting'*). I think it's quite fun to create your own, just to baffle people. For example:

"The weather was nice so I did a spot of tomato-ing and onioning"
or
"Whenever we go to Brussels my girlfriend likes to go trousering whereas I prefer Tintining"

Edit!
* In retrospect, studenting could be a synonym for studying and partying, so it probably does deserve to be a word.
jock123
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 10 Oct 2006 16:05
Harrock n roll
Adding an ‘ing’ to words is very popular these days and has thrown up some strange and ridiculous new words…

Ah yes, but it has done so for generations: gardening, sailing, stitching, steepling (of fingers, mainly, but by analogy to the tower)… I’m sure they all caused raised eyebrowing in their day… even partying…

It remains to be seen if tomato-ing and onioning become as popular as blackberrying (which now also means fidgeting with a hand-held time-wasting device) or even fishing; trousering is of course already an expression usually reserved for those the gutter-press find accepting bribes - I presume it is a different activity you have in mind… ;-)
tintinspartan
Member
#4 · Posted: 22 Jan 2008 02:43
[Moved from duplicate thread.]

Long time I never check this place. I went through alot these past few months.

I am now a proud member of a railway society called KTM Railway Fan Club, based in Malaysia. I'm an expert in Locomotives running with KTMB, also known as Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad. I wonder if any of us have a passion for trains.
John Sewell
Member
#5 · Posted: 22 Jan 2008 15:22
Round here we've got the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which runs from Whitby (where I live) to Pickering. As it's a very photogenic route, it gets used in quite a few TV shows and films; Heartbeat uses it a lot, and Goathland station doubles for Hogsmead in the Harry Potter films, to name but two.

I've been along the route a couple of times, and took some photos:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/JRSewell68/P7120046.jpg
Sir Nigel Gresley, one of only three remaining working A4 locomotives. I love the design of these, aesthetically! Another one, Mallard, is in the National Railway Museum in York, and still holds the record for the fastest steam engine in the World.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/JRSewell68/P7120007.jpg
Repton, the only surviving engine from the "Schools" class. This loco recently featured in Heartbeat, and my Dad (who knows about such things) said to me on the phone, "Repton wouldn't have been anywhere near Yorkshire in the 1960s!"

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/JRSewell68/P7120042.jpg
Changing trains at Grosmont. the station's been restored as it was in the 1950s.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/JRSewell68/P7120060.jpg
A BR Standard "Bongo" class at Whitby station. I can see them approaching and leaving from my home, which is above the town. Seven years ago, I also used to live near Haworth in West Yorkshire, and steam trains on the Keighley and Worth Valley line used to pass on the other side of the lane!
cigars of the beeper
Member
#6 · Posted: 22 Jan 2008 22:09
Here in New England, we have the NECR, New England Central Railroad. The tracks are only about a mile from my house. This is just a freight line. Trains come about once daily. I'll try to find some photos of NECR locomotives. I like trains, but not as much as I used to.
Tintinrulz
Member
#7 · Posted: 23 Jan 2008 06:05
Oh wow John, the Sir Nigel Gresley train looks amazing!
Is it from the 1930's (the art deco design makes it looks to be from around that period).
John Sewell
Member
#8 · Posted: 23 Jan 2008 15:29
Oh wow John, the Sir Nigel Gresley train looks amazing!
Is it from the 1930's (the art deco design makes it looks to be from around that period).


Built in 1937, one of 35 A4 class locos built between 1935 and 1938. Sir Nigel Gresley was the name of the engineer who designed them, so it's fitting that one of the few to escape the scrapyard bears his name!

As I said above, Mallard's the most famous A4, and was running until 1999. Since then, she's been a static exhibit at the National Railway Museum, as the cost of keeping her going was sadly too high. Here she is:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/JRSewell68/new%20year/mallard.jpg

Mallard's the only A4 which has her streamlined skirting over the wheels - during WWII all A4s had their skirtings removed to make maintenance easier, but only Mallard had them restored after the last engines were withdrawn from mainline service in the 1960s. Incidentally, the NRMs a great place to spend an afternoon just wandering around, and it's free entry too!
Malcolm W Jones
Member
#9 · Posted: 26 Oct 2014 18:51
Hi tintin, you forgot to credit the class 21 to me, now another person has copied it and reposted elsewhere without permission. Please correct it, regards, Malcolm W Jones.
By the way, -ing should only be added to verbs, not nouns.

Moderator Note: Sorry if proper credit was not given; please can you provide us with a link back to the original page so that we can update with that, rather than to the photo on its own.
As to the addition of -ing to verbs not nouns, that is not really supported by the evidence, is it? "Dancing", "sailing", "sewing" and "climbing" are all nouns for hobbies, all ending in "-ing", as is "train spotting" and, likewise, "railfanning".

The Tintinologist Team

Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the Forum Posting Guidelines.

Disclaimer: Tintinologist.org assumes no responsibility for any content you post to the forums/web site. Staff reserve the right to remove any submitted content which they deem in breach of Tintinologist.org's Terms of Use. If you spot anything on Tintinologist.org that you think is inappropriate, please alert the moderation team. Sometimes things slip through, but we will always act swiftly to remove unauthorised material.

Reply

 Forgot password
Please log in to post. No account? Create one!