Train/bus spotting

[robert7111a]

As a former "train spotting anorak", (and now a railway photographer (amongst other things)), I am interested in "what turns people on". Is it simply the act of collecting numbers to complete a "set", collecting depot/garage codes, the colour scheme, type, design etc...what is it that is interesting?

 

I also hear that in order to improve social skills, Aspies should join together in a particular activity that they like (such as train/bus spotting, or whatever), but many prefer to do this in solitude. When I go out with my camera to photograph railways, I prefer to do this alone because it helps me stay focused and free from distraction. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so need to get the shot right first time especially if I want to see it in print. I'm sure many train/bus spotters are "Aspies". What really does annoy me (and I apologise for generalising here) is when people involved in the same interest get in the way without showing consideration. For example, if I am expecting to photograph a specific train of special interest (and other "spotters" are there too to see the same thing), often a shot has been spoilt because of an inconsiderate person getting excited and running to get "their shot" without realising the consequences of their actions. Is this an Aspie trait...i.e. only thinking of themselves?

 

Comments/opinions would be most welcome

[LancsLad]

Robert I am pretty fanatical about bicycles. For me it all started with my first proper bike and what it meant to me. It was a means of escape, isolation, freedom all those things. I then became interested in the bikes professional riders were using on the continent. I would pour over every photograph I could fing trying to learn everything I could about the individual components and the frame builders.

 

I think like a lot of interests like this there is a natural evolution, every year the bikes would change and there was something new to look at and ultimatly dream of owning. Once this goes on for a few years I think you cultivate your own mini history and realise you have made an investment, as such there is an obligation to continue. I still feel the same way and follow the scene avidly. Over time I have also gained knowledge from eras before my time but have resisted the temptation to buy anything of vintage yet, know if I did there might be no stopping me. Nearly 35 years on there is a collection of bikes in this building. There are two in the living room right now, one in the kitchen utility area. I think there are 7 bikes in the garage and there are a number of frames and boxes of components and wheels in the roof space from which i could build another 3 or 4. I would say not all are mine as my & year old son is getting going now racing BMX. I have kept bikes as I have grown up, and the only one I do not have is that very first one which was unfortunatly stolen.

 

You ask what is it thats interesting the answer is everything to be honest. Personally I can not decide if the internet had been a blessing or a curse as it means there is so much more stuff to find out about around the subject area. My biggest frustration is that the top cycle teams are not in this country that often and so it is difficult to get up close to the bikes in question. HD television and Eurosport is the fill in. Last week recorded on my sky box the first two big timetrials of the new season which use very specialist bikes and then spent a few hours going through the hour long coverage using freeze frame to work out what is new this season and how each rider had the bike set up. "bike spotting anorak" no way just something to do to pass the time if I am a bit bored, not sure my partner agrees though.

 

Good post. Come on guys we can't be the only ones, surely!

 

My interest has in the past developed into me designing and building my own machines, running race teams and owning a retail shop.

[A-S warrior]

i have to admit and im about to reveal a guilty pleasure, i like to fantasise about being the captain of thunderbird 3. i immagine that i indeed live on tracy island and im part if the team with my cousins and i see myself as the astronaut of the group yes im 21 and should of grown out of it along time ago. i dont even think its an a-s thing i just think that men never grow up and that we all like to immagine were our favorate childhood heros at least 3 to 4 times a week. if you dont your lying!

[robert7111a]

LancsLad

 

You are right about the escape, freedom thing. I used to be fanatical about collecting numbers which led me to become interested and knowledgable about rolling stock, how signalling systems work etc. Then when I moved to London 20 years ago, I was in a job where I was teased and taunted everyday leading to severe depression. As I was new to London then, I took an interest in the bus scene and "escaped" at the weekend doing bus trips all over London and the Home Counties partly to get to know areas and partly to collect bus numbers and the garages they worked from. I would sit on each bus generally from the start of its journey to its finish. But it was also about the types of buses then which (to me personally) were more interesting than the buses today. This interest only lasted about a year when the older buses left the scene and newer ones that I didn't like were introduced. I Now I can't stand the buses of today but I respect those that do like them.

 

I obsess about my photography hobby. Yes my main subject is railway related although there are many types of trains I don't like (but some I do). But I love photography. It's my means of escape. But I get very nervous/excited when I'm about to click the shutter because I have this constant anxiety of getting the shot right first time. It's like OCD. With a moving train for example, I only get one chance to capture it. If I fudge the shot, then that's it and I get really annoyed at myself.

 

But everyone likes a steam train, an old Routemaster bus, an old Triumph, Escort etc and I suppose part of this is pure nostalgia.

[oxgirl]

My lad is a twitcher. He's always loved learning small details about things, used to be fascinated with insects and had so many books about them that he used to digest and find out about all the different varieties and their characteristics. Now he's into birds and loves reading about all the different specifications and habits, etc. He's really good at spotting too, when we're out and he sees a bird in a tree he can identify it when, to me, they all look the same, just little brown birds, but he's very good at picking out the tiny details that make them different from each other.

 

What does amuse me, is when we go on bird spotting events. The hides are full of older men, all sitting a distance away from each other, each looking through their own binoculars and not actually interacting or speaking to each other. It's as if they are all there in isolation, not actually sharing their interest with each other most of the time, they might as well be there alone and I find the silence a bit awkward. I think, for my lad, he enjoys the peace and quiet of it, but he does also like for others to share their knowledge with him and point things out to him if they will, but often they don't.

 

~ Mel ~

[robert7111a]

Mel, I understand your point. But twitchers are glued to their binoculas because they don't want to miss a specific bird/species. Also the point of a hide is to remain inconspicuous and quiet so if birds get a hint of human noise (i.e. conversation), they will fly away. Twitchers generally save the conversation to club meetings/slide shows etc.

[Canopus]

I used to think that my grandmother was a bus enthusiast because she used to and still regularly travels by bus. She used many Leyland Nationals in the 1990s and Daimler Fleetlines in the 1980s, but she seems incapable of remembering the makes and models or even recognising them. Strange how NT minds work.

[robert7111a]

That's pretty amazing if your grandmother knew what a Leyland National looked like. Was it just the shape, the fact it was a single decker or did she have some quiet obsession that she didn't want to let on...? I grew up with Leyland Nationals and Daimler Fleetlines but didn't have a particular interest in buses then.

[Canopus]

That's pretty amazing if your grandmother knew what a Leyland National looked like.

 

She doesn't know what a Leyland National looks like unless I show her a picture of one. Neither was she aware that the buses she travelled on for years were Leyland Nationals.

[LancsLad]

I think there might be an underlying aspect to collecting information rather than objects and that is sequencing and storage in our minds. I am not sure if there is not a subconcious element in our AS brains which says you need to re route these neurological pathways and keep them lubricated, a kind of mental survival technique so practice it.

 

There are times when I might be working and my brain is not really switched on and I decide to go on the internet and have a look at bicycle sites, or look over one of my own bikes and its a bit like lighting a fire and charging up the system. I do this at times when I am depressed and in a way my hobby is like an old friend and is reasuring that this brain is still working ok. I like the feeling of getting drawn back into the information I know is in there and importantly there are not many negatives around this interest. Besides the odd crash or two most of my memories are really good ones and i think the associations provide comfort in vulnerable times.

[darkshine]

I collect anything that I'm obsessed with at the time - my biggest collections are my books and my tools - in addition I hoard things that are useless and have to battle with myself so that the house isn't filled to the ceilings (which it would be in certain rooms if I lived alone!!) so maybe a good think I don't

[Dartman]

I'm glad I found this thread - I'm a massive car fan, and I will look and stare (for a few seconds) at historic cars that I encounter. I used to go to a rally festival at Chatsworth House, and I've also seen lots of historic cars at a big motorsport show at the NEC, but for me, historic road cars win - especially famous historic cars - or historic race/rally cars.

 

I remember once seeing a 1960s Citroen DS (first car in the world with turning headlights) and feeling slightly amazed - I thought that a car that old would have been parked in a museum, but no, it was still on the road.

 

Other cars I will probably remember seeing include at least a couple of Morgans (made of wood), a Rolls-Royce (also made of wood), a 1957 Fiat 500, and, of course, the Ferrari 360 Spyder that I once sat in (and went for a ride), and the howl of the MG Metro 6R4 Group B rally car.