Train Spotters and Transvestites...is there a connection???

[BillShipton]

God I haven't seen the word 'locospotter' since I lost my Ian Allan 1961 Locospotters Annual. As I recall there were no transvestites in it.

[annamudds]

There appears to be a big connection. As a trans gendered person myself I have many friends and aquaintences in the trans community who are either train spotters or model train collectors or are the curator of a model railway museum! ITs wierd

I myself have much less strange hobbies and obsessions like covering myself in goo and gunge every so often!

[wampony]

I saw one of my railway mates today, and we were talking about our local model shop and some of the strange characters that used to go in there, there was a regular crew of odd-bods who used it as a meeting place and my mate said "do you remember the transvestite who used to go in?".
I was never in when he/she was in, but apparently it was extremely obvious that it was a man dressed in womans clothes and everyone else in the shop used to struggle to contain their laughter as "she" used to talk about "being one of the girls", and you could see his beard stubble through his make-up.
Although as the shop owner used to say, it wasn't his or anyone else's place to tell others how to live their lives, and he was a good customer and knowledgeable on the early diesel loco's, and used to spend quite a large amount of money in there so no-one was to upset him by saying anything nasty to him, or they would be thrown out of the shop and banned from going back in.
The threat of not getting cups of tea and to read the railway magazines (without buying them) made sure everyone behaved themselves.
It must be ten years since I last went into that shop as I sold most of my model railway items so I have no reason to go there any more.

It certainly looks like there is some form of connection between railway enthusiasts and cross-dressing!
To avoid any further embarrasment to myself, I will change hobbies with immediate effect- I will collect my-little-ponies in the future!!!

[Moira cd]

I enjoy dressing up as a woman, as well as having an interest in things rail, but the latter is mainly due to having past relatives in the industry going back just over 100 years, at least. Dressing as a woman started at drama classes at school when I was about 11. Only twice that I can remember I have been on a train as a female. Once years ago for Comic Relief I was a schoolgirl, and about two years ago when at a club in Glasgow as a sort of drag act for a gay friend, I left it too late to get changed in the club, and go for a train, so I walked to the station and boarded it as a woman in a short pvc skirt, fishnets and high heels etc, went to the toilet on the 334, and came out dressed as a man in a t shirt and jeans. I don't think anyone noticed!

[Richard]

God I haven't seen the word 'locospotter' since I lost my Ian Allan 1961 Locospotters Annual. As I recall there were no transvestites in it.

Most of the LMS pacifics had women's names and some of them had 'full dress' streamlining; does that count? My last Ian Allan combined edition ABC was dated 'Summer 1953'.

[Lizzie_Claymore]

God I haven't seen the word 'locospotter' since I lost my Ian Allan 1961 Locospotters Annual. As I recall there were no transvestites in it.

I wonder what shed code they might have had? 36C perhaps?

[mudskipper]

I like trains, more particularly I like steam trains, but I have never been a cross dresser - like Bill it's more a case of not having the build for it, as well as way too much hair. I passed through Doncaster station just last week and many "spotters" could be seen congregating at the end of the platforms. They all seemed to be dressed in the same uniformly gray attire, with trousers who's waists seemed to be a fair way north of the usual place, and not one cross dresser amongst them. Perhaps it was more to do with Doncaster than the spotters, but none of them looked like they possessed the glamor of any of the cross dressers that inhabit this forum.

Train spotting (or loco spotting) however has always struck me as an off sort of sport. Train spotting at stations must be like an ornithologist spotting a budgie in an old peoples home. Train spotting in the Amazon Rain Forest - now that would be a sport. Perhaps that is why spotters indulge in a bit of cross dressing, the chance of a glimpse of stocking clad thigh can only make the prospect of a days spotting more exciting.

Whilst I don't cross dress, I do spend quite a lot of time in leather. I actually used to blame that on the bikes, but one Ms Candy Custard did comment to me that a lot of sploshers were also bikers, and a lot of sploshers here are into leather. If that is the case I wonder if there are any trainspotting cross dressing bikers around who are also sploshers? If so, and you spot a Harley being ridden by a hairy bloke with custard leaking from their boots - give us a wave..

[mattbuck]

I am a trainspotter rather than locospotter, and I have never worn women's clothing.

[Hayley]

Hi

I was going to write a terribly clever essay on this but I'd rather open a bottle of wine and watch Masterchef! The jist of it was that surely what bikers, trannies and trainspotters have in common is the sort of character that makes them sufficiently passionate about their 'interest' to be prepared to go out in public regardless of what others say about them. I know lots of bikers who get pissed off with not being allowed in places cos they look 'dangerous' and trainspotters must get well fed up with all the speccy nerd jokes whilst TVs are probably the bravest of all... But cos they love what they do they are prepared to put up with the taunts. So what do they have in common? The courage of their convictions and enough self confidence to do it whatever. A big up to ALL dedicated fetishists and hobbyists, I say.

The closest I get to that level of obsession is clothing. If I like an outfit I will wear it whether it's an Armani business suit (I wish) or a rubber catsuit (more likely!). All my usual self consciousness goes out the window cos I know I like it, and that's all that matters. I can easily imagine a trainspotter getting that thrill from seeing a locomotive he's been waiting for or a TV in a frock they've been dying to be seen in.

Hayley x

PS Don't get the impression I am boasting about my self confidence, far from it! I will wear PVC in public but I won't even go to the door if my hair and make up aren't done!

[LucindaAngelina]

[quote="Claymore_wam"] Without revealing too much to identify me, I was quite heavily involved in both the model and transport preservation scene for many years and must have been to many hundreds of shows but never once noticed another CDer. However, that was two or three decades ago and it was much less likely then. Haven't been to more than a handful in the last decade so unlikely to notice. Nice to think that people are less intimidated so feel they can now go out en femme, though I never do myself.{/quote]

Are you Pete Waterman!!!!

[Richard]

Hi

I was going to write a terribly clever essay on this but I'd rather open a bottle of wine and watch Masterchef! The jist of it was that surely what bikers, trannies and trainspotters have in common is the sort of character that makes them sufficiently passionate about their 'interest' to be prepared to go out in public regardless of what others say about them. I know lots of bikers who get pissed off with not being allowed in places cos they look 'dangerous' and trainspotters must get well fed up with all the speccy nerd jokes whilst TVs are probably the bravest of all... But cos they love what they do they are prepared to put up with the taunts. So what do they have in common? The courage of their convictions and enough self confidence to do it whatever. A big up to ALL dedicated fetishists and hobbyists, I say.

The closest I get to that level of obsession is clothing. If I like an outfit I will wear it whether it's an Armani business suit (I wish) or a rubber catsuit (more likely!). All my usual self consciousness goes out the window cos I know I like it, and that's all that matters. I can easily imagine a trainspotter getting that thrill from seeing a locomotive he's been waiting for or a TV in a frock they've been dying to be seen in.

Hayley x

PS Don't get the impression I am boasting about my self confidence, far from it! I will wear PVC in public but I won't even go to the door if my hair and make up aren't done!

Well said Hayley!

I went dashing into one of the Bristol Splunches yelling "I've just seen Tornado at Temple Meads!". I think only Mike and Sammi-Jane knew what I was on about! I had switched from 'Splosh mode' into 'locospotter mode' and back in time about 50 years as soon as I had seen a big group of people at the end of the station platform, the older men all wielding cameras. Of couse I joined them and was rewarded by the sight of the brand new £6,000,000 A1 Pacific at the head of a rake of vintage carriages . Unfortunately It was one of the few occasions I had attended a meet without a camera .

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Are you Pete Waterman!!!!

LoL!!

Sadly no - I wouldn't mind his income though!

Also, as per Richard's post - "Well said, Hayley"!

[Richard]

Are you Pete Waterman!!!!

LoL!!

Sadly no - I wouldn't mind his income though!

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Shakespeare: 'Hamlet III.ii.' (well Claymore_wam is a CD). I'm with LucindaAngelina, the evidence is too strong for it to be merely a coincidence!

(Just reading a Pete Waterman model railway book! )

[Lizzie_Claymore]

Well, those at the Warrington meet yesterday can confirm that I look *nothing* like Pete W!

[mr angry]

Following on from the loco names, a loco is always referred to as "she" even if it is named after a bloke! eg Sir William A Stanier, William Shakespeare, Lord Byron etc. The last two were Britannias from memory.

PS anyone know that the LNER had a loco named "Wandering Willie"! It was a D34 I think and the name was a charachter in one of Sir Waler Scott's novels. That was their story anyway!