UK - Internet railway archive v trainspotters

[John Ashworth]

Internet railway archive could spell end of the line for Britain's trainspotters

* Martin Wainwright in Leeds
* The Guardian,
* Thursday January 10 2008

It's parky at the far end of Leeds station's platform six. There is talk of snow and Zak Gamble and Earl Cliff are having to put up with the usual mocking glances from some passersby.

For nearly 200 years men like them have been quietly going about their hobby noting down train types and numbers, and in the process providing raw material for comedians.

This has been the lot of the traditional trainspotter. But that might be about to change - thanks to the lure of a purpose built, centrally heated, wired-up railway archive which opens today 20 miles up the line at York.

"Why freeze like this, when I could be curling up in a chair in a nice, cosy computer suite?" says Gamble, an 18-year-old chef snatching a few diesel and electric numbers in his lunch break, as he reads about the £4m of gizmos for people just like him.

News is spreading through the trainspotter community of a big opportunity for number-takers and loco-snappers, but one which could also end their familiar outdoor vigils.

Almost every engine number, company livery and set of coaches ever run is available from today to study free at the Search Engine centre in York's National Railway Museum, instead of from the end of chilly platforms. Using the internet to track down pictures, timetables and design plans of rare locomotives or unusual rolling stock, the £4m research suite is set to subvert younger spotters.

"The more interactive they can make it the better," says Zak. "Maybe I'll never have to leave home."

The archive is one of the biggest collections in Britain to make everything available. Letters and reports alone stretch for nearly three miles, and specialist spotters can browse through 350,000 different tickets, in most cases handling the real thing.

"It will be a fantastic resource," says David Hinchliffe, another Leeds spotter, whose brother builds scrupulously accurate model railway layouts. "He needs to get everything right and it sounds as though this will tell him which engine used which station and when. That sort of thing matters in the railway enthusiasts' world."

The archive goes far beyond the tick list horizons of the basic trainspotter, with material including rare posters.

But Leeds spotters are sceptical about the prospect of the archive achieving what anti-terror measures and inflation in platform tickets have so far failed to do and bring spotters in from the cold.

"Getting out into the fresh air is part of it for me," says Earl Cliff, 51 and a retired NHS finance manager from Doncaster. "We're all different kinds of spotters. Some people look everything up on the internet so when they come here they know exactly what they'll be seeing, provided the trains run on time. But I like the unexpected. You turn up not knowing what will come along. It's funny how often there's nothing, and then three of what you're after arrive together."

But he plans to give Search Engine a try to look for material to add to hundreds of videos which he keeps at home but seldom if ever finds time to see.

Trainspotters were urged to join visitors to the archive by the director of the museum, Andrew Scott, who has also released hours of audio for free public use including the museum's unrivalled collection of "recorded railway sounds".

Scott offered one other temptation for Zak, Earl and friends to leave their platforms. "The suite has fabulous views of the locomotives in our Great Hall," he said.

These include the 308-tonne engine and tender given by China to Lady Thatcher, when she was prime minister, who had nowhere else to keep it.

This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday January 10 2008 on p23 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 09:40 on January 10 2008.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... .transport
* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008