Rail Enthusiast: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Foaming at the Mouth (4612464341).jpg|thumb|Just look at that Conrail paint job!]]
{{quote|''"[[Running Gag|I like trains.]]"''|'''"I Like Trains" kid''', ''[[Asdfmovie]]''}}
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Someone obsessed with trains and railways, sometimes to an unhealthy degree, [[Otaku]]-like. This is a type especially common in British and Japanese fictional works, which makes sense since both nations in real life have a high population of such enthusiasts. The United States and Germany have a lot of such enthusiasts as well, as do most other European nations, but generally with fewer depictions in popular media.
In Britain, the most popular depiction is the ''trainspotter'', whose railway obsession revolves around hunting down each and every
The second common British stereotypical character is the older, more respectable railway enthusiast. This is a common pastime of [[The Vicar]]. Such an enthusiast is likely to be active in the railway historical and preservation movement, and may be actively involved in restoring or operating historical trains. They are also likely to have a model railway built with obsessive care, and may be a photographer as well.
In Japan, the most commonly depicted form is the ''densha otaku'' (not to be confused with [[Densha Otoko]]), also known as ''tetsuota'' (''tetsu'' is Japanese for "iron", and railroads in several languages are known as "iron roads": ''chemin de fer'' in French, ''Eisenbahn'' in German, ''sikkat hadid'' in Arabic,''железная дорога'' in Russian, and ''tetsudo'' in the aforementioned Japanese
In the United States, most media depictions of the ''railfan'' (sometimes also called a "trainspotter" on the East Coast, or [[Canis Latinicus|"ferroequinologist"]] for "one who studies iron horses") involve model railroads, which were generally treated as a common and respectable hobby. It's more rarely depicted in recent years. Most portrayed tend to be older, and although respectable, it tends to be treated as [[Serious Business]] for humor's sake. Traditional
Where British railfans use notebooks, German railfans prefer cameras, just like Japanese ''densha otaku''. German rail photographs refer to themselves as ''Fotofuzzis'' or simply ''Fuzzis'' and don't need anoraks either because they usually refuse to take photos when the sun isn't shining, and be it a tiny little cloud blocking the sun the very second a train passes. Quality standards are high, and nitpicking on photographs is common in online communities whenever the standards of commercial photobooks aren't reached. For example, nothing is allowed to obstruct the view on the photographed vehicles, neither overhead catenary poles nor platforms nor signs nor vegetation (which ''Fuzzis'' sometimes cut down themselves). The common rules for vehicle portraits (45-60° angle from ahead, sun from behind and not too high, and so forth) have been used so often that some peope don't do portraits anymore because it's boring. Newer rolling stock and newer liveries are loathed by older railfans, especially those who have seen regular steam traffic in the West before 1977 and still put films in their semi-automatic SLRs, and preferred prey of younger railfans who hardly know anything older and go out with a compact camera or even their phone as their camera. While British railfans wait and see what comes, German railfans love to track down particular vehicles, especially locomotives with advertising on them, using sightings and leaked schedules and [[Berserk Button|go ballistic]] when the expected material doesn't show up at the expected time.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Kotetsu Segawa from ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': being a good-looking and stylish young man, he is a stealth rail otaku, until he pulls out a giant camera ...
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* Yuichi Yamanoguchi is a troubled boy who gets turned into [[Monster of the Week|EI-04]] in ''[[GaoGaiGar]]''.
* Touko in the ''[[Mariasama ga Miteru]] 4th'' specials; the normal [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] scenes with Yumi turn into Crowning Moments of Funny.
* Giroro of ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' has this as one of his quirks in the anime. One of the [[Whole-Episode Flashback|tadpole episodes]] touched on this during a plot where the [[Power Trio]] went treasure hunting: he revealed he had a special pass for the galactic trains, which they used to go exploring off-planet. A later episode had them becoming train conductors as part of one of their schemes, to his poorly hidden
* ''[[Kuragehime]]'' has a variation: Banba, the short girl with a [[Funny Afro]] adores street cars.
* Suzuki, one of [[Those Two Guys]] in ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]'', would rather take photos of rolling stock than of pretty co-eds.
* Chitan, the resident [[Butt Monkey]] in [[Katteni Kaizo]]
* Cilan in the [[Pokémon]] ''Best Wishes'' series is this trope 100%. And that's only one of his interests.
* Kiichi Funabashi of ''[[Digimon Xros Wars:
* Given the series' name, it should be obvious that ''[[Rail Wars!]]'' has a few:
** Takayama applied for the OJT program in order to become a train operator. He has a permanent track for model railroad trains in his room at home, complete with a full basic operator's setup.
** Sasshou can identify trains by their sound.
** Prince Bernina (from Episodes 10-11) invites Takayama to be on a [[First-Name Basis]] because they're both rail enthusiasts.
** Out-of-universe, the entire series is [[Fan Service]] for [[Real Life]] Rail Enthusiasts.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'' was created by an [[The Vicar|English Vicar]], the Rev. W. Awdry, showing that that stereotype can be [[Truth in Television]].
**
*** And the occasional characters of the Fat Clergyman and the Thin Clergyman are [[Word of God|confirmed]] as Boston and Awdry [[Author Avatar|Author Avatars]].
* One of the ''[[Discworld]]'' books discusses {{
** ''[[
** ''[[Raising Steam]]'', the last of the non-YA ''Discworld'' books, is about the Disc's first train and steam engine. Sure enough, once the permanent way has been set down, somebody in an anorak is there to spot the only train in existence as it goes by. [[Chekhov's Gun|This becomes a plot point later in the book.]]
* One of the central characters in the fantasy novel "Palimpsest" by [[Catherynne M.
* The title of ''[[Trainspotting]]'' comes from a chapter in the novel called "Trainspotting at Leith Central Station". The joke is that the station is long-closed and derelict, so trainspotting there is an utterly pointless, dull and squalid experience, like most things the characters do.
* Watson from the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories is occasionally noted to have a minor obsession with the rail system, including having memorized the London area schedules.
* ''[[Tunnel Vision]]'' by Keith Lowe has a
* In ''[[Notes From a Small Island]]'', Bill Bryson recounts being stuck sitting by a very chatty, very obsessive rail enthusiast on a train journey through Wales.
* In Sean McMullen's [[Greatwinter Trilogy]], 40th Century Australian civilization relies on wind- and human-powered trains for long-distance freight and passenger transport. Accordingly, there is a social club of trainspotters, some of whom harbor greater loyalty to the rails than they do their ostensible rulers.
* In ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]] - [[The Last Battle]]'', Edmund is described as “the sort of person who knows about trains.”
== [[Live
* Gomez Addams from ''[[The Addams Family]]'' has an extensive model train layout in both the TV show and the movie adaptations, on which he likes to cause crashes and other disasters.
* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' did a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTVDOx35FNg sketch] parodying all the rubbish about railway timetables. [[Michael Palin]], who plays the enthusiast, titled his very first travelogue program "Confessions of a Trainspotter", riding from London to Kyle of Lochalsh, and now has a Virgin trainset named after him.
** parodied by himself during his ''[[Journey Through The New Europe]]'' series, in a sequence involving a logging railway in some remote corner of the Balkans (
* In one episode of ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'', [[The Vicar]] refuses to talk to the protagonists because he's too busy... playing with his model railway.
** In another episode, Foggy is revealed to be one of these.
* In the ''[[Yes Prime Minister]]'' episode "The Bishop's Gambit", the candidate Hacker eventually appoints is said to be interested only in Islam and steam engines.
* Sheldon on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' is one of these. In an episode where Sheldon abruptly decides to move out (because he can't figure out any other way to keep a secret from Leonard) Howard and Raj list off reasons why Sheldon would move out. Raj very seriously asks "Did you make fun of trains?"
** In the same episode, Raj attempts to dissuade Sheldon from moving in with him by announcing: "I hate trains."
** In another episode the four of them take a trip to San Francisco by train.
{{quote|
'''Sheldon''': Don't say it like that, Leonard. Say it like (excited) "We're taking the train!" }}
** In another episode, Sheldon states that he always tells people if they only have one day in LA, they should make it a "train day", after which he proceeds to describe an itinerary that includes eating at ''two'' different train cars turned into hotdog stands. Doesn't sound like your cup of tea? Then I guess you just hate fun.
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* Toby and Dwight in [[The Office]] (USA) share a moment of Rail Enthusiasm while they were staking out Darryl's house to see if he was defrauding the company for workman's comp, listening to a train as it passed by, this being one of the few insights into Toby's hobbies or personal interests.
* Ben Wyatt from [[Parks and Recreation]] is a model train enthusiast according to an exchange with Jean-Ralphio.
{{quote|
'''Ben''': I don't know you jumped straight to model trains...I mean...it's accurate. }}
* One episode of ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' had a [[Rain Man]] type immortal whose fixation was on trains. He kept quoting train facts during most of the ep.
* Ernie Dell, the [[Red Herring]] of the Miniature Killer arc on ''[[CSI]]'' (see 'Loco Motives')
== New Media ==▼
* The F40PH locomotive, depicted in the page image, is a subject of [[Memetic Mutation]]. For some odd reason,<ref>weekly posting of trains have replaced weekly posting of furry artwork on 4chan</ref>
* Rail Enthusiasm is so prevalent on the internet, that [[Image Board
* There's even a whole [[Image Board]] dedicated to trainspotting called 1chan.net. They feel very strongly about the political aspects of rail infrastructure.▼
* Australian [[Something Awful]] Goon "Maximum Sexy Pigeon" created almost a dozen realistic pixel art train cars for the [http://goontrain.derekmccrone.com/ Goon Train] art project. There were other train fans (all Australian, oddly enough) in that thread, but none as passionate as Mr. Pigeon.▼
* The "I Like Trains" kid from the ''[[Asdfmovie]]'' series.▼
== [[Radio]] ==
* BBC Radio sometime in the 90s had a half-hour comic monologue called "Anorak of Fire". The narrator is a trainspotter who's so obsessed with trains that he misinterprets everything else he sees and hears. At one point in his narration he describes seeing a train carrying nuclear waste through the middle of town, but all he's excited about is the fact that it's hauled by a rare type of locomotive.
** This was adapted and expanded into a TV movie/drama in 1998 for BBC 2.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Reverend Lovejoy loves, finds joy in, model trains. They have a tendency to get into terrible accidents.▼
{{quote| '''Reverend Lovejoy''': God, why do you hate my trains?}}▼
* ''[[King of the Hill]]'': Ted Wasonasong is shown playing with a model train in one episode.▼
* The [[Classic Disney Short]] ''Out of Scale'' has [[Donald Duck]] building a very elaborate model train set in his backyard. [[Hilarity Ensues]] when he removes Chip n' Dale's tree because it's out of scale with the rest of the set.▼
** In a related note, many of the Disney artists (including Walt himself) were [[Rail Enthusiast|Rail Enthusiasts]], and had model trains in their own yards. Some even had full-scale locomotives!▼
* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'', a series about trains, probably has a few examples within the cast but might well have been the starting point for a lot of railfans. For that matter, its popularity with autistic and Asperger's children overlaps, with some social workers noting that a lot of rail enthusiasts are also autistic or have Asperger's.▼
* The kid in [[Max and Dave Fleischer|Play Safe]], leading to [[Nightmare Fuel]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUgyWhKlH78 when he gets a little to close to his beloved trains].▼
* Mr. Bernard in [[The Rescuers]] covers his behind by invoking this trope, when Ms. Bianca accuses him of being too cowardly to travel by air. ▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
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*** Also Cole (Kimaroki), whose name refers to a [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AD%E3%82%AD%E7%B7%A8%E6%88%90 specific arrangement of locomotives and specialized railcars] used in the past to clear snow off the tracks.
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' gives the fandom a passing nod in the description for the [[Item Crafting|yak anorak]]:
{{quote|
* In Lilly's route of [[Katawa Shoujo]], she and Hanako express their preference for old trains when going to Hokkaido.
▲== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Reverend Lovejoy loves, finds joy in, model trains. They have a tendency to get into terrible accidents.
▲* ''[[King of the Hill]]'': Ted Wasonasong is shown playing with a model train in one episode.
▲* The [[Classic Disney Short]] ''Out of Scale'' has [[Donald Duck]] building a very elaborate model train set in his backyard. [[Hilarity Ensues]] when he removes Chip n' Dale's tree because it's out of scale with the rest of the set.
▲** In a related note, many of the Disney artists (including Walt himself) were
▲* ''[[Thomas the Tank Engine]]'', a series about trains, probably has a few examples within the cast but might well have been the starting point for a lot of railfans. For that matter, its popularity with autistic and Asperger's children overlaps, with some social workers noting that a lot of rail enthusiasts are also autistic or have Asperger's.
▲* The kid in [[Max and Dave Fleischer|''Play Safe'']], leading to [[Nightmare Fuel]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUgyWhKlH78 when he gets a little to close to his beloved trains].
▲* Mr. Bernard in ''[[The Rescuers]]'' covers his behind by invoking this trope, when Ms. Bianca accuses him of being too cowardly to travel by air.
----
▲== New Media ==
▲* The F40PH locomotive, depicted in the page image, is a subject of [[Memetic Mutation]]. For some odd reason<ref>weekly posting of trains have replaced weekly posting of furry artwork on 4chan</ref>, it's common to post it coupled with the phrase "[[Yiff]] in hell, [[Furry Fandom|furfags]]!" on Image Boards. Also, [[Berserk Button|don't call it a train]] in front of Rail Enthusiasts.
▲* Rail Enthusiasm is so prevalent on the internet, that [[Image Board|Image Boards]] almost always have a /n/ board, for "Transportatio'''n'''". It's not called just "trains", because they allow talking about buses, commercial jets, subways, and even bikes as well as trains. As said above, the F40PH is always popular.
▲* There's even a whole [[Image Board]] dedicated to trainspotting called 1chan.net. They feel very strongly about the political aspects of rail infrastructure.
▲* Australian [[Something Awful]] Goon "Maximum Sexy Pigeon" created almost a dozen realistic pixel art train cars for the [http://goontrain.derekmccrone.com/ Goon Train] art project. There were other train fans (all Australian, oddly enough) in that thread, but none as passionate as Mr. Pigeon.
▲* The "I Like Trains" kid from the ''[[Asdfmovie]]'' series.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Railroad Index]]
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[[Category:Anime Fan Speak]]
[[Category:Acceptable Hobby Targets]]
[[Category:
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