Trainspotters are people who are fond of spotting certain types of rolling stocks, for e. x. particular types of locomotives or carriages, produced by a definite company. To reach this aim trainspotters collect all necessary information about the movement of a definite locomotive on the railway network and become familiar with all operations it performs. All locomotives seen by trainspotters are ticked off in a special data book. In some cases trainspotters use cameras as railfans do while taking pictures of trains. In modern times mobile phones, Internet mailing lists, various web-sites help trainspotters and other travelers exchange interesting information. Railbuffs are also used to maintain private databases with records. Trainspotters can use radio scanners to listen to a definite railroad frequency. Trainspotters and railfans are not the similar notions. Many of us like to read about trains or to travel on them, some of us enjoy the history of trains. At the same time there are people who like to model, to draw or to take photos of trains. It’s worth to know that some train operating companies forbid trainspotters to take photos on railway stations because of the security about terrorism.
Railway enthusiasts like to use such term as bashing. What does it mean? Bashing is a trip for railway enthusiasts, which involves train travelling and observation. Line bashing covers the greatest part of the railway network. When a person tries to cover sidings or crossovers, this kind of activity is called track bashing. In such countries as UK, Germany railfans use an excursion train, called railtour. Haulage bashing is another kind of activity, where haulage bashers ride in the cab of the locomotives they can find and at the same time tick them off in a book. Sometimes haulage bashers use rather unusual language which is called basherspeak.