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Underground > Conversation >

Swapping turbans for cagouls

10:53 / 28.05.03

I was going to put this in Switchboard, but the whole thing seemed vaguely ridiculous...

There is an item on the BBC about trainspotters being banned from platforms here.

To many people, train-spotters are a joke.

To Network Rail, the company which now runs the UK's train network, they are potential terrorists.

The firm is telling train-spotters who are standing on platforms at its stations noting down names and numbers of locomotives that they must leave, or move to the station concourse.

Only those who have written to the company well in advance asking permission to take numbers or photographs will be permitted.

And I thought prosecution/persecution of people like this was limited to cultural misunderstandings over some people's passion for all things vehicular.

And what are they going to do anyway? Hijack a train? The railways are in such a state that the thing would probably leave the tracks before it got to its intended target anyway!

Sheesh.

The Natural Way

11:11 / 28.05.03

Maybe, but you can't be too careful.

I commuted for 2 years and it did cross my mind just how many people you could kill by doing a train. Esp when those bastards cancel a service during rush hour, forcing 2 trains worth into one vehicle.

12:14 / 28.05.03

If you wanted to do a train there are much better ways than standing on a platform waiting to hijack it.

Just drop a concrete block off of a railway bridge just before the train comes along - it'll jump off the tracks soon enough. Hell, you could even time it so you got a couple of commuter packed ones going in opposite directions if you studied the timetables hard enough.

So, do we restrict access to timetabling info - just in case? Of course not.

Seems like a case of overreacting to a threat that doesn't exist. Train-spotters weren't banned during the height of the IRA terror campaign, so why now?

I have visions of all these swarthy guys with beards feverishly playing Railway Tycoon as training...

The Natural Way

12:23 / 28.05.03

I think the worry is that some of these people might have a dodgy reason for hanging aound on a platform for aaages - doesn't have to have anything to do with hijacking. Part of any successful terrorist action involves scoping out a target.

12:55 / 28.05.03

do we restrict access to timetabling info - just in case? Of course not.

er, don't we? have you ever tried getting accurate times from National Rail Enquiries? It's a seething morrass of misinformation and countermisinformation, I tells ya!

13:15 / 28.05.03

Part of any successful terrorist action involves scoping out a target

In that case moving them to the concourse where they can see and record everyone's movements (guards, cleaners etc.) is waaay more dangerous, surely?

I really, really cannot see the harm in letting these people enjoy their hobby - it seems to me to be just another case of looking too hard to find a bogeyman where there is none.

13:22 / 28.05.03

Bill,

Ah, you do have a point there :-)

The Knights Templar Boogie Machine

15:48 / 28.05.03

Are we going to witness the birth of an underground trainspotter subculture? Trainspotting is the next anarchic phenomenon.Trainspotting is spotting the numerical co-ordiantes in the train time matrix the accumualtion of which results in meta-data mastery and insider knowledge of the system.
Lest ye consult Aleister Crowleys 'Qabalah of the british rail' (1943) ,currently in print on old sparrow publications, although old is still relevant today and is a great help with all your railway synchronicities and good tips to deal with all over priced food in major train station psychic attacks.
No, seriously, will we be brushing shoulders with anaoraked men with a taste for scotch eggs at the next may day protests?I think YES and i can't wait to usher in the new aeon, which leaves from Acton at 4.00 if anyones interested.
Peace Out.

22:53 / 28.05.03

I didnt know trainspotters still existed.

As for the topic title... err.. well i'd class it along with "those wacky japanese."

08:33 / 29.05.03

Gingerbop,

Maybe I was trying to be too clever with the title - I was looking for stereotypical representations of both groups - cagouls for trainspotters was easy (if a bit of an anglicism).

In retrospect maybe I should have used something less emotive. Apologies if anyone was offended. Anyway, I don't want to turn this thread into a discourse on semantics...

This whole story just struck me as plainly stupid.

Couldn't Network Rail have spoken to the authorities WRT any known incidents of terrorists hanging round on station platforms before arbitrarily deciding to stigmatise and persecute a rather soft target?

Who gives them authority to remove someone from a platform? I thought that was covered by the Transport Police (do they still exist)? What about if they were just indulging in a quick spot of spotting while waiting for a train?

If they were responding to a Govt. announcement that they had credible evidence that an attack involving a train was imminent, then maybe I could see the point for limited time. But they weren't.

I live in Brighton and regularly see model plane enthusiasts on the dyke enjoyong their hobby. It isn't too great a leap to see a co-ordinated attack of some sort using these 'harmless' planes. Do we therefore ban/regulate the use of these?

08:52 / 29.05.03

I thought this thread was gonna be about John Simpson liberating Cagoul from the casual bombers...

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:11 / 29.05.03

Don't forget those damned blousons.