+Kouros Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 While trying to describe Geocaching to my girlfriend, she commented that it sounded a little "Trainspottery" - and I have to admit that, to a certain extent, I agree with her. What do others think? Trainspottery, or not Trainspottery? ------ O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Hamlet, II.2 252-253 Quote Link to comment
Mike Chmi Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 Hmm maybe a little clarification on Trainspotting. I think trainspotting and I immediately thing of the heroin movie. Using my great intellect I'm guessing trainspotting is attempting to see certain trains (forwhatever reason) as they go buy, so you'd drive to a site the train was suppossed to be going buy at a certain time and hey there it goes trainspotted...... am I missing something here or is that the jist of it. If so then I'd say no it's not trainspottery at all, the closest thing I'd say is just hiking, actually orienteering but that can be summed up to the really really lay people (my grandparents) as hikng as well. Quote Link to comment
Mike Chmi Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 Hmm maybe a little clarification on Trainspotting. I think trainspotting and I immediately thing of the heroin movie. Using my great intellect I'm guessing trainspotting is attempting to see certain trains (forwhatever reason) as they go buy, so you'd drive to a site the train was suppossed to be going buy at a certain time and hey there it goes trainspotted...... am I missing something here or is that the jist of it. If so then I'd say no it's not trainspottery at all, the closest thing I'd say is just hiking, actually orienteering but that can be summed up to the really really lay people (my grandparents) as hikng as well. Quote Link to comment
+pater47 Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 You know, when I found my first cache, my first thought was, "Could this be similar to trainspottery?" My second thought was, "Fool, what the heck is trainspottery?" I dunno - is this a Brit thing? Ever notice everybody is willing to give THEIR 2 cents worth but only offer a penny for YOUR thoughts? Quote Link to comment
TikimanHSA Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 It's more like hiking hide and seek than just hiking. I don't know, it's pretty hard to explain to someone who doesn't even know what a GPS does. Later, TikimanHSA (Hunter) Quote Link to comment
+Kouros Posted April 18, 2002 Author Share Posted April 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by pater47: You know, when I found my first cache, my first thought was, "Could this be similar to trainspottery?" My second thought was, "Fool, what the heck is trainspottery?" I dunno - is this a Brit thing? Trainspotting is the hobby of collecting Train numbers - either every single train, or following your odd favourite one at certain times and locations around the country. Or at just one station. Needless to say, it has a bit of a "sad" reputation. To be a bit Trainspottery is to be comparable to Trainspotting in the "sad" department. ------ O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Hamlet, II.2 252-253 Quote Link to comment
Mike Chmi Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 Yeah and no as far as hide and seek, I guess it also depends on what type of caches your looking for, the easy ones definately hide and seek, the 2 - 16 mile jobbers over rough terrain definately hiking. Explaiining I was in the paper for hide and seek to my old polish grandfather or mother who know nothing about the internet, computers, gps's, or to be honest hide and seek (all my grandfather knows is working and beer, fun isn't an option) but he is a big woods guy and walks around our acreage so that kind of made sense to him, though he had no idea why there was a news story on it. Quote Link to comment
+Glenn Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Kouros: quote:Originally posted by pater47: You know, when I found my first cache, my first thought was, "Could this be similar to trainspottery?" My second thought was, "Fool, what the heck is trainspottery?" I dunno - is this a Brit thing? Trainspotting is the hobby of collecting Train numbers - either every single train, or following your odd favourite one at certain times and locations around the country. Or at just one station. Needless to say, it has a bit of a "sad" reputation. Hamlet, II.2 252-253 Ouch, the USA is a little too large to be following trains around. - Lone Rangers Quote Link to comment
+Glenn Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Kouros: quote:Originally posted by pater47: You know, when I found my first cache, my first thought was, "Could this be similar to trainspottery?" My second thought was, "Fool, what the heck is trainspottery?" I dunno - is this a Brit thing? Trainspotting is the hobby of collecting Train numbers - either every single train, or following your odd favourite one at certain times and locations around the country. Or at just one station. Needless to say, it has a bit of a "sad" reputation. Hamlet, II.2 252-253 Ouch, the USA is a little too large to be following trains around. - Lone Rangers Quote Link to comment
Myra Mit Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 quote:Ouch, the USA is a little too large to be following trains around. If I'm not mistaken most trainspotters do so at a particular station (usually the one closest to their home) and wait for the trains to come to them. I've seen small groups of trainspotters at two different stations in California (San Clemente and Santa Barbara). Quote Link to comment
+Ozarktroutbum Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 Not that it has anything to do with this... What was the connection with trainspotting the hobby and Trainspotting the movie ?? I really enjoyed the flick but never really thought about the name till now. O.T.B. No Matter Where You Go... There You Are... Quote Link to comment
+Kouros Posted April 18, 2002 Author Share Posted April 18, 2002 quote:Originally posted by Ozarktroutbum: Not that it has anything to do with this... What was the connection with trainspotting the hobby and Trainspotting the movie ?? I really enjoyed the flick but never really thought about the name till now. Just like Trainspotting, Heroin is addictive. Guess it'd be called Geocaching now. ------ O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. Hamlet, II.2 252-253 Quote Link to comment
BassoonPilot Posted April 18, 2002 Share Posted April 18, 2002 Ah, yes. When my daughter (Team Zippy) was small, she insisted that every day we go to the nearby train station at 4:38 p.m. to see which engine number was pulling the commuter train that afternoon. She had memorized the numbers of all her favorites, and was always a bit shocked and concerned when an engine she wasn't familiar with was on the route. Of course, the engineers and conductors came to recognize her too, and always gave an extra toot on the whistle, waved, and gave her tickets and trinkets . . . so in that respect, I guess trainspotting was like geocaching! Quote Link to comment
+15Tango Posted April 19, 2002 Share Posted April 19, 2002 When the movie came out, I went to see what exactly trainspotting was--this was before I became an internet junkie, and I had to use those light green books that reference magazine articles. All I found was an article on "planespotting", an offshoot of trainspotting. Anyhow, I tried it a few times, and it didn't catch on like geocaching did. Still, I'm tempted to make a virtual cache close to where I did my trainspotting, but it might be a while--that was in Havre, Montana and I'm now in Minnesota, and even though I can look up the coords on a map, I'd still like to physically visit the site myself. Happy cachin'!!! 15T www.1800goguard.com Quote Link to comment
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