Platform Souls: The Trainspotter As Twentieth-Century Hero

by Nicholas Whittaker

The sight of Britannia 70004 roaring through Burton-on-Trent one summer afternoon in the mid-sixties would have provided a suitable baptism for any youngster on his first trainspotting jaunt. For Nicholas Whittaker it was the beginning of a thirty-year love affair with the railways. Platform Souls is his personal odyssey through the changing world of this most English of pursuits. 'An elegy: for the steam trains already vanishing when Whittaker's hobby began in 1964; for the short-lived diesel age which followed; for an era of near innocence . . . This theme is neatly handled, as is the appeal to the sheer romance of railways, the poetry of trains' TLS

Genres: Transport, Travel, History, Railways

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

a love letter to the railway.

[Willo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, although the final few chapters of the revised edition do not add much.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir, part love letter to the railways, Platform Souls is not so much about trains as about life, growing up and nostalgia.

It aims to do for the post war generation what C Hamilton Ellis's The Trains We Loved did for the train lovers of the early 20th century. Whittaker starts his spotting career in 1965 during the dying days of steam, as British Railways embarked on its headlong post-Beeching dash to modernisation, and charts how the railways have been a part of his life - right up to the present day in this revised edition.

It's beautifully written with prose that flows effortlessly off the page and draws you into its world with descriptions that conjure up a scene in a few well chosen words.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining, if unevenly written mixture of autobiography and apology for trainspotting. The author's passion for all things rail, especially from the pre-electric eras, suffuses the pages, and I found the tales of 'shed-bunking' the (technically illegal but widely tolerated) practice of entering depot sheds to look at and note the numbers of trains, particularly interesting. The book often misses the mark in its attempts to analyse the origins of the negative perceptions of its subject.

[Graham Rowberry]

A fascinating look at life

It revived my feelings of happiness about railways. I love trains and until 1959 l was a well travelled train spotter. In my 59 years since I always felt like the author about the railways As appropriate tre

[Ipswichblade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book from the nineties that resonates with me as an ex trainspotter

[Kevin Weedon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, this is an interesting read. I say this because trainspotters as a group tend to the nerdy and boring.

This book is a great memoir though.

[David Carty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just wanted to say would have given it 4 1/2 if possible.