Trainspotters from past and present featured at museum

The two – Ben and Harry Lumb, aged eight and 10, from Acomb, York – recreated numerous nostalgic pictures of schoolboy spotters sneaking into grimy engine sheds as part of preparations for a new exhibition exploring the theme of trainspotting.

The season’s big opening event is expected to appeal to a whole generation of schoolboys now grown up, with a big celebration of the hobby, featuring a headline talk from curator Bob Gwynne whose research has revealed a Victorian teenage girl was one of the earliest trainspotters.

There will also be the premiere of a filmed performance of Love Me Tender, a new poem by The Yorkshire Post columnist Ian McMillan on the trainspotting theme.

Amy Banks, exhibitions manager at the museum, said: “With our trainspotting season we want to explore the past and present of the pastime – collecting and documenting, adventure, travel and mischief, the sense of anticipation and the drama of the train arriving.”