List of railfans

This is a list of notable railfans, ordered alphabetically by surname or by first name in the case of royalty:

• Robert Adley, British politician
• Peter Alexander, Austrian Actor and singer
• Robert Allbritton, American newspaper and TV stations owner^[1][2]
• Cecil J. Allen, British author of numerous railway books.
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Founder of the Republic of Turkey.
• The Rev. W. Awdry, British clergyman and author of The Railway Series; creator of Thomas the Tank Engine
• Lucius Beebe, American journalist, author, photographer and historian.
• Sir John Betjeman, British poet, writer and broadcaster.
• Tim Berners-Lee, British scientist and World Wide Web pioneer.^[3]
• Kurt Biedenkopf, German Politician (former prime ministry of Saxony)
• Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States.^[4]
• Boris III, King of Bulgaria.
• Joe Brown, British singer. Also the narrator of several British Transport Films of the 1960s.
• Johnny Cash, American singer and songwriter.^[5]
• Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter.
• Oz Clarke, British wine writer, broadcaster and actor
• Charles Clegg, American author, photographer and historian.
• Regis Cordic, American radio personality and actor.^[6]
• Kevin Costner, American actor. Co-founder of Dunrail Inc., a South Dakota Railroad Corporation.
• Dr. Demento, American radio personality.^[7]
• Bruce Dickinson, British singer, airline pilot, fencer and songwriter.
• Walt Disney, American film producer, animator and entrepreneur.
• Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer.
• Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Holy See and former Deputy Prime Minister.
• Stan Fischler, American sports historian and broadcaster.
• Paul Flaherty, American computer scientist.
• Frederick IX, King of Denmark.^[8]
• Leopold Gratz, Austrian politician.
• John Gretton, 2nd Baron Gretton, British peer and Member of Parliament. Creator of the Stapleford Miniature Railway.
• Michael Gross, American actor.
• Murry Hammond, American musician.^[9][10]
• Arthur Honegger, Swiss composer.
• Ibrahim Ismail of Johor, the current Sultan of Johor,Malaysia. He is also known for his hobby of driving Blue Tiger locomotive on some occasions.^[11]
• Simon Jenkins, British journalist.^[12]

Ollie Johnston with his backyard railroad.

• David Jenkinson, historian and modeller mainly LMS
• Ollie Johnston, American animator
• Buster Keaton, American actor and film director.
• Ward Kimball, American animator.
• Shigeru Kishida, Japanese musician.
• Dionysius Lardner, Irish scientific writer.
• John Lasseter, American animator.^[13]
• Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and novelist.
• O. Winston Link, American photographer.
• Eric Lomax, a British Army Officer and former POW who was involved in Burma Railway construction, who later wrote his ordieal in his book The Railway Man.
• Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
• James May, British Journalist and TV Presenter
• James G. Martin, American scientist and politician.
• Sir William McAlpine, British engineer. Former owner of Flying Scotsman.
• Scott McGregor, Australian actor and television presenter.
• Vyacheslav Molotov, former Soviet politician, foreign minister
• Joel Monaghan, Australian rugby player.
• Kazuyoshi Morita, Japanese comedian.^[14]
• O. S. Nock, British engineer and author.
• Nicholas Owen, British journalist.
• Michael Palin, British comedian, actor and television presenter.
• Mandy Patinkin, actor.^[15]
• Alan Pegler, British industrialist. Former owner of Flying Scotsman.
• Otto Perry, American photographer.
• Michael Portillo, former British politician, and television presenter. Notable for presenting Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys.
• Harold Reid, American writer, photographer and historian.
• Clive Robertson, Australian journalist.
• Hans Rosenthal, German entertainer.
• David Shepherd, British artist. Owns several steam locomotives.
• William James Sidis, Writer.
• Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer.
• Bruce Springsteen, American Singer/songwriter. Lyrics feature trains mentioned prominently,as do several of his music videos. Also owned a Lionel train set as a child, and spotted riding New Jersey Transit trains numerous times in the early 1990s with his son Sam.^[16][17]
• Richard Steinheimer, American photographer.
• Rod Stewart, British rock star.^[2][18]
• Richard Stilgoe, British songwriter, lyricist and musician. Wrote the lyrics for the rock musical Starlight Express.
• Ernst Streeruwitz, Austrian politician, former Austrian federal chancellor
• Bob Symes, British television presenter and producer.
• Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States.^[19]
• Hyakken Uchida, Japanese author and academic.
• Eberhard Waechter, Austrian singer.
• Vernon A. Walters, United States Army officer and diplomat.^[8]
• Pete Waterman, British songwriter and record producer. Owner of a commercial rolling stock leasing company.
• Timothy West. British Actor
• Rogers E. M. Whitaker, American columnist. Wrote under the pen name of E. M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff.
• Neil Young, rock musician and famed railway modeller.
• Count Louis Zborowski, Polish-American automobile engineer and racing driver.
• Axel Zwingenberger, German jazz pianist.
• Isaac C. Kidd, Jr., Admiral in the United States Navy, carried a small model train layout in a suitcase whenever he went to sea^[20]

Fictional Railfans

• The Eighth Doctor, From Doctor Who, was accused of being a train spotter, complete with a spotters notebook, by his companion in S02E05 of the Audio Book Series.
• Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory has stated a few times he likes trains.

References

1. "Swiss Gotthard Line". Retrieved 2011-03-02.
2. See also: Model Railroder Magazine, issue December 2007
3. "Answers for young people - Tim Berners-Lee". World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
4. Described by Barack Obama as "America's number one rail fan". "Obama feels the need for speed". Wall Street Journal. 2009-04-16.
5. "Discover Madison and Amqui Station". Retrieved 2007-03-14.
6. "The Online Internet Site for Information on Dr. Demento music, songs, lyrics and chat.". Retrieved 2007-03-14.
7. "A Legend In Our Own Time". Archived from the original on 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
8. Isaacs, Victor (August 2005), "More famous timetable collectors" (PDF), The Times: a journal of transport timetable history and analysis: 7.
9. "The Old 97's ride new track". Retrieved 2007-03-14.
10. Crandall, Bill (2001-04-05). "The Old 97's Ride On". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
11. http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1362915
12. Jenkins, Simon (2007-02-28). "The turbo-Thatcherites can't see the limits of privatisation". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-03-14..
13. Omarzu, Tim (2006-11-23). "Lasseter's locomotive". Sonoma Valley Sun. Retrieved 2007-03-15..
14. See Quruli.
15. Mandy Patinkin - Miscellany
16. http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20842
17. http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2827503
18. "search suggested by Google". Retrieved 2011-03-02.
19. "Train car Obama said to be using has long presidential pedigree". Baltimore Sun. 2009-01-16. Harry S. Truman was another rail fan president, who often liked to climb into the locomotive cab and hold the throttle, pull the whistle cord for grade crossings, all the while keeping the speedometer at a steady 80 mph.
20. http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=11371&start=15

See also

• List of rail transport modellers