I’m a small Black woman wearing a long purple puffer coat over black sequined Dr Martens boots. I don’t look like your stereotypical trainspotter, railfan or ferroequinologist – a white male in an anorak, writing in a notebook, standing at the furthest end of the platform. I do things differently. When I’m travelling on the railway, I always arrive early to take photos or films of trains on my phone. Passersby look bemused. Have they just spotted the only Black female trainspotter in Britain?
Not quite. I’ll text these images to my boys, once I’m settled on the train and they’ll text back saying “Great pics” and occasionally get very excited if I’ve videoed a rare engine.
