“Today I say goodbye to two Class 43 HSTs, my favorite train model. They go to the terminus, the station in the sky.” Eyes misty, throat knotted, Francis Bourgeois watches the blue and yellow locomotives pass, somewhere in the English countryside. A small wave of the hand and these jewels of fire British Rail, the public rail service privatized in the 1990s, spin away, towards the breakage.
The emotion of the young 21-year-old Briton reflects his boundless passion for the railway, shared with 2.6 million followers on the TikTok platform. From London to Southampton via Nottingham, “the most unlikely social media star ever” criss-crosses the United Kingdom on the lookout for passenger trains, freight trains and the finest steam locomotives still in operation. “With him, the trainspotting [‘l’observation des trains’] got cool on social media best known for their goofy dances and makeup tutorials,” notice The Times, a bit circumspect. “Le trainspotting is in fashion. Yes the trainspotting, outbids The Daily Telegraph. Not the Danny Boyle movie [1996]I’m talking about c