A railfan, rail buff, or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast or railway buff (Australian/British English), trainspotter or anorak (British English, usually derogatory), is a person interested, recreationally, in rail transport.
Railfans of many ages can be found worldwide. Railfans often combine their interest with other hobbies, especially photography and videography, radio scanning, model railroading, studying railroad history and participating in railway station and rolling stock preservation efforts.
Railfans awaiting a special train in Belgium
The term metrophile is used by some to identify a railfan with a particular interest in metro (subway, underground) systems. The study of railways, or a general interest in them as a hobby, is sometimes jokingly known as "ferroequinology" (literally, "study of iron horses").
Photographing a "caltrain" service in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, railfans are usually called trainspotters or "anoraks". The term gricer has been used in the UK since at least 1969, and is "said to have been current in 1938 amongst members of the Manchester Locomotive Society", according to the Oxford English Dictionary. There has been speculation that the term derives from "grouser", one who collects dead grouse after a shoot, but other etymologies have also been suggested.
A rivet counter is someone obsessed with the technical details of railways (and by extension, other matters).
In Australia, they are sometimes referred to as "gunzels".
