In single of my much mourned (by me at least) columns for the New Statesman website I wrote that in a just world Nicholas Whittaker's Platform Souls would have complete for trainspotting what Fever Pitch did for football.The book was also a strong influence on Professor Strange when he gave his thoughts on trainspotting and autism.I have just discovered that the whole of Platform Souls is available on the web, so you can enjoy it for yourself:In December 1994 a man found guilty of stealing rare bird eggs was described by the trial as a kind of `railway spotter' - single additional step in the demonisation process and a rather menacing one. It's single thing to make fun of a man for taste trains, but to use him as a typecast for a criminal is surely dangerous.
The trouble is, people have never beyond that Michael Sams, the infamous kidnapper/murderer, was a quiet man whose hobby was trainspotting. Such things sink into the collective subconscious and stay there...
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