Tag: steam trains

WATE and the Frankenfinder: A journey with the wide-angle Tri-Elmar and the Leica M8

Gordon Brown dusts off his Leica WATE lens and the bulky Frankenfinder to explore remote corners of Idaho and Colorado...

Train spotting: Don your anorak and get up a whiffy head of steam

Among the most esoteric hobbies known to mankind, train spotting ranks high. It often entails spending days in freezing cold, waiting for fleeting images of railway locomotives and ticking off their numbers in a little book. The aficionados of the cult are variously known affectionately as puffer nutters or anoraks. Surprisingly, they are known as “Pufferküsser” (puffer kissers) in Germany, and “foamers” in the USA — a term which nicely encapsulates the essential tad of eccentricity…