List of notable railfans

This is a list of notable railfans, ordered alphabetically by surname or by first name in the case of royalty:

• Robert Adley, British politician
• Peter Alexander, Austrian Actor and singer
• Robert Allbritton, American newspaper and TV stations owner^[1][2]
• Cecil J. Allen, British author of numerous railway books.
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Founder of the Republic of Turkey.
• The Rev. W. Awdry, British clergyman and author of The Railway Series; creator of Thomas the Tank Engine
• Lucius Beebe, American journalist, author, photographer and historian.
• Sir John Betjeman, British poet, writer and broadcaster.
• Tim Berners-Lee, British scientist and World Wide Web pioneer.^[3]
• Kurt Biedenkopf, German Politician (former prime ministry of Saxony)
• Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States.^[4]
• Boris III, King of Bulgaria.
• Joe Brown, British singer. Also the narrator of several British Transport Films of the 1960s.
• Johnny Cash, American singer and songwriter.^[5]
• Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter.
• Oz Clarke, British wine writer, broadcaster and actor
• Charles Clegg, American author, photographer and historian.
• Regis Cordic, American radio personality and actor.^[6]
• Kevin Costner, American actor. Co-founder of Dunrail Inc., a South Dakota Railroad Corporation.
• Dr. Demento, American radio personality.^[7]
• Bruce Dickinson, British singer, airline pilot, fencer and songwriter.
• Walt Disney, American film producer, animator and entrepreneur.
• Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer.
• Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Holy See and former Deputy Prime Minister.
• Stan Fischler, American sports historian and broadcaster.
• Paul Flaherty, American computer scientist.
• Frederick IX, King of Denmark.^[8]
• Leopold Gratz, Austrian politician.
• John Gretton, 2nd Baron Gretton, British peer and Member of Parliament. Creator of the Stapleford Miniature Railway.
• Michael Gross, American actor.
• Murry Hammond, American musician.^[9][10]
• Arthur Honegger, Swiss composer.
• Ibrahim Ismail of Johor, the current Sultan of Johor, Malaysia. He is also known for his hobby of driving Blue Tiger locomotive on some occasions.^[11]
• Simon Jenkins, British journalist.^[12]

Ollie Johnston with his backyard railroad.

• David Jenkinson, historian and modeller mainly LMS
• Ollie Johnston, American animator
• Tony Judt, British historian.^[13]
• Buster Keaton, American actor and film director.
• Ward Kimball, American animator.
• Shigeru Kishida, Japanese musician.
• Dionysius Lardner, Irish scientific writer.
• John Lasseter, American animator.^[14]
• Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and novelist.
• O. Winston Link, American photographer.
• Eric Lomax, a British Army Officer and former POW who was involved in Burma Railway construction, who later wrote his ordieal in his book The Railway Man.
• Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
• James May, British Journalist and TV Presenter
• James G. Martin, American scientist and politician.
• Sir William McAlpine, British engineer. Former owner of Flying Scotsman.
• Scott McGregor, Australian actor and television presenter.
• Vyacheslav Molotov, former Soviet politician, foreign minister
• Joel Monaghan, Australian rugby player.
• Kazuyoshi Morita, Japanese comedian.^[15]
• O. S. Nock, British engineer and author.
• Nicholas Owen, British journalist.
• Michael Palin, British comedian, actor and television presenter.
• Mandy Patinkin, actor.^[16]
• Alan Pegler, British industrialist. Former owner of Flying Scotsman.
• Otto Perry, American photographer.
• Michael Portillo, former British politician, and television presenter. Notable for presenting Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys.
• Harold Reid, American writer, photographer and historian.
• Clive Robertson, Australian journalist.
• Hans Rosenthal, German entertainer.
• David Shepherd, British artist. Owns several steam locomotives.
• William James Sidis, Writer.
• Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer.
• Bruce Springsteen, American Singer/songwriter. Lyrics feature trains mentioned prominently,as do several of his music videos. Also owned a Lionel train set as a child, and spotted riding New Jersey Transit trains numerous times in the early 1990s with his son Sam.^[17][18]
• Richard Steinheimer, American photographer.
• Rod Stewart, British rock star.^[2][19]
• Richard Stilgoe, British songwriter, lyricist and musician. Wrote the lyrics for the rock musical Starlight Express.
• Ernst Streeruwitz, Austrian politician, former Austrian federal chancellor
• Bob Symes, British television presenter and producer.
• Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States.^[20]
• Hyakken Uchida, Japanese author and academic.
• Eberhard Waechter, Austrian singer.
• Vernon A. Walters, United States Army officer and diplomat.^[8]
• Pete Waterman, British songwriter and record producer. Owner of a commercial rolling stock leasing company.
• Timothy West. British Actor
• Rogers E. M. Whitaker, American columnist. Wrote under the pen name of E. M. Frimbo, World's Greatest Railroad Buff.
• Neil Young, rock musician and famed railway modeller.
• Count Louis Zborowski, Polish-American automobile engineer and racing driver.
• Axel Zwingenberger, German jazz pianist.
• Isaac C. Kidd, Jr., Admiral in the United States Navy, carried a small model train layout in a suitcase whenever he went to sea^[21]

Fictional Railfans

• The Eighth Doctor, From Doctor Who, was accused of being a train spotter, complete with a spotters notebook, by his companion in S02E05 of the Audio Book Series.
• Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory has stated a few times he likes trains.

References

See also

• List of rail transport modellers