Based on the spotting of locomotives and recording of their numbers, the subculture gained a notorious reputation in British popular culture during the twentieth century.

[2] Before the outbreak of World War II the practice of noting locomotive numbers as a leisure activity was considered popular among both children and adults; the author Eric Lomax recalled the presence of trainspotters on Britain's railways being a common sight in the inter-war period.

Roger Kidner is reputed to have authored the first guide for trainspotters in the late 1930s, although Felix Pole had been producing partial lists of GWR locomotives since the 1920s.

[5] Allan's publication found a ready market reaching its seventh edition before the close of WWII, indeed so successful was his enterprise that the News Chronicle reported that he was regularly mobbed by young female and male trainspotters for his autograph.

In response to this moral panic British Railways began to ban trainspotters from their stations and laws were passed in order to deal with problematic behaviour.

[18] Towards the end of the century a new genre of historical autobiography focusing on the trainspotter emerged[19] often presenting the subculture in a nostalgic light as a product of an idealised British past.

[22] However, the latter half of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries saw a steady reduction in the number of trainspotters in Britain, as evidenced by the fall both in sales of publications targeted at them and club memberships.

The decline of the subculture during this period has been attributed to various factors including the end of steam,[23] the move away from locomotive hauled trains, improved health and safety on the railways, and even terrorism.

Named after the Class 45, the article was illustrated with an image of the group at a reunion in front of one of the locomotives whilst appearing to give Nazi salutes.

[27] In 2019 the British Transport Police issued an appeal for information following a trespass incident involving trainspotters attempting to view Flying Scotsman.

[29][30] While the increased popularity of the subculture has been largely attributed to the influence of TikTok star Francis Bourgeois other societal factors have also been seen to have played a role.

The author Nicholas Whittaker has asserted that the post-war trainspotter was typically a working-class youth in contrast to the middle-classes who had often taken an interest in railways prior to WWII.

[42] In the twenty-first century female trainspotters have reported facing sexism within the subculture,[43] and a continued gender disparity has been attributed to hostility online.

[52] He goes on to describe the typical stereotype of a trainspotter that developed after the 1960s: Trainspotting became the preserve of boys and men in bad spectacles (not so much National Health—too cool for us—but rather the kind of rounded square metal frames that you imagine going quite well with tinted yellow lenses and a moustache and a criminal record) and dark blue, unbranded quilted, hooded coats (one rarely saw the classic fur-lined anorak, which again, would have been too cool; we merely wore the first thing our mothers found in BHS) who took scant interest in their personal presentation, had little experience of friendship and even less experience with the opposite sex.

The series featured the trainspotter Francis Bourgeois alongside various celebrities including Aisling Bea, Jesse Lingard and Sam Ryder.

[65] In the early 1990s the BBC2 comedy show Harry Enfield & Chums included a sketch involving a trio of trainspotters which incorporated stereotypes of the subculture for humorous effect.

[67][68] Anorak of Fire is a play written by Stephen Dinsdale consisting of a monologue delivered by the character Gus Gascoigne, a stereotypical trainspotter nerd.

[72] In 2016 the BBC aired a three part series called Trainspotting Live presented by Tim Dunn, Hannah Fry, Peter Snow, and Dick Strawbridge.

[75] The Birmingham based 1990s band Eastfield developed their own version of ‘urban rail punk’, incorporating trainspotting themes in their lyrics and albums’ artwork.