I Was Playing Doncaster To Peterborough And I Saw A Poster About A Class 37 And Francis Bougeois Was On It
He’s got a YouTube Channel. Just search his name up. You’ll probably recognise him when you see him. He’s a young lad that does a lot of train content.
Haha I know the feeling. He seems to be popping up a lot lately. I’ve noticed he’s appearing more on Facebook now.
He's going to be on the new Grand Tour as well which is pretty cool alongside the chaps from Throttle House. Throttle House make great content so I'm quite excited to see how well they gel with Francis.
Agree, I think there's a good case he's done more good for "our cause" amongst normals than anyone else in the past few decades. I think he's awesome.
I like his passion and he has helped bring enthusiasm of trains to a much wider audience - and, in my view, has reduced the stigma when it comes to trainspotting in general etc.
I’ve got a lot of admiration for Francis. When I was a teenager and young adult I had to conceal my passion for all things trains - I even got picked on for it at secondary school when people found out I volunteered on my local heritage line. His content has made liking trains more acceptable to the masses and taken away some of the anorak trainspotter stereotype that used to be what most people thought. I wonder if anyone else had a similar experience to me growing up.
You're welcome to your opinion and I respect that. But to me it's to the contrary, and I find some his stuff very cringe worthy and at the detriment of railway enthusiasts image. Openly crying and babbling on the end of a platform over a locomotive isn't particularly giving railway enthusiasts a good image. Atleast for me I'd not want to be represented in such a way. I'm not infantile enough to present myself in such a way and wouldn't want that type of behaviour associated with me. Also it seems to have replaced the classic "oh as you like trains do you like Flying Scotsman" as the default question for enthusiasts. And I have to reiterate what I've already said above. But it's much like any social media personality, some people will like a person, and others won't and I just fit into the latter. Each to their own though and if people like his personality then great and that's fair enough.
What has he done then apart from shoving a fish eye camera on his head and running down a platform (which is dangerous and shouldn’t be encouraged)
Giving millions upon millions of people an insight into railways. He does a lot more than run up and down a platform.
I think train enthusiasts are a little jealous of him and what’s he’s achieved. He’s taken his hobby in the railway to the next level and made a living out of it. Good on him.
I’ve seen him at a few diesel galas, he’s the real deal. Seems a really decent lad as well. Always enjoy his stuff.
Sorry to hear about your high school experience. I too was picked on and it wasn’t pleasant but those days are long gone now . I’ve never understood why people think having a hobby around trains / railways is funny anyway. Some people just think you shouldn’t be allowed to like something that’s different to them.
Slight over reaction Millions upon millions of people. You put 100 people in a room ask them if they know who he is I guarantee the percentage of people outside the rail hobby wouldn’t have a clue who he is.
I respect him a lot as he's close to my generation and a lot of younger people do too. My friends from University who literally don't care about trains at all saw his stuff and they were just amazed by how passionate he was for what he loves. Passion is important in that way. He's definitely not a bad thing for the world of trains, even if he's not everyone's cup of tea.
I think most people would know him as "The TikTok trainspotter guy" but I don't have much of an opinion on him. I do know that his real name isn't actually Francis Bourgeois however, it's just a persona he has but his passion for trains is genuine. He seems like a cool guy to talk to but i'm not really a fan of that style of content.
He also did (probably my favourite) a video where he explained why his behaviour near trains may look silly to others and compared it to soccer fans that behave weirdley when "their" team scores but it just seems to be more accepted by society to to that. Also I have not seen any fish eye camera for a long time, and without that his content would probably never have gotten any attention outside the trainspotter bubble. And I say that while being a train driver who also rather laughed about trainspotters before. I loved the way he explained that and it helped me understand his kind of people... Now I hear colleagues say things like "we should not make jokes about them, they might be our future coworkers..." and stuff like that.
I like his enthusiastic and gentle presentation style. He's not cynical or dismissive of anyone, at least not in the material I've seen. I like the way he weaves his long standing girlfriend, Amy, into some of his material, which also helps debunk the trainspotter stereotype a bit. He shows train enthusiasts can have normal relationships. I just wish he didn't sound like he's in physical ecstasy when a Class 56 goes past!
Since TikTok loops videos, every time a video loops, it's a view. Showing up on someone's fyp, even if they scroll almost immediately, that's a view.
Yup and I just downvote videos I have no interest in or the person in said video and hit not interested it stops the algorithm showing you it again and others like it.
Another thing I don't like is the way some people go about showing an interest in him... I can't explain it any politer than this. It seems, for example, when he did his Channel 4 program and got celebrities involved it was through the lense of them showing an insincere interest in the 'hobby' because they think he is disabled and they are being kind and compassionate around that rather than having a genuine interest in railways (I know he isn't disabled, but thats how it comes across with their approach). And I don't like the insinuation that people who have an interest in railways somehow automatically have to have a disability just because they like railways, and that they need a patronising person to show insincere interest to look like they are a do gooder and are trying to 'understand', when there is absolutely no need for them to understand something that is quite simple: it's a completely adult hobby... I just find the whole thing patronising. By the way there is absolutely nothing wrong with people who do have a disability liking railways just to make that clear and I mean nothing malicious by it. But the way in which I saw him on Channel 4 with celebrities going spotting with him, just gave the impression that it was them looking at him through a sympathy lense and trying to understand him... Its like, I don't need someone to try and understand my hobby or have this insinuation that you have to have something wrong with you for liking railways, or that it needs people to talk to you like a child about it and 'show an interest'. I just don't like that approach, and I don't think it does anyone in the railway community any favours, nor do I feel it improves the image of railway enthusiasts which has never really been a 'cool' thing since the end of steam and people with their Ian Allen spotting books. A great example of railway enthusiasm being shown properly proudly and through a lense of 'normality' so to speak for me, is Guy Martin... I genuinely really liked his locomotive driving and how his railway program was produced, like a educational and genuinely interesting program that relied on just cold hard facts, entertainment in an engineering perspective, and education about railways to draw the audience in. Not only that but he does a variety of programmes about engineering based interests, but does it from a place of genuine adult interest and is really informative for anyone watching weather they are an old sweat in the hobby or someone who is a novice. Another is the late great Fred Dibnah. No more needs to be said on that one. Sorry for the long winded rant, and I know I might get some backlash, but I thought I'd rather be sincere and honest about the whole thing and give a deeper perspective on why I do not like his content.
