A SERIES of events to present the hobby of trainspotting in a contemporary way has been launched at the National Railway Museum.

Organisers said the display, featuring scores of tales from the tracks, represented a new direction for the York-based museum, as it also features an art installation, Parallel Tracks, in the Gallery, which was commissioned for the event, which will run until March.

Among those whose stories are being presented is chairman of The Friends of Darlington Railway Centre and Museum Gillian Wetherell, who submitted her memories of spotting trains in the North-East 60 years ago.

She said: "It wasn’t only boys who were trainspotters in the 1950s, although they were in the majority.

"One of the best spots for us urban geeks in the early 1950s was the top of The Black Gate in Newcastle.

"Occasionally, we were allowed up to their cabs to see the command centres for these wonderful engines, and got rather mucky in the process, which didn’t go down too well when we got home, but we didn’t care."

Those visiting for the opening weekend Shed Bash will be offered the chance to get hands on with locomotives in the collection associated with the heyday of schoolboy spotting, including Western Fusilier, Evening Star and King George V.

The Trainspotting season will also include trails and theatrical performances by street theatre troupe Platform 4 during the school holidays and Locos in a Different Light event, as part of Illuminating York festival.

For details, visit nrm.org.uk/trainspotting