Gricer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hobbyist who eagerly watches, photographs and logs trains, buses or other vehicles as a pastime
2. Someone who keenly spots and notes locomotives and transport vehicles for the enjoyment of recording them
3. An enthusiast devoted to observing and cataloguing railway trains and similar vehicles as a leisure activity

Etymology: The origin of "gricer" is genuinely uncertain, and the most-repeated explanation is a joke. One suggestion holds that it is a comic rendering of how "grouser," a person who hunts grouse, might be pronounced, with train spotting imagined as a rival sort of sport. Another proposes a playful plural "grice" of "grouse," with "-er" added, again trading on the supposed resemblance between grouse-shooting and train spotting. Both have been reported several times, but neither has been firmly documented. The word's meaning is clear enough: a keen watcher of trains, typically a devoted enthusiast who records locomotives and their numbers. The label is most associated with British railway enthusiasts, and its exact date of first use in print is not something this account can pin down.

Synonyms: trainspotter, enthusiast, spotter