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Information about Metrophile

A metrophile is a person whose hobby is the study of metro (subway, underground) systems.

Such people may indulge their hobby by:
  • Traveling and visiting as many metro systems as they can.
  • Attempting to find out about and/or visit hidden nooks and crannies of a metro system.
  • Learning about and taking tours of abandoned metro stations.
  • Learning about the technology, architecture, and history of various metro systems.
  • Collecting material related to metro systems, such as maps, plans, transfers, and tickets, often from many cities around the world.
  • Publicizing their metro systems (some metrophile websites contain more information about the system than the transit companies own).
  • Designing expanded metro networks for various cities.
  • Discussing their findings with others.
  • In general, writing, learning, teaching, photographing, and thinking about metros.
Some metrophiles even manage to attract attention, approval, help, and even employment from transit companies.

However, in the Greater New York Area, they are instead known as railfans. Some of them have formed a well-organized lobbying organization.

Some also combine this with bus spotter or tram spotter to form "transit fan", a person who studies a city's entire urban public transit system.

One metrophile, a New Yorker named Darius McCollum, impersonated a range of New York City subway personnel for some time; he was so technically proficient at driving trains, helping repair crews, fixing trains, and even dealing with emergencies, that he served unpaid with some distinction (and a certain amount of complicity from actual personnel). This was illegal and he was repeatedly arrested and, despite a plea to have him treated for Asperger's syndrome, was finally imprisoned. Harper's Magazine published an article on him in May 2002.

See also

External links

A hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit.

Origin of term

A hobby-horse was a wooden or wickerwork toy made to be ridden just like the real hobby. From this came the expression "to ride one's hobby-horse", meaning "to follow a favourite pastime", and in turn,
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rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated or metro(politan) system is a railway — usually in an urban area—with a high capacity and frequency of service and grade separation from other traffic.
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New York – Northern New Jersey – Long Island

Common name: New York Metropolitan Area
Largest city
Other cities New York
 - Newark
 - Jersey City
 - Yonkers
 - Paterson

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Lobbying is a concerted effort designed to achieve some result, typically from government authorities and elected officials. It can consist of the outreach of legislative members, public actions (e.g. mass demonstrations), or combinations of both public and private actions (e.g.
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Bus spotting is a pastime in which one seeks to see all buses in a particular fleet or those produced by a particular manufacturer. A person who engages in these activities is known as a bus spotter, bus fan (popular name in Hong Kong) or a bus enthusiast.
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Darius McCollum (born 1965) is a New York resident with a lengthy arrest record for crimes related to trains and the New York City Subway system.

McCollum has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and has been obsessed with trains from an early age, frequently riding
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Asperger syndrome
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 F 84.5
ICD-9 299.8

OMIM 608638
DiseasesDB 31268
MedlinePlus 001549
eMedicine ped/147  

Asperger syndrome (also Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder
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Harper's Magazine (or simply Harper's) is a monthly general-interest magazine covering literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts from a progressive, left perspective.
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May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December

Events

See also:
  • Timeline of the War in Afghanistan (May 2002)

May 2, 2002


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Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, (born February 17, 1930), is an English best-selling mystery and psychological crime writer, often called the Queen of Crime.
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King Solomon's Carpet

Author Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell)
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Crime / Mystery novel
Publisher Viking
Publication date August 1 1991
Media type Print/Audiobook
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anorak is a person, typically a man, who has unfathomable interest in arcane, detailed information regarded as boring by the rest of the population, and who feels compelled to spout this information to anyone within earshot.
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Straphanger is a nickname for a standing subway or bus passenger who grips a hanging strap (nowadays usually an overhead horizontal bar) for support. The name is thought to have originated in the late 1800s when elevated trains had leather straps for the passengers to hold on to.
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