“Gunzel” official now!

[Richard Youl]

The ‘Australian Independent Radio’ news at 11am, reporting on the open day running of the Metro Tunnel in Melbourne stated that the event was embraced by members of the public, train chasers and “GUNZELS”!

This news service is used by radio stations through Australia.

Richard

[TP]

It has been in the lexicons for some years.

https://www.wordsense.eu/gunzel/

It is recommended that gunzels print and carry these notes on their persons to demonstrate that they're unarmed.

Tony P

[David McLoughlin]

Richard Youl wrote:

> The ‘Australian Independent Radio’ news at 11am, reporting on the open day running of the Metro Tunnel in Melbourne stated that the event was embraced by members of the public, train chasers and “GUNZELS”! 

Gunzels has been in increasing use since at least 1996, when Billy Connelly used it when stepping on to a tram in Melbourne -- one of my fave scenes in my DVD of his "Billy Connelly's World Tour of Australia."

It has been in the Oxford English Dictionary for quite some time. Go to: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gunzel_n?tl=true 

And of course, this comprehensive entry from the FAQ of the old Usenet newgroup Misc Transport Urban Transit, an FAQ that I maintained for some years:

>  GUNZEL - a transit, especially train fanatic. GUNZEL. According to Bob
Merchant, editor of the Australian enthusiasts' journal "Trolley
Wire," the term was first used by Sydney Tramway Museum members in
the early 1960s to describe certain enthusiasts in the state of
Victoria (Australia) who took their hobby a bit too seriously. The
term comes from the film "The Maltese Falcon" in which Elisha Cook
Jnr, played Wilmer, Sydney Greenstreet's twisted gun-slinger (gunsel
in American gangster slang). The film has been described as one in
which there wasn't one decent person in the whole film. The gunsel in
the film was what we would describe today as a "Gunzel", a bit thick
to say the least. Before Puffing Billy (a heritage steam train in the
ranges outside Melbourne) issued their "Gunzel Pass" a few years back,
their president, Phil Avard, checked with the STM as to the meaning of
the word and its origin. Phil, being a bit of a film buff, understood
immediately and the pass was issued. Originally, one did not call a
person a Gunzel to their face as it was a bit derogatory. The term
Gunzel in the Australian sense was first used by Dick Jones, Don
Campbell and Bill Parkinson, all of whom are still members of the STM.
The term has since been picked up by New Zealand, UK and some US
railfans. See also ANORAK.

[Geoffrey Hansen]

When my boss at a motorcycle repair firm realised that I was shocked when he had even heard the term Gunzel he kept on stirring me up with the word Gunzel. 

Regards Geoffrey 

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[p...@bigpond.com]

Fascinating discussion – further confirmation that our hobby is invariably more interesting than the topic?

Sure, originally “gunzel” was something of a put down but it certainly turned into a term of endearment in the period mentioned by David. My recollection is that the term “gunzel” became well know at the time conductors were being phased out on Melbourne trams. Roberto – a well known campaigner for conductors and trams in general – was certainly known to refer to tram supporter as “gunzels” in a positive context.

These days, it’s certainly a term of endearment. But, some of the older enthusiasts in our fraternity object to being called gunzels or referring to themselves as such. Particularly those in the upper echelons of “the hobby” or society in general.

Yes; our hobby is invariably more interesting than the topic!

Paul in Melbourne

 

[Andrew Cook]

Correct Paul, there are various versions of where the term 'gunzel' came from. Some flattering and some not so. "Train w*nker female genitalia" was shouted at us once whilst photographing trains at Sunshine and 'the bird' hand gesture was produced by the driver of a Harris suburban train near Newport. One well known enthusiast had the bare posterior of a train crew member shown to him. Fortunately, the enthusiast kept copious notes of the incident and reported the matter to management and the crew member got a big wrap over the posterior over it (lol). These days the drivers of trams and trains are reasonably friendly, an example being last Friday when I got a friendly wave from a female train driver. Another 'endearing' term for enthusiasts is 'foamer' (American?), which also seems to have gone from derogatory to a term of praise. Seen and heard the lot over the years and you have to laugh at some of them.

Cheers,

Andrew Cook.

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From: pn1 via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, 23 June 2025 11:42 AM
To: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [TramsDownUnder] Re: “Gunzel” official now!

 

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[Tony Galloway]

The first person I heard use the word “gunzel" was Bill Parkinson at Loftus back in the early 70s.

As for other derogatory terms used about rail enthusiasts the most common term I heard when working for the NSW railways was “train fucker”, usually spoken by some deadshit manager intent on destroying something worthy of preservation, as in “just smash it, it will piss off the train fuckers”.

Of course, not everyone thought like that, just the cretins, but it was a negative attitude that was pervasive, extending to sneering at public transport users frustrated by weekend maintenance closedowns, who were regarded by the cretins as ”losers that should buy cars”.

On the job I kept my head down and would only discuss railfan type subjects with those I knew shared the interest, to everyone else I was a bike rider into customising old American and British motorcycles, a countercultural nonconformist, and a radical shit stirrer who baited and ridiculed bogan idiot bosses. If they got a hint I might be interested in railways or tramways it was regarded as more evidence I was a weird ratbag they couldn’t easily categorise.

The cretin conformists that hated me for those reasons were the same droogs that enjoyed destroying stuff, and couldn’t understand why someone would spend time, money and effort rebuilding an old Harley or Triumph into a unique chopper when the same money would buy a perfectly good (and entirely boring) new, stock, mass produced Harley or BMW.

I was also insulted by morons for having no interest in sport, non-commercial musical tastes or having an African wife, but being abused by loser inceis who only got sex from jerking off to porn was a compliment as far as I was concerned.

Tony

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[Steven Altham]

My friend late friend Bruce bredin was photographing trams in the city one time & a man asked him why he was photographing trams. he told him because I'm a gunzel which produced a weird look from the enquiring man that was in the 1990s 

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