A colleague of mine recently visited a French steam railway preservation centre, in the Cevennes mountains. I quote from their brochure (Train à Vapeur des Cévennes: Ligne Touristique D'Anduze à St-Jean-du-Gard): "Un patrimoine ferroviaire historique d'une rare qualité, sauvegardé par des hommes passionnés" (the italics are mine). So that's what French preservationists are! They must be very different to the Quainton mob! I can think of many ways to describe us, but "passionnés"??

DPS

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1993 and so does not reflect events in the 20+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
Post bag - Letters to the Editors - Quainton News No. 73 - September 1993