大象传媒

1. His TikTok success was down to lockdown boredom

Like many people during Covid lockdowns, Francis was looking for ways to entertain himself. “I went from doing my degree to coming home and being with my brother and my family again,” says Bourgeois, 24. “My brother and I were in full creative mode – I made up a song about the local quarry – and we were making videos. My brother said, ‘We could start a TikTok.’ I said, ‘Sure.’” It started with random videos, but then he began making videos of himself gleefully trainspotting, with a face-on camera that gave him a distinct, distorted look. “Making these videos, I reconnected with my passion [for trains].” By May 2021 he’d amassed over 250,000 followers.

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Francis on first discovering a passion for trains

2. He fell in love with trains at school

“At school, there was this Wendy house, right next to the North London Line,” says Bourgeois. “I’d stand there and see these new Freightliner 66s going by… It was ideal for me in breaktimes.” He didn’t realise it was a relatively niche interest. “I remember thinking everyone else at my school loved trains,” he says. “I just thought it was normal.” Then he got his first model railway set at aged four. “My railway passion was cemented.”

3. He gave up trains because he was worried they were uncool

Bourgeois gets emotional talking about abandoning his train hobby, in an effort to fit in. “I started this new school in Year 7 and I had my model railway as kind of a comfort to come back to,” he says. “With this new school, I started afresh. It was the first time I realised that I didn’t really feel happy in general. I was lonely at school.” He still loved his trains, but he felt a bit embarrassed by it. “I was sort of analysing and engaging with what people were interested in at school. I was into mountain biking and tried to talk about that, and I found friends… I adopted this identity and by the end of school I believed that was who I was. In the process I sold my model railway.”

4. Francis Bourgeois is not his real name

One of the reasons nobody had heard of Francis Bourgeois until 2021 was that he didn’t exist. Francis’s real name is Luke Nicolson. When he launched his TikTok, he had a job at Rolls Royce, as part of his mechanical engineering degree, and wanted to keep his online and professional lives separate. “I felt a pseudonym would have an added layer of protection,” he says. There was no great thought process behind the name. “[My brother and I] had just been to the Hauser & Wirth Gallery and there were some sculptures by Louise Bourgeois. Francis Bourgeois just came off the back of that… I think the name reflects a bit of me in its quirkiness.”

5. He first realised he was famous on a trip to the pub

Despite his growing following, it didn’t really occur to Francis that he was becoming famous. Until he visited a pub at university. “I was in the beer garden and just wanted a relaxing pint with my friend,” he says. “I saw all these eyes [on me] and heard these whispers. Then someone shouted, ‘FRANCIS!’ and everyone [cheered] like it was a football match. I was just stunned.” He says having an online pseudonym helps him in public, because he knows anyone calling him Francis is likely to be a fan, but anyone calling him Luke likely knows him in real life.

6. He was upset by accusations of being fake

As his popularity grew, Francis faced some backlash. People who knew him at school, when he’d kept quiet about his trainspotting, accused him of doing it for attention. “People were saying, ‘He’s not a railway enthusiast. He’s fake. He’s just doing it for money,’” he says. As much as that upset him, he’s cheered up by the fact his videos have helped younger people. “I’ve had kids come up to me and say, ‘Thank you so much, because I’m not getting bullied any more at school.’ Just to have made that difference… the negative comments are worth it.”

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Francis on how he is 'cheered up' by the fact his videos have helped younger people.

7. He went trainspotting with Joe Jonas

Francis’s success has led to extraordinary opportunities. He has an ongoing partnership with Gucci, and featured in one of its campaigns, and has been trainspotting with celebrity fans, including Joe Jonas. “He sent me a DM,” says Francis. “We were chatting a bit and I said, ‘Should we meet up for a trainspotting session?’” So they did. On a freezing cold day in Milton Keynes. “We were trainspotting in a field for about four and a half hours,” says Francis. “He was so open and willing to engage with what was going on.”

8. He’s happy again

Having re-embraced trains, Francis says he feels much better now. “In general, I’m happy,” he says. “There’s a lot to process and a lot to go through, but at the core of it, I’m happy.” He has a new flat – by a railway line, of course – with his girlfriend, and he has an even better train set to replace the one he sold. “My current model railway runs through the kitchen, dining room, and through the living room,” he says, cheerfully.

9. To him, fame means being who you really are

At the start of the interview, Francis says that being in the spotlight is about other people: “To me, it’s changing younger railway enthusiasts’ lives and making their experience better.” By the end of the chat, he’s slightly reconsidered. Through a childhood of bullying and changing to please others, then dealing with both online criticism and the support of fellow trainspotters, he’s learned the spotlight is more personal than that: “It’s been finding my truest self.”