Manual or Automated Recorded Announcements

[Parallel]

I always get confused by which announcer is which when referred to by their name - is there a database or something somewhere with a list of names and a sample recording by them so I can try and work out which is which?

Here's a couple of clips from the recordings I have:

Eryl Jones (Glyn) followed by Ruth announcing a Brighton service.
Rodger announcing a XC divert.
Anne on the Devon Metro.
Text to speech fail at Wem.

 

[fairysdad]

Text to speech fail at Wem.

And I thought the text-to-speech on the 707s were bad...

 

[PR1Berske]

I too have find memories of the "posh" Wigan announcements. She would rattle off every stop between North Western and Liverpool, closing on "... only"

 

[BestWestern]

Manual announcements and clear automatic screen is my ideal combo. Sadly it seems we can't have screens without the awful Digital Doris junk to go with it. An incorrect announcement is, of course, worse than none at all, and Doris seems to get it wrong up and down the network alarmingly often.

 

[onlinespotting]

I think that one or the other should be stuck to. For example I was at Birmingham New Street recently where the manual announcer was repeating exactly what the automated announcement said straight away which was extremely irritating. Are people doing announcements able to here what the automated announcer is saying?

The female manual announcer always repeats the automated announcements for platform changes and delays, at least she lets atos Anne speak first these days before she interrupts;back in Phil Sayer days she would always interrupt mid announcement.

 

[route101]

Not a fan of Glasgow Centrals dreary auto announcer , edinburgh had a dreary one too but was changed . Why is anne or the other guy not used in Scotland?

 

[Bungle965]

Not a fan of Glasgow Centrals dreary auto announcer , edinburgh had a dreary one too but was changed . Why is anne or the other guy not used in Scotland?

I believe that both Glasgow and Edinburgh have the same person.
Sam

 

[satisnek]

For large stations, definitely manual. It's necessary to revert to manual announcements when things get screwed up anyway. There's just one problem which is apparent to me - in the old days station announcers were recruited, quite naturally, on the strength of their voice. Nowadays - without mentioning people or places - I get the impression that the post of station announcer (where they're still employed) is one of those jobs used to 'fill a quota'. Oh yes, and can't Network Rail invest in a new live announcement microphone for Birmingham New Street? Regardless of who uses it, it sounds like you're being covered in spittle (think Sylvester the cat in the Warner Bros cartoons)...

Recorded announcements do have their uses at smaller stations - they must have been around on the erstwhile Southern Region for about half a century now.

I too heard Phil at Ash Vale when I went down to the Mid-Hants diesel gala a few weeks back. Thought it was a soundalike. So how did they derive 'South Western Railway' then?

 

[Viator]

Here's a couple of clips from the recordings I have:

Eryl Jones (Glyn) followed by Ruth announcing a Brighton service.
Rodger announcing a XC divert.
Anne on the Devon Metro.
Text to speech fail at Wem.

I think Glyn (ATW Welsh) has a very pleasant and calm-sounding voice -- and it's a bonus to Welsh-speakers that the announcements in Welsh always come first -- although he does say (to my ear, at least) dau o gloch etc., and you lose a mark in Welsh oral exams for that; should be dau o'r gloch...!
In the example recording, Ruth makes a couple of pronunciation mistakes: Keynsham (she is obviously too young to remember Horace Bachelor!) and Trowbridge (since corrected), though she still mispronounces Maesteg (emphasizes the wrong syllable). I wish they would do something, though, about one feature of Ruth's announcements (not her fault) that always irks me: "The Great Western Railway" (<- high tone) (pause) (drops voice ->) "service". I know, of course, that these announcements are stitched together from bits and pieces, but would it really have increased the cost of the programme hideously to have also recorded "The Great Western Railway service", "The Arriva Trains Wales service" etc. in a seamless and natural tone?

 

[onlinespotting]

Ruth at least is the best of all the English announcers to pronounce Welsh stations (thank goodness! Can you imagine Atos Anne in wales!!)

 

[Parallel]

I think Glyn (ATW Welsh) has a very pleasant and calm-sounding voice -- and it's a bonus to Welsh-speakers that the announcements in Welsh always come first -- although he does say (to my ear, at least) dau o gloch etc., and you lose a mark in Welsh oral exams for that; should be dau o'r gloch...!
In the example recording, Ruth makes a couple of pronunciation mistakes: Keynsham (she is obviously too young to remember Horace Bachelor!) and Trowbridge (since corrected), though she still mispronounces Maesteg (emphasizes the wrong syllable). I wish they would do something, though, about one feature of Ruth's announcements (not her fault) that always irks me: "The Great Western Railway" (<- high tone) (pause) (drops voice ->) "service". I know, of course, that these announcements are stitched together from bits and pieces, but would it really have increased the cost of the programme hideously to have also recorded "The Great Western Railway service", "The Arriva Trains Wales service" etc. in a seamless and natural tone?

Anne used to say “Keensham” too but that has since been corrected. Ruth’s recordings must be around 20 years old now and her voice has changed a lot. I think ATW or their successor should get her to record a suite of new recordings (as SWT did with Celia) and also update their system so it can announce formation updates; lack of reservations; new delay reasons etc. Her announcements used to flow really well but new TOCs, stations and delay reasons have since been added.

Eryl (Glyn)’s announcements are still sounding quite good.

Most of GWR Rodger’s sound good too, although his recordings of named trains are very quiet, and I find his announcements generally too slow.

 

[prod_pep]

Celia's voice seems to have changed a lot over the years too, evidenced by the "If you see something that doesn't look right..." announcements on the 455s.

Anne's accent has always grated on me. The old "Queen's English" announcements at Liverpool Lime Street were far superior I think. Does Anne still pronounce Alvechurch as "Alverchurch"?

As for manual announcements, they're fine as long as there is a degree of clarity. On Thursday night for example, I was stuck on the concourse at London Euston awaiting the 21.07 to Liverpool and not only were announcements scarce, those that were made were spoken so quietly, they were virtually inaudible.

 

[onlinespotting]

'Ramsgate' 'Margate' 'Grand central' among others grate Atos Anne's true accent among others. The world of clarity ended when Leeds (one of Anne's first) was changed from Phil Sayer to Atos Anne around 98/99. Celia has always seemed super posh but much better than Atos Anne.

 

[700007]

Phil Sayers easily as the best announcer, but I do quite like the 'old' Celia Drummond as well. ATOS Anne is great on Greater Anglia / TfL Rail out of Liverpool Street but perhaps not elsewhere as her announcements on those networks have been made to string better. Julie Berry as one of the best on-board announcers, particularly on London Midland and Heathrow Connect and as much as I couldn't understand a thing she says because her voice is too fast, Celia Drummond on SWT/SWR is still a favourable one of mine. Don't ask why.

 

[Viator]

My message deleted because I can't edit it...

 

[Viator]

My message deleted because I can't edit it...

Second attempt at editing also failed.

 

[Viator]

I wrote "The Great Western Railway" (<- high tone) (pause) (drops voice ->) "service". Oops -- I got that the wrong way round: she actually says "The Great Western Railway" (<- low tone) (pause) (raises voice ->) "service". Either way round it's equally irksome!

On the original subject of live v. pre-recorded announcements, a peculiarity of Cardiff Central is that, for some reason, as Paddington to Swansea trains approach the station the automated message is often followed by a live announcer bellowing in a rather scolding voice (and with the microphone set far too high) "Swansea train platform 3, platform 3 for Swansea", or words to that effect. I don't know why this is felt to be necessary. I always feel as if we Swansea train passengers are being treated as particularly thick and need to be shouted at. Besides which, in 10+ years of using the service I've only known one occasion on which the Swansea train did not depart from platform 3!

There exists BTW a YouTube presentation of Cardiff Central announcements at youtu.be/0JAkXQtygtc -- it's 22 minutes long, so you'd probably need to be a particular fan of station announcements and/or the Welsh language to sit through all of it! Note that the on-screen text contains quite a lot of errors, and not just in Welsh ("Wilmcote" for "Wilnecote" made me smile/wince!).

At 14:44 there's the fairly new (since last summer?) "See it / Say it / Sorted" message. This is interesting in that 1) the English precedes the Welsh, and 2) the same voice reads both versions. Can anyone tell me, is this announcement an ATW speciality? (I've made only a couple of train journeys outside Wales in recent months.)

 

[Adam Williams]

In principle I don't mind the automated announcements, they're probably less hit and miss than live ones. Some are better than others though - for example, the GWR on-train (class 165) announcements are kinda aggressive/patronising: "Do NOT try to board or leave the train whilst the doors are closing" (I wasn't going to!)

 

[Parallel]

On the original subject of live v. pre-recorded announcements, a peculiarity of Cardiff Central is that, for some reason, as Paddington to Swansea trains approach the station the automated message is often followed by a live announcer bellowing in a rather scolding voice (and with the microphone set far too high) "Swansea train platform 3, platform 3 for Swansea", or words to that effect. I don't know why this is felt to be necessary. I always feel as if we Swansea train passengers are being treated as particularly thick and need to be shouted at. Besides which, in 10+ years of using the service I've only known one occasion on which the Swansea train did not depart from platform 3!

I've noticed that too, especially in the waiting room and it makes everyone jump! Mind you, if you think Cardiff is bad, try Newport. There's a member of staff who is more or less constantly shouting over the microphone, usually with even less information than the autoannouncements. And he tends to cut off the autoannouncements mid-sentence. So it will say something like:
Autoannouncer "The next train to arrive at platform four is the 13:36 Arriva Trains Wales service to Holyhead. Calling at Cwmbran, Pontypool and New Inn, Abergave*BING BONG* PLATFORM 4 FOR YOUR HOLYHEAD TRAIN. HOLYHEAD TRAIN. PLATFORM 4. CWMBRAN. PONTYPOOL. ABERGAVENNY. HEREFORD AND STATIONS TO HOLYHEAD. PLATFORM 4 FOR STATIONS TO HOLYHEAD."
"Your attention please on platform three. We are sorry that the 12:40 service to London Padd*BING BONG* NEXT TRAIN ON PLATFORM 2 IS FOR CAAAARDIFF. CARDIFF TRAIN. PLATFORM 2. THE NEXT TRAIN AT PLATFORM 2 IS FOR CARDIFF CENTRAL. ONCE AGAIN. PLATFORM 2 IS YOUR CARDIFF TRAIN."

I think ATW needs to roll out some training as some stations are unbearable. That said, stations like Chester and Shrewsbury are fine.

At 14:44 there's the fairly new (since last summer?) "See it / Say it / Sorted" message. This is interesting in that 1) the English precedes the Welsh, and 2) the same voice reads both versions. Can anyone tell me, is this announcement an ATW speciality? (I've made only a couple of train journeys outside Wales in recent months.)

Most large 'category A' stations should have the 'See it, say it, sort it' messages. Various people voice it though, depending which TOC it is. Some TOCs like GWR just roll it out to every station with announcements. I guess the reason why they got someone different to record it was because (I'd imagine) she is local to Cardiff, and it was probably a cheap informal set up to quickly record something, rather than having to get Eryl and Ruth to go to a studio (though next time they're there, they should record it IMO). The Welsh lady also makes announcements about 'Buying before you board' and 'sloping platforms' too; the latter being played at selective stations. She also occasionally records ones for specific engineering works too. Sadly I find her announcements a bit annoying but I guess they do the job.

 

[mde]

I believe that both Glasgow and Edinburgh have the same person.
Sam

To my knowledge they do… you do get some odd ones like Glasgow Queen Street, where the high and low-levels have different systems. Low Level has Alison McKay whose voice is preferable, at least in my opinion, to the other one.

If it were to change to a more generic voice, I wouldn't mind Julie Berry - but - I know some folks down 'South might beg to differ on that!

 

[Confused147]

Please listen to the you tube clip to the announcer at 11:11, is she the same woman thats been there since mid 1980s? (You can hear her in the you tube clip at 11:11 announcing the weekly fire alarm test)

 

[Deety]

There appear to have been some changes lately in SN-land as well.

I'm not sure what exactly but Moulsecoomb ("Mools-coom") is now "Moles-cum" and Southwick (I've always known this pronounced as "South Wick") now appears to be related to Southwark...

Other locations may also have changed - I really should get out more...

 

[PHILIPE]

I was waiting at Cardiff Central at approx 2000 one evening a few years ago and every few minutes over the tannoy came "The 15xx to Coryton has been delayed. Please listen to further announcements". There had been heavy disruption during the afternoon and obviously, the train, was still "live" in systems.

 

[Bungle965]

Please listen to the you tube clip to the announcer at 11:11, is she the same woman thats been there since mid 1980s? (You can hear her in the you tube clip at 11:11 announcing the weekly fire alarm test)

Good grief Celia is absolutely awful in that.
Rudge-lea Trent Valley
Head-ness-fod
Penk-ridge
Phil just puts her completely to shame.
Sam

 

[Mag_seven]

On LUL I'd rather hear the drivers voice state that we are "being held at a red signal because of XXX" rather than the automated "we are being held at a red signal and should be on the move shortly". I want to know why the train is being held at a red signal.

 

[Confused147]

Good grief Celia is absolutely awful in that.
Rudge-lea Trent Valley
Head-ness-fod
Penk-ridge
Phil just puts her completely to shame.
Sam

Celia and phil were the best. Its Anne who is awful.

Platform seek for the oh noyne, ten to Landon Euston.....

 

[TheAdelante]

It was always funny getting on a GWR Turbo and watching my dad grimacing painfully at the cringeworthy voice of Faye Dicker

Unattended on trains, or at staaations!

 

[londonmidland]

Celia and phil were the best. Its Anne who is awful.

Platform seek for the oh noyne, ten to Landon Euston.....

Platform four for the TEN forty nineeee Vurgin Twains service to WOLVERHAMPTON. Callin’ at Sandwell and Dudley and WOLVERHAMPTON.

 

[E_Reeves]

I personally prefer automated as it stops the waffle and tells you what you need to know, but with trains such as Eurostar and Virgin, I suppose it's nice having manual announcements as it presents the staff as friendly and willing to help.

 

[onlinespotting]

Good grief Celia is absolutely awful in that.
Rudge-lea Trent Valley
Head-ness-fod
Penk-ridge
Phil just puts her completely to shame.
Sam

Celia re recorded some of her announcements whilst at Birmingham New Street, especially the Welsh ones. The woman at 11:11 is still there now, she always interrupts or repeats the auto announcements in her own way. (She always sounds miserable but I'm sure she's lovely really)