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Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway

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bramling

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Reminded me of last week - when I was on the 1524 Thameslink service from PBO.

Bloke got on near the front, and proceeded to "glare" at me as I was sat in a bay of 4, in carriage 2 of the train - totally on my own in the carriage...

He grumbled something as he walked past me towards the front, before turning around - walking back (again with a glare), before (i presume) sitting further back down the train...

It's like one can't just sit on a virtually-empty train without some idiot coming up and making a scene about something. Some people just seem to create problems wherever they go. It does tend to be older people I've noticed, although not necessarily old enough to be suffering from issues - 40s or 50s.

A few weeks ago some old bloke was cursing, swearing, going red in the face and punching the air because he didn't get the seat he wanted on the Vale of Rheidol Railway!
 
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_toommm_

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The fact that there are men and women employed by National Rail at Manchester Piccadilly to tell you to stay behind the new fangled red line.
Fair enough having dispatch staff watch out for people's safety on a busy platform, but to have four members of staff on each platform just to shout at the top of their voices if you dare even step on the red line. Not only that, but they now apparently control the door opening and disembarkment process and will happily deafen you if you wait at the side of the door like people do at all the other two and a half thousand odd stations.
 

AlastairFraser

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Had a similar incident on Eurostar. Very aggressive woman got on at Ashford claiming I and the other guy next to me were in their seats and we must move. We showed our seat reservations but she insisted they were hers. Spent so long arguing with us that the train departed but when the train manager arrived he pointed out they were on the wrong train....cue smiles all round from the other passengers irritated by their attitude. That was back before HS1 I think and there was a Paris train followed immediately by the Disneyland one and at Ashford they of course occupied both sides of the island platform at the same time. Demands that we stop at Lile for them to change were politely refused.
That sounds fun, was she with kids? I had that excuse going to Sheffield on a XC train once, a woman with her kids in a pram was sitting in our seats we had specifically booked because they were a table and I used to have severe travel sickness on all modes when I was younger and could only face forward on a train and the woman thought she had the right to sit in our seats all the way to Birmingham because she had kids.
 

RLBH

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I had that excuse going to Sheffield on a XC train once, a woman with her kids in a pram was sitting in our seats we had specifically booked because they were a table and I used to have severe travel sickness on all modes when I was younger and could only face forward on a train and the woman thought she had the right to sit in our seats all the way to Birmingham because she had kids.
There does seem to be a particular breed of mother who believes that having children entitles them to do whatever they please, since as a mother they always know best, and that they have absolute priority over others, including elderly, disabled, and people with seat reservations.

Generally such mothers are not associated with quiet, well-behaved children, either. I wonder where the children get it from....
 

AlastairFraser

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There does seem to be a particular breed of mother who believes that having children entitles them to do whatever they please, since as a mother they always know best, and that they have absolute priority over others, including elderly, disabled, and people with seat reservations.

Generally such mothers are not associated with quiet, well-behaved children, either. I wonder where the children get it from....
:D. And they don't even watch and discipline them if they misbehave on the train. They just keep scrolling on the train.
 

RichT54

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:D. And they don't even watch and discipline them if they misbehave on the train. They just keep scrolling on the train.

I got on a train at Reading several weeks ago to go to Slough. Soon after, two parents with a small boy also got on. From the start the boy kept shouting and screaming and the parents did nothing to stop him. Instead they called up one of his friends/relatives of a similar age on their phone for a video chat and then handed the phone to the boy. So now there were two children shouting and screaming incoherently at each other. The parents seemed to think this was hilarious.

Although I was about 5 or 6 rows away, the noise was deafening. Even having my headphones on and the volume turned up it couldn't come close to covering it up. With no sign of it stopping I had to move to a different, thankfully much quieter carriage.
 

Kite159

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The fact that there are men and women employed by National Rail at Manchester Piccadilly to tell you to stay behind the new fangled red line.
Fair enough having dispatch staff watch out for people's safety on a busy platform, but to have four members of staff on each platform just to shout at the top of their voices if you dare even step on the red line. Not only that, but they now apparently control the door opening and disembarkment process and will happily deafen you if you wait at the side of the door like people do at all the other two and a half thousand odd stations.

Must be in training before the most successful gets a transfer to Blackpool North :lol:
 

AlastairFraser

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I got on a train at Reading several weeks ago to go to Slough. Soon after, two parents with a small boy also got on. From the start the boy kept shouting and screaming and the parents did nothing to stop him. Instead they called up one of his friends/relatives of a similar age on their phone for a video chat and then handed the phone to the boy. So now there were two children shouting and screaming incoherently at each other. The parents seemed to think this was hilarious.

Although I was about 5 or 6 rows away, the noise was deafening. Even having my headphones on and the volume turned up it couldn't come close to covering it up. With no sign of it stopping I had to move to a different, thankfully much quieter carriage.
where were they going? Although yesterday's events with the OHLE were unfortunate, the GMWL electrification allowed to have nice long speedy Electrostars, where you can move carriages without having to stand !
 

sprunt

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People travelling in the rush hour through stations that were built to cope with a fraction of the number of people using them now who expect to be able to power walk through the station with nobody getting in their way. Have a bit of patience! You aren't as important as you think you are, and nobody will die if you get to the office 2 minutes later.
 

RichT54

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where were they going? Although yesterday's events with the OHLE were unfortunate, the GMWL electrification allowed to have nice long speedy Electrostars, where you can move carriages without having to stand !

They were going to Windsor, which was unfortunate because that was where I was going. I thought I had escaped them when I got to the platform 1 at Slough, but then I heard the familiar sound of the boy, still shouting his head off. I waited to see which carriage of the Windsor train they got in, before I got in the carriage at the other end.
 

shredder1

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People travelling in the rush hour through stations that were built to cope with a fraction of the number of people using them now who expect to be able to power walk through the station with nobody getting in their way. Have a bit of patience! You aren't as important as you think you are, and nobody will die if you get to the office 2 minutes later.

I have to laugh about that when I visit London on the underground with everyone rushing about like lemmins, you go to put your foot on an escalator step and two more feet beat you to it, or I stop to read a map on the wall and about 6 people bump into me from behind. I`ve send loads of people flying through walking at my Northern slow pace when they have tried to cut in front of me :rolleyes:.
 

kristiang85

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People travelling in the rush hour through stations that were built to cope with a fraction of the number of people using them now who expect to be able to power walk through the station with nobody getting in their way. Have a bit of patience! You aren't as important as you think you are, and nobody will die if you get to the office 2 minutes later.

By the same token, the zombies who are in a crowd of people and seem to think dawdling looking at their phones, or in some cases still reading their book, and not looking where they are going is OK.

Although it can seem like impatience, some people have a naturally fast walking pace which is just as difficult to slow down as someone who is slow to walk fast.

In all cases it is just general awareness that's needed - if everyone did that, it would all be so much better. I don't even listen to music when walking so I'm aware of everything that's going on round me.
 

shredder1

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The things that get me are people picking their nose or cutting their nails while on public transport, its pretty disgusting really.
 

sprunt

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By the same token, the zombies who are in a crowd of people and seem to think dawdling looking at their phones, or in some cases still reading their book, and not looking where they are going is OK.

Agreed - that drives me equally mad. But walking speed doesn't really come into this issue - I'm more talking about annoyance at the fact that, say, when you're exiting Aldgate station in the morning peak other people are trying to get towards the platform, and you need to make allowances for that, not get all huffy that you don't have exclusive use of the station. Really, both the zombies and the power walkers are equally guilty of not just having a bit of consideration for those around them. Nobody wants to be in an overcrowded station, but most people seem to be able to show a bit of willing and co-operation to cope with it.
 

kristiang85

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Agreed - that drives me equally mad. But walking speed doesn't really come into this issue - I'm more talking about annoyance at the fact that, say, when you're exiting Aldgate station in the morning peak other people are trying to get towards the platform, and you need to make allowances for that, not get all huffy that you don't have exclusive use of the station. Really, both the zombies and the power walkers are equally guilty of not just having a bit of consideration for those around them. Nobody wants to be in an overcrowded station, but most people seem to be able to show a bit of willing and co-operation to cope with it.

Ah right yes, I agree with you entirely.

Its particularly amusing when you see certain commuters who are used to standing on the exact same spot of paint/chewing gum/etc. every morning and get really huffy and up close if anybody else is stood there. Madness.
 

61653 HTAFC

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People who've forgotten their headphones but still insist on listening to music at an obscene volume. If I forget mine, I don't assume that everyone else on my train or bus will be happy to listen to my mix of Half Man Half Biscuit and Fugazi, so I do without... for some reason if someone's "bag" is whatever rubbish is big at the time, they assume that everyone else wants to hear it too. You can get a fresh pair of headphones for the cost of a coffee so there's no excuse.

It's not just the "youth" either: there was a bloke the other day, middle-aged, well-dressed and carrying a leather document wallet, regaling the entire carriage with his personal DJ set. At first it wasn't too bad with a mix of REM, early U2 and even The Smiths... but next up was that awful "You're Beautiful" by James "Rhyming Slang" Blunt!
 

Ianno87

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People who've forgotten their headphones but still insist on listening to music at an obscene volume. If I forget mine, I don't assume that everyone else on my train or bus will be happy to listen to my mix of Half Man Half Biscuit and Fugazi, so I do without... for some reason if someone's "bag" is whatever rubbish is big at the time, they assume that everyone else wants to hear it too. You can get a fresh pair of headphones for the cost of a coffee so there's no excuse.

It's not just the "youth" either: there was a bloke the other day, middle-aged, well-dressed and carrying a leather document wallet, regaling the entire carriage with his personal DJ set. At first it wasn't too bad with a mix of REM, early U2 and even The Smiths... but next up was that awful "You're Beautiful" by James "Rhyming Slang" Blunt!

Or people who have phone conversations on speaker mose on the train, as if they're on The Apprentice or something.
 

156443

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Someone asked on a Northern 142 today I’m on if it stops at Monument Station in Newcastle, which is a metro station. They boarded at Metrocentre to go to Newcastle. They were a local as well judging by the accent.
 

Kite159

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Those who seemingly ignore a large bike rack to dump their bikes in the doorways...

... And then moan when someone wants to board at said door.
 

61653 HTAFC

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People who crowd a platform right by the stairs, completely blocking the way for anyone to get past to the relatively empty space beyond. Also, those who crowd round the doors not letting people get off first. And especially the young lass who decided to engage in conversation with a friend who'd just got off the train she was waiting to get on, blocking anyone else from getting off through the narrow gap in the crowd.

Sixth-formers going home time at Huddersfield is quite a commotion!
 

lewisf

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The fine people of Wimbledon who are incapable of walking down the platform and instead crowd into the rear two coaches of 8 and 10 car trains, thus extending dwell times. At every other station people spread down the platform into little groups to line up with the doors.
 

ChiefPlanner

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Alternative looking young female in the "proper" Ist class on the 0941 off SAC to St Pancras this am , slammed her skateboard down on the table , listened to her headphones and started kick dancing in tune to what sounded like RAP.

At least she did not start singing along.

I have done that myself once in what I thought was an empty 319 1st class at about 0700 , only for a head to appear saying "Glad you enjoy David Bowie too" .....I cringed and laughed.
 

Iskra

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People who board a train at its origin station, at the last minute, who are surprised at the lack of seats/tables/pairs of seats available. They usually have to wonder up and down the carriage a couple of times complaining loudly that they can't sit together.
 

nicolaboo

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Does weird things heard count, as the on-board guard on a 175 arriving a Piccadilly today, said "we were five minutes late at Crewe and now we're seven minutes early, that's something you'll be able to tell your grand kids about."
We were still three minutes late leaving Stockport, so I doubt he was accurate, but it made the passengers around smile.
 

ChiefPlanner

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People who board a train at its origin station, at the last minute, who are surprised at the lack of seats/tables/pairs of seats available. They usually have to wonder up and down the carriage a couple of times complaining loudly that they can't sit together.

Ah yes - the school holiday wail from Tarquin and Tilly - "no family tables available Mummy" - on something like the old 1752 Blackfriars to Bedford , full of exhausted commuters who have paid more than £2 each.
 

ChiefPlanner

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Does weird things heard count, as the on-board guard on a 175 arriving a Piccadilly today, said "we were five minutes late at Crewe and now we're seven minutes early, that's something you'll be able to tell your grand kids about."
We were still three minutes late leaving Stockport, so I doubt he was accurate, but it made the passengers around smile.

Rather fine ATW conductor heard , approaching Swansea on a terminator - about 4 mins early ....announces it , and laconically says "Guess we will just have to live with it" :E
 
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