Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway

[61653 HTAFC]

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.

Must be a lot of recovery time between Stockport and Manchester then!

 

[trainophile]

Must be a lot of recovery time between Stockport and Manchester then!

I'm sure there is, the hourly from South Wales is timetabled to arrive at **15, but when all goes well it is often pulling in at **07.

 

[Francis]

Must be a lot of recovery time between Stockport and Manchester then!

Some have, or used to have 16 mins from Stockport to Man Piccadilly. The outbound time is 8-9 mins non stop I think.
I remember about three years ago, arriving on an ATW ex-Carmarthen train which was late running at Stockport. Due Piccadilly (final stop) at 2216. Got in at 2212. As I got off other people were getting on, and it immediately shot off towards Oxford Rd as the 2212 to Chester. So on the WTT it was scheduled to depart before it had even arrived according to the passenger timetable. Just shows how the latter are padded to improve punctuality figures and to avoid paying out delay repay.

 

[contrex]

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.

In the late 1990s my wife and I got on a Eurostar at Waterloo to find a party of four elderly folk occupying our (standard) seats and the pair the opposite side of the table. I said "I think those are our reserved seats", and one of them said "I don't think so". He looked me up and down and added "This is first class, you know". I showed him our tickets and he got his out... wrong coach. They all got up and stalked off without a word. I called "Thanks for the apology!" to his retreating back and saw his neck redden.

 

[PeterY]

Recently on a Northern train from Manchester Piccadilly to Chester via Altrincham, overheard part of a conversation between a Chinese tourist and a local man, I'm not sure what she said but his reply "This is Northern luv, you're lucky to get a seat"

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In the late 1990s my wife and I got on a Eurostar at Waterloo to find a party of four elderly folk occupying our (standard) seats and the pair the opposite side of the table. I said "I think those are our reserved seats", and one of them said "I don't think so". He looked me up and down and added "This is first class, you know". I showed him our tickets and he got his out... wrong coach. They all got up and stalked off without a word. I called "Thanks for the apology!" to his retreating back and saw his neck redden.

That's irritating enough when it actually is first class!

 

[Ianno87]

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.

Or groups of 10-15 students, jumping on the 1843 or whatever Pendolino at Euston three minutes before departure, surprised to learn they're not going to be able to sit together...

 

[bramling]

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.

Get that a lot at weekends too. “We only travel for a day out in London once in a while on a Saturday, but expect everything to be laid out specially to revolve round us when we do”.

They may get away with it with the weekend lot, but it’s funny to see them get short shrift on half-term week at rush hour!

 

[yorksrob]

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!

Yes, the phrase "old enough to know better" really does apply !

 

[kevconnor]

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.

I see this a lot on the Metrolink, in the evening on my way home I always stand up and normally stay at or close to the doors (without obstructing people trying to get on or off) as I get off at an early stop and otherwise struggle to get through crowds of people in time. The number of times people will stand over you and almost try and jostle you away as you are in a spot they want to stand in is rediculous.

 

[LowLevel]

I once had a group of Japanese tourists on BritRail passes on the last Saturday night train from Worksop to Nottingham. They had apparently caught the train from Lincoln with the Gainsborough set which must have been an entertaining experience for them as Dad had a haunted glint in his eye and was escorting the teenage children individually to the toilet.

I went down to check tickets (no shrinking violet me) and Mum waved me over and asked, with a slightly mischievous grin 'excuse me - in England on a Saturday night - do people always act rowdy and dress..... sexy?'.

I couldn't help but laugh and confirm that rowdy was definitely in and sexy was up to your opinion.

 

[AlastairFraser]

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.

oh maybe going to Legoland then ,I would have found someone at Slough station or was it a short interval between the trains?

 

[AlastairFraser]

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 agree, Bank/Monument or especially Oxford Circus come to mind ,when huge amounts of commuters run into tiny tunnels each expecting that they will not collide with anyone or anything if they just run through a crowd with their earphones in.

 

[K.o.R]

Today, I saw a guy use the end doors to walk between two coaches on a Victoria line train at 60mph.

 

[Kite159]

Today, I saw a guy use the end doors to walk between two coaches on a Victoria line train at 60mph.

Was it a beggar by any chance?

(If you could tell)

 

[K.o.R]

As a matter of fact, yes. He had a cup he was collecting change in and may or may not have made an announcement to the carriage that no-one had a hope of hearing over the wheel noise at the aforementioned 60mph.

 

[Intermodal]

Not so much a weird thing but perhaps downright idiotic and sad.

I saw a man in his late 20s/early 30s with a 1-2 year old in a pushchair. As his train approached the platform he was standing on the yellow line with the pushchair forward of the line, pushing his child and pushchair to overhang the end of the platform whilst saying "Weeee! The train is coming to get you!". The front wheels of the pushchair were actually leaving the platform edge and he was suspended just by the back wheels and the parent's grip.

I was just about to intervene as the unit was getting closer and closer but then he thought better of it.

Honestly the most shocking thing I've ever seen at a station.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not so much a weird thing but perhaps downright idiotic and sad.

I saw a man in his late 20s/early 30s with a 1-2 year old in a pushchair. As his train approached the platform he was standing on the yellow line with the pushchair forward of the line, pushing his child and pushchair to overhang the end of the platform whilst saying "Weeee! The train is coming to get you!". The front wheels of the pushchair were actually leaving the platform edge and he was suspended just by the back wheels and the parent's grip.

I was just about to intervene as the unit was getting closer and closer but then he thought better of it.

Honestly the most shocking thing I've ever seen at a station.

We have driving tests, I sometimes wonder if we should have breeding tests...

 

[Ianno87]

Not so much a weird thing but perhaps downright idiotic and sad.

I saw a man in his late 20s/early 30s with a 1-2 year old in a pushchair. As his train approached the platform he was standing on the yellow line with the pushchair forward of the line, pushing his child and pushchair to overhang the end of the platform whilst saying "Weeee! The train is coming to get you!". The front wheels of the pushchair were actually leaving the platform edge and he was suspended just by the back wheels and the parent's grip.

I was just about to intervene as the unit was getting closer and closer but then he thought better of it.

Honestly the most shocking thing I've ever seen at a station.

I would seriously suggest reporting that incident to police, or social services for the area in question. Staggeringly irresponsible.

 

[Intermodal]

I would seriously suggest reporting that incident to police, or social services for the area in question. Staggeringly irresponsible.

Thanks. The incident has been and gone now but I do think I would deal with it differently in future. I was some way down the platform and although I started walking towards the chap incase assistance was required I think I was a bit in shock at what I was seeing.

 

[TurbostarFan]

The buttons on 142s are so badly placed that I've seen (or prevented, if quick enough) people missing their stop on countless occasions. The mind boggles as to why they don't put a big sticker on the door leaf with an arrow pointing to it.

Probably not worth the time and effort given that Pacers are due to be scrapped soon.

 

[Killingworth]

Probably not worth the time and effort given that Pacers are due to be scrapped soon.

Saw a passenger carried from Bamford to Hathersage recently looking bewildered by the buttons on a 150. In the good old days it was how to lower those thick leather straps and lean out the window to operate the outside handle.

 

[atraindriver]

<deleted>

 

[whhistle]

Found some of these quite funny:

A guy on the train has just told his friend that someone who eats fish but not meat is called a Presbyterian.

there is a little girl reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire out loud on the bus and I am LOVING it

I fell asleep on the bus and someone braided my hair! WTF!

A guy on the bus just whipped out a hot dog two hours into the ride and I have never been more confused in my life

I just yelled "who invited this guy?" at someone getting on the train and I feel terrible about it

Train pulled away from the station and a guy genuinely started commentating on it like a horse race 'and the 1843 from Bath is off'

This woman was about to miss the train so she threw her bag to stop the doors from closing. Her bag is on the train. She is not.

overheard on the train: woman debating whether or not she wants to keep dating a guy who lives in a 5th floor walk up: "it's just... a lot"

a guy just opened a v official suitcase on the bus and all it had in it was like 6 cans of coke zero and a pen

A girl at my bus stop is eating strawberries out of her jacket and I'm so confused like who puts loose strawberries in a denim jacket

Train conductor just said "please use all available doors and arrange yourselves by color of your socks". Glad someone is still having fun out there

just now remembered that yesterday morning, a dude lost his balance when the train lurched and tried to play it off by dancing for 2 min

Someone farted on the bus so now I’m going to open a packet of cheese and onion crisps and eat them loudly, taste of your own medicine

 

[al78]

I agree, Bank/Monument or especially Oxford Circus come to mind ,when huge amounts of commuters run into tiny tunnels each expecting that they will not collide with anyone or anything if they just run through a crowd with their earphones in.

Agree up to a point, but some people don't help themselves by being thoughtless. If people walk five abreast at a quarter of the average walking pace, stop immediately after going through a barrier so that no-one else can go through it, stop in the middle of a walkway to fiddle with a smartphone, or are so engrossed in their smartphone that they are almost colliding with other people, then they should not be surprised if other people receiving the consequences of their carelessness get a bit annoyed at their spatial incompetence.

 

[E_Reeves]

@whhistle This was my favourite

Train pulled away from the station and a guy genuinely started commentating on it like a horse race 'and the 1843 from Bath is off'

 

[AlastairFraser]

Agree up to a point, but some people don't help themselves by being thoughtless. If people walk five abreast at a quarter of the average walking pace, stop immediately after going through a barrier so that no-one else can go through it, stop in the middle of a walkway to fiddle with a smartphone, or are so engrossed in their smartphone that they are almost colliding with other people, then they should not be surprised if other people receiving the consequences of their carelessness get a bit annoyed at their spatial incompetence.

I suppose it's part of a general commuter attitude to people, I come first because I have a season ticket.

 

[Ken H]

When a train is half empty yet someone still decides the seat next to me is the one they're choosing!

and then wants to discuss their disgusting skin complaint with you.

 

[Ken H]

guards who announce a train is arriving into {wherever}
'arriving' at or 'coming into'

 

[Ianno87]

I suppose it's part of a general commuter attitude to people, I come first because I have a season ticket.

"I come first because my job is obviously more important to get to than yours"

or

"Beating this random other person in an arbitrary race to nowhere is so vitally important to me that I can't lose"