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Persistent railway myths, misunderstandings etc.

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Pigeon

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That would be a great safety feature if it was possible

It is possible. There's a tram system in France somewhere that uses contact studs in the roadway that only go live when a tram goes over them.
 
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Tractor2018

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Persistent misunderstanding - the dozen people arguing over minutiae in the northern doo thread think they all have something important to say, and they'll be happy when there's no guards. They don't and they won't - they'll still be irrelevant and unhappy.
 

bramling

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There's quite a few ideas that people hold that seem accepted as "fact", that are actually wrong, but are rarely challenged. How about getting a list of them together, and working out where they came from, and why they've persisted?

Let's start with the ever-popular "Great Central was built to continental loading gauge" idea. No idea where it came from - I think it got mentioned in a book once - but it's demonstrably false. It still gets wheeled out as an argument as to why the line should never have closed, should be reopened instead of HS2 etc.

One rather nasty myth that seems to pervade slightly further than it should is that gaining door interlock guarantees nothing is trapped in the doors.
 

Eyersey468

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Concerning the Great Central, my understanding is the London Extension was built to help provide through running to the continent through a Channel Tunnel. Is this true and could it be the reason for the built to a Continental Gauge myth if it is?
 

Billy A

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There are still people out there that think the 3rd rail only becomes electrified when a train goes over it.
You joke but I was in Reims last year. They have third rail trams and the third rail does precisely that!
 

Malcolmffc

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That the railway is just there to move trains around, with passengers an irritating inconvenience
 

Billy A

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It is possible. There's a tram system in France somewhere that uses contact studs in the roadway that only go live when a tram goes over them.
Reims. Saw it last year. Walked on the third rail, survived.
 

sw1ller

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The train will stop at the request stop even if I sit in the shelter where the driver can’t see me on this dark drizzly night.
 

thenorthern

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Railway companies make big profits that go directly to foreign governments.

All railways in Europe outside the United Kingdom are entirely state owned and operated.
 

Spartacus

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Pacers are merely recycled buses from the 70s.

Trains, and steam ones in particular, have steering wheels. I can understand a little of where the steam one comes from, given the Number that have a screw reverser, but anyone who's ever had any type of model train, wooden upwards, or even seen Thomas, should know better!
 

philthetube

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Pacers are merely recycled buses from the 70s.

Trains, and steam ones in particular, have steering wheels. I can understand a little of where the steam one comes from, given the Number that have a screw reverser, but anyone who's ever had any type of model train, wooden upwards, or even seen Thomas, should know better!
I noticed on the Inverness sleeper last week that there is a steering wheel at the back of that. :p:p:p
 

Spartacus

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How about this one just witnessed, that the doors will open just for you if you press the button enough times, despite said button being unlit; what do you think the rest of us on the cold platform at quarter to six are waiting for, frostbite?
 

tommy2215

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One I have heard a few times is that Beeching was a Tory transport minister who was responsible for all the closures in the 60s, then later Barbara Castle came in and prevented any more closures.
 

Springs Branch

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A common myth: If I'm making a relatively short journey and can't be bothered paying the £3 or £4 fare, and then I'm caught by a ticket inspector, the train operator will not be bothered pursuing me just to recover a couple of quid – so I might as well ignore the letters, or even give an address where I haven't lived for the past nine months. It's not like they'll turn the matter over to debt collectors just for a pound or two, is it?
 

Cowley

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That if I’m making a radio play featuring a train journey then all of the UKs railways still have jointed track.
 

tbtc

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We've had a couple of threads filled with "jokey" myths before (https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/railway-myths.40068/ and https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/railway-myths-2013.88925/), but that's going back over five years and a lot of people have obviously joined since then.

In the spirit of the OP's Grand Central comment, I'd suggest the Thatcher quote that "A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure" << there's no evidence that she said this but it gets trotted out pretty often as proof that she hated public transport - and the more it gets quoted, the more people repeat it as truth (it may fit with our opinion of what she might have thought but she treated the railway reasonably well - one of the few bits of the State that she left alone in comparison to other industries - not that I'm defending everything she did).
 

Calthrop

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One I have heard a few times is that Beeching was a Tory transport minister who was responsible for all the closures in the 60s, then later Barbara Castle came in and prevented any more closures.

Concerning the bolded gentleman: very many ordinary folk with no big railway / transport interest, appear to take it for granted that -- and talk as though -- he were responsible for absolutely all passenger railway closures in Great Britain, pretty well "from 1855 to 2015". i have a theory -- mentioned before on these Forums -- that the name has so lodged in the nation's collective mind, because he sounds so extremely right for his role. "Doctor" -- a would-be healer, whether genius or deranged charlatan / butcher; and "Beeching" -- can be read as a coined word meaning "removing dead wood": whether that was being validly done, or whether it was a tragic mistake.
 
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