Go to somewhere like Stafford, Doncaster or Carlisle and you will see loads of wagon bashers. A much rarer breed is the container spotter, collecting numbers of shipping containers on freightliners and intermodals.
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Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway
- Thread starter whhistle
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Go to somewhere like Stafford, Doncaster or Carlisle and you will see loads of wagon bashers. A much rarer breed is the container spotter, collecting numbers of shipping containers on freightliners and intermodals.
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xotGD
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Better to leap between units so that you actually have them both than the fudgers who count all of the units coupled up but only travel in one.I was on a Man Oxford Road to Lime Street service a couple of weeks ago which was formed of a 142 at the front and a 150 at the rear. I can't stand 142's so I was sat in the 150.
The train pulled into West Allerton and two guys in their 60's got off the 142, scurried down the platform, and got onto the 150. At first I thought they were fare dodging, but then realised they were spotters and were talking about and making a note that they were now getting "haulage" from the 150 having previously getting "haulage" from the 142.
Does that even count as haulage!?
Anyway, they were harmless and at least they were enjoying their hobby. Although I can think of better hobbies than riding around on knackered old Northern 142's and 150's!
318266
Member
It does work, however, on Class 380 Desiros.
Tracked
Established Member
Was catching the train home from Doncaster P6 yesterday and there was 5/6 people stood on platform 8 intently photographing something towards the south end. 800202 was parked at the north end but they were all looking the other way, so thinking it was something interesting (saw Flying Scotsman in the same place the other year) I had a quick look.
1 x Ex-Scotrail 170 that's been there all week
1 x 66 arriving on a freight.
1 x Ex-Scotrail 170 that's been there all week
1 x 66 arriving on a freight.
TrainTube
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No way! A class 66! Definitely don't see them everyday!Was catching the train home from Doncaster P6 yesterday and there was 5/6 people stood on platform 8 intently photographing something towards the south end. 800202 was parked at the north end but they were all looking the other way, so thinking it was something interesting (saw Flying Scotsman in the same place the other year) I had a quick look.
1 x Ex-Scotrail 170 that's been there all week
1 x 66 arriving on a freight.
I've seen someone with a dictaphone in the past, just reading the numbers aloud off a passing train and (presumably) checking them off against his list at a more leisurely pace between trains.
Killingworth
Established Member
To be fair, he was only writing down the last 4 digits once be realised they were all the same type.
A couple of days ago the Northern service I was on arrived into Lime Street at 15.56. As I was alighting the train a woman with a massive suitcase and a smaller rucksack impatiently pushed past me to board the train. She was huffing and puffing in a manner that meant "get out of my way!".
Sometimes there is a quick turn around of trains at Lime Street and people want to get on asap to grab a seat or, and this is highly unlikely, before the train departs. Except in this case the train was forming the 16.16 to Manchester Airport.
It was actually 2 x 150's joined together and she could have got away with turning up at 16.15 and still got a seat. I can think of better things to do on a Monday afternoon than sit on a 150 for 20 minutes waiting for it to depart!
Sometimes there is a quick turn around of trains at Lime Street and people want to get on asap to grab a seat or, and this is highly unlikely, before the train departs. Except in this case the train was forming the 16.16 to Manchester Airport.
It was actually 2 x 150's joined together and she could have got away with turning up at 16.15 and still got a seat. I can think of better things to do on a Monday afternoon than sit on a 150 for 20 minutes waiting for it to depart!
Harbon 1
Member
Wagons and containers, pah! On the GB18 tour I was sat near on track plant spotters!
Far north 37
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Maximum line speed 50 mph
TeaLovingDave
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Works on a fair few (but not all) of the U-Bahn services I have used in Germany - off the top of my head it definitely worked in Berlin and Munich, and definitely didn't in Cologne. Don't recall either way for Hamburg, Frankfurt or Hannover.
Graham2001
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I've seen similar things in Perth on the Mandurah line and with good reason. The Mandurah station is a terminus with two platforms on either side of the track. If the train pulls into the left hand side platform then the closest point to the entrance is the front coach of whichever unit the passenger is on. (Trains on the Mandurah line are formed of three car units which can be joined to form a six car train.). If the train pulls into the right hand side platform the closest point to the entrance is towards the rear of the front set of three cars in a six unit train (and the front car of the rear set of units.), but it's hard to tell which platform the train is pulling into until the train is very close to the station. You get to see people walking forwards and then backwards or vice-versa depending on just where the train is stopping.
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
It's quite amusing to be arriving at Huddersfield on anything longer than a 150*, and see folk getting up as soon as we leave Deighton to stand by the doors... on the left-hand side of the train!
*=funny because anything terminating that's longer than that will definitely use platform 4 or 6.
*=funny because anything terminating that's longer than that will definitely use platform 4 or 6.
trainophile
Established Member
There’s five empty 4-tables and the same of 2-tables in coach H on the Virgin from Carlisle to Glasgow that I just boarded. I take my reserved seat and look forward to enjoying the whole table to myself.
Chap gets on at the other end, walks past all the empty tables and sits opposite me in a seat marked available. Dumps his bags on the window seat and puts a large laptop on the table between us.
I don’t like to be rude, but I got up and moved saying “we might as well have more room as the train is nearly empty”.
He doesn’t *look* like a weirdo
.
Chap gets on at the other end, walks past all the empty tables and sits opposite me in a seat marked available. Dumps his bags on the window seat and puts a large laptop on the table between us.
I don’t like to be rude, but I got up and moved saying “we might as well have more room as the train is nearly empty”.
He doesn’t *look* like a weirdo
.
pdeaves
Established Member
Do you?He doesn’t *look* like a weirdo
trainophile
Established Member
Do you?
What are you implying?
Hopefully I look like a typical middle aged (poetic licence there!) woman.
Perhaps he wanted someone to talk to. Well it ain’t me babe
.There’s five empty 4-tables and the same of 2-tables in coach H on the Virgin from Carlisle to Glasgow that I just boarded. I take my reserved seat and look forward to enjoying the whole table to myself.
Chap gets on at the other end, walks past all the empty tables and sits opposite me in a seat marked available. Dumps his bags on the window seat and puts a large laptop on the table between us.
I don’t like to be rude, but I got up and moved saying “we might as well have more room as the train is nearly empty”.
He doesn’t *look* like a weirdo
I've had that before. In an empty carriage I won't sit right next to someone, I'd spread out as that's the unwritten rule!
Esker-pades
Established Member
Why do people do that?There’s five empty 4-tables and the same of 2-tables in coach H on the Virgin from Carlisle to Glasgow that I just boarded. I take my reserved seat and look forward to enjoying the whole table to myself.
Chap gets on at the other end, walks past all the empty tables and sits opposite me in a seat marked available. Dumps his bags on the window seat and puts a large laptop on the table between us.
I don’t like to be rude, but I got up and moved saying “we might as well have more room as the train is nearly empty”.
He doesn’t *look* like a weirdo
Even for semi-full long distance journey I'll have a walk down the train to find empty spaces once it's up and running. I'm often rewarded with an entirely free table rather than the bunched reservations at one end of coach C that usually happens.
I like my personal space.
Had someone ask me how to get to Doncaster. Told them, but they got on my train that was not going to Doncaster and bought a return to the terminus station. At the terminus they asked me how to get to Doncaster, I told them which train to get and where to change. They promptly got on my train again and returned to the origin station, nowhere near Doncaster.
Had a lady the other day sharing a sandwich with her dog. Not tearing bits off and giving it to the dog, but letting it rip a bit off then eating off the same bit herself. Dog was also on the seat, and was only reluctantly placed on the floor.
Had a lady the other day sharing a sandwich with her dog. Not tearing bits off and giving it to the dog, but letting it rip a bit off then eating off the same bit herself. Dog was also on the seat, and was only reluctantly placed on the floor.
ChiefPlanner
Established Member
Absolutely gross - the Welsh have a saying which phonetically assists "Ych a fi" ...
Dr Hoo
Established Member
On heavily reserved services the only ‘available’ seat may be opposite someone else reserved from origin. Hull Trains is a good example of this. You make have a largely empty carriage from Hull but it is chock full by the time you leave Grantham after all the other ‘reservists’ have arrived.
trainophile
Established Member
I did take that into account, but in today’s case Carlisle was the final stop before Glasgow so it was pretty obvious that the empty tables would remain empty. They weren’t even messy as if already used.
Bearing in mind that some (a lot of) people think that a reservation ticket on a seat means that nobody else can use that seat at all - even if the reservation is A-B and they're travelling C-D-E.
kevconnor
Member
Something similar on recent morning journey from Manchester to London.
On a pendelino I had a window airline seat reserved. When I boarded a gentleman was sat on the outside of the two seats, I asked if I could get into my seat on the inside and he moves over. Normally I wouldn’t complain and just sit on the outside but seeing on the reservations it was reserved from Stoke - London I asked to sit in the seat I had reserved. Cue histrionics and huffing as he picks up his items and instead moves to another seat further down the carriage.
Still can’t figure out what his issue was.
On a pendelino I had a window airline seat reserved. When I boarded a gentleman was sat on the outside of the two seats, I asked if I could get into my seat on the inside and he moves over. Normally I wouldn’t complain and just sit on the outside but seeing on the reservations it was reserved from Stoke - London I asked to sit in the seat I had reserved. Cue histrionics and huffing as he picks up his items and instead moves to another seat further down the carriage.
Still can’t figure out what his issue was.
I was on a Man Oxford Road to Lime Street service a couple of weeks ago which was formed of a 142 at the front and a 150 at the rear. I can't stand 142's so I was sat in the 150.
The train pulled into West Allerton and two guys in their 60's got off the 142, scurried down the platform, and got onto the 150. At first I thought they were fare dodging, but then realised they were spotters and were talking about and making a note that they were now getting "haulage" from the 150 having previously getting "haulage" from the 142.
Does that even count as haulage!?
Anyway, they were harmless and at least they were enjoying their hobby. Although I can think of better hobbies than riding around on knackered old Northern 142's and 150's!
I would count that as cheating. The only way one can legitimately (in my personal view) "tick" more than one carriage on a single journey is if one moves for a justifiable reason (e.g. heating failure, standing in A and then seats become available in B {but not in A}, Guard asks you to move etc). Otherwise - one journey, one carriage.
trainophile
Established Member
I don’t blame them, always worth checking out whether one half of a two unit train is a better Class than the other half (I don’t mean Standard or First!).
Not sure about that one, good security is mostly about good habits so it's better to do it all the time than not to bother.
tsr
Established Member
Depends what device you’re entering the PIN number on. Some cash machines, and similar setups, are susceptible to small cameras and skimming devices being used by identity thieves. Nobody needs to be physically present to cause an issue.
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