Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway

trebor79 · 26 Mar 2019

I don't know if this counts or not, but changing trains at Oxford Circus there was an elderlyish gent in front of me. Dressed in a smart grey striped suit, smart brogues. Briefcase.
But his suit trousers had been cut into shorts that came about a third of the way down his thighs. And he was wearing frilly white socks pulled right up to his knees.
I wondered if it was a way of combating heat on the tube, but then I realised it was actually quite chilly outside and there would be nowhere to change. So in the end I decided it was just a bit weird!
Each to their own though...

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shredder1 · 26 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
Not strictly from the railway only but people covering their pin when nobdy else is around.
Seems like extra effort for nothing.

Could be a hidden pin prick camera above the machine

Ticket Man · 26 Mar 2019

The first trains of the morning where the regulars all have their usual seats. Used to catch the early bird 05:13 Abbey Wood to Charing Cross each day when I was starting at the crack of dawn. Working shifts, I wasn't blessed with the 05:13 membership card and so was never sure where to sit. I saw one lady get at Plumsted who was particularly miffed when I was warming her usual spot. Safe to say that I sat there all week whilst I was on that shift :lol:

tsr · 26 Mar 2019

Ticket Man said:
The first trains of the morning where the regulars all have their usual seats. Used to catch the early bird 05:13 Abbey Wood to Charing Cross each day when I was starting at the crack of dawn. Working shifts, I wasn't blessed with the 05:13 membership card and so was never sure where to sit. I saw one lady get at Plumsted who was particularly miffed when I was warming her usual spot. Safe to say that I sat there all week whilst I was on that shift

The old 0400ish Three Bridges to Victoria was always entertaining in a similar way, with four coaches of drunks and rough sleepers at the London end, and a coach at the back with all the early traincrew. Hell would have to freeze over before the two groups saw fit to travel in the same coach as each other...

(Except for GWR crew going to Paddington. They always used to be in First at the front in order to make a quick getaway at Victoria. :lol:

)

whhistle · 27 Mar 2019

shredder1 said:
Could be a hidden pin prick camera above the machine

Sorry, I should have said... the room is a rural railway station that sees one train an hour.
The ceiling is nearly 12 foot above the persons head.

But then I've seen someone cover it so much, they took three times as long to enter their pin as they were feeling round the buttons for the right one.

Spartacus · 27 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
Sorry, I should have said... the room is a rural railway station that sees one train an hour.
The ceiling is nearly 12 foot above the persons head.

But then I've seen someone cover it so much, they took three times as long to enter their pin as they were feeling round the buttons for the right one.

The camera would be hidden in a false panel on the machine itself. Such a cash machine might be deemed an easy target, low footfall so slimmer pickings but also less chance of getting caught and people perhaps being less on their guard.....

Spartacus · 27 Mar 2019

xotGD said:
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’ve never bothered with numbers but I’ve of the opinion that for regular haulage bashers both would count as long as they were powering. Many would have had zero locos if you have to travel on the stock, then there’s issues with units that are technically two, like Eurostars. Carriage bashing would be another thing. I’ve known people record multiples of units, getting combinations of pairs, and also seats, though not, I believe trying to do all seats on all units, more all for a given class!

ArchieWoodbine · 27 Mar 2019

trebor79 said:
I don't know if this counts or not, but changing trains at Oxford Circus there was an elderlyish gent in front of me. Dressed in a smart grey striped suit, smart brogues. Briefcase.
But his suit trousers had been cut into shorts that came about a third of the way down his thighs. And he was wearing frilly white socks pulled right up to his knees.
I wondered if it was a way of combating heat on the tube, but then I realised it was actually quite chilly outside and there would be nowhere to change. So in the end I decided it was just a bit weird!
Each to their own though...

Probably wearing "Bermuda Shorts" - i.e. formal trousers tailored into shorts and worn with high-socks in hot climates. Very occasionally one sees them out and about in London, but typically it's something worn exclusively in the tropics (mostly in Bermuda obviously!).

RichT54 · 27 Mar 2019

During one of the colder spells in February (while I was feeling cold despite a thick jacket) I saw a young guy walking through Reading station wearing just a t-shirt, shorts and sandals and carrying a surfboard, presumably on his way to Cornwall.

i4n · 27 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
Not strictly from the railway only but people covering their pin when nobdy else is around.
Seems like extra effort for nothing.

I always do that, even in the machine that's installed in work where only staff can use it. As someone who got caught by a skimming machine and camera (I never noticed even though I knew they existed and what some of them looked like) in the past it's not something I'm willing to risk again as it was very hard to get the money back that I lost to it - as far as I'm concerned you can never be too careful at an ATM now, if you cover the PIN they can't use your details.

Ken H · 27 Mar 2019

RichT54 said:
During one of the colder spells in February (while I was feeling cold despite a thick jacket) I saw a young guy walking through Reading station wearing just a t-shirt, shorts and sandals and carrying a surfboard, presumably on his way to Cornwall.

never see my neighbour out of shorts. he even wears them when its freezing and snow lying. Sorry, once, he had a boiler suit on while tinkering with his car. bet he has his shorts on still! He is from Yorkshire tho!

43096 · 27 Mar 2019

xotGD said:
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.

By that logic you cannot count any loco as you are not actually on it.

whhistle · 28 Mar 2019

Spartacus said:
The camera would be hidden in a false panel on the machine itself. Such a cash machine might be deemed an easy target, low footfall so slimmer pickings but also less chance of getting caught and people perhaps being less on their guard.....

It wasn't a cash machine...

Seriously, I can't seem to explain that the person was literally covering the pin pad so not even they could see the numbers.
There is ZERO chance of a skimming device being added to the machine, ZERO chance of a camera being able to see the pin number being entered.
I find it weird that someone would take such a large precaution.
I bet that person doesn't look 5 times before crossing a road at a pelican crossing.

RichT54 · 28 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
It wasn't a cash machine...

Seriously, I can't seem to explain that the person was literally covering the pin pad so not even they could see the numbers.
There is ZERO chance of a skimming device being added to the machine, ZERO chance of a camera being able to see the pin number being entered.
I find it weird that someone would take such a large precaution.
I bet that person doesn't look 5 times before crossing a road at a pelican crossing.

It's not just cash machines that have been targetted. There was a case near me a few years ago where an employee at a filling station was in collusion with criminals and had installed a camera above the counter to film people entering their PINs when paying for fuel.

jammiedodger80 · 28 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
It wasn't a cash machine...

Seriously, I can't seem to explain that the person was literally covering the pin pad so not even they could see the numbers.
There is ZERO chance of a skimming device being added to the machine, ZERO chance of a camera being able to see the pin number being entered.
I find it weird that someone would take such a large precaution.
I bet that person doesn't look 5 times before crossing a road at a pelican crossing.

If you're the only witness to them doing this, then I would guess they're ensuring you don't discover their pin

Spartacus · 28 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
It wasn't a cash machine...

Seriously, I can't seem to explain that the person was literally covering the pin pad so not even they could see the numbers.
There is ZERO chance of a skimming device being added to the machine, ZERO chance of a camera being able to see the pin number being entered.
I find it weird that someone would take such a large precaution.
I bet that person doesn't look 5 times before crossing a road at a pelican crossing.

I’m sure you’re right and everyone else, police and banks included, are wrong. :rolleyes:

Next, how about railways?

xotGD · 29 Mar 2019

43096 said:
By that logic you cannot count any loco as you are not actually on it.

You get hauled by a locomotive. You travel on a dmu/emu. (And you have neither from a DVT!) The line in the book serves a different function.

philthetube · 29 Mar 2019

whhistle said:
Not strictly from the railway only but people covering their pin when nobdy else is around.
Seems like extra effort for nothing.

You were obviously there to see them

LowLevel · 30 Mar 2019

xotGD said:
You get hauled by a locomotive. You travel on a dmu/emu. (And you have neither from a DVT!) The line in the book serves a different function.

What if you're in a trailer car on a unit....?

pdeaves · 30 Mar 2019

LowLevel said:
What if you're in a trailer car on a unit....?

You count what you want to count. It's your hobby, not a competition; you do what you want.

Ken H · 30 Mar 2019

I like unusual stuff

Being on an HST that was wrong way round and went into Newcastle from the south via the High level bridge
Getting a brum cross city line train that was a 210 instead of the electric. Think it was still the time of the 308's before 323's
seeing a 156 on the settle- carlisle
getting an HST on the early morning Derby - Plymouth in 2001 instead of the usual 47 + 8 for my Cheltenham-Bristol commute. God it was unreliable then...
getting a Leeds York train. It went out of Leeds the wrong way, then through Woodlesford, Castleford then Church Fenton. Class 124. Return train came back through Garforth.
and recently, getting a 321 from Shipley to Skipton. Not that rare but still worth noting.

_toommm_ · 30 Mar 2019

A woman complaining today that you dont get alcohol in first class on Virgin on the weekend. She proceeds to tweet stating 'I can't see anywhere on your website that alcohol isn't available in First Class'. She then proceeds to tweet a screenshot that states alcohol is 'purchasable'

_toommm_ · 30 Mar 2019

Oh, and someone complaining about the bottles that a water company serve their water in, with the bottle being too thin, and Virgin must be able to specify the bottle type and shape.

Ticket Man · 31 Mar 2019

_toommm_ said:
Oh, and someone complaining about the bottles that a water company serve their water in, with the bottle being too thin, and Virgin must be able to specify the bottle type and shape.

Outragous, them bottles are more than 50% recycled plastic don't they know :rolleyes:

atraindriver · 31 Mar 2019

Ken H · 31 Mar 2019

atraindriver said:
There were no 210s in use around Brum for years before the wires went up on the Cross City line. Sprinters were fairly rare, as the electrics pretty much directly replaced the first generation DMUs, so I suspect you're thinking of a 15x of some ilk.

brain dead. cl 150.
sorry

atraindriver · 31 Mar 2019

_toommm_ · 31 Mar 2019

This, on a train from Newport to Piccadilly today (it's a woman openly 'preparing and assembling' a joint on a train. At half 7 on a Sunday:

156443 · 2 Apr 2019

On the way down to Grosmont to ride on City Of Wells and start to pull out of Seaham Station and the train suddenly stops, 2 passengers get on and get a telling off from the guard. Turns out they grabbed the train to get it to stop as it was departing causing the driver to have to stop suddenly.

Minilad · 2 Apr 2019

atraindriver said:
It's all those years under the wires, fries your brain. That's my excuse anyway!

150s were indeed rare on the Cross City, so when one turned up it was a sign that the proverbial was hitting the fan. I don't remember ever seeing a 156 or a 158 on the line, although I do remember a 156 on an all stations Walsall vice 150 and an InterCity CrossCountry 158 vice EMU turning up on a Coventry - Wolverhampton local once.

I saw a few 158s on the last train to Redditch in the late 90's-early 2000's. I was working in the ticket office at Longbridge at the time. I believe the 158 worked into New St from Liverpool and set swopped to work the final part of the diagram. Not sure for what reason but I remember it happening on 3 or 4 occasions while I was at Longbridge

Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway

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