• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Mess rooms from hell , places you like.

Status
Not open for further replies.

ComUtoR

Established Member
Joined
13 Dec 2013
Messages
9,399
Location
UK
This might be controversial but for all its faults as a depot, I'm going to big up Orpington (SE) as one of the best mess rooms... at least in relation to most others around there! Grove Park room is ok too.

Soooo many free doughnuts, cakes and sausage rolls at Orpington.

Charing Cross was recently done a few months back and it’s lovely now, all new everything, big spacious and light, a instant hot tap thing for your coffee, decent Klix machine as well

I'm not convinced on the new Charing Cross. I tend to resign myself to the quiet room. I prefer the old one.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

baz962

Established Member
Joined
8 Jun 2017
Messages
3,284
Soooo many free doughnuts, cakes and sausage rolls at Orpington.



I'm not convinced on the new Charing Cross. I tend to resign myself to the quiet room. I prefer the old one.

I could care less about pay and t&C's . Free doughnuts does it for me , I'm coming over.
 

Economist

Member
Joined
24 Feb 2013
Messages
508
The quiet room? If it's the one I'm thinking of with no ventilation you'd want to stuff Vaseline into your nostrils before going in.
 

ComUtoR

Established Member
Joined
13 Dec 2013
Messages
9,399
Location
UK
Yes, the one that looks and feels like a police holding room.

I like having no windows and no tables. Superb design as always.
 

theironroad

Established Member
Joined
21 Nov 2014
Messages
3,692
Location
London
The drivers room is pretty bad; broken chairs with all the padding fallen out, filthly windows, electrics repeatedly out of order recently, an air conditioning unit that drips water from time to time, the lingering smell of the toilets.

Lol, I'll grant you that the windows need cleaning at least yearly, I think in 15 years they've been cleaned twice, I guess it's the kit and budget that's is lacking. It's a shame as I seem to remember there was a quite nice view.

Again I'll give you the back row of seats are dire. For the life of me I can't understand why they weren't replaced when new chairs and tables were bought, though I see 1 table seems to have disappeared.

The room could be better, but I'm happy enough to sit in there for a pnb.
 

sw1ller

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2013
Messages
1,567
I don’t know what’s worse for us, Wrexham or Chester. Wrexham has just been “done up” with pale green walls and a red toilet floor!!! Can’t sit in there anymore! And Chester is a filthy sesspit that’s no longer big enough to cope with the numourous train crews.
 
Joined
20 May 2009
Messages
330
Location
Bromley
Funnily enough, I'd heard plenty about Victoria's room before the topic reared its ugly head on this forum. I remember thinking back then "that's really petty and actually quite pathetic". And now I think "That's really petty and actually quite pathetic".

Habits are hard to break - but if enough people take the "IDGAF" approach and sit anywhere, you can gradually break the unwritten taboo of sitting with other groups.
 

krus_aragon

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2009
Messages
6,042
Location
North Wales
I don’t know what’s worse for us, Wrexham or Chester. Wrexham has just been “done up” with pale green walls and a red toilet floor!!! Can’t sit in there anymore!
Ooh, that reminds me of my Sixth Form common room that was due to be painted dark green with pea green display boards. The caretakers got it wrong somehow, and painted the walls pea green with dark green on the display boards. Thoroughly nauseous!
 

ChiefPlanner

Established Member
Joined
6 Sep 2011
Messages
7,768
Location
Herts
Having worked in crappy Portakabins as a young man , (railway ones) , the old messrooms at St Pancras really took some beating. The gas stove was something that ought to have gone to the Science Museum , but they would not have accepted it on hygiene grounds. The rest of it was dire to say the very least.

Made some effort to get the crew rooms / mess rooms updated and modernised in my time. Shameful really that in the 21stC things seem so very poor. Back in the old days there were reasonable canteens to assist in break time , something which post the end of BR (yes - I know) , has long gone.
 

Red1980

Member
Joined
8 Apr 2019
Messages
296
I don’t know what’s worse for us, Wrexham or Chester. Wrexham has just been “done up” with pale green walls and a red toilet floor!!! Can’t sit in there anymore! And Chester is a filthy sesspit that’s no longer big enough to cope with the numourous train crews.

Euuuurgh the memories of those messrooms make me want to hurl.
 

EvoIV

Member
Joined
23 Jul 2013
Messages
64
Virgin trains messroom in the dungeon at Birmingham international platform 1, with the barred windows coming down from the ceiling by all of about 6 inches, is one of the better ones, which says it all really. I'm surprised at messrooms that still have fruit machines. Didn't think that would be allowed these days.
 

Thedispatcher

Member
Joined
7 Feb 2016
Messages
105
There’s a few interesting ones round my way. The Stourbridge Guards room has the feel of a prison cell, but with a worse telly and fewer comfortable places to sit. Communal mess room at Birmingham New Street is so far underground it must be a designated nuclear shelter so obviously no phone signal. Finally, one I love and hate: the old mess room at Hereford. Feels really eerie because just behind a locked door is the remains of the DB cargo BOP which is strangely frozen in time. Every time a train comes into the platform, the telly goes off. It’s currently blacked by H+S because the roof fell in.
 

blue87

Member
Joined
21 Mar 2008
Messages
105
Yep that one at New St behind platform 1 can be quite bleak no daylight, no phone signal, you can hear the clatter of feet walking through one of the main entrances situated directly above it, the TV tempremental but it's somewhere to get away from the bloody awful racket of them fans they've installed on the platforms, the little room at the back of it
is nice for a kip though some nice couches to lie on for a kip
 
Last edited:

BTU

Member
Joined
13 Jan 2016
Messages
246
East Croydon under the walkway isn't too bad really, it's not the biggest or the best but it's clean and the air con works.

Purley however ... that makes platform 19 at Vic seem like a Hilton.

Nicest one for me has to be London Bridge. The quiet room especially.
East Croydon under the walkway isn't too bad really, it's not the biggest or the best but it's clean and the air con works.

Purley however ... that makes platform 19 at Vic seem like a Hilton.

Nicest one for me has to be London Bridge. The quiet room especially.
Not sure about that Purley has new toilets and isn't 3 feet from 2 running lines London Bri has no windows is underground and often the loos dont work plus the lighting is horrible it's like being in Macdonald's .
 

BazzaCFC

Member
Joined
16 Jan 2018
Messages
11
Not sure which room in the raft you're talking about, but wouldn't say either are 'dilapidated hell hole'. .

All of the mess rooms in the raft are overcrowded, smelly and dirty. It smells like a sewage treatment plant. All of the chairs are ripped and stained with sh*t. There are several hundred guards and drivers based at Waterloo, the depot and its accommodation is severely OVERCROWDED. The quiet room was in such appalling condition that it was deemed "unfit for purpose" and closed down. You're ok to eat your lunch in a place that smells like a sewer? You're not bothered by the conditions of the seats? You've never wondered how they became torn, or what the stains are that you're sitting on? You're just happy to have a seat to sit on right and don't care if it's covered in sh*t or that there are 8 of you all cooped up on a table that seats only 4? If you think the conditions of the mess rooms are ok, then you are part of the problem. People who stand for nothing accept anything. I have much higher standards. People who are happy to sit and spend their 40 minutes lunch break eating and resting in such filth obviously don't want or expect much from their employer. I expect more HUMANE conditions.
 

83G/84D

Established Member
Joined
28 Oct 2011
Messages
5,952
Location
Cornwall
Has anyone complaining about the state of mess rooms reported it to their Union Health & Safety Rep's?
 

ExRes

Established Member
Joined
16 Dec 2012
Messages
5,761
Location
Back in Sussex
I came across mess rooms from one extreme to another, clean to dirty, old to new, but I think we all have to remember the one constant, the people that use them

When you consider the lazy and downright distasteful behaviour of some staff the blame can't always be put at the employers door, if you treat the place like a pigsty then that's what it'll become, I worked in two brand new depots and the amount of deliberate damage caused by the supposedly adult and responsible employees was eye opening, and they then moan about the employer for the poor conditions, what can you say?
 

2L70

On Moderation
Joined
18 Feb 2019
Messages
355
Location
Barnetby
There’s a few interesting ones round my way. The Stourbridge Guards room has the feel of a prison cell, but with a worse telly and fewer comfortable places to sit.

It’s not big because the SJ Folks are always out covering BJ or LM work, I suppose...
 

ComUtoR

Established Member
Joined
13 Dec 2013
Messages
9,399
Location
UK
Has anyone complaining about the state of mess rooms reported it to their Union Health & Safety Rep's?

It's not just about cleanliness or if it meets H&S requirements. Some are just depressing. Seriously; why would you have a room for socializing and relaxing without windows or tables ? or a mess room that people are constantly walking through because its basically a foyer with a sink and a kettle.

Some of our 'mess rooms' are basically open plan rooms that serve as depot/booking on point so your trying to have a break where people are working. Railway depots are old dilapidated buildings that really aren't fit for purpose. Even the new GTR buildings feel poorly designed.
 

387star

On Moderation
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
6,653
It's not just about cleanliness or if it meets H&S requirements. Some are just depressing. Seriously; why would you have a room for socializing and relaxing without windows or tables ? or a mess room that people are constantly walking through because its basically a foyer with a sink and a kettle.

Some of our 'mess rooms' are basically open plan rooms that serve as depot/booking on point so your trying to have a break where people are working. Railway depots are old dilapidated buildings that really aren't fit for purpose. Even the new GTR buildings feel poorly designed.
Horsham thameslink is a great one ex network rail building . Really spacious with decent furniture. Drinks machine nice kitchen and quiet room plenty of sofas

Small depot of 40 drivers and not many other train crew go there

Three Bridges on the other hand is laughably small
 

Eccles1983

On Moderation
Joined
4 Sep 2016
Messages
841
Blackburn dungeon.

It's below ground, no windows and utterly grim. Occupied by everyone except Blackburn crew who have a shiny new build across the road with fob access.

But it's still got more personality than Leeds. Filled with the most backwards folk available who are like old fishwives when you sit on the wrong table - which is half the reason I used to do it.
 

whoosh

Established Member
Joined
3 Sep 2008
Messages
1,361
All of the mess rooms in the raft are overcrowded, smelly and dirty.....

...There are several hundred guards and drivers based at Waterloo, the depot and its accommodation is severely OVERCROWDED...
...You're just happy to have a seat to sit on right and don't care if it's covered in sh*t or that there are 8 of you all cooped up on a table that seats only 4? ....
...I expect more HUMANE conditions.

Finsbury Park messroom was suffering overcrowding at times. Health & Safety Reps have placed a sign up saying the agreed capacity is 15 people, and what to do if this is exceeded (call control and say you are taking your break at Hornsey or Kings Cross).

The company has moved some PNBs to other locations in the latest diagrams to mitigate against this messroom becoming overcrowded.

Looks like your H&S Reps should follow this example!
 

WA_Driver

Member
Joined
7 Apr 2015
Messages
148
Location
London
All of the mess rooms in the raft are overcrowded, smelly and dirty. It smells like a sewage treatment plant. All of the chairs are ripped and stained with sh*t. There are several hundred guards and drivers based at Waterloo, the depot and its accommodation is severely OVERCROWDED. The quiet room was in such appalling condition that it was deemed "unfit for purpose" and closed down. You're ok to eat your lunch in a place that smells like a sewer? You're not bothered by the conditions of the seats? You've never wondered how they became torn, or what the stains are that you're sitting on? You're just happy to have a seat to sit on right and don't care if it's covered in sh*t or that there are 8 of you all cooped up on a table that seats only 4? If you think the conditions of the mess rooms are ok, then you are part of the problem. People who stand for nothing accept anything. I have much higher standards. People who are happy to sit and spend their 40 minutes lunch break eating and resting in such filth obviously don't want or expect much from their employer. I expect more HUMANE conditions.

So what have you done about it then? Just moan on a forum? Have you not brought to the attention of those that could change it? So you are also to blame for just refusing and do nothing?
 

TheEdge

Established Member
Joined
29 Nov 2012
Messages
4,489
Location
Norwich
Well this makes Norwich JSOP sound like pure luxury. Refurbished toilets, airy messroom, no silly politics, kitchen, TV room with sofa and Sky, quiet room and all cleaned daily.

I'm probably in the minority at GA but I quite like Lowestoft messroom. Quiet (although most people don't like it so that helps!) and with all the basics you need to spend a PNB. Favorite loo on the network too IMHO.
 

Monty

Established Member
Joined
12 Jun 2012
Messages
2,349
Eastleigh messroom for SWR is a truly dreadful place. A cramped horrid box room which is known as 'The Cell' by staff and for good reason.

I just noticed its been mentioned before, but it really is that bad it needs mentioning again!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top