Most Dangerous Railway line in the UK

atillathehunn · 25 Jan 2012

The only time I have ever had anything thrown at a train in the UK was in Northwich of all places. It's not the nicest town in the world, but compared to some of the places I have been, it's by no means the worst.

I must say TfL (or whoever deserves credit) have done a marvellous with the North London Line. I can remember doing it some years back late at night trying to do an odd curve and remember very much not feeling at all safe. I was there a few weeks ago (to try and do the same curve we failed to do last time) and it was marvellous. The open carriage on the new stock that works the line is fantastic, along with the much improved lighting at the station, and most reassuring of all the large presence of fairly hefty looking security people. Almost one by every door, and usually several on the platform, too. A much nicer experience when in North London on the last train!

RailUK Forums

ji459 · 25 Jan 2012

PFX said:
If you consider it as part of the UK, I'd say the section of the Belfast to Dublin line around Lurgan is up there. Bomb alerts close the line now and again and it was stopped by a mob who tried to hijack it last year.

That incident beats just about everything

http://www.u.tv/articles/article.aspx?cat=news&guid=8bf2458b-1cc9-4032-b321-bcfea086550e

Rugd1022 · 25 Jan 2012

The Leicester end of the Knighton Junction to Burton-on-Trent line can be pretty bad at certain times of the day, usually when the local kids are trudging home from school or during the holidays. It's not much fun having a bicycle coming down on top of you when you're doing 45mph with 2,000 tonnes of aggragate pushing you along....

Flamingo · 25 Jan 2012

The 03.58 from Swansea used to be a bearpit with clubbers going home from Swansea, kebabs throun the length of carriages, pascom pulled to stop the train at intermediate stations so guys would jump out the window, fights galore, staff assaulted, to the extent that a refusal to work was going to be served by guards. It has improved now, with barriers in place manned by BTP, anybody obviously drunk / no ticket being turned away, it has two TM's and BTP as far as Cardiff.

PFX · 25 Jan 2012

ji459 said:
That incident beats just about everything

http://www.u.tv/articles/article.aspx?cat=news&guid=8bf2458b-1cc9-4032-b321-bcfea086550e

Yup, that would be the hijacking I referred to. It was a year earlier than I rememebered. Things tend to get a little heated here around that time of year!

My personal experience is that golf courses seem to be pretty dangerous. Twice I've been on a Dunblane to Embra train and while passing Falkirk golf course on the Larbert junction bend, have been looking out the window to see a golf ball hit the window beside me. The first time, I actually saw the ball coming in as it had a perfect trajectory to hit me in the head. Fortunately the window held up but my undercrackers were severely tested!

Bellwater · 25 Jan 2012

Manchester to Liverpool via Warrington. there's been numerous people hit by trains in the last year because of idiotic things like sitting on the platform edge waving your legs.

I've had a Fire Extinguisher thrown at my train at Widnes, Missiles thrown at Warrington, Objects placed on the line at Trafford and so on.

westcoaster · 25 Jan 2012

The wall of death between Sutton and west Sutton, get all sort thrown down there bikes/ shopping trolleys/ but strangely lots and lots of for sale boards and to let boards, either people want out or there is a phantom for sale board thief.

district · 25 Jan 2012

I got really worried on the Upminister to Romford shuttle

First class · 25 Jan 2012

Bellwater said:
Manchester to Liverpool via Warrington. there's been numerous people hit by trains in the last year because of idiotic things like sitting on the platform edge waving your legs.

I've had a Fire Extinguisher thrown at my train at Widnes, Missiles thrown at Warrington, Objects placed on the line at Trafford and so on.

I agree with this line, Hough Green to Trafford is quite bad. The Merseyside area probably isn't too bad because of the ticket office opening hours and staff presence.

I also think that Falls of Cruachan on the West Highland line is fairly dangerous.

Tim R-T-C · 26 Jan 2012

At least we have never had to resort to the ghetto bars covering the front windscreens used in Massachusetts.

ANorthernGuard · 26 Jan 2012

Chapeltom said:
Having been to Moston, yes it is an awful place but the areas near Gorton and Ryder Brow stations are worse

Hadfield line has to be up there with the worse

Gorton, Flowery Field, Hattersley, Glossop

Not nice at any time

VTPreston_Tez · 26 Jan 2012

Dawlish area. There's simply no protection. (Same can be said about the Blackpool tramway, but they're not HSTs)

ChrisCooper · 26 Jan 2012

Rugd1022 said:
The Leicester end of the Knighton Junction to Burton-on-Trent line can be pretty bad at certain times of the day, usually when the local kids are trudging home from school or during the holidays. It's not much fun having a bicycle coming down on top of you when you're doing 45mph with 2,000 tonnes of aggragate pushing you along....

Wigston to Knighton on the mainline and around past South Wigston on the Nuneaton line has always had a reputation too. Not sure if it still has or if it's improved now.

150222 · 26 Jan 2012

VTPreston_Tez said:
Dawlish area. There's simply no protection. (Same can be said about the Blackpool tramway, but they're not HSTs)

Has anybody seen that youtube video of a couple running from a HST (driver leaning on the horn) and jump over the wall? I would post a link however can't remember the name.

WestCoast · 26 Jan 2012

ANorthernGuard said:
Hadfield line has to be up there with the worse

Gorton, Flowery Field, Hattersley, Glossop

Not nice at any time

I am not keen on that line especially around Hattersley and Gorton, but I've never grasped why Glossop attracts trouble, when I can think of more questionable places which don't see much anti-social behaviour at all.

Laryk · 26 Jan 2012

150222 said:
Has anybody seen that youtube video of a couple running from a HST (driver leaning on the horn) and jump over the wall? I would post a link however can't remember the name.

This one?

150222 · 26 Jan 2012

I quite liked Glossop. Decent looking building and good shops. My opinion completely changed on my last visit when I was nearly knocked down from behind by a chav on a bloody BMX. Shame really.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Laryk said:
This one?

Aye thats the one.

WestCoast · 26 Jan 2012

150222 said:
I quite liked Glossop. Decent looking building and good shops. My opinion completely changed on my last visit when I was nearly knocked down from behind by a chav on a bloody BMX. Shame really.

If I let things like that form my opinion of a place, then I wouldn't go anywhere... :lol:

I am just curious why Glossop Station has such a reputation, is it people travelling to certain other places on the Hadfield Line I wonder....

johnnychips · 26 Jan 2012

WestCoast said:
I am not keen on that line especially around Hattersley and Gorton, but I've never grasped why Glossop attracts trouble, when I can think of more questionable places which don't see much anti-social behaviour at all.

There are a lot of pubs in Glossop for a town its size and is a good night out from towns and villages around.

Swr28 · 27 Jan 2012

I did this line and alighted at Hattersley for the station grice, bad move as the locals where in the process of smashing up the place, shouting abuse and generally being animals this was Sunday afternoon during the summer, i had to take refuge at the far end of the platforms, and safely made a call to btp just as my get away 323 to Piccadilly pulled up...

Posted this station in another thread here and that is Reading West, i used to stay with a friend near the station..i think a Rail Enthusiast got attacked here a few years back.

Jonny · 27 Jan 2012

ji459 said:
That incident beats just about everything

http://www.u.tv/articles/article.aspx?cat=news&guid=8bf2458b-1cc9-4032-b321-bcfea086550e

It was close enough to a loss of innocent life incident to have justified ramming the mob and if absolutely necessary going over them (just duck under the cab window); the Police would be justified in using lethal force under those circumstances. If the passengers had burned and I was a relative, I would hold it partly against the railway (but mostly the mob) and IMHO that mob were terrorists and worthy of the death penalty if it still existed (but that's another thing, even I don't like the thought but let's not go there). OTOH the dissident element would have played into it though as "sectarian", and some other locals did manage to prevent a loss of life incident.

Edit: in NI, the police - all of them - are routinely armed so there is a risk to human life anywhere in NI.

bAzTNM · 27 Jan 2012

W-on-Sea said:
Some of the lines round Glasgow must surely be pretty bad, given the rate of violent crime in some neighbourhoods there?

As a passenger, I always find the more richer and affluent train stations to be the worst. Westerton, whenever I'm there, always has two police standing on the platform. What is the deal with that?

I don't know if the crime level is high, but I wouldn't want to be hanging around Possilpark & Parkhouse at night just due to it being Possil.

-HarleyD- · 27 Jan 2012

Swr28 said:
Posted this station in another thread here and that is Reading West, i used to stay with a friend near the station..i think a Rail Enthusiast got attacked here a few years back.

#

Reading West has improved a little since the police cleared a lot of the crack houses and brothels from that part of Reading (Oxford Road), However it's still not a nice place to be at night. Its main use during the day is "Fare Evader Central" as its only an extra 5 minute walk into Reading town centre compared to the main Station but there are no barriers, and Revenue only ever work there when they have BTP backup.

PFX · 27 Jan 2012

Jonny said:
It was close enough to a loss of innocent life incident to have justified ramming the mob and if absolutely necessary going over them (just duck under the cab window); the Police would be justified in using lethal force under those circumstances. If the passengers had burned and I was a relative, I would hold it partly against the railway (but mostly the mob) and IMHO that mob were terrorists and worthy of the death penalty if it still existed (but that's another thing, even I don't like the thought but let's not go there). OTOH the dissident element would have played into it though as "sectarian", and some other locals did manage to prevent a loss of life incident.

Edit: in NI, the police - all of them - are routinely armed so there is a risk to human life anywhere in NI.

Fortunately, the Enterprise hijacking was a one off (and hopefully that will remain the case) and bomb alerts on the line are fairly uncommon these days. Like many other places, the most common attack on the train is stone throwing, the evidence of which, is on the sides of nearly every carriage.

Please don't let Jonny's frenzied and ill-informed musings put you off coming over here if you were considering it.

jonb · 27 Jan 2012

We did a tour last year from Birmingham to Cornish branches. The last part of the day was a trip down the old Cattedown branch. As we ran alongside a park (quite slowly) some of the local 'darlings' decided to start throwing rocks & stones at the train. Luckily none of them seemed to break any windows. Maybe the novelty of seeing a train down this line got them excited!

Southern313 · 27 Jan 2012

Good old West Coastway or otherwise known as the Wild West for train crew. Lovely stretch from Littlehampton to Brighton taking in such delightful places as Durrington, East Worthing, Lancing and Southwick. This stretch of line can lay claim to the following "high profile" events

1) Gentleman who had his beard set on fire at Durrington
2) Man who climbed on top of train at Durrington last year
3) Delightful fare evader who set his dog on an RPO
4) The frankly shocking amount of staff assaults that take place along here, including the SIX in one evening after Brighton Pride 2010

Plus the usual ASB and ticketless travel!

Funny thing is it can happen any day of the week. Friday night could be as quiet as the grave and then all hell breaks loose on the Monday night!

Many years ago Connex and BTP did a big operation along this line which saw BTP officers patrolling trains with dogs in the evening.

tempests1 · 27 Jan 2012

Ivo said:
I can't believe all this negativity about Feltham. I've never known any problems there, and I've used it at all manner of times - 0600, 2300, and pretty much everything in-between. The people I know there (including my father) never complain either.

I have revisted Feltham recently and it does look like matters have improved. Back in the early 2000's it had the highest figures of tresspass for any one location out of all of the UK. I was a guard working a Reading service (slam door stock) I got off the train to see the doors were all shut I happened to have my Sportis ticket machine & float/takings on me but I went to shut a door on the catch and then came back to find three hooded youths in the guards office in the brake van they were going through my equipment satchel. I asked them to leave they refused I then shouted over for help in the direction of the barriers and the RPI's came racing over and I was lucky that a Met Cop was with them. I checked and they had not taken anything. I then carried on with the journey and reported the matter to Control. Another occasion I was visiting the signalbox and on the leaving the Up Side exit the Police had put a chavvy women on the deck and were arresting her. I think that Feltham will always have a bad rap, due to the povety in the area, & the young offenders institute rightly or wrongly.

The Raynes Park to Guildford line via Epsom & Effingham Junction has it troubles too. Bookham could present problems with big groups of youths hanging around the station drinking etc. The pompey direct used to see lots of problems on a Fri/Sat night the 23.30 off Guildford to Pompey would be full of drunk youth's. On one recent occasion someone put a wheely bin on the line at Liphook that managed to stop a Class 66 engineering train and cause big delays. You still here off people being attacked in Petersfield on weekend nights around the station area. C2C can be bad but other places/lines have there moments
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Southern313 said:
Good old West Coastway or otherwise known as the Wild West for train crew. Lovely stretch from Littlehampton to Brighton taking in such delightful places as Durrington, East Worthing, Lancing and Southwick. This stretch of line can lay claim to the following "high profile" events

1) Gentleman who had his beard set on fire at Durrington
2) Man who climbed on top of train at Durrington last year
3) Delightful fare evader who set his dog on an RPO
4) The frankly shocking amount of staff assaults that take place along here, including the SIX in one evening after Brighton Pride 2010

Plus the usual ASB and ticketless travel!

Funny thing is it can happen any day of the week. Friday night could be as quiet as the grave and then all hell breaks loose on the Monday night!

Many years ago Connex and BTP did a big operation along this line which saw BTP officers patrolling trains with dogs in the evening.

Agreed this line can be awful. Bad stuff often occurs at Littlehampton/Bognor

swj99 · 27 Jan 2012

I wouldn't say it was the most dangerous, but back in about 1994 I lived near Emsworth railway station. Weekend evenings were usually quite noisy, with the local yobs trying to impress their girlfriends, by seeing who could headbut the perspex passenger sheltler the hardest. It got so annoying in the end that a few of us would go round there and chase them off. The station buildings were all locked up or boarded up. The hooligans had smashed up the toilets and ripped the cctv cameras off their mountings.

One summer evening, we heard a loud bang, and when we looked in the direction of the railway line, we saw showers of sparks. We went over there and the usual crowd were there, and had thrown a metal bar onto the tracks. The yobs stayed where they were, laughing, while an older man (about 60) climbed down onto the tracks as if to remove the metal bar. We told him it was live, and to get back on the platform straight away as a train was approaching. It was one of the trains that didn't stop at Emsworth, and as it passed through, it disturbed the metal bar, which shorted on the 3rd rail again and showered the platform with sparks.

I moved not long after this, and a few weeks later I heard the yobs had put a fridge on the tracks.

ANorthernGuard · 27 Jan 2012

tempests1 said:
I have revisted Feltham recently and it does look like matters have improved. Back in the early 2000's it had the highest figures of tresspass for any one location out of all of the UK. I was a guard working a Reading service (slam door stock) I got off the train to see the doors were all shut I happened to have my Sportis ticket machine & float/takings on me but I went to shut a door on the catch and then came back to find three hooded youths in the guards office in the brake van they were going through my equipment satchel. I asked them to leave they refused I then shouted over for help in the direction of the barriers and the RPI's came racing over and I was lucky that a Met Cop was with them. I checked and they had not taken anything. I then carried on with the journey and reported the matter to Control. Another occasion I was visiting the signalbox and on the leaving the Up Side exit the Police had put a chavvy women on the deck and were arresting her. I think that Feltham will always have a bad rap, due to the povety in the area, & the young offenders institute rightly or wrongly.

The Raynes Park to Guildford line via Epsom & Effingham Junction has it troubles too. Bookham could present problems with big groups of youths hanging around the station drinking etc. The pompey direct used to see lots of problems on a Fri/Sat night the 23.30 off Guildford to Pompey would be full of drunk youth's. On one recent occasion someone put a wheely bin on the line at Liphook that managed to stop a Class 66 engineering train and cause big delays. You still here off people being attacked in Petersfield on weekend nights around the station area. C2C can be bad but other places/lines have there moments
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Agreed this line can be awful. Bad stuff often occurs at Littlehampton/Bognor

Nowt wrong with a few of those stations (especially the ones beginning with "L")

Peter Mugridge · 27 Jan 2012

tempests1 said:
The Raynes Park to Guildford line via Epsom & Effingham Junction has it troubles too. Bookham could present problems with big groups of youths hanging around the station drinking etc.

Stoneleigh has the same problem.

Most Dangerous Railway line in the UK

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