Said / heard / been asked something stoopid?

PUFFINGBILLY · 29 Jan 2012

For example:
First day as a guide - first question from travelling passenger "Who is the person the engine is named after?". Had no idea but claimed I would try and find out. Ten minutes later passing back through the carriage passenger accosted me with the answer found by Googling on his portable handset phone Blueberry/ Blackcurrent thingy!!! He was good enough to make light of my discomforture :oops:

. It's a year later and nobody has asked me the same question so I can show off my knowledge!

RailUK Forums

PFX · 30 Jan 2012

Not quite a stupid question but during running of our Santa specials, Competitive Dad asked me which was the best place to sit in the train so he was closest to the entrance of Santa's grotto? After a brief struggle of conscience, I managed to supress the part of me that wanted to tell him the exact opposite.

scotsman · 30 Jan 2012

Can I park here?....in the station car park

GM078 · 30 Jan 2012

On another site a few months back I came across the question "can anyone tell me the difference between a steam train and a diesel train?".

I wish I'd made that up...

table38 · 30 Jan 2012

GM078 said:
On another site a few months back I came across the question "can anyone tell me the difference between a steam train and a diesel train?".

Good job they didn't ask the difference between a steam train and an electric train

GM078 · 30 Jan 2012

table38 said:
Good job they didn't ask the difference between a steam train and an electric train

*head explodes*

John Webb · 30 Jan 2012

We get the occasional visitor to St Albans South Signal Box who thinks we're still controlling the trains on the Midland main line that passes the box. Mind you, if we happen to run a demo of a stopping train on the up slow and one leaves the real up slow platform just as our 'virtual train' moves off on the track diagram that can confuse some people!

PFX · 30 Jan 2012

table38 said:
Good job they didn't ask the difference between a steam train and an electric train

That would be an electric kettle then?

Temple Meads · 30 Jan 2012

PUFFINGBILLY said:
For example:
First day as a guide - first question from travelling passenger "Who is the person the engine is named after?". Had no idea but claimed I would try and find out. Ten minutes later passing back through the carriage passenger accosted me with the answer found by Googling on his portable handset phone Blueberry/ Blackcurrent thingy!!! He was good enough to make light of my discomforture . It's a year later and nobody has asked me the same question so I can show off my knowledge!

Do you remember what the name was?

Tim R-T-C · 30 Jan 2012

Temple Meads said:
Do you remember what the name was?

Flying Scotsman?

Tomnick · 30 Jan 2012

John Webb said:
We get the occasional visitor to St Albans South Signal Box who thinks we're still controlling the trains on the Midland main line that passes the box. Mind you, if we happen to run a demo of a stopping train on the up slow and one leaves the real up slow platform just as our 'virtual train' moves off on the track diagram that can confuse some people!

We get the opposite on the GCR sometimes. Was in the middle of a 'phone call at Loughborough when a couple of ladies of advancing years let themselves in (ignoring the clear 'no admittance' sign on the door). Not wishing to let myself get distracted, I ignored them whilst I finished talking - at least until one of them moved to throw my Down Outer Home back. "Oh, we didn't think it was real!"

LE Greys · 30 Jan 2012

The old "Where's the steering wheel?"

If I can, I generally lead the visitor to the front of the engine and point out the leading bogie.

Kinghambranch · 30 Jan 2012

Tomnick said:
We get the opposite on the GCR sometimes. Was in the middle of a 'phone call at Loughborough when a couple of ladies of advancing years let themselves in (ignoring the clear 'no admittance' sign on the door). Not wishing to let myself get distracted, I ignored them whilst I finished talking - at least until one of them moved to throw my Down Outer Home back. "Oh, we didn't think it was real!"

I do apologise in advance for my mind and trust I won't get banned but if you had substituted "advancing years" for "loose morals" then I would have been quite happy for them to throw my down outer home around. That said, the last statement in the quote would probably still apply. (Sorry). :oops:

deltic1989 · 30 Jan 2012

table38 said:
Good job they didn't ask the difference between a steam train and an electric train

Now that is clever. a little weird but clever.

ChrisCooper · 31 Jan 2012

"Is this a Tram or a Trolleybus?"

Temple Meads · 31 Jan 2012

ChrisCooper said:
"Is this a Tram or a Trolleybus?"

Neither, it's a Class 142

ACE1888 · 31 Jan 2012

I'm sure I don't know everything, but the types who FORCE their opinions on EVERYONE, even if they're talking through their ar**'s (and when they don't know what they're on about at all) :oops:

One tip, try not to interupt them, let them roll on and dig themselves into a deeper hole I say

Also the ones who say 'you should do this and that' and when you ask them why they don't help out' etc, watch them 'backtrack' BIGTIME...pure entertainment in general...

PUFFINGBILLY · 31 Jan 2012

Temple Meads said:
Do you remember what the name was?

Yes I do

GM078 · 31 Jan 2012

ACE1888 said:
Also the ones who say 'you should do this and that' and when you ask them why they don't help out' etc, watch them 'backtrack' BIGTIME...pure entertainment in general...

Ah yes, I'm quite familiar with those types. I volunteer for a mainline operator and once got asked why we didn't reopen a closed line 50 miles away from where 90% of the volunteer workforce live.

Or the old "your society has a duty (yes, a 'duty'!)to preserve X/Y/Z", without any regard as to who'll restore it, raise funds for said restoration, etc...

PFX · 31 Jan 2012

GM078 said:
Or the old "your society has a duty (yes, a 'duty'!)to preserve X/Y/Z", without any regard as to who'll restore it, raise funds for said restoration, etc...

All too familiar with that and there are one or two of them around this forum who are guilty of such notions. Being involved with preserving various locos, I find it particularly insulting when these people harp on in such a way, forgetting that they could help instead of putting down the efforts of a few volunteers.

Sorry, I've chucked the soap box out the window!

StoneRoad · 31 Jan 2012

Oral history on a certain North Wales narrow gauge line has it that one day a grockle, observing the labourous work entailed in digging a rock cutting, asked when the next train to the top station would be leaving.....he was offered a shovel to help speed things along. (or told to start walking....thataway! in other versions)

This happened more than once or twice as although the offer was usually declined, others helped out!

umontu · 1 Feb 2012

ACE1888 said:
Also the ones who say 'you should do this and that' and when you ask them why they don't help out' etc, watch them 'backtrack' BIGTIME...pure entertainment in general...

Been there, heard that. Best stuff is usually in the local newspapers from ill informed people who took one look five years a go and decided stuff never moves on. I find it comical that they never look again.

STEVIEBOY1 · 1 Feb 2012

GM078 said:
*head explodes*

I Wonder if that loco has been preserved and or put in a museum. (There is a great one in Luzern.)

Waddon · 1 Feb 2012

I once saw some poor soul make the briefest comment to some nutter on one of the preserved lines, something like 'nice line, isn't it'...

immediately the nutter went into 'this line was built in 1897 by blah blah blah gradient loco type other loco type blah blah blah... the poor guy was just being polite but he got the full history plus the history of everything else blasted at him in an uninterruptable continuous nasal monotone for the whole duration of the rest of the journey (and it's a long line), and he was too polite to get up and walk away... I asked the guard to rescue him after about 20 minutes

Apparently the narrator is one of the line's 'characters'

p.s. I don't usually use the phrase 'nutter' lightly but in this case it was totally justified

STEVIEBOY1 · 2 Feb 2012

I asked a member of Station staff years ago at Waterloo East Station, long before electronic destination boards etc, how long the next train was for Dover, meaning in how many minutes the train would arrive, and was told 8 coaches!

Waldgrun · 2 Feb 2012

STEVIEBOY1 said:
I asked a member of Station staff years ago at Waterloo East Station, long before electronic destination boards etc, how long the next train was for Dover, meaning in how many minutes the train would arrive, and was told 8 coaches!

Not such a daft reply, you may have wanted to know, where the front, rear or maybe where the Guards van would be located!. I remember an old School teacher of mine saying, if you ask a question, make sure that you phrase it so as to convey what information you seek.

Still I once had someone ask me, "Have I missed the next train?"
my reply, "Stand there long enough, and you will!"

STEVIEBOY1 · 3 Feb 2012

Waldgrun said:
Not such a daft reply, you may have wanted to know, where the front, rear or maybe where the Guards van would be located!. I remember an old School teacher of mine saying, if you ask a question, make sure that you phrase it so as to convey what information you seek.

Still I once had someone ask me, "Have I missed the next train?"
my reply, "Stand there long enough, and you will!"

OK, fair enough, point taken.

Minilad · 3 Feb 2012

Waldgrun said:
Not such a daft reply, you may have wanted to know, where the front, rear or maybe where the Guards van would be located!. I remember an old School teacher of mine saying, if you ask a question, make sure that you phrase it so as to convey what information you seek.

Still I once had someone ask me, "Have I missed the next train?"
my reply, "Stand there long enough, and you will!"

Exactly. If you want the right answer you have to ask the right question.

Waldgrun · 3 Feb 2012

XCDriver said:
Exactly. If you want the right answer you have to ask the right question.

A classic I once heard,
Passenger, "Does this train call at Southampton?"
Staff, "yes!"
Passenger, "Does this train call at Woolston?"
Staff, "yes!"
Passenger, "Good! That does mean it stops at Sholing then?"
Staff, "No! It travels through there at about 40 M.P.H!"

Why do some people ask three questions, when one will do.

4SRKT · 6 Feb 2012

PFX said:
All too familiar with that and there are one or two of them around this forum who are guilty of such notions. Being involved with preserving various locos, I find it particularly insulting when these people harp on in such a way, forgetting that they could help instead of putting down the efforts of a few volunteers.

Sorry, I've chucked the soap box out the window!

If you get insulted by people expressing their opinions, prepare to spend a lifetime feeling morally outraged.

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