Perhaps needed more thank you might think. One of my relatives dropping family off at Bedford very early one morning got onto the train to say a last goodbye, they were going on a long haul holiday, and the train left. Next stop Flitwick where she got off, not helped because she was in nightwear and dressing gown.
I don't know what the Thunderer was at Taunton in those old times, but from mid-platform you could hear it at both ends of a full length train, and indeed even over the chanting Maybachs of the Western on the front.
I don’t think SWT ever stopped using whistles...
That used to be particularly annoying at Guildford, where at times it was played before the relevant train had even had the doors released. It seemed to be especially bad with GWR trains on North Downs services, once I heard it before the Turbo's driving cab was even onto the platform.
They still do in East Anglia.
And in an aggressive manner at Euston a long time ago, short blasts to make you run faster and someone shouting to get on the train!
It doesn't.
.When I drove DOO trains my mission in life (and that of many of my colleagues) was to leave people who dawdled along the side of the train behind...
Standard procedure was as follows: you’d watch them in the DOO monitors, as they ambled past several sets of open doors, and approached a closed set.
You’d then hit ”door close”, just as they reached for the button (preventing that set of doors from opening).
They’d run back towards the last open set of doors (they’d already walked past) which, if you’d timed it perfectly, would snap shut just as they reached them.
You’d wait for them to stop woodpeckering, take power in notch one, and gradually creep out of the station....
If it was the last train, so much the better, and about the most fun I’ve ever had with my trousers on.
If Carlsberg made job satisfaction
