Ride on a ghost train

[JBuchananGB]

Yesterday 8 February 2024 a passenger arrived at Milton Keynes Central with the intention of catching the 20.19 service to Stafford. This train was announced as cancelled. Wishing to proceed towards Stafford she opted to catch the late running 1Y67 service hoping to find further transportation available at Rugby. Enroute to Rugby she checked the available services.

This did not fill her with joy.
However, alighting at Rugby, as there was no point staying on that train towards Birmingham she checked the departure board.


4 minutes later she boarded the late running 20.42 service 1U49 which was her originally intended train, the 20.19 from Milton Keynes.
It was not very busy. No surprise there. Everywhere she looked it was cancelled. Not shown on Rugby departure board.

In fact she thinks there may only have been only one other passenger on the train as shown in the picture above.
She was somewhat annoyed that at 8.10pm at Milton Keynes when that train had already departed Watford Junction, it was being announced as cancelled. If it had not been further delayed she would not have caught it at Rugby.

 

[Western 52]

Reminds me of a train I caught in the 1980s from Exeter to Plymouth. I arrived at Exeter to find the train already in the platform, a bit early I thought. I boarded the train and settled into a nice compartment. Off we went, and I was surprised we went non stop through Newton Abbot. The guard wandered through, and told me the train was not actually in service! Luckily it did stop at Plymouth. I had the whole train to myself.

 

[AdamWW]

Reminds me of a train I caught in the 1980s from Exeter to Plymouth. I arrived at Exeter to find the train already in the platform, a bit early I thought. I boarded the train and settled into a nice compartment. Off we went, and I was surprised we went non stop through Newton Abbot. The guard wandered through, and told me the train was not actually in service! Luckily it did stop at Plymouth. I had the whole train to myself.

Happened to me on a bus once. Driver forgot he was out of service. I don't expect it's that unusual on buses.

Had a nice non stop ride...

 

[JBuchananGB]

This train was running in service. It was started from Watford Junction 10 minutes late. Fortunately it lost another 10 before Tring which meant the passenger just beat it to Rugby. If she had missed it, or if it had really been cancelled, she would still have been better off at Rugby, because the 21.42 service was started from Rugby.

 

[Babybirdrobin]

Yesterday 8 February 2024 a passenger arrived at Milton Keynes Central with the intention of catching the 20.19 service to Stafford. This train was announced as cancelled. Wishing to proceed towards Stafford she opted to catch the late running 1Y67 service hoping to find further transportation available at Rugby. Enroute to Rugby she checked the available services.
View attachment 151932
This did not fill her with joy.
However, alighting at Rugby, as there was no point staying on that train towards Birmingham she checked the departure board.
View attachment 151933

4 minutes later she boarded the late running 20.42 service 1U49 which was her originally intended train, the 20.19 from Milton Keynes.
It was not very busy. No surprise there. Everywhere she looked it was cancelled. Not shown on Rugby departure board.
View attachment 151934
In fact she thinks there may only have been only one other passenger on the train as shown in the picture above.
She was somewhat annoyed that at 8.10pm at Milton Keynes when that train had already departed Watford Junction, it was being announced as cancelled. If it had not been further delayed she would not have caught it at Rugby.

Weird, I experienced it at Wickford where my train disappeared then reappeared as it approached, no announcements of cancelation, just disappearance

 

[Kite159]

Weird, I experienced it at Wickford where my train disappeared then reappeared as it approached, no announcements of cancelation, just disappearance

That isn't anything unusual if the train was running late as some information displays are a tad basic in that the train will disappear after it's scheduled time even if it's 5 minutes late.

As for the OP, I suspect with all the issues on the WCML yesterday the original schedule got cancelled with a short notice schedule put onto the system in its place (starting from Watford) but for whatever reason didn't filter into the passenger displays.

 

[TheTallOne]

Am I right in thinking that the app would show cancelled if a particular stop has been removed (e.g. to make it fast)?

Not entirely useful if that is the case, because it might be possible to join the train elsewhere?

 

[JBuchananGB]

This train was cancelled between Euston and Watford, but it disappeared completely from all customer facing information. The passenger took the initiative based on available information at MKC to head north. It was a stroke of luck that the ghost train was delayed enough that the passenger reached Rugby 5 minutes before that train.

 

[Babybirdrobin]

That isn't anything unusual if the train was running late as some information displays are a tad basic in that the train will disappear after it's scheduled time even if it's 5 minutes late.

As for the OP, I suspect with all the issues on the WCML yesterday the original schedule got cancelled with a short notice schedule put onto the system in its place (starting from Watford) but for whatever reason didn't filter into the passenger displays.

Nope, wasn’t late