Station Announcements back in the days of British Rail.

[Class08Shunter]

What would station announcements say back in the days of BR? If a Motorail train was about to leave a station, what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a motorail train? If a transpennine service or an intercity service was arriving at a station what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a transpennine service or an intercity service?

 

[AY1975]

What would station announcements say back in the days of BR? If a Motorail train was about to leave a station, what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a motorail train? If a transpennine service or an intercity service was arriving at a station what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a transpennine service or an intercity service?

Not sure about Motorail trains. As I recall from about the mid to late 1980s/early '90s onwards if it was an Intercity service they would often say "Platform X for the xx.xx Intercity service (or Intercity 125 service if it was an HST) to..., calling at...", and if it was a named or branded train that would often be included in the announcement, but apart from that it tended to be simply "Platform X for the xx.xx service to..., calling at...". I don't ever remember hearing a train being announced as a TransPennine or Network SouthEast service in BR days, although NSE did brand some of its fast services as Network Expresses and I think they were sometimes announced as such, likewise with Regional Railways Alphaline services.

And in those days technology obviously wasn't as sophisticated as it is today, so announcements that gave the actual departure time of a train were mostly live announcements, whereas pre-recorded announcements such as those used on the Southern Region didn't even give the time of the train. They would just say "Platform X for the XXXXX service, calling at..."

There have been lots of threads on announcements past and present on these forums, and there are lots of YouTube videos of trains in BR days some of which were shot at stations so you can hear the announcements if you listen carefully.

 

[Gloster]

From recollection, as the Motorail trains were mostly separate trains, I think the announcements were more on the line of “Would Motorail passengers travelling to XYZ please go to Platform 4/join the train at Platform 3.” I don’t think they were so concerned about giving departure times (they might depart early if loaded), but instead wanted to keep Motorail passengers separate from the rest.

 

[Irascible]

Yeah, I just remember the odd "Intercity", but I think only if it was a bigger station ( or I guess there was some PR campaign going ). Usually it was more like "bing-bing-bing grarraaah two hrrr aah harrrererruarr hru rbrruughha harffurrh <insert passing noises drowning out the garbled tannoy>" and you either looked at the timetable or asked a member of staff if you were uncertain...

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Yeah, I just remember the odd "Intercity", but I think only if it was a bigger station ( or I guess there was some PR campaign going ). Usually it was more like "bing-bing-bing grarraaah two hrrr aah harrrererruarr hru rbrruughha harffurrh <insert passing noises drowning out the garbled tannoy>" and you either looked at the timetable or asked a member of staff if you were uncertain...

Indeed. It was almost as if they'd been along to listen to Norman Collier (of Granada TV's "The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club" fame) in full, unintelligible, flow.

 

[ecmlthrash15]

They were pretty pointless at stations where hst valentas would scream out of.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Yeah, I just remember the odd "Intercity", but I think only if it was a bigger station ( or I guess there was some PR campaign going ). Usually it was more like "bing-bing-bing grarraaah two hrrr aah harrrererruarr hru rbrruughha harffurrh <insert passing noises drowning out the garbled tannoy>" and you either looked at the timetable or asked a member of staff if you were uncertain...

Usually just as the DMU on the opposite platform was revving up to full throttle to almost completely drown out what little information might have been able to obtain from the PA

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Named expresses, such as 'Cornish Riviera', 'Golden Hind' etc. would sometimes be announced as such, depending on how enthusiastic the announcer was. Some station announcers were very long serving at particular stations and became familiar voices over the years. Exeter St Davids's excellent announcer served from the 60s to the 80s (retiring I think with the commissioning of Exeter PSB) and resided in his box on the (then) redundant stair landing on the 'Southern' platforms.

 

[Pigeon]

Yeah, I just remember the odd "Intercity", but I think only if it was a bigger station ( or I guess there was some PR campaign going ). Usually it was more like "bing-bing-bing grarraaah two hrrr aah harrrererruarr hru rbrruughha harffurrh <insert passing noises drowning out the garbled tannoy>" and you either looked at the timetable or asked a member of staff if you were uncertain...

Announcer: "Next train arriva platform 1, calla Worcester Shrub Heel, Droitaweech, Keedermeenster, ...(etc)"
Pigeon (in chorus): "Next train arriva platform 1, calla Worcester Shrub Heel, Droitaweech, Keedermeenster, ...(etc)"

Announcer: (walks out onto platform) "You wanna do job?"

 

[bramling]

What would station announcements say back in the days of BR? If a Motorail train was about to leave a station, what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a motorail train? If a transpennine service or an intercity service was arriving at a station what would the announcement say? Would it say it was a transpennine service or an intercity service?

At my local station, the announcements were done manually, and were pretty basic. “Stevenage Finsbury Park King’s Cross, platform 1, Stevenage Finsbury Park King’s Cross, platform 1”.

Basic, but generally pretty clear and effective, and generally done by a male with a pretty shouty voice.

 

[Gloster]

At the end of the 1970s when I was a Leading Railman (Numbertaker) at Andover, I used to do overtime by working Sundays on the platform (*). On the early shift the only other member of staff was the ticket collector in his box so I had to do the announcements. It was quite simple: pick up the microphone, hold it about 8-10” from your mouth, press the button with your thumb and speak. We just announced the main calling points and a couple places you could change for at Salisbury or Basingstoke: nothing about buffet facilities, First Class, ticket validity or anything else. If necessary we would give out information about delays.

We weren’t trained to be announcers or selected because of our beautiful elocution, it was just a minor part of various posts. The people who did it had a variety of accents, including one or two thick Hampshire burrs. Training just consisted of being shown the tannoy units, told how far to hold the microphone from your mouth, and doing a Testing-One-Two-Three-Four so whoever was teaching you could listen and check you weren’t getting feedback: one minute, at most.

* - The two two Railman were old boys who were rostered to do every Sunday, but were happy to give up around half of them. The shunter and myself, both on flat weeks, got them instead.

 

[Andy873]

Back in the 1970's & '80 I remember it as something like
"The next train to arrive at platform 2 is the 10 06 to York, calling at ......" and I don't think at Preston (whilst waiting for the Euston trains) I ever heard the mention of Inter city - but I could be wrong on that one.

 

[Springs Branch]

I wonder if announcements in BR days gave more information about useful connections than would be heard today?

In the early 1970s, prior to electrification, I caught the 18:03 Carlisle - Crewe train (1K17 - a Class 50 plus rake of Mk2A coaches) several times at Lancaster and remember the particular announcement just before that train's arrival . . .

"The next train from platform 4 is the 19:15 to Crewe.
Calling at Preston, Wigan, Warrington and Crewe.
Passengers for Manchester and Blackpool change at Preston.
Passengers for Liverpool change at Wigan.
Passengers for Birmingham and London Euston, change at Crewe".

Would Avanti staff manning Lancaster station today give such useful information promoting connections onto Northern and London Northwestern services?


The other good thing about this announcement was that it was always made in a characteristic, broad Lancastrian accent - e.g. 'Wigan' was announced as 'Wiggin'.

 

[Rescars]

Named expresses, such as 'Cornish Riviera', 'Golden Hind' etc. would sometimes be announced as such, depending on how enthusiastic the announcer was. Some station announcers were very long serving at particular stations and became familiar voices over the years. Exeter St Davids's excellent announcer served from the 60s to the 80s (retiring I think with the commissioning of Exeter PSB) and resided in his box on the (then) redundant stair landing on the 'Southern' platforms.

In the late 70s, the 07.37 from Euston stood out from all the other Inter City departures for the West Midlands, not just because of the timing, but also because it was announced as "The Clansman", followed by a lengthy list of calling points which sounded ever more exotic the closer the train got towards Inverness.

 

[AY1975]

Some station announcers were very long serving at particular stations and became familiar voices over the years. Exeter St Davids's excellent announcer served from the 60s to the 80s (retiring I think with the commissioning of Exeter PSB) and resided in his box on the (then) redundant stair landing on the 'Southern' platforms.

And the famous woman announcer at Sheffield, who I think was there at least from about the late 1970s until the early '90s. You can hear her in some YouTube clips of Sheffield station from that era. You also used to hear her at Chesterfield, and I seem to recall hearing her at Manchester Piccadilly at least once.

 

[Gaelan]

Would Avanti staff manning Lancaster station today give such useful information promoting connections onto Northern and London Northwestern services?

I suspect the vast majority of Avanti passengers these days are on advance tickets with every train listed out, so there isn't much point in announcing connections (if anything it's possibly counterproductive, as customers could listen to that advice instead of what it says on their ticket).

 

[RichJF]

This channel has loads of Southern Region BR era announcements.

 

[The exile]

I can remember feeling sorry for the station announcer at (I think) Coventry struggling valiantly with the announcements for the SO variant of the Cambrian Coast Express (ie through to Pwllheli).

 

[Strathclyder]

The GWR Yam Yam channel on YT has some good examples of the announcements at Salisbury in his videos of the twilight years of loco haulage on the Waterloo-Exeter route in the early 90s; one such example is attached/timestamped below.

 

[AM9]

Back in the '50s & '60s the announcement I remember most was at Stratford, it went:
"The next (train/train approaching/train standing at platform 8 is for*) Ilford, Romford and all stations to Shenfield".
This was for the sliding doors 'Shenfield' trains, both in the 1500VDC days and after they were converted to class AM6/306.
The voice sounded like an elderly BBC male news presenter, and it must have been an early recorded voice system.
* chosen as appropriate to train's progress.

 

[W-on-Sea]

At Barking in the 80s they were routinely close to incomprehensible, at least as much due to poor loudspeaker systems on the platforms as due to the technique (shout, speak fast) of at least some of the announcers. Subsequent automation improved matters there immeasurably.

 

[Gloster]

As I mentioned above it was important to hold the microphone the correct distance from your mouth. Too close and you got ‘feedback’ (I don’t know if it was what is technically known as feedback, but that was what it sounded like), too far back and you were indistinct.

The recording of Sound of the Suburbs has a very posh woman doing the train announcements at Staines. It is probably a recording of the genuine announcement: ‘Staines. This is Staines’. (It really should have been Camberley.)

 

[OVS Flatbottom]

Yeah, I just remember the odd "Intercity", but I think only if it was a bigger station ( or I guess there was some PR campaign going ). Usually it was more like "bing-bing-bing grarraaah two hrrr aah harrrererruarr hru rbrruughha harffurrh <insert passing noises drowning out the garbled tannoy>" and you either looked at the timetable or asked a member of staff if you were uncertain...

I distinctly remember a children's book from around this era (*) likening the sound of a station announcer to "someone shouting into a jug"...

(* - I was a child in the late Seventies, but it's possible it may have been somewhat older than that. Possibly - appropriately enough - a Paddington book, but I'm not at all sure.)

 

[ScottGallagher]

I wonder if announcements in BR days gave more information about useful connections than would be heard today?

In the early 1970s, prior to electrification, I caught the 18:03 Carlisle - Crewe train (1K17 - a Class 50 plus rake of Mk2A coaches) several times at Lancaster and remember the particular announcement just before that train's arrival . . .

"The next train from platform 4 is the 19:15 to Crewe.
Calling at Preston, Wigan, Warrington and Crewe.
Passengers for Manchester and Blackpool change at Preston.
Passengers for Liverpool change at Wigan.
Passengers for Birmingham and London Euston, change at Crewe".

Would Avanti staff manning Lancaster station today give such useful information promoting connections onto Northern and London Northwestern services?


The other good thing about this announcement was that it was always made in a characteristic, broad Lancastrian accent - e.g. 'Wigan' was announced as 'Wiggin'.

I always liked the Lancaster announcements in the late 80s /early 90s.

Three chimes and a well spoken northern female voice.

Intercity services were announced as such and even The Royal Scot where necessary plus buffet information.

Also "good morning /good afternoon and maybe even good evening , Welcome to Lancaster" announcements would randomly get announced which was a nice touch.

Trains going past Barrow had to be announced manually though for some reason.

 

[Lost property]

The announcements at Harwich were clearly scripted by Harry Enfield.

First came the sound of a crackling, old, worn out tape, then the "dulcet " female tones as often heard on the above's show. Apologies for the impression

" The farst two trains are for.. Larndon ....the thard train is for...(long pause)....the North ! "....which was like saying, "peasants, know your place ! " ...it was never late into Piccadilly however after a meander around here, there and everywhere.

 

[30907]

OT but I am reminded of a Flanders and Swann intro (? to a song of Gross National Prejudice) about boarding a flight which runs something like:
"the announcer tells you to "(totally unintelligible)" - so you do that."

 

[Rescars]

OT but I am reminded of a Flanders and Swann intro (? to a song of Gross National Prejudice) about boarding a flight which runs something like:
"the announcer tells you to "(totally unintelligible)" - so you do that."

IIRC, Flanders and Swann also quoted the apocryphal old lady who exclaimed "If God had intended us to fly, He would never have given us the railways!"

 

[geoffk]

"Train now arriving at platform two is for Lawrence Hill and Bristol Temple Meads", just as a 2800 class hurries through platform 1 with a long train of loose-coupled coal empties.

 

[zwk500]

OT but I am reminded of a Flanders and Swann intro (? to a song of Gross National Prejudice) about boarding a flight which runs something like:
"the announcer tells you to "(totally unintelligible)" - so you do that."

The monologue is usually credited as it's own track, 'By Air'.

IIRC, Flanders and Swann also quoted the apocryphal old lady who exclaimed "If God had intended us to fly, He would never have given us the railways!"

In the album version of At the Drop of Another Hat, this line is quoted directly at the end of 'By Air' as a means of transitioning to 'Slow Train', with Flanders saying 'If God had intended us to fly, He would never given us the railways! So instead we have written a song about the railways.' The lyrics of Slow Train are more appropriate for the thread about things we don't see at stations anymore.

 

[30907]

The monologue is usually credited as it's own track, 'By Air'.

Didn't realise that! I was working from a distant memory of the LP.

In the album version of At the Drop of Another Hat, this line is quoted directly at the end of 'By Air' as a means of transitioning to 'Slow Train', with Flanders saying 'If God had intended us to fly, He would never given us the railways! So instead we have written a song about the railways.' The lyrics of Slow Train are more appropriate for the thread about things we don't see at stations anymore.