Station announcer phraseology no longer used

[xotGD]

There used to be announcements for train departures that did not include the latest variant of the train operator's name. Back when we didn't have train operators, just BR.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I've found that many announcements these days tend to be "dumbed-down" - I don't know whether this is indicative of a modern society being less conversant with the English language...

Or perhaps something absurd such as those who didn't perform so well in mathematics at school becoming offended and outraged by the use of the term "divides" which has now largely been replaced by "separates".

And then there's "terminates", a short informative word which has been replaced by the much clumsier mouthful phrase of "finishes its journey".

 

[route101]

Still regularly used by LNER train managers before departure from Leeds, Kings Cross and other originating stations.

I hear it on Avanti from Glasgow too.

I've found that many announcements these days tend to be "dumbed-down" - I don't know whether this is indicative of a modern society being less conversant with the English language...

Or perhaps something absurd such as those who didn't perform so well in mathematics at school becoming offended and outraged by the use of the term "divides" which has now largely been replaced by "separates".

And then there's "terminates", a short informative word which has been replaced by the much clumsier mouthful phrase of "finishes its journey".

Scotrail 385s announce the termination point a strange, something like 'where this train finishes it route'

 

[Starmill]

I've found that many announcements these days tend to be "dumbed-down" - I don't know whether this is indicative of a modern society being less conversant with the English language...

Or perhaps something absurd such as those who didn't perform so well in mathematics at school becoming offended and outraged by the use of the term "divides" which has now largely been replaced by "separates".

And then there's "terminates", a short informative word which has been replaced by the much clumsier mouthful phrase of "finishes its journey".

I think it's only SWR who use those phrases.

 

[Western 52]

I think it was Cardiff where trains waiting at the west end of platforms 1 and 2 were announced as something like "Do not board this train. It is under cleaning". Being cleaned would have sounded better, and I think there were notices there which were similarly worded to the announcement.

 

[Dr_Paul]

And I really miss the four-chime jingle too.

There was a four-note chime, on an ascending scale, introducing announcements on the railways around London (perhaps elsewhere too, but I didn't travel that far) that was very reminiscent of the opening four notes of Tim Buckley's song 'Drifting' from his Lorca album. (Well, I thought it was.)

 

[cf111]

Wrong thread!

 

[gg1]

From a similar era on the SR:

"Please stand clear of the train at Platform 4, this train is not for public use".

I heard words to that effect at Crewe a few years ago when a 325 was standing at a platform.

 

[The exile]

'This is the next train for the West of England' and 'Passengers for the West of England please proceed to Platform 10 as soon as possible'

West of England being anywhere beyond Taunton. Presumably Bristol wasn't in the west of England in those days.

I think exactly that was said this morning following the cancellation of a XC service to direct people to the GW train for “all stations” ( it wasn’t) to Penzance. On second thoughts it may have been the South West…

I heard words to that effect at Crewe a few years ago when a 325 was standing at a platform.

Which is better than “fast train approaching” or “this train is not scheduled to stop” as a freight comes to a stand - or even better referring to a bay platform. Oops, quoted wrong thing - the quote shoul have benn the “not for public use”

 

[Gloster]

Forty-plus years ago if there was a crowd around a train one old boy used to say, ”Gerr back. Train’s goin’”, or similar. (That is the best I can do to replicate the rural accent.)

 

[nw1]

I heard words to that effect at Crewe a few years ago when a 325 was standing at a platform.

Interesting, haven't heard that for years. Early 90s at the latest.

I've found that many announcements these days tend to be "dumbed-down" - I don't know whether this is indicative of a modern society being less conversant with the English language...

Or perhaps something absurd such as those who didn't perform so well in mathematics at school becoming offended and outraged by the use of the term "divides" which has now largely been replaced by "separates".

And then there's "terminates", a short informative word which has been replaced by the much clumsier mouthful phrase of "finishes its journey".

See also: "leave", replacing "depart". Perhaps "depart" sounds too French, or something.

 

[stadler]

Interesting, haven't heard that for years. Early 90s at the latest.

The old Amey system which was used at Crewe until 2018 had this message:

"Stand away from the train at platform x. This train is not in use."

This would play every time a train was scheduled to stop at a platform but was not in service so this is probably what was heard. This message also played all across the Southern network on their old Amey system up until 2018 for the same purpose. So it did not disappear until around five years ago.

The old Amey system has since been replaced with the much more common Atos Worldline system and as far as i am aware the Atos Worldline system is unable to make such announcements so it can probably not be heard any more.

 

[gg1]

Interesting, haven't heard that for years. Early 90s at the latest.

Probably down to the huge decrease in the numbers of parcels services since then, it's pretty rare nowadays for a train other than a stopping passenger services to stop at a platform.

The old Amey system which was used at Crewe until 2018 had this message:

"Stand away from the train at platform x. This train is not in use."

This would play every time a train was scheduled to stop at a platform but was not in service so this is probably what was heard. This message also played all across the Southern network on their old Amey system up until 2018 for the same purpose. So it did not disappear until around five years ago.

That was probably it, can't remember exactly when but it was definitely pre-2020.

 

[nw1]

Probably down to the huge decrease in the numbers of parcels services since then, it's pretty rare nowadays for a train other than a stopping passenger services to stop at a platform.

That said, I always heard it with a terminating passenger service which would then go ECS to the sidings or shunt to another platform.

I can understand why parcels trains could cause issues though, according to some 80s CWNs a good number on the SR were formed with standard passenger EMUs.

 

[Matlock Man]

Birmingham New Street in the mid-1950s: "A fish porter is required in the back sidings."

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Does the strident "Stand clear of the platform edge, fast train approaching. Stand away there! Stand away!" or similar still prevail?

Not quite in the same words... but you do get warnings about fast trains, usually about thirty seconds after the fast train passed!

 

[Taunton]

I can understand why parcels trains could cause issues though, according to some 80s CWNs a good number on the SR were formed with standard passenger EMUs.

Yes, particularly to major mail sorting centres like Twickenham or Redhill.

Southern 4-SUB units were designed with reversible seat cushions so they could be flipped over to carry parcels and mailbags off-peak, a clever efficiency rising to a peak in the week before Christmas. However an increasing trend was vandalism, throwing the cushions out of the window, so the works started fixing them, but they were still assigned to mail service, with mailbags loaded from wet platforms directly onto the seats, which a few hours later would be conveying the cream of Surrey, in their good suits, to and from their City of London offices ...

 

[FGW_DID]

That reminds me, at Reading this evening there was a, "Staff announcement, would Simon* on the barriers please report to the announcer/announcer's office," which I don't remember having heard before. Was this an Inspector Sands-style announcement, or was it genuine? I can't imagine there still being an announcer or an announcer's office at Reading (whichever it was)!

*other names are available, can't remember the specific name

There is indeed still a station announcer position at Reading. They are co-located with the Station Control.

What you heard was more than likely a genuine staff announcement and not a secret squirrel coded message!

 

[GordonT]

Interesting, haven't heard that for years. Early 90s at the latest.



See also: "leave", replacing "depart". Perhaps "depart" sounds too French, or something.

Do we still get verbal references to "set down", "pick up" or the Scottish variant "uplift" in relation to passengers, usually in the context of stations where you are only allowed to join the train or stations where you are only allowed to leave the train?

 

[Purple Train]

There is indeed still a station announcer position at Reading. They are co-located with the Station Control.

What you heard was more than likely a genuine staff announcement and not a secret squirrel coded message!

Interesting!

The one that does annoy me a little is LNER station announcements, which seem to go out of their way to use a different kind of phrasing for literally everything to the standard, some of which are rather long winded.

"Hello." (long pause)
It really really annoys me. Justine Harris has a great voice, but I completely agree on the announcement wording.
I might try and see how much Lionel Richie I can sneak in the long pause next time I'm on LNER

Also the ludicrously early announcements for terminal stations. "We will shortly be arriving at Lincoln Central" is not very helpful when you're running alongside Tritton Road.

 

[rg177]

Anne's use of "inclement" vs "wet" seems to depend on where you are in the country.

At one point it was "inclement" across the board, but "wet" weather seems to be more common up north.

 

[nw1]

Do we still get verbal references to "set down", "pick up" or the Scottish variant "uplift" in relation to passengers, usually in the context of stations where you are only allowed to join the train or stations where you are only allowed to leave the train?

Oddly I never actually heard pick-up/set-down announcements, even back in the day.

It would have applied to Clapham Junction in the 80s, and I never heard it on my visits there.

I never went to places like Watford Junction, though, where pick-up and set-down calls happened on IC services throughout the day.

Yes, particularly to major mail sorting centres like Twickenham or Redhill.

Southern 4-SUB units were designed with reversible seat cushions so they could be flipped over to carry parcels and mailbags off-peak, a clever efficiency rising to a peak in the week before Christmas. However an increasing trend was vandalism, throwing the cushions out of the window, so the works started fixing them, but they were still assigned to mail service, with mailbags loaded from wet platforms directly onto the seats, which a few hours later would be conveying the cream of Surrey, in their good suits, to and from their City of London offices ...

Indeed - and in fact the 1982 CWN for Waterloo shows one such working, an 8VEP working in from Aldershot (1618 mail train arriving 1709), rapid turn around, out at 1716 to Alton doubtless carrying hordes of suited commuters...

That 7 minute turnaround is quite remarkable in fact, shorter than most passenger-in, passenger-out turnarounds. I can only presume that the 1618 didn't convey that much mail. Platform space was of course at a premium, that 1709 arrival on platform 9 rapidly following the departure of the 1706 to Guildford from the same platform.

 

[KT550]

In the old days, announcements used to say a train was arriving at XXX station.
Now, both automated and manual announcements usually say arriving into a station.

A pointless change or am I getting more easily annoyed as I age?

 

[stadler]

In the old days, announcements used to say a train was arriving at XXX station.
Now, both automated and manual announcements usually say arriving into a station.

A pointless change or am I getting more easily annoyed as I age?

Which automated announcements say "arriving into" currently? I can not think of any that use this wording?

 

[KT550]

Which automated announcements say "arriving into" currently? I can not think of any that use this wording?

A bit off topic as it's not a station announcement but I'm sure some onboard automated announcements use this phrase now.

 

[AY1975]

Another one which was fairly common in some localities was along the lines of: "If there is a Charles Higginbottom in the station who is meeting his mother, Matilda Higginbottom, please proceed to the station manager's office."

I would guess that mobile phones have largely rendered that kind of thing redundant. Not sure if they would still do it if you were meeting someone who didn't have a mobile and needed to leave a message for them, though.

 

[zwk500]

I would guess that mobile phones have largely rendered that kind of thing redundant. Not sure if they would still do it if you were meeting someone who didn't have a mobile and needed to leave a message for them, though.

Nowadays you'd probably get something like 'Could a Mr. John Smith make themselves known to station staff' or something similar.

 

[Mike Machin]

I all my days of travelling over the network for more than 50 years, for me at least nothing beats the wonderful lady station announcer at Reading in the early 1970s. Her phrases, and indeed her entire style of delivery, posh with long pauses and the stressing of certain words, are truly something from the past but they still remain firmly in my memory.

Click brrrrrrrr......'Station announcer! The train from Paignton,.....the train expected at 11.50 but running late because of operational difficulties.................................now approaching number faive.........................Reading!......Reading!...... Reading!.....................................Faaaast Train to.........Paddington STATION,................LONDON.............now standing at Platform faive........Reading! Reading!'
So posh and truly exentric in her style of delivery - she WAS Reading in my youth.

 

[Western 52]

About 30+ years ago, the announcer at Bristol Temple Meads used to say "this train is ready to depart - please close the doors and stand clear ". No need for that since slam doors went.

 

[midland1]

I all my days of travelling over the network for more than 50 years, for me at least nothing beats the wonderful lady station announcer at Reading in the early 1970s. Her phrases, and indeed her entire style of delivery, posh with long pauses and the stressing of certain words, are truly something from the past but they still remain firmly in my memory.

Click brrrrrrrr......'Station announcer! The train from Paignton,.....the train expected at 11.50 but running late because of operational difficulties.................................now approaching number faive.........................Reading!......Reading!...... Reading!.....................................Faaaast Train to.........Paddington STATION,................LONDON.............now standing at Platform faive........Reading! Reading!'
So posh and truly exentric in her style of delivery - she WAS Reading in my youth.

In my train spotting days at Reading in 1970 me and my friends used to think she switched on a bit late so the first Reading came out as eading!