Telltale sìgns of newbie rail travellers

[Mugby]

Bewilderment, panic, control of all bodily functions lost, asking questions to which the answer is patently obvious, unaware of location or surroundings, running for the train when it's not due to depart for ten minutes, getting up to stand by the doors ten miles before their station....

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Asking at the booking office "What stand does the train leave from?".

 

[hwl]

Trying to open a ticket gate at a large London terminus by waving a paper ticket over the yellow oyster reader because the person in front waved a ticket wallet over it and it opened...

 

[Tetchytyke]

Pressing "door open" on those Tube trains where it doesn't do anything

It's the ones who barge past you to do it that get my goat.

Although the door open buttons do work on some tube trains some of the time...

 

[hulabaloo]

Laughing at those strange people standing at the end of the platform of a busy station.

 

[Mojo]

Although the door open buttons do work on some tube trains some of the time...

The only Tube stock (aside from the few 95 Stocks that haven't yet had them removed) that retains the buttons are the 92 Stock on the Central/W&C line, and the switch in the cab is supposed to be set to have them all open, but I have heard of one or two cases in the past few years where for some reason this was set incorrectly.

The new S-Stock on the Sub Surface lines has the doors open automatically upon arrival. They will only close automatically if the train is standing in the platform for longer than usual, to aid with climate control. Train Operators have been instructed to switch off the auto-close at locations such as Baker Street to mitigate against the risk of PTI incidents.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The 95TS still have the external push buttons, just not the internal ones.

But yes, I was referring to the autoclose on the S-stock.

 

[DEE-DE]

The sleepers are the worst for slam door trouble. I once had to rescue some international students from China off a sleeper. The problem was this was in Dundee so not the final destination and no one had noticed them.

 

[Mojo]

The 95TS still have the external push buttons, just not the internal ones.

Nope, buttons have been removed internally and externally.

The first units that were refreshed had all external buttons plated over but retained the internal buttons. Subsequently internal buttons have been replaced with lights.

 

[pemma]

Tourists on the tube have a tendency to hold their one-day travelcards in their laps, as if putting those tickets in a pocket will somehow make them vanish.

Maybe they're expecting a ticket inspector to appear very soon after they board?

 

[Tetchytyke]

Nope, buttons have been removed internally and externally.

That's how observant I am. Thought the external ones were still there but it was just the internal ones that had been replaced with the lights.

 

[Taunton]

The sleepers are the worst for slam door trouble.

I found the worst was the Gatwick Express, in the days when it was Mk 2 stock + Class 73. Those from overseas (particularly USA, who used to stand by the luggage stack through the journey with both hands round their suitcase handle, expecting it to be otherwise stolen in an instant) used to always get to the door first on arrival, place their suitcase behind them to prevent those behind being able to assist easily, and then have no idea what to do. Calls from behind of "can I help you" would merely lead to them bending down and grabbing the suitcase tightly again.

I would point out that lack of understanding is nothing new. More than one railway which had a series of steam locomotives named after the various towns they served had to remove them again because some passengers thought the nameplates were destination boards.

 

[Groningen]

Take a large gasbottle (do not know if it is English) with you on the train and get refused entry; happened last week in Groningen. And when i say large i mean one 2 feet high!

 

[Marton]

On a similar subject, when travelling as a family, I cannot stand the solitary traveller who boards a 142 then jumps straight in one of the bay of 4 seats on the inner end of the carriage. They have every right of course, but it's just such an ideal spot to keep us together.

But about the only place to keep an eye on luggage; usually made worse by people insisting on sitting on the bench seats at the other end or so many bikes there's no where for a case to go.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It might help if the "bike end" had. Different coloured buffer like the TPE first class end on 185s. The present signs are only platform facing with usually little time or space to get to the other end.

 

[ajb690]

More unfamiliar on more modern stock might be the sliding door on disabled-accessible train toilets: don't just press the door "close" button; wait for the door to close, and then press the "lock" button. Failure to press "lock" causes a few embarrassments.....

^ this. On 377s, I often sit by the disabled loo (single seat - I'm antisocial - plus I must have a limited sense of smell). The number of people, the majority of them sober, who cannot work out how to close and lock the door. When they were first introduced, I have a lot of sympathy as the directions were not clear and there was no obvious indicator that the door was unlocked. However, Southern have fixed that in later versions with a bright red "unlocked" indicator, but you still get many people who can apparently not get this right.

 

[DelW]

I'm about to be a newbie rail traveller myself. I've lived in Australia for the last 43 years and my last time on a train in the UK was in 1983. I'm coming back to the UK for a holiday and on monday the 8th June I shall be on the 14.05 from London Kings Cross to Leeds - hope nobody is watching me struggling with new technology. I rather think that I shall notice a difference in fares, but luckily I'm travelling on a whole month first class Britrail pass and they are still amazing value - even after all this time.

That train should be an electric set not an HST so you won't need to use manual external door handles on that.

I don't know what the Britrail pass looks like, but Rover tickets I have used don't usually work the barriers. Gate-lines that are in use always have to be manned because not all valid tickets work in them.

You should find many changes from 1983, quite a few for the better despite nostalgia suggesting otherwise. I hope all goes well for your trip!

 

[SS4]

Get up when the train announcer states that the train will shortly be arriving into Birmingham New Street.

 

[Mojo]

I was on a train a couple of years ago between Birmingham New St & Wolverhampton, with 3 other forum members. I cannot remember exactly what was said by another passenger who was trying to evict us from seats which they had claimed to have reserved, but it was something along the lines of "I don't think they understand how it works, must not travel by train much." Decided not to respond, but the temptation to make some kind of comment...

 

[talltim]

Take a large gasbottle (do not know if it is English) with you on the train and get refused entry; happened last week in Groningen. And when i say large i mean one 2 feet high!

In English it would be a gas bottle too, or possibly a gas canister, but canister usually refers to a smaller one.

 

[pdeaves]

On HST, those people who frantically try to open the doors before they have been unlocked, both from the inside and from the outside. For those outside, they seem to do this even when EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLATFORM is standing patiently waiting for the clunk and orange light...

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Asking at the booking office "What stand does the train leave from?".

Or "track".

 

[D365]

Or "track".

'Track' isn't so bad, in German-speaking countries they tend to use 'Gleis' which translates to 'track'.

 

[Mag_seven]

Assuming that anyone with a hi-vis jacket on in a station must be a member of railway staff. I remember an old lady asking one such person about train times only for him to turn his back and point to the words "Post Office" written on the back of his jacket.

 

[yorksrob]

Saying that, I see it on 142's on our line as well, I've lost count of the amount of times I've told people to push the button. Surprisingly, for some it seemed to be a chore.

Perhaps they're looking for the droplight in order to open the door

 

[tsr]

Assuming that anyone with a hi-vis jacket on in a station must be a member of railway staff. I remember an old lady asking one such person about train times only for him to turn his back and point to the words "Post Office" written on the back of his jacket.

Very tempting to say something about old ladies always going to the Post Office to do every conceivable task on the face of the earth, meaning that it doesn't make much difference asking them about trains as opposed to anything else...

(Before anyone comments, I am not really saying anything against old people - if the PO makes so many services available and all of them take a million years to sort, it's their issue not the customers'.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

'Track' isn't so bad, in German-speaking countries they tend to use 'Gleis' which translates to 'track'.

It normally quite literally *is* the track, though - if you had a station thus:

###########################
===========================
===========================
===========================
###########################

where the #s represent platforms and the =s tracks, in Germany they would be numbered 1 and 3, while in the UK odds on they'd be 1 and 2. If you take Manc Picc, in Germany you might well have 1-12 and 101-102 for the satellite bit. You get all sorts of odd variants.

The more interesting one is the one you get in eastern European countries, where both the physical platform islands and the tracks are numbered. Often only the island is shown on the PIS, so if you have...

===========================
###########################
===========================

in the UK and Germany they'd be 1 and 2, but in the Czech Republic and Poland (at least) they'd both be 1, with tracks 1 and 2, and the PIS would say 1 for all trains (sometimes, but not always, with the track listed as well). In the Czech Republic they avoid some confusion by using Roman numerals for the islands and numbers for the tracks, but in Poland not always!

 

[168lover]

passengers who stand waiting for the doors to open when they don't press the button to open them and then say the driver didn't open the doors!

 

[Kite159]

People with envelopes marked with "The Trainline"

 

[iainbhx]

Bewilderment, panic, control of all bodily functions lost, asking questions to which the answer is patently obvious, unaware of location or surroundings, running for the train when it's not due to depart for ten minutes, getting up to stand by the doors ten miles before their station....

The latter in particular. I commute to and from Crewe and until I see the south end of Platform 1, I don't bother moving. The number of people who start huddling by the doors as soon as the stupidly early announcement is made is quite large.

 

[mikeg]

I was going to agree with the pressing the door open button and getting in a flap when it doesn't open, despite not yet having been released.

However, a big sign of a newbie is someone who buys a long distance SOR to Birmingham on a CrossCountry priced route.