Trivia: Common railway related fallacies

[Railsigns]

The idea that any signal structure more complicated than a straight post is a gantry.

 

[Calthrop]

I was at the North Tyneside Railway's 30th anniversary Gala back in July. The have one of the former Harton Colliery electric locomotives there. Which is round 100+ years old [the Harton system being electrified before the First World War!]. I jokingly remarked to another couple that the sooner "they" go electric the better and get rid of these dirty smelly steam engines the better! I went to remark how part of their system along the coast from Westoe Colliery to Whitburn Colliery had been operated under the light railway act and offered a passenger service. The line had survived until the sixties before the Coal Board closed it and the Colliery, then lifting the line. The woman replied that Beeching had a lot to answer for..... My reply then being: What's Beeching got to do with the National Coal Board?

[My bolding]; As remarked on by me upthread: indeed -- the seeming ubiquity among, shall we say, the less well-informed, of ascribing all and any rail closures to Dr. Beeching -- although the following has not so far actually come my way: it would not be all that colossally surprising to hear a Briton not well-versed in these matters, blaming Dr. B. for some rail closure on the European continent... or in the Americas ...

 

[2392]

Indeed Calthrop quite true. I wonder if Beeching had also been responsible for the closure of Consett Steel Works as the also have [IIRC] a "Home made/built" Diesel shunter at the Nort Tyneside Railway too!

 

[Paul Jones 88]

That banging the life out of the internal door button will magically open the door.

 

[40129]

That you cannot walk between carriages without leaving the train and walking along the platform (even when the connecting doors have illuminated door open buttons)

 

[pdeaves]

The best way to find a seat is to walk up and down the platform looking, rather than actually get on first.

An interesting one I witnessed yesterday: reserved seats are there for you whatever time it is or whatever carriage you are in. There were some people who got in the wrong half of the train (double Voyager). They knew they are in the wrong half; they said so. But they still wanted 'their' reserved seats (in a different carriage) and were happy to try and persuade someone to move... (not me).

 

[43066]

That you cannot walk between carriages without leaving the train and walking along the platform (even when the connecting doors have illuminated door open buttons)

That you can walk between units when on the train even though, as was clearly visible from the platform you were just standing on, there’s two nose cones and a coupler the size of a shoe box separating them.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

The letter A after your seat number means that you're reserved in coach A.

 

[37201xoIM]

Many lines listed for closure in the Beeching Report were actually making money, with Beeching merely being a pawn for a powerful road lobby.

Isn't the fallacy here that a railway exists to, or is ever likely to, make money?

Ad your second half: well yes, technically Beeching was a pawn for a Transport Minister who was a pawn for a powerful road lobby........

 

[Dai Corner]

Isn't the fallacy here that a railway exists to, or is ever likely to, make money?

Ad your second half: well yes, technically Beeching was a pawn for a Transport Minister who was a pawn for a powerful road lobby........

Which part of the road lobby was expecting to make lots of money from the closure of little-used branch lines?

 

[BrianW]

That you can walk between units when on the train even though, as was clearly visible from the platform you were just standing on, there’s two nose cones and a coupler the size of a shoe box separating them.

A fallacy to think it's obvious. Not everyone sees that, either they are nowhere near or just have no experience of a train in parts, or selective door opening and the like. Or they don't hear (eg earphones) or don't understand what is announced, even if when approaching several preceding stations. The inconsistent alphabetical disorder of eg Coach F or L doesn't help. It must be a pain to be in the wrong part of the train, eg Ivybridge, to be carried forward to Plymouth with the last train back gone

 

[Class800]

Staff will always do their best to help

 

[Taunton]

That on a traditional single line railway there is only ONE token for the section between stations, which trains take alternately up and down.

 

[Class800]

In token working, the token must be tossed from the cab of one train to the cab of another. If the driver drops the token, the line must be closed for the rest of the day for sleeper repairs

 

[WestRiding]

People thinking that British Rail was better. It wasn't. It was dirty, run down, on its knees, un-reliable, and in reality was just as expensive as now (proportionately). People just pretend it was better because of the big blue locomotives on loco hauled trains.

 

[Taunton]

The real token belter was one day at the front of a dmu, alongside a father and small boy, on the West Somerset, who used a simple wooden staff, which was being handed to the driver.

"What's that, dad".

"Oh, it's specially for when there is only one railway line. So if we see another train coming the other way and have to stop our driver goes over to the other one and hits him over the head with it".

 

[Class800]

The real token belter was one day at the front of a dmu, alongside a father and small boy, on the West Somerset, who used a simple wooden staff, which was being handed to the driver.

"What's that, dad".

"Oh, it's specially for when there is only one railway line. So if we see another train coming the other way and have to stop our driver goes over to the other one and hits him over the head with it".

You win! Well I have another token one but it's maybe too rude for here! It involves a token falling down someone's trousers and you can work out the rest

 

[Railsigns]

The idea that British Rail was invariably dirty, run down, on its knees, unreliable and just as expensive as the privatised railway is now.

 

[6Gman]

You win! Well I have another token one but it's maybe too rude for here! It involves a token falling down someone's trousers and you can work out the rest

Wasn't there an incident on a North Wales branch line where a driver was having an affair with a married lady and would leave his loco (with token aboard) while he engaged his carnal needs? Then one day the cuckolded husband pinched the token and hid it. Took a lot of explaining away . . .

(And, before anyone asks, I can't remember why the fireman wasn't around)

 

[43066]

A fallacy to think it's obvious. Not everyone sees that, either they are nowhere near or just have no experience of a train in parts, or selective door opening and the like. Or they don't hear (eg earphones) or don't understand what is announced, even if when approaching several preceding stations. The inconsistent alphabetical disorder of eg Coach F or L doesn't help. It must be a pain to be in the wrong part of the train, eg Ivybridge, to be carried forward to Plymouth with the last train back gone

To be fair you have a point.

I suppose once inside the train people can see the doorway into the driving cab, so assume there’s some kind of Alice in Wonderland style access (or simply haven’t been paying attention!).

Unfortunately we have one station where longer weekend trains (5+5) not only don’t fully platform, but have one entire unit hanging off the platform. So, if you’ve somehow ended up on the wrong unit, it’s physically impossible to detrain. A fairly stupid way of operating some might say…

 

[Tester]

Which part of the road lobby was expecting to make lots of money from the closure of little-used branch lines?

The part that realised that not every user of little used branch lines would go by bus to the junction and train forward, but would in fact buy a car and give up on the railway.

 

[Grumpy Git]

That when you are sat in seat 04 on a AWC 390, (as indicated by the sticker net to said seat), that the buffet app will accept this without any problems...., (it won't, you have to enter just "4").

 

[Dai Corner]

The part that realised that not every user of little used branch lines would go by bus to the junction and train forward, but would in fact buy a car and give up on the railway.

I wonder how many of the handful of remaining passengers bought a car as a result of their local branch line closing? I suspect nearly everyone who could afford to do so already had.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

Everybody calls it on the BML “Ouse valley Viaduct” when all our actual diagrams show it officially as “Ouse Viaduct”

That the engineers line reference for the line from London to Brighton is BML.

 

[Ianno87]

That in order for for a town/city to benefit from a rail scheme, that scheme's physical infrastructure must be built there.

 

[Ken H]

When I was young (very young) I thought that the third & fourth rails on undeground tracks were for the motors & the brakes respectively. I haven't become an electrician.

I thought 3rd rail trains had a wider guague and worked like a train set. But I was very very young.

 

[Sm5]

Wrexham Central isnt the busiest nor the main station in Wrexham.
(With a 3 train a day service currently, and less than a 5 minute walk from General, I dont know why this station even exists, especially as its a modern substantial structure unlike the decrepit General station).

 

[Sunset route]

That the engineers line reference for the line from London to Brighton is BML.

I was in about the viaduct, not the line designation.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

That trains splitting en route (eg at Purley) does so without the doors ever opening and that therefore a passenger in the wrong part is trapped and doomed to travel to Caterham as opposed to Tattenham Corner. The result of this is to jump off at Purley Oaks, run down the platform and be stranded when the doors shut. Friendly discussion asking the passenger what they think happens at Purley sometimes follow; otherwise I suggest walking forward or backward at Purley.

 

[37201xoIM]

Which part of the road lobby was expecting to make lots of money from the closure of little-used branch lines?

Marples Ridgeway was particularly in my mind as an obvious example. "Little-used branch lines" feed traffic to mainlines paralleling motorways et al. - most traffic on a motorway is not actually going from a major centre to a major centre.

The idea that British Rail was invariably dirty, run down, on its knees, unreliable and just as expensive as the privatised railway is now.

To be fair I'm not sure that's a common fallacy! I don't think even DfT or Government actually go so far as to say BR was as expensive as the privatised railway - I was about to say that even they have some shame vis-à-vis demonstrable untruths, but having read the IRP yesterday I will withdraw that comment!

While the other judgements made are, shall we say, open to evidence-based challenge, I'm not sure one can call them a fallacy, because they are a subjective value-judgement and rather vague...