Trivia: Furthest station away from their intended destination that you have seen someone accidentally end up at.

[railwaytrack]

What is the furthest away from their destination that you have seen someone end up at (or even yourself if this has ever happened to yourself)?

Just a few weeks ago when i was in Horsham arriving on the last train of the day just after midnight a man was woken up in Horsham after arriving on the last train of the day. He had boarded at Peterborough and was only travelling one stop to Huntingdon but had fallen asleep and ended up in Horsham miles away. He said he had just done a long shift at work and was really tired and ended up falling asleep and ending up in Horsham miles away.

Unfortunately for him it was the last train of the day and there were no trains back so he had to take a taxi all the way from Horsham to Huntingdon to get home. I would hate to think how expensive that taxi must have been. It must have cost him maybe even £400 or £500 i think.

I am interested if anyone else has seen any examples of passengers ending up very far away from their destination either by falling asleep or simply boarding the wrong train by mistake or travelling to the wrong station with the same name as another or anything like that?

 

[D1537]

(A Friend)
Intended journey: Stoke to Birmingham
Actual journey: Stoke to Newton Abbot

(Another one: different person)
Intended journey: Derby to Birmingham
Actual journey: Derby to Cardiff, Cardiff to Paddington (should have been Bristol), Euston to Birmingham

Alcohol may have been involved both times.

 

[Basil Jet]

I can't match either of those, but a guy once boarded a Piccadilly train in Central London planning to change at Hammersmith to the District to get to Richmond. He fell asleep and woke at Heathrow, then fell asleep again and sailed though Hammersmith a second time and finally woke at Cockfosters in the small hours and had to get a taxi to Ham (near Richmond).

 

[Spartacus]

I know of an occasion someone ended up at Luton Airport instead of Gatwick. If you add the flight they missed that would be several thousand miles!

I don't think it's all that unusual for people to get on 1E01 at Newcastle and end up at Kings Cross, because 'every' LNER service calls at York.

Does someone boarding a Swansea or Carmarthen at Paddington to try and get to Holyhead instead of going from Euston because 'it's still Wales, innit?' count? I think at the hour they got on they had no way of making Holyhead via Newport that night, even if they had changed there.

 

[onlinespotting]

This has happened to myself - when I lived in Wakefield an early morning gner at 5**am after a night out in leeds ended up in Doncaster and Grantham a couple of times

After a night out or heavy day out in Manchester living in Stoke on Trent ending up at birmingham , rugby , Tamworth (the hardest to get back from) and others

I catch the stopper back now lol

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Once saw a couple of teenage girls boarding a train at Haymarket platform 4 wanting some destination on the Bathgate/Airdrie line towards Glasgow Queen Street.

Unfortunately for them, it was the TPE service for Manchester Airport, and the next station was Lockerbie!

 

[Sheridan]

Not the furthest distance, but I once boarded a Merseyrail service at Chester and woke up back in Chester, with no more trains to my destination that night!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

For myself it is:

* Bristol Parkway when I was aiming at Reading ( from Paddington ).

* Preston when I was aiming at Manchester Oxford Road ( from Manchester Piccadilly ).

 

[1955LR]

About 10 years ago I was planning to get back to Hereford from Milton Keynes via B'Ham New Street but got on the wrong train , next stop Stockport . So it was Stockport , Crewe and Hereford instead. Interestingly I arrived only 20 mins later than my correct and valid route, as my ticket was only valid via Leamington Spa . I did not have any trouble making the alternative journey when I explained the problem , all staff on the trains and at Stockport ticket office at just said "It happens" and allowed me to travel even when I offered to pay for a new ticket.

 

[MadMac]

I know someone who ended up in Preston after an evening of refreshment: He boarded a Euston service intending to go to Motherwell. There is a reported, but unconfirmed, instance of someone actually getting to Euston in similar circumstances.

Some years ago, the "Sunday Post" related the tale of a fellow who hopped on a train at Waverley around 5 PM to get to Haymarket and avoid the traffic jam on Princes Street: unfortunately for him, he chose the one train a day that DIDN'T stop at Haymarket and ended up in Dundee. His four minute journey ended up taking 3 1/2 hours as the train back stopped at every station in Fife.

When I lived in Uddingston, my usual train home was the 17:22 to West Calder. One evening, it rather unusually left from Platform 2 at Glasgow Central: it's one of the platforms Inter-City services normally use. Myself and a colleague who lived in Bellshill noticed a couple with suitcases further down the carriage: an odd sight, but we presumed they had just come back from a trip. I was told the next morning that as the aging high-density DMU did its customary struggle up the Bellshill Bank, the chap with the cases turned to a fellow passenger and said "This is the London train, isn't it?" At least they didn't wait until they got to Breich.....

 

[MP33]

A group of Americans got on my train at Liverpool Street. There was a scramble for the exits when they heard the announcement that the train was stopping at Southend Airport not Stansted Airport.

 

[RSimons]

In the 60s I remember a boy from the same school catching the train from Manchester to Cheadle Hulme, but unlike most, it stopped only at Stockport and Euston. At the time, trains were much less frequent so he was transferred to St Pancras and returned on the Midland line. As he was a railway enthusiast, we suspected it was not entirely a mistake.

 

[Andy Pacer]

A few weeks ago on arrival at Chester on a train from the North Wales coast, a gentleman had to be woken up to remind him to get off rather than continuing to Crewe and Manchester. It transpired he had come from there earlier that day intending to alight at Chester, but woke up in Holyhead...

 

[Nippy]

Me, got on a Thameslink at Brighton, intending to change at Farringdon, fell asleep by Preston Park, woke up at 1:30 in Bedford.

or Reading to Hayes and Harlington, woke up at Padd the first time, fell asleep again and woke at Twyford the second time .

I know of a colleague who was going from Euston to MK. Woke up at Stoke. Alcohol may have been involved in all these stories.

 

[jfollows]

My partner:

1. Relatively new to the area (from the USA), living in Manchester, he went to Stockport no problem, tried to come home and hopped on the worst possible train - first stop Leicester (Project Rio). I've no idea why. He didn't get charged. In the days mobile phones were only used for making calls, for some reason he left his at home, I got home from work to be surprised not to find him there, but to find a fairly sweary message left on the answerphone he'd made from Leicester station between trains.
2. A bit later on, he'd got his bearings, so he hopped on a train at Stockport going in the right direction, although the fact that it left from the bay platform might have been a warning. Got to Piccadilly platform 14, ah OK, I'll stay on to Oxford Road he said to himself, went sailing through, next stop Crewe. He ended up on a replacement bus for part of the journey back to Stockport (the reason the Manchester-Cardiff was diverted) then restarted his journey back to Manchester for the second time. He didn't get charged either. This time he had his mobile phone with him so I could comiserate at least.

 

[krus_aragon]

From my days in Cardiff, a young work colleague told me that he'd arranged to travel to Aberdare to meet an online friend, but booked tickets to Aberdeen instead, and only once he was on the train did he wonder why his journey was taking so long. The penny didn't drop until he'd arrived, and tried to find said friend.

It sounds a thoroughly far-fetched story, but he was quite a ditzy lad...

 

[dk1]

Once had a very embarrassed lad join our train at Liverpool St late afternoon heading to Bury St Edmunds. He was bound for nearby RAF Honnington but had caught an early morning service to Honiton in Devon from Waterloo by mistake.

 

[jfollows]

I did have a pleasant young man sit next to me on the 07:08 from Stockport to Euston once, he was intending to meet a friend to do some work in Macclesfield, and of course he should have been on the following train since the one he was on didn't stop there or anywhere else. I told him what to say to the train conductor, who just waffled and was unhelpful (I won't identify him but it was in character) but didn't try and get any money from him, and I advised him to go to customer assistance at Euston. He was in the army so had no desire to fall on the wrong side of the law and had clearly made a genuine mistake.

 

[Paul’s]

Daughter
Intended journey: Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Woodsmoor
Actual journey: Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Sheffield

Daughter jumped on the first train to Stockport, thinking it was Stockport to Buxton , or Stockport to Hazel Grove.
but was on the Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Cleethorpes . first stop after Stockport was Sheffield.

 

[BingMan]

Daughter
Intended journey: Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Woodsmoor
Actual journey: Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Sheffield

Daughter jumped on the first train to Stockport, thinking it was Stockport to Buxton , or Stockport to Hazel Grove.
but was on the Manchester ( Piccadilly) to Cleethorpes . first stop after Stockport was Sheffield.

That must have been pre pandemic when Buxton trains used platform zero. As 90% of train from platform zerp were for the Buxton line her mistake was understandable.

On an aside does anyone know if Stockport platform zero is permanently closed?

 

[A S Leib]

That must have been pre pandemic when Buxton trains used platform zero. As 90% of train from platform zerp were for the Buxton line her mistake was understandable.

On an aside does anyone know if Stockport platform zero is permanently closed?

The 05:56 to Sheffield is using it tomorrow.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

On an aside does anyone know if Stockport platform zero is permanently closed?

The new midweek timetable for this week / last week appeared to show a dozen or so services using Platform 0 at Stockport, mainly xx51 Northern stoppers to Alderley Edge, but believe that Platform 1 was used instead.

 

[D6130]

About 25 years ago, a friend of mine - now sadly deceased - boarded the 17 55 to Carlisle after a heavy Saturday drinking in Leeds with friends, intending to alight at Keighley, where he lived. Unfortunately he fell asleep and awoke at Appleby....long after the last Southbound train had departed. Luckily for him, he found a local B&B which had a room available.

 

[jfollows]

The 05:56 to Sheffield is using it tomorrow.

I believe it's unlikely that it will; as Mcr Warrior posted it's been booked to be used all this week but hasn't actually been used (for example https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W41571/2022-05-16/detailed#allox_id=0). In my opinion if its use can be avoided, so much the better.
When the Southport-Alderley services used it, it was a complete pain, because it was no longer a case of waiting on the up island platform for the first train from Stockport to Wilmslow, if the first train was the stopper then it required a dash down the stairs, through the barrier, across the concourse and up the stairs again to get to it.

 

[BrummieBobby]

Wasn't there a case of an old woman a few years back who boarded at Kings Cross, the train running fast to York, and then getting flustered when she told the guard that she only wanted Stevenage, the guard letting her make the journey to and from York on her Stevenage ticket?

It was only after she was caught doing the same thing repeatedly that she was discovered to have been riding London to York return at a heavily discounted rate for several months!

 

[D821]

It seems like a high percentage of these stories are alcohol related!

 

[A S Leib]

A group of Americans got on my train at Liverpool Street. There was a scramble for the exits when they heard the announcement that the train was stopping at Southend Airport not Stansted Airport.

I wonder if anybody's mixed up Southampton and Southend, which would be a bigger problem as they wouldn't even be at the right terminus.

I know of an occasion someone ended up at Luton Airport instead of Gatwick. If you add the flight they missed that would be several thousand miles!

I don't think it's all that unusual for people to get on 1E01 at Newcastle and end up at Kings Cross, because 'every' LNER service calls at York.

Does someone boarding a Swansea or Carmarthen at Paddington to try and get to Holyhead instead of going from Euston because 'it's still Wales, innit?' count? I think at the hour they got on they had no way of making Holyhead via Newport that night, even if they had changed there.

Doesn't every other LNER service call at Darlington as well? (And I'd imagine the TPE which skips Lancaster and the Bristol superfasts for the brief period they existed have caught a fair few people out.)

 

[Taunton]

1970s, I saw someone board the wrong side of two trains loading at an island platform at Edinburgh Waverley, they were heading for Linlithgow, but instead got on the push-pull to Glasgow, nonstop in those days. Approaching Linlithgow he put his coat on and moved to the door, only to zoom through at 90mph-plus. The guard came along and looked at the timetable. Unfortunately the train just missed, at Glasgow Queen Street, the hourly dmu to Falkirk Grahamston, change there for Linlithgow, and the most efficient thing was to stay in the train at Glasgow, passing back through Linlithgow at speed for a second time, to Haymarket, and start again from there.

I've written before about Watford Junction in the 1980s, when the DC service newly diverted to Liverpool Street loaded in the bay on the opposite side of the platform from the morning express to Liverpool, exacerbated by the DC train being a useful connection at Liverpool Street to the day Continental to Harwich and the Hook of Holland ship, so used by youthful European au-pairs with poor English returning home. I believe the Runcorn (next stop) stationmaster had to deal with this one more than once.

 

[Birkonian]

Not the furthest displaceme t but worth relaying, I was approached by a bemused Dutch family at South Kenton. They were looking to visit the Science Museum and after a conversation realised that they should have headed for South Kensington.

 

[Gloster]

I have previously mentioned a friend in the early 1980s who had been up in the north and decided to come back to Exeter on one of the Friday/Saturday overnight holiday trains that came down to the South-West. Everything stops at Exeter, even if it doesn’t say so in the timetable, thinks he: not this one. He had a nice trip through to Plymouth and back.