Trivia: Odd or Bizarre moments in the rail industry

[High Dyke]

I recall the painters turning up at a signal box that the bulldozers were going through four days later!

On a similar note, there was the strange case of Maryhill Park Junction: box burned down, new one built and design completed. It was then decided that what were known as the Outer and Inner Circle lines between Anniesland and Maryhill were no longer needed so the box never opened and was sold off, being used for various purposes since then.

A temporary box commissioned at Lea, near Gainsborough, during the Hatfield colliery landslip. It never signalled a train as the route from Doncaster reopened a few days after installation.

Also a Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) incident at Barkston East signal box on its last day in service. The resulting investigation was curtailed somewhat, when the relevant signals involved were removed that night. The final sentence of the report does conclude "this type of incident will never occur again at this location."

 

[AndrewE]

Some good ones but Pacer trains has been alluded to, putting a train on a bus chassis which was screechy, bouncy, draught, yet it's one hack of an argument that it saved many a line from closure.

Other way round - it was a rail wagon chassis with a bus-type body. (Not, as many alleged, second hand buses, but new bodies to what was by then a 13-year old design)

Neither is true. It was a sophisticated suspension design (admittedly originally considered or developed for a 2-axle freight wagon) which they realised was good enough for passenger stock - or maybe was so cheap (no bogies, minimum number of "moving parts") that it could be a cost-effective option for a passenger train.
I'm sure it did help the survival of some marginal routes.

 

[A S Leib]

Stranraer station being (slightly) out of the town centre to serve ferry services which have since moved to Cairnryan.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Wigan North Western being to the South of both the town centre and other station(s), having been re-named to differentiate from Wallgate after the London and North Western Railway, which had become the London Midland and Scottish railway 2 years prior.

I think that might be hard to read so I've laid it out in a more ordered way.
- Wigan North Western is South of the town and other station
- Renamed in 1924 to be different from Wallgate, both stations were just "Wigan" at the time
- Named after the London and North Western Railway (not modern LNWR),
- - Which had been grouped in 1922/1923 into the London Midland and Scottish Railway

 

[D6130]

Weeton station being named Weeton....even thought it's more or less slap bang in the middle of the village of Huby and a couple of miles from the village of Weeton.

 

[Towers]

Portsmouth Harbour losing a platform because the station was sinking into the mud!

A “banned” Class 153 sneaking its way past Southampton and on to Fratton, where it remained in the yard for several days before being recovered back home in disgrace on the back of a low loader.

 

[GordonT]

"Glenrothes with Thornton" has always struck me as a somewhat disingenuous way of expressing the reality of its being Thornton for Glenrothes.

 

[MadMac]

"Glenrothes with Thornton" has always struck me as a somewhat disingenuous way of expressing the reality of its being Thornton for Glenrothes.

Markinch was “Markinch for Glenrothes” and had running in boards to that effect.

 

[GordonT]

Markinch was “Markinch for Glenrothes” and had running in boards to that effect.

Yes much more sensible.
.

 

[MadMac]

Wigan North Western being to the South of both the town centre and other station(s), having been re-named to differentiate from Wallgate after the London and North Western Railway, which had become the London Midland and Scottish railway 2 years prior.

I think that might be hard to read so I've laid it out in a more ordered way.
- Wigan North Western is South of the town and other station
- Renamed in 1924 to be different from Wallgate, both stations were just "Wigan" at the time
- Named after the London and North Western Railway (not modern LNWR),
- - Which had been grouped in 1922/1923 into the London Midland and Scottish Railway

Isn’t there something similar in Canterbury where the East station is further west than the West station?

 

[Dr Hoo]

"Glenrothes with Thornton" has always struck me as a somewhat disingenuous way of expressing the reality of its being Thornton for Glenrothes.

(I was ‘there at the time’.) Glenrothes Development Corporation or whatever it was called had paid for the station because it was the only ‘new town’ (among East Kilbride, Cumbernauld, Livingston and Irvine) that didn’t have its ‘own’ named station. There was a great local rumpus in Thornton and at a top level meeting the “with Thornton” was added as a ‘final offer’ to quell any obstruction to the plans.

 

[Purple Train]

Isn’t there something similar in Canterbury where the East station is further west than the West station?

They're both west of the city centre - as near as makes no matter on the same line of longitude. Although, unlike in the case of Wigan, there is not even the slightest semblance of readily available logic as to why they are the way they are!

 

[GordonT]

When Liverpool Central's above ground "main line" station closed in the 1960s it might have been better to change the remaining urban services underground station name to something less suggestive of being the primary station for all services.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

When Liverpool Central's above ground "main line" station closed in the 1960s it might have been better to change the remaining urban services underground station name to something less suggestive of being the primary station for all services.

To be fair, it is located in the Central part of Liverpool city centre (more-or-less) and is strategically well placed for both the Wirral and Northern (Merseyrail) lines. It also has similar annual passenger numbers to its big brother at Liverpool Lime Street. Anyhoo, what do you suggest, a name change to 'Liverpool Ranelagh Street' or similar?

 

[MadMac]

When the Glasgow Central Low Level lines were closed in the 60s, the intent was that they would reopen at some point as part of a “Glasgow Metro”, which it eventually did. As such, several months after closure, a Traffic Inspector was sent out to have a look around to see what condition it was in, and found the lights to be on in, I think, Stobcross Junction Signal Box. Upon investigation, he was stunned to find one of the resident signalmen on duty! Apparently the BR “Promotion, Transfer and Redundancy“ mechanism had passed this fellow by, so he continued to report for duty at his home location and get paid. Subsequent investigations confirmed that he had attempted to draw the omission to the attention of Management without success.

 

[d9009alycidon]

When the Glasgow Central Low Level lines were closed in the 60s, the intent was that they would reopen at some point as part of a “Glasgow Metro”, which it eventually did. As such, several months after closure, a Traffic Inspector was sent out to have a look around to see what condition it was in, and found the lights to be on in, I think, Stobcross Junction Signal Box. Upon investigation, he was stunned to find one of the resident signalmen on duty! Apparently the BR “Promotion, Transfer and Redundancy“ mechanism had passed this fellow by, so he continued to report for duty at his home location and get paid. Subsequent investigations confirmed that he had attempted to draw the omission to the attention of Management without success.

Remember reading that one

Although it was always thought that the line would be reopened. Passenger services over the Central low-level lines were withdrawn on October 6, 1964, but the formation and track and signalling were retained in view of the Greater Glasgow Transportation Study then proceeding (published in 1971). Nevertheless, there was vandalism on such a scale that, ten months later, the then Minister of Transport agreed to removal of track and signalling equipment.

 

[GordonT]

To be fair, it is located in the Central part of Liverpool city centre (more-or-less) and is strategically well placed for both the Wirral and Northern (Merseyrail) lines. It also has similar annual passenger numbers to its big brother at Liverpool Lime Street. Anyhoo, what do you suggest, a name change to 'Liverpool Ranelagh Street' or similar?

Merseyrail Central would perhaps be a better defined option than Liverpool Central.

 

[Thornaby 37]

The Wombourne branch - open by the GWR in 1925 along with 9 new stations which only saw 7 years of use. The line closed to passenger in 1932.

There were two stations north of Wigan that were only open for two months.
Whelley and Amberswood both opened on 1st January 1872 and closed on 1st March the same year

 

[GordonT]

The guage corner cracking "nervous breakdown" which saw the imposition of multiple temporary speed restrictions across the network.

 

[Statto]

Merseyrail's brand new fleet of 777 trains that should have been fully operational 4 years ago, but rows with the unions over the use of guards, meant the first one entered passenger service a year ago, & ever since at least one unit develops a fault almost daily, causing chaos.

 

[D6130]

Appointing the late Jimmy Savile to be the voice of Inter-City in BR's television adverts and publicity posters.

 

[Gloster]

Appointing the late Jimmy Savile to be the voice of Inter-City in BR's television adverts and publicity posters.

Apparently, the BR market research department did a survey and found that JS was the most trusted person in Britain (*); remember ‘Clunk-click’. Peter Parker asked them to look again, but they were quite definite. The public: mostly fools…

*- I don’t know if this was absolutely everybody or just any personality who might be available, unlike The Queen. Still, it was a wide sample.

 

[birchesgreen]

There is a lot of revisionism about JS these days, "everyone" knew he was a nonce apparently even though his TV shows were top of the ratings and he had a huge fandom.

 

[4COR]

Anyone remember the "wrong sort of snow" event in 1991? My train home took over five hours to get from London Bridge to East Croydon.

Hadn't NSE bought a snowblower after the Big Freeze of 1987, and it turned out it was completely useless in this case?

There was a story my dad told me at the time having spoken to a chap who used to come in his shop - he used to help operate the thing, but there was some kind of issue around the settings of the blower, that meant it could be completely fouled up and then take an hour to fix. Anyone any ideas? It was a long time ago, so unlikely to be cleared up!

Didn't the Eurostars have a similar problem in 2009 with soft powdery snow as well?

 

[Statto]

There is a lot of revisionism about JS these days, "everyone" knew he was a nonce apparently even though his TV shows were top of the ratings and he had a huge fandom.

Yeah, John Lydon [Johnny Rotten, Sex Pistols fame] mentions the Jimmy Savile rumours & seediness in interview that wasn't broadcast at the time, this was way back in the late 70s, John Lydon was banned from the B BC for a few years after that.

 

[WesternLancer]

Apparently, the BR market research department did a survey and found that JS was the most trusted person in Britain (*); remember ‘Clunk-click’. Peter Parker asked them to look again, but they were quite definite. The public: mostly fools…

*- I don’t know if this was absolutely everybody or just any personality who might be available, unlike The Queen. Still, it was a wide sample.

Interestingly last week I found an old recording I had of the 2012 BBC4 doc about BR in the 70s and 80s (The Age of the Train) that addresses this point https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mqv43

In 1976 a new high-speed train, the Inter-City 125, helped save British Rail, an unfashionable nationalised industry suffering from a financial crisis, industrial relations problems and a poor public image. The train was launched with the help of a memorable advertising campaign, fronted by Sir Jimmy Savile, which announced that the 1980s would be the 'age of the train'. BR had an energetic new boss, Sir Peter Parker, who was determined to revive the railways. The result was a typically British success story, full of surprises and setbacks, as this documentary shows.

Unsurprisingly this is not so easy to access now as it includes an extensive section of perhaps around 15 to 20 mins (uncritical since his exploits were not in the wider domain then) about the marketing campaign led by Jimmy Saville for BR - and interviews with the CEO of the ad agency that put him forward for the role to BR after securing the BR advertising contract - this is all a v interesting section of the documentary so long as you do not get distracted by thinking about Saville's role now that this is widely know post exposure - but was not at the time.

The ad man certainly made the point in the programme that Sir Peter was unsure about using Jimmy Saville for the role (tho the impression given is that Sir Peter thought this was because Saville was a figure he associated mostly with youth due to him being a Radio DJ and Top of the Pops presenter at the time, and they needed a figure who could appeal to wider audiences - clips of adverts include Jimmy Saville doing adverts clearly designed to appeal to business travellers for example), and indeed others were considered for the role - Terry Wogan being one other mentioned.

It is certainly pointed out that Saville was seen as the most trusted by the public, as you say - I think the inference was that he was most trusted of the list of possible candidates for the role that the advertisers considered and polled / surveyed the public over - as opposed to Saville being the most trusted figure in the UK at the time (as it were).

As an aside the programme is very good, and the makers can not presumably be criticised for not knowing what was not widely known at the time they made it. It would benefit from a re-edit / re make as not many programmes tell the story well of how the HST 125 helped turn BR's troubled image around in a very difficult economic and political period. But sadly I doubt funds for that will be forthcoming.

The doc seems to be available on certain unauthorised on line sites (not you tube)

 

[Lucan]

Adopting the bizarre value of 4' 8.5'' as the national track gauge because it suited the wagons used at certain coal mines.

 

[gg1]

Adopting the bizarre value of 4' 8.5'' as the national track gauge because it suited the wagons used at certain coal mines.

It was 4' 8" initially. Stephenson used that gauge for the S&DR and earlier wagonways he designed in the previous 15 years, he added an extra half inch when building the L&MR.

 

[Trackman]

86210 was to be named 'City of Preston', they wrote to the powers that be at Preston, and they replied 'Hang on, we are not a city'.
With her sister loco 86211 the same thing happened again, 'City Of Milton Keynes', but this went ahead.

 

[Lucan]

86210 was to be named 'City of Preston', they wrote to the powers that be at Preston, and they replied 'Hang on, we are not a city'.

I heard that when the Southern was naming the Schools Class express 4-4-0s , they approached a number of public schools and other famous schools for permission to use their names. One school refused because they thought it would be demeaning, so as a result they never joined the ranks of Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc. Bad decision.