Trivia: Unusual, bizarre or oddly specific causes of delay

[PeterC]

Cockle shed on the track Leigh-on-Sea
Emu on the track near Bishops Stortford
Cow in platform 6 at Norwich
Driver climbing signal ladder at Ilford to escape from an Alsatian dog

Plus of course the many delay excuses that affected Reginald Perrin on his commute to Waterloo.
http://www.leonardrossiter.com/reginaldperrin/Train.html

I believe that the cockle shed was accompanied by a fishing boat. It was on the night of 15/16 October 1987 of course.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Not odd in their own right, but an odd combo...

The other day the 0806 on my line was cancelled due to the driver taking ill and the subsequent 0818 was delayed due to problems with the electrical supply.

Being in possession of quite a sick sense of humour I passed the extra time waiting wondering how the two might have been related(!)

I'm guessing the driver chundered on the third rail stopped at a station and it short-circuited!

 

[Spartacus]

For some reason the animal ones stick in my head.

Alpaca hit by train: alpaca removed to access point across viaduct by rail trolley.
Snakes on a train: turned out to be a live eel got loose, which is perhaps even weirder.
Smoking hot beaver: on the con-rail, needless to say expired.
Guide dog falling between train and platform edge.

And then there’s the member of train crew who decided to obey a call of nature on a train in the adjacent platform which promptly set off with them still on the throne.....

 

[37047]

While waiting at Hereford for a delayed service to Cardiff several years ago, the reason given by the station announcer was 'due to defective staff'.

Not sure it competes with a cockle shed but it's more the phrasing that stuck in the mind.

 

[scosutsut]

I'm guessing the driver chundered on the third rail stopped at a station and it short-circuited!

It's OHL so that made my ridiculous theories even more ridiculous!

 

[43096]

Eurostar apparently once reported services were delayed by “snow at North Pole”.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

On that subject, a couple of years back, not long after their respective brand launches, TransPennine Express and Great Western Railway reservation labels ended up in the opposite place to that intended, so for a few days until more stock could be obtained, TPE served Portsmouth Harbour and GWR the Pennines.

Hang on - TPE served Portsmouth and GET served the Pennines? That's a first.

 

[The Quincunx]

Paddling pool on the line - on a very windy day, at Castlerock.

 

[d9009alycidon]

Years back a work colleague was always late in and gave increasingly implausible excuses. On one day he said that all trains were running late because a badger had bitten through a signalling cable at Shoeburyness. 'Oh yeah', we all said. But it was true, as it was on the news that evening.

One evening at Waterloo, all trains were running late and a voice came over the tannoy apologising for this, and added: 'This is entirely due to management incompetence.' I don't know if it was, but we all had a good laugh and cheer on the concourse.

In the TV series "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" Reggie was always late due to some fault, starting very plausable then getting increasingly bizzare. The full list (thanks to Reggie Online: The Official Reginald Perrin web site) includes the badger oddly enough!

Series One:
As Reginald Perrin, Sunshine Desserts -
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, staff difficulties, Hampton Wick."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, signal failure at Vauxhall."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, staff shortages, Nine Elms."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, derailment of container truck, Raynes Park."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, seasonal manpower shortages, Clapham Junction."
Ep.2 "Eleven minutes late, defective junction box, New Malden."
Ep.4 "Eleven minutes late, overheated axle at Berrylands."
Ep.4 "Eleven minutes late, defective axle at Wandsworth."
Ep.5 "Eleven minutes late, somebody had stolen the lines at Surbiton."

Series Two:
As Martin Wellbourne, Sunshine Desserts -
Ep.1 "Seventeen minutes late, defective bogey at Earlsfield."
Ep.1 "Seventeen minutes late, water seeping through the cables at Effingham Junction - there was a lot of Effingham and a good deal of Blindingham!"

As Reginald Perrin, Perrin Products (Grot) Ltd. -

Ep.4 "Twenty-two minutes late, black ice at Norbiton."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, obstacles on the line at Berrylands."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, badger ate a junction box at New Malden."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, fed up by train delays, came by bike. Slow puncture at Peckham."
Ep.7 "Twenty-two minutes late, escaped puma, Chessington North."

 

[Polarbear]

There was one on Twitter a few days back from Ireland, which cited the delay being due to a pigeon getting into the drivers cab & "biting" him!

 

[OneOffDave]

A train was delayed at Farnborough Main last week while the fire and rescue service cut someone out of the toilet on a train. See https://twitter.com/Rushmoor02/status/1176281146759491584 for a photo of the aftermath

 

[Deety]

Ended up stuck at Westbury for a couple of hours about 20 years ago due to a hot air balloon on the line.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Before the Voyager era, late 90s I think, a late start for a Leeds-SW HST due to a puncture. The guard for the first train of the day suffered a puncture on his drive to the depot.

 

[74A]

The train in front is too long. On more than one occasion.

Due to naughty freight companies adding extra vehicles to a train which is then too long for going in a loop. So had to follow it until a suitable passing place !

 

[Bantamzen]

One afternoon in Leeds when two 156s were sitting on P9, one for Doncaster (replacing an EMU that had failed), one for York. Guard announces one the one I was on that this was the xx:xx to Doncaster, followed a minute or two later by another guard announcing that it was the xx:xx to York, with a further announcement that it was definitely not the xx:xx to York, but the xx:xx to Doncaster and that the second guard had been a silly sod & got on the wrong train!

Thus followed several minutes of passenger chess as everybody tried to figure out which unit to board for the respective journeys, and a subsequent delay as we waited to get a green once everybody and staff stored out which unit to be on.

 

[Wombat]

Not individually unusual, but I was once late to a job interview due to a simultaneous combination of (IIRC) a signal failure, a fire by the tracks and a person hit by a train. My interviewer checked out my story and I got the job.

 

[since1814]

Oddly specific: "This service was cancelled between Newcastle and Middlesbrough due to a passenger being taken ill (VD)"

 

[Three-Nine]

Frogmen. I shall leave it to the readers imagination whether or not I'm referring to some kind of Lovecraftian invasion from The Deep or SCUBA divers.

Then there was that time an entire Tescos fell onto a railway line...

 

[Ianno87]

Frogmen. I shall leave it to the readers imagination whether or not I'm referring to some kind of Lovecraftian invasion from The Deep or SCUBA divers.

Then there was that time an entire Tescos fell onto a railway line...

Not the entire Tesco (wasn't built)...just the tunnel being built for it.

 

[Tomnick]

I recall seeing the report on TRUST when a train was cancelled because the driver had popped to get a few bits from a local shop during the turnaround, inadvertently pocketed one item and ended up being detained. Saltburn, I think it was?

 

[MotCO]

In the TV series "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" Reggie was always late due to some fault, starting very plausable then getting increasingly bizzare. The full list (thanks to Reggie Online: The Official Reginald Perrin web site) includes the badger oddly enough!

Series One:
As Reginald Perrin, Sunshine Desserts -
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, staff difficulties, Hampton Wick."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, signal failure at Vauxhall."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, staff shortages, Nine Elms."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, derailment of container truck, Raynes Park."
Ep.1 "Eleven minutes late, seasonal manpower shortages, Clapham Junction."
Ep.2 "Eleven minutes late, defective junction box, New Malden."
Ep.4 "Eleven minutes late, overheated axle at Berrylands."
Ep.4 "Eleven minutes late, defective axle at Wandsworth."
Ep.5 "Eleven minutes late, somebody had stolen the lines at Surbiton."

Series Two:
As Martin Wellbourne, Sunshine Desserts -
Ep.1 "Seventeen minutes late, defective bogey at Earlsfield."
Ep.1 "Seventeen minutes late, water seeping through the cables at Effingham Junction - there was a lot of Effingham and a good deal of Blindingham!"

As Reginald Perrin, Perrin Products (Grot) Ltd. -

Ep.4 "Twenty-two minutes late, black ice at Norbiton."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, obstacles on the line at Berrylands."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, badger ate a junction box at New Malden."
Ep.5 "Twenty-two minutes late, fed up by train delays, came by bike. Slow puncture at Peckham."
Ep.7 "Twenty-two minutes late, escaped puma, Chessington North."

Why did an overheated axle and ostacles on the line at at Berrylands, the stolen lines at Surbiton, the water at Effingham, the puncture at Peckham and the puma at Chessington North affect him, when he caught his train at Norbiton!!

 

[pitdiver]

Why did an overheated axle and ostacles on the line at at Berrylands, the stolen lines at Surbiton, the water at Effingham, the puncture at Peckham and the puma at Chessington North affect him, when he caught his train at Norbiton!!

It was all part of The Reggie Perrin Saga. You have to had watched the whole series to understand the humour. In a nutshell it wasn't the reason and location of the delay but that there had been a delay.

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

Made by yours truly

 

[MotCO]

It was all part of The Reggie Perrin Saga. You have to had watched the whole series to understand the humour. In a nutshell it wasn't the reason and location of the delay but that there had been a delay.

Or maybe Reginald thought that the routes were interworked!

 

[MotCO]

Made by yours truly

That reminds me that a few weeks back, a pigeon got on the waiting train at Charing Cross and the doors automatically closed, leaving the bird on the train. Fortunately I spotted it and opened the doors for it to alight (Fortunate because he didn't have a ticket, only a bill )

 

[tsr]

I think my best one so far is “a dog having dragged the coffee shop table onto the line at Coulsdon South”.

Basically, there’s a small coffee bar on Platform 1. It used to have a table outside, to which someone attached their dog’s lead. The dog went for a wander and the table wasn’t heavy enough to prevent them. Said dog ended up on the track with the table attached...

There was one on Twitter a few days back from Ireland, which cited the delay being due to a pigeon getting into the drivers cab & "biting" him!

A pigeon accidentally entered a train cab in the Peckham area a few months ago...

 

[Meerkat]

A pigeon accidentally entered a train cab in the Peckham area a few months ago...

How do you know it was accidentally??

 

[tsr]

How do you know it was accidentally??

It didn’t like it very much and tried to leave...

 

[Meerkat]

It didn’t like it very much and tried to leave...

Seat too hard?

 

[tsr]

Seat too hard?

It was a 455 cab - you’d be lucky to find a complete seat in one of those!