Chris M
Member
Many years ago now, on a (First?) Great Western HST from Bristol to Paddington was stopped at West Drayton "due to a bit of metal making a lot of noise beneath coach C".
That is a genuine excuse I've had before.Today's 2V17, the 1823 Ellesmere Port - Manchester Victoria takes some beating:
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y22771/2019-10-21/detailed
"This service was cancelled due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS)."
Was going to mention the trampoline until I was beaten to it.
A personal favourite of mine is one of our Voyagers getting cancelled because of the fitter getting his hand stuck in a coffee machine trying to fix it. He is an excellent and dedicated fitter which made it all the more funny apart from the bean counters POV!
There are many other daft ones too which I’ll try and recall.
No pun intended?
IIRC once in the Hyndland/Partick area a few years ago chaos ensued after a bird made a nest on the line. Driver announced this on the train as "due to a bird's nest on the line".
There are some more in this very old thread
I found that when searching for the list there used to be of reasons for delay given, in which there were some hilarious ones. I first saw it in about 1998 and I don't think it had been updated since, but I can't find it online now. I think I remember it being noted has originating with the UK Railways FAQ, so possibly from usenet?
Not sure what list you're talking about, but there's a list of the modern ones here: https://wiki.openraildata.com/index.php/Darwin:Late_Running_reason_codes_and_text
Some of my favourite highlights from this list:
and, delightfully vaguely, "115 This train has been delayed by a problem near the railway"
- 550 This train has been delayed by a fire near the railway involving gas cylinders;
- 551 This train has been delayed by a fire near the railway suspected to involve gas cylinders;
- 555 This train has been delayed by a wartime bomb near the railway;
- 653 This train has been delayed by a supermarket trolley on the track;
Llamas on the line between Tunbridge Wells and Hastings, relatively common.
Had it been a particularly uncommon corvid, requiring the protection of law, services may have had to be suspended indefinitely due to the wrong kind of crow.IIRC once in the Hyndland/Partick area a few years ago chaos ensued after a bird made a nest on the line. Driver announced this on the train as "due to a bird's nest on the line".
It wasn't a list of official reasons but, like this thread, unusual ones that had been heard. "Deranged female on the line", "waiting for the other driver", and an already severely delayed passenger train being offered the route into Ferrybridge power station stick in my mind.Not sure what list you're talking about, but there's a list of the modern ones here: https://wiki.openraildata.com/index.php/Darwin:Late_Running_reason_codes_and_text
Ah yes...the gentleman pleasuring himself... I remember hearing that.Wasn't there that Cross City one which made its way onto YouTube where the signaller was cautioning drivers on the redditch branch?
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
653 This train has been delayed by a supermarket trolley on the track.
That there's actually a code specifically for a supermarket trolley on the track makes me think that it's an unfortunately common occurrence.
On a similar note, I recall back in the 1960s my granny telling me that her journey to Kingston from Richmond was held up because, according to the station announcement, someone had chucked a tin bath on the track and, being Southern Region third rail DC, it had welded itself to the track. For some reason I'll never fathom, she found it rather amusing.