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Unusual Reason for Delay?

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Dr_Paul

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How was this situation explained to delayed passengers? This amusing if puzzling picture appeared on a pal's Facebook page, with little more information than this occurred in London yesterday (2 March). It seems to be Euston.


Cat on Train 6.jpg
 
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Karl

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Ouch! I hope they were able to cut the overhead power and get the poor moggy down safely.
 

Journeyman

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Best delay cause I ever saw was on an internal Network Rail document about fifteen years ago - "badger on fire".

We're talking third rail territory here. :)
 

4COR

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Insert some joke about overhead cat-enary...
 
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peters

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"We are sorry for the delay to this journey. This was due to the driver having to go to Sainsburys to buy some Whiskas for a cat which was preventing the train from leaving."
 

Dr_Paul

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Best delay cause I ever saw was on an internal Network Rail document about fifteen years ago - "badger on fire".

We're talking third rail territory here. :)
At one place I worked, the manager was always coming in late, giving implausible excuses. Once he made us all laugh when he said that the train was delayed because a badger had bitten through signal cables at Shoeburyness. Nobody believed him -- but it was true, it really happened.
 

island

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According to Twitter, the cat was disembarked at 22:24 and the above image suggests platforms 4/5 were involved. Based on that, I’d hazard a guess that the affected train was 9G48 the 22:30 Euston to Birmingham New Street, which was booked to depart platform 4 but actually departed platform 7, five minutes late, before then losing an hour between Rugby and Coventry.

I don’t have sight of the delay code.
 

norbitonflyer

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At one place I worked, the manager was always coming in late, giving implausible excuses. Once he made us all laugh when he said that the train was delayed because a badger had bitten through signal cables at Shoeburyness. Nobody believed him -- but it was true, it really happened.
One of Reginald Perrin's excuses
Eleven minutes late, staff difficulties at Hampton Wick.
Eleven minutes late, signal failure at Vauxhall.
Eleven minutes late, staff shortages, Nine Elms.
Eleven minutes late, seasonal manpower shortages, Clapham Junction.
Eleven minutes late, derailment of container truck, Raynes Park.
Eleven minutes late, defective junction box, New Malden.
Eleven minutes late, overheated axle at Berrylands.
Eleven minutes late, defective axle at Wandsworth.
Eleven minutes late, somebody had stolen the lines at Surbiton.
Seventeen minutes late, defective bogey at Earlsfield.
Seventeen minutes late, water seeping through the cables at Effingham Junction - there was a lot of Effingham and a good deal of Blindingham!
Twenty two minutes late, black ice at Norbiton.
Twenty two minutes late, obstacles on the line at Berrylands.
Twenty two minutes late, Badger ate a junction box at New Malden
Twenty two minutes late, fed up by train delays, came by bike. Slow puncture at Peckham.
Twenty two minutes late, escaped puma, Chessington North.
 

DarloRich

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I don’t see how it’s obvious, I would get it in the neck if I cautioned a train for a dog or a cat

it is fairly obvious: you might get it in the neck for upsetting the kids seeing a cute cat getting zapped with 25kv!

(this one was in the station so could be dealt with in a semi controlled fashion so holding the train while it was persuaded down seems sensible work by all involved)
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I was on a railtour that got held up by swans on the line.
Was that on Hastings Diesels by any chance going to Lowestoft, may be 3 or 4 years ago? as that happened to me, not that far from Lowestoft. I think think the parent swan could get over the rails but the little cygnets had to be helped by a member of staff.
 

Kite159

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Was that on Hastings Diesels by any chance going to Lowestoft, may be 3 or 4 years ago? as that happened to me, not that far from Lowestoft. I think think the parent swan could get over the rails but the little cygnets had to be helped by a member of staff.

Might have also been an UKR tour which went to Dungeness.
 

43096

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There was a story - apocryphal perhaps - many, many years ago that during a particularly bad evening peak out of Fenchurch Street (IIRC) the station announcer gave the reason as “a giraffe having become caught up in the overhead lines”.
 

DarloRich

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There was a story - apocryphal perhaps - many, many years ago that during a particularly bad evening peak out of Fenchurch Street (IIRC) the station announcer gave the reason as “a giraffe having become caught up in the overhead lines”.

I hope that is true!

The 1726 Avanti West Coast service to Glasgow is delayed by a herd of wildebeest on the line in the Carstairs area.
 

StephenHunter

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Was that on Hastings Diesels by any chance going to Lowestoft, may be 3 or 4 years ago? as that happened to me, not that far from Lowestoft. I think think the parent swan could get over the rails but the little cygnets had to be helped by a member of staff.

Yes, it was!
 

ChiefPlanner

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Had a dog on the line in the Willesden area junction on the High Level - trains cautioned and a kind driver spotted it , picked it up and put him in the cab. Ungrateful mutt bit the driver so a relief called for whilst the driver went to A+E for treatment and a rabies jab.
 

Jimini

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According to Twitter, the cat was disembarked at 22:24 and the above image suggests platforms 4/5 were involved. Based on that, I’d hazard a guess that the affected train was 9G48 the 22:30 Euston to Birmingham New Street, which was booked to depart platform 4 but actually departed platform 7, five minutes late, before then losing an hour between Rugby and Coventry.

I don’t have sight of the delay code.

Wonder what caused the hour delay at COV? Not exactly the time of night you want that happening!
 

peters

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I wonder what the Darwin reason code for this would be - maybe "This train has been delayed by disruptive passengers"? :D

Is animals on the line one of the permitted reasons? If so it might be the closest they have for animals on the train.
 

Y Ddraig Coch

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A cat narrowly avoided disaster after being spotted on the roof of a train as it prepared to depart.
The tabby was seen on an Avanti West Coast train at London Euston, about half an hour before it was due to leave for Manchester at 21:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Passengers were transferred to a replacement train as station staff coaxed the cat from the Pendolino, which travels at speeds up to 125mph.
It took two and a half hours for the cat to move from its perilous perch.
The stand-off came to an end after a bin was pulled up beside the carriage, giving the moggy its own special disembarkation platform.

A bin was pulled up beside the carriages to give the cat its own special platform on which to disembark
The cat did not appear bothered by its brush with danger, said its rescuers, who described it as "swaggering off" with the air of having somewhere else to be.
In addition to the danger of falling off a speeding train, they are powered by 25,000-volt overhead lines.
Joe Hendry, Network Rail station manager for Euston, said: "Thankfully curiosity didn't kill this cat, and we're glad it avoided using up one of its nine lives".
 

swt_passenger

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I wonder if it climbed up using the inter-car cables. Probably works for Hitachi... a Hicathi? :D
 

ChiefPlanner

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I wonder if it climbed up using the inter-car cables. Probably works for Hitachi... a Hicathi? :D

Cats are very agile - ours gets round the outside of the house from a leap up from the fence. A tabby too. Course this one might have been rummaging around the ledges above the platforms.
 
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