Weird Things You See People Do on the Railway

[trainophile]

But when I've told people "well, you asked for the next one, so that's what I told you", I get accused of being rude!
No, I am just answering your second (and rather silly) question and you didn't like the answer.

Do you think perhaps they are wondering whether you have given them the time of the next direct train, but if it is a while away maybe they think they might get an earlier one but involving a change? I don't know if that happens, but infrequent travellers may think it might.

 

[GrahamD83]

Thing that annoys me is passengers who wait until they are stood in the aisle by their seats to look for something in a large bag before they attemp to heave said bag onto overhead rack.

 

[fairysdad]

People who ask when the next train is to a certain destination, they're told when the next service is and they reply "Is there not one sooner?". It's like they think there's a service that they're not allowed to know about!

To be fair, I've done that before, but it's not a case of disbelieving the person telling me, more a case of 'damn it, there's not one sooner' but phrased as an exasperated question!

 

[GodAtum]

Sometimes people move out of the first class compartment on a class 377 to sit in standard, often coming away from London at East Croydon. This then blocks me from getting off as I try and be polite and let them out first.

 

[traji00]

People who watch me making an announcement about a calling pattern, only to then ask me where the train is going!

Then there's the people who try to physically interrupt me while making an announcement.

And finally this gem at Clapham Junction :
"Where do I get a train to Weybridge from?"
"platform 9, the xx:19 to Basingstoke."
"okay thanks. And what time does it get to Syon Lane?"

 

[TFN]

I don't know if this is railway related but I work on the Rail Replacement Bus Service for the tube.

I understand some areas are louder than others (looking at you Camden Town) but the amount of interruptions I get when I make an announcement infuriates me.

Me: "This is a District Line rail replacement bus service to Canning Town, calling at Aldgate East, Whitechapel, Stepn-"

Pax 1: "Oi mate does this go to Mile End?"

Me: "If you'd let me finish then you'd know"

Pax 2: "Does this go to Whitechapel?"

Me: "I just said it did?"



Side note: those people that ask if the RRBS goes to some random street corner like a regular bus instead of getting the fact that it stops at stations only

 

[trainophile]

I don't know if this is railway related but I work on the Rail Replacement Bus Service for the tube.

I understand some areas are louder than others (looking at you Camden Town) but the amount of interruptions I get when I make an announcement infuriates me.

Me: "This is a District Line rail replacement bus service to Canning Town, calling at Aldgate East, Whitechapel, Stepn-"

Pax 1: "Oi mate does this go to Mile End?"

Me: "If you'd let me finish then you'd know"

Pax 2: "Does this go to Whitechapel?"

Me: "I just said it did?"



Side note: those people that ask if the RRBS goes to some random street corner like a regular bus instead of getting the fact that it stops at stations only

I wish RRB drivers would announce the stations when they are arrived at. Especially as often the bus pull-up point is not in view of any station signage.

 

[Class 33]

There is a rather nutty women I've seen frequently at Clifton Down station in Bristol over the past several months. A woman aged about 50 odd, who whenever she is at the station waiting for the train she asks people "Scouse me. Can you buy tickets on the train?". Every time people tell her yes(though she may have to find the conductor on the train to do so). But yet every time she's getting the train from that station she asks people the same old thing "Scouse me. Can you buy tickets on the train?"!!!! Not only that but she always travels to Bath, BUT she insists on buying a return to Bristol Temple Meads and then from there buying a return to Bath, because she says she has to get on another train at Temple Meads to Bath, so she needs two separate tickets. Even though people have told her a number of times if she buys a return to Bath Spa from Clifton Down, that ticket will be valid to and from Bath Spa even though she needs to change trains. But no, she refuses to believe it and every time insists on buying two separate return tickets! She is often rude and abrupt to other people on the station and on the train too.

Some of you who use Clifton Down station may perhaps have seen this nutty women too!

 

[Harbornite]

Standing on the ends of platforms and writing down numbers in notepads.

 

[Bromley boy]

Wearing “heritage” BR uniform - although it’s better quality than some of the stuff issued these days!

 

[_toommm_]

There's a gentleman who frequents Sheffield a lot for most of the day, headphones in, getting rather excited at whatever he's listening to. Not a spotter or a photter or a notepad guy as far as I can tell, just spends most of his day walking around platforms 2-5

 

[Rick1984]

Cyclist on a Pompey waterloo service taking couple items of clothing out his panniner and drapping them on handlebars, like a makeshift clothesline. Also seemed to be consuming a variety of beer including taking four cans and putting them in a small cool bag.

 

[Journeyman]

I was on a train from Whitby to Middlesbrough last weekend, and there was a guy of about seventy wearing a dress and a huge gold chain who jumped up and down getting hugely excited by just about everything he saw from the window.

At Grosmont: "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Old coaches! Old coaches!"
At Battersby: "Ooh! We're going back the other way!"
At Middlesbrough: "Transporter bridge! Transporter bridge! If that's not a transporter bridge, I don't know what it is!"

He had a couple of large dressings on his head, so I was a bit concerned about why, but he seemed harmless enough, if rather odd. I think the conductor was keeping an eye on him.

 

[E_Reeves]

At Ely a couple of weeks back there was a man telling people he was "all out of sheep". Well, that's what it sounded like.

 

[boxy321]

After a scrum for seats at Solihull towards Moor Street (an 11 minute journey), people will often start to get up at Tysley, half way through the journey. This then starts the herd mentality and others start standing and shuffling along.

I always enjoy this when we stop at red for several minutes waiting for a platform, while I remain seated and read the paper, arising at the last minute as I sit by the door and being one of the first to get off.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

There is a rather nutty women I've seen frequently at Clifton Down station in Bristol over the past several months. A woman aged about 50 odd, who whenever she is at the station waiting for the train she asks people "Scouse me. Can you buy tickets on the train?". Every time people tell her yes(though she may have to find the conductor on the train to do so). But yet every time she's getting the train from that station she asks people the same old thing "Scouse me. Can you buy tickets on the train?"!!!! Not only that but she always travels to Bath, BUT she insists on buying a return to Bristol Temple Meads and then from there buying a return to Bath, because she says she has to get on another train at Temple Meads to Bath, so she needs two separate tickets. Even though people have told her a number of times if she buys a return to Bath Spa from Clifton Down, that ticket will be valid to and from Bath Spa even though she needs to change trains. But no, she refuses to believe it and every time insists on buying two separate return tickets! She is often rude and abrupt to other people on the station and on the train too.

Some of you who use Clifton Down station may perhaps have seen this nutty women too!

As someone who uses Clifton Down around a couple of times a year, what time does this woman frequent the station? As the last time I was there (August 2017) it was peaceful and not a soul insight, even when the train was pulling in there was only a small number of people but no nutty woman.

There is a pub next door to Clifton Down, so could she be smashed as well when she's asking the same question?

 

[backontrack]

Single syllable 'York?' without so much as a hello or please on occasion gets a cheeky reply depending on my mood. We have one guard who without fail goes for a handshake and says 'no, I'm Bob, but I'm pleased to meet you!'.

That's brilliant!

 

[Spartacus]

After a scrum for seats at Solihull towards Moor Street (an 11 minute journey), people will often start to get up at Tysley, half way through the journey. This then starts the herd mentality and others start standing and shuffling along.

Similar thing happens on TPEs into Leeds, I've on occasion seen people start to get up at Cottingley which is a similar distance and time out, then everyone starts doing the same. I've often wondered if, if enough of you made the move towards the doors at the same time, how far out you could get the rest of the flock getting up?

While at one point I used to take passing Elland Road as my point for getting up when coming into Leeds on Cross Country, that was in pre-voyager days when with a large rucksack and a short connection getting stuck behind someone who didn't know how to work a Mk2 or Mk3 door would lead to a long wait at Leeds.

 

[xotGD]

Wearing “heritage” BR uniform - although it’s better quality than some of the stuff issued these days!

Is that staff or passengers?

 

[mallard]

A few weeks ago I was quietly sitting in the dilapidated waiting room at Leicester waiting for my train as comfortably the poorly designed metal benches allow, when, after multiple clear annoucements about a platform change a member of staff came rushing in and started interrogating each person individually about their travel plans, trying to ascertain whether we were there to catch the platform changed train; despite this being only a few minutes before the train arrived, well after the time that most people meaning to catch that train would have exited the waiting room.

Even worse, as I was listening to my headphones at the time, I expected that the staff member would simply pass me by, which he did not do; insisting that I remove my headphones to answer his queries! I was also sitting directly in front of the (tiny and poorly positioned) departure screen and, since I was listening to a fairly quiet audiobook or podcast, I had heard the annoucements clearly (although, granted, there is no way for him to have known this).

I get trying to make sure passengers get the information, but individually interrogating passengers in the waiting room including interrupting passengers who clearly aren't interested is surely going too far! Very weird indeed.

 

[Killingworth]

At Dore & Totley there is a single platform with a stopping service through the Hope Valley and commuter trains between Sheffield and Manchester provided by TPE and East Midlands. Inevitably these can be late and when TPE services arrive after 8.00 they may be going in either direction. The queue to get on the platform often blocks the entrance gate.
The CIS is not a great help when both trains are shown to be in the platform at the same time. Late arrivals will leap on a train only to leap straight back out again when they find they're about to go the wrong way!

New station users may ask, "which platform do I use for Manchester?" "How do I get to the other platform? "where's the bridge to the other platform?" or even "how do I cross the line?" My answer is usually something like "Come back in 2021 and we may have a Platform 2."

 

[Bromley boy]

Is that staff or passengers?

The person I’m thinking of is a driver (and a bit of a crank).

 

[bramling]

At Dore & Totley there is a single platform with a stopping service through the Hope Valley and commuter trains between Sheffield and Manchester provided by TPE and East Midlands. Inevitably these can be late and when TPE services arrive after 8.00 they may be going in either direction. The queue to get on the platform often blocks the entrance gate. View attachment 49505
The CIS is not a great help when both trains are shown to be in the platform at the same time. View attachment 49506 Late arrivals will leap on a train only to leap straight back out again when they find they're about to go the wrong way!

New station users may ask, "which platform do I use for Manchester?" "How do I get to the other platform? "where's the bridge to the other platform?" or even "how do I cross the line?" My answer is usually something like "Come back in 2021 and we may have a Platform 2."

Welshpool has a slightly odd setup, where if one goes to what looks like the station entrance one will end up at a platform alongside a busy road bypass. The station is rather hidden away across this bypass and reached via a rather circuitous footbridge. Plenty of people turn up and do a double take, and spend time working out where the trains are.

 

[kevconnor]

Not at the train station but a number of years ago (maybe 2011) stood outside the shops on fog lane opposite which now stands west didsbury tram stop but then was empty ground. Asked by passerby

“how do I get to west didsbury train station?”
“Do you mean east didsbury?”
“No, no I’m quite sure it’s west didsbury.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“Are you thinking of the proposed tram line.”
“No its definetly the train, I’m heading back to Derby.”
“Then you may want a time machine, it closed over 40 years ago.”
“That can’t be!!!”
“Are you sure you don’t want east didsbury”
“Is it still open”
“Yes”
“And will it get me to Derby?”
“It will get you to Piccadilly”
“Is that near Derby?”
“It’s Manchester Piccadilly”
“Oh..how do I get to Derby?”

Me by this point walking away
“However you like”

 

[kevjs]

3: Expect doors to open automatically.
Many times watched someone waiting at a door while everyone else is boarding. Once or twice the person even walks to another door.

Not really too unexpected when every other form of public transport seems to do so - buses, trams, tube, DLR, planes (Well Cabin Crew do those)...

Also seen a couple of people regularly walk all the way up the platform to the front of the train, only for them to walk all the way to the back through the train & sit in the rear coach!

Gotta get that Fitbit steps count somehow

I once saw a man do an exercise routine in the vestibule between Euston and Harrow and Wealdstone on a Tring service. This was full stand up and squat and so on workout. The kind you'd do in a gym not on a train!

Still when a man's got a keep fit, a man's gotta keep fit.

Not this dude by any chance?

(Roger Frampton, "Movement Coach" - video called "Train Squatting With Metro")

6: When calling out reference numbers, no regularity. A-BB-CCC-D-E-FF.
Why not ABC-DEF-GHI or whatever?

Double numbers become easier to quote as such - 1 double 2 - 6781 - double 5 - 989...

7: People calling out reference numbers using the phonetic alphabet, even when there's no glass.

In my experience this is more likely for the text to be entered correctly - S and F being particular letters that get confused.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The person I’m thinking of is a driver (and a bit of a crank).

When I was a lad , and Operations Manager for North London Railways - we named (one of the last things I did in that job - 1999) , 31601 I think "Bletchley Park Station X" (we used these things on the line due to endemic DMU failures pre the 150's coming in) - so we had a great turnout , WW2 uniforms etc as a Guard of Honour , and some of the train crew on duty came in with their old BR driver uniforms , caps and all.

Just seemed right ....mind you we did not have then , anyone in the driver grade , who was still qualified and from that era. Though we had retired some great old boys a few years earlier who had started as cleaners in or about 1945 , and found themselves rapidly promoted to fireman at the age of 16 , and on the main line on freight. 8 hours to Northampton in the winter of 1947 .....

 

[GordonT]

Expending energy on a fruitless short sprint as the desired train vacates the platform gathering speed.

 

[Class 33]

As someone who uses Clifton Down around a couple of times a year, what time does this woman frequent the station? As the last time I was there (August 2017) it was peaceful and not a soul insight, even when the train was pulling in there was only a small number of people but no nutty woman.

There is a pub next door to Clifton Down, so could she be smashed as well when she's asking the same question?

No she's not drunk. She's just a bit nutty, every single time asking "Scouse me. Can you buy tickets on the train?"!! On weekdays(though not necessarily every weekday) she usually gets the 0928 service to Bristol Temple Meads.

 

[bramling]

Expending energy on a fruitless short sprint as the desired train vacates the platform gathering speed.

One that I’ve never really understood is the tendency of some people to suddenly start pushing their way to the leading end of the platform just as the train enters - even when the train’s length has been clearly advertised in advance. It’s almost like they see the train enter and become completely fixated on getting to the front.

A similar thing which makes me laugh is when some irregular user, normally a family at the weekend, turns up and when the train arrives sees a table and shouts out “that’s where we’re going to sit”, then tries and fails to push their way there due to other regulars having known where to stand.

 

[ASharpe]

A similar thing which makes me laugh is when some irregular user, normally a family at the weekend, turns up and when the train arrives sees a table and shouts out “that’s where we’re going to sit”, then tries and fails to push their way there due to other regulars having known where to stand.

Well provided they all sit near the table and make those actually sat at it feel uncomfortable enough to move I don't see a problem. If they just gave up when the first solo traveler sat down that would be odd.