Which is your favourite and least favourite station announcer?

[All Line Rover]

Least favourite on-board announcer would be a train manager on Virgin trains between Euston and Brum. He has a Potteries accent i think, but takes great pleasure in announcing Bham Int and New St as "Buuuuuuuuurmingham" and ends every announcement with a prolonged "Thank yoooouuuuu". Very annoying.

I'm sure that's the guard who pronounces Manchester as "Maaanchester".

Some of VTWC's guards inject some welcome comedy (e.g. "We're 5 minutes early today. Please cut us some slack when we're 5 minutes late next time."), but I fear that the one you have in mind might have some sort of mental handicap. Repeating "Maaanchester" 10+ times during the course of a journey, every journey, is not funny, and it's clearly deliberate if he does the same with Birmingham.

 

[Parallel]

Ruth currently used by ATW and formerly FGW (Ex Wessex Trains stations) is my favourite, and I find that her voice carries very well over the noise from DMUs and is engaging. It's way too quiet at Newport though. I understand there is some kind of sound monitor on the platforms but it's still too quiet whether a train is in the platform or not.

Roger on GWR is my least favourite. It probably wouldn't be so bad but I have to listen to the droan on my commute every day. His voice is too low, slow and just sounds bored IMO, whereby Ruth, Phil and Celia are clear and it feels like they're displaying a little bit of passion in their announcements.

I don't like Mike(?) at Birmingham New Street either. I think regional accents are fine but his announcements are just so juddery.

I find Anne inoffensive.

 

[onlinespotting]

Since when did West Yorkshire go retro 1950s BBC style Lady Announcer? I could not believe my ears at Shipley last Saturday, now if I had been at Keighley next to the K&WVR I might have thought the announcer was theirs.

This is also Celia Drummond, she seems to have three or four different versions of announcement across Northern, Eurostar , SWT AND underground

Anne seems to have different versions across different network rail and TOCs
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The London Midland onboard announcer is Julie berry known for being the BT woman years ago, I believe she was at Nottingham at some point too

 

[Sprinter153]

Roger on GWR is my least favourite. It probably wouldn't be so bad but I have to listen to the droan on my commute every day.

Think yourself lucky, 'Roger' is also the voice of our auto-book-on phone line. Nothing more depressing than booking on for a spare turn and hearing him drone 'You have been booked on for duty. A resource manager needs to speak to you'

I think it's a text-to-speech style system though, ditto with the TrainFX onboard announcements.

 

[507021]

My favourites are Celia Drummond, Phil Sayer and Brian Coby.

I can't think of a least favourite.

 

[tsr]

The best tone and clarity in an announcement I've probably ever heard was a long-line PA announcement done as a last resort by a senior control manager from TBROC to East Croydon, when all the rest of the CIS kit was having weird problems, but there was a platform alteration and SSO which really had to be broadcast. Sadly it was about 2am on a quiet weekday night, so virtually nobody heard it anyway, but you couldn't have mistaken what he was saying if you'd been on the platforms at South Croydon! Sounding pleasant all the while, too.

In terms of station auto-announcers, there is still a lot of timeless dignity with Phil's ones. Onboard any stock, whilst thinking about Tramlink over the last couple of days, I came to the conclusion that Nicholas Owen's CR4000 announcements really are very good.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I'd like dalek-voiced announcements.
"Passengers for Huddersfield change at Wakefield - you will obaaaaay

"We have stopped due to trespassers on the line - exterminate!"

That would be so cool.
Also Darth Vader's voice could be used.
Or even Mr T's "don't make me mad sucker" warnings.

 

[156443]

The one at Sunderland is awful, can't pronounce certain Station names correctly, for example Prudhoe the way they say it comes out prood hoe instead of the correct pronunciation of pruddah


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[bramling]

Celia Drummond and Phil Sayer my top favorite

The one in Birmingham NS my least fave, Think his name is mike/matt.

My favourite was John Elgar, who was the predecessor to Phil Sayer, and found at quite a few Network SouthEast stations especially south of the river. Been extinct from the rail network for a good few years now unfortunately, but was extremely clear, and sounded enthusiastic but not over-bearing,

Of the current ones, not overly fond of any of them to be honest. The female voice used at Glasgow Central isn't bad, although of course only really suitable for Scotland, and the male voice used at Birmingham New Street I quite like, although again has a local feel to it. Phil and Celia are okay, but not as nice as John Elgar.

Worst is Anne, I really can't stand that voice, especially the way she emphasises certain words in what comes over as a very patronising way. Sounds like a primary school lesson at times.

Of the manual announcements, there's a male announcer at Carlisle who has a particularly nice and soothing voice, although he often speaks too fast which spoils his announcements a bit.

 

[paulravuslante]

I like the guy who speaks Welsh at ATW stations

 

[DylanP]

The sarcastic-sounding female at Coventry is pretty horrendous. She used to also look after the Virgin Trains Coventry Twitter account and blocked me when I once tweeted how awful she sounds.

https://youtu.be/xB4pcdnCM7Q

 

[Prestige15]

This should help for those who don't know who they are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbryZtRN9W0

 

[Groningen]

So those people still have a job (and have to be paid)?!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

"Talk boxes" can have regional accents. The lift at Liverpool Central used to be Scouse!

The voice on the top escalator at Lime St still is.
Pity she only has about 3 sentences ("stand to the right and hold the handrail" etc), played ad nauseam on a loop.

I like the guy who speaks Welsh at ATW stations

I'm afraid I don't.
Ruth (the English speaker) gets a lot of stick for her pronunciation of Welsh station names, but I find the Welsh guy incoherent and rather depressing.
Then there's the issue of dual announcements with just adds to the tedium (no smoking, luggage etc).

 

[All Line Rover]

The sarcastic-sounding female at Coventry is pretty horrendous. She used to also look after the Virgin Trains Coventry Twitter account and blocked me when I once tweeted how awful she sounds.

https://youtu.be/xB4pcdnCM7Q

I wouldn't say she sounds sarcastic, but her voice is nasal and doesn't carry well over the speakers.

 

[AlterEgo]

The computerised bot which does the announcements on San Francisco's BART is very odd indeed.

 

[KTHV]

The automated ones on Oslo Subway services are always welcoming to hear (both the "Doors Closing" and "Next Station")

http://jowt.com/videoer_bilkjoering...-byen_nokia_920_hasle_stasjon_stabilisert.mp4

 

[Mr Fizz]

I wouldn't say she sounds sarcastic, but her voice is nasal and doesn't carry well over the speakers.

I think this the lady who also pronounces 'Birmingham International' as "birkernational'. At least thats what it sounds like.

 

[Philip]

The one I most dislike is the TPE on-board one. It sounds rude, clipped and arrogant, a perfect sum-up of the attitude of the previous incarnation of the First TPE franchise (but seemingly improving).

Given how warm and welcoming Northern accents can be, I have no idea why that one (allegedly a member of staff) was selected.

What makes it sound rude and arrogant? A woman with a strong Yorkshire accent used to do the safety announcements onboard 185s, remember reading that she was the station supervisor at Huddersfield at the time.

The old 'Coradia' voice used by FNW and FGW on their 175s and 180s sounded quite good. She sounded very 'soft' and peaceful. She said "welcomes customers joining this Manchester Piccadilly.........service" and also "Newton....lewillows". Can she still be heard on FGW 180s now?

I also liked the auto announcer used at Wigan and Warrington before the current one. She used to finish announcements with "Good morning, welcome to Wigan North Western".

 

[boxy321]

The sarcastic-sounding female at Coventry is pretty horrendous. She used to also look after the Virgin Trains Coventry Twitter account and blocked me when I once tweeted how awful she sounds.

https://youtu.be/xB4pcdnCM7Q

I find the sarcastic nature of 'Joe Brand' funny. Not sure visitors appreciate it though.

 

[Carlisle]

The one at Sunderland is awful, can't pronounce certain Station names correctly, for example Prudhoe the way they say it comes out prood hoe instead of the correct pronunciation of pruddah

Ah right , I thought it was only the Scotrail auto announcers that made that mistake

 

[GarethW]

There used to be a mega-thread on this a few years back.

I sometimes wonder whatever happened to the WRs 'Boofay' woman.

 

[J-2739]

The computerised bot which does the announcements on San Francisco's BART is very odd indeed.

I like it. Quick and yet gets to the point. Along with the cheeky Bay accent...

 

[matacaster]

Our local ALDI has a female automatic announcer (for such things as "we are now opening checkout 5") who manages to make it sound like a very amorous proposition. Ok guys, I assume you are all down at ALDI already?

Not a rail announcer, but she should be!

 

[Alteran Ancient]

Favourites: Phil, Celia, Amey, and Charlotte.

Least Favourites: Anne (try "hate").

I'm also double-upset that I heard a pre-recorded Anne-ouncement at Victoria this afternoon. How dare they taint Victoria's perfect sound system with her chavvy tones?!?!

 

[swt class 450]

What is the name of the male voice on the GTR 700s that says "please mind the gap between the train and the platform" at every station? Also what was the name of the male voice on the 458/0s before they got converted to 458/5s? These two announcements are very good as well.

 

[GatwickDepress]

I quite like the posher announcements that British Rail recorded. yorksrob might like this - announcing the Marshlink service to Ashford with slam-doors banging in the background!

[youtube]dZXIqm_JvCo[/youtube]

The sarcastic-sounding female at Coventry is pretty horrendous. She used to also look after the Virgin Trains Coventry Twitter account and blocked me when I once tweeted how awful she sounds.

https://youtu.be/xB4pcdnCM7Q

I can see why she blocked you to be honest! I'd feel horrible if someone Tweeted me just to say I sound awful.

 

[BurtonM]

I despise TPE's systems, especially the station one. It's a hack job really, not prefessional. Big spaces, and ... Wigan?
There's no station named Wigan, no wonder he sounds a bit puzzled. His inflection is all wrong too, the whole thing is a messs.
The way Anne pronounces 'TransPennine Express' is also quite scornful sounding.
The announcer on Metrolink M5000s has an horrible north Manchester accent, conversely the Tramlink one is excellent, very clear.

There's no beating Phil Sayer though, bless him.

I'd love to do that voice work...

Someone posted a clip of a very dodgy auto announcer in Wales once, its pronunciation was laughably bad.

Honourable mention for the SNCF jingle, too.

 

[GatwickDepress]

What about station announcements across the Pond? Those who dislike verbose announcements may not listen...

[youtube]EYznyJ9vR2g[/youtube]

 

[Andyh82]

Since when did West Yorkshire go retro 1950s BBC style Lady Announcer? I could not believe my ears at Shipley last Saturday, now if I had been at Keighley next to the K&WVR I might have thought the announcer was theirs. Then there was the Male voice on the 333s. Very clear and relaxed, somehow the voice seemed familiar, TV presenter/announcer perhaps. This totally contrasted with the Conductor on the 142 on the Leeds to Poppleton service fo' stations to York, strong, true Yorkshire accent. Made my day.

Phil Sayer definitely my favourite though.

I can't get used to Celia being used in West Yorks, maybe because she sounds so posh/southern and I associate her voice with stations down south. I know Phil Sayer wasn't exactly a broad Yorkshireman but his voice seemed to fit better.

The Transpennine Express voice is the worst, badly clipped up with the inflection all wrong, full stops in the middle of sentences and no full stop at the end, every sentence ends with a question mark!