Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 07:35 29 Mar 2024
- Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
- Easter getaway begins with flood alerts in place
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
29th Mar (1913)
Foundation of National Union or Railwaymen (*)

Train RunningCancelled
06:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
07:20 Reading to Gatwick Airport
07:22 Newbury to Bedwyn
07:49 Bedwyn to Newbury
08:13 Newbury to Bedwyn
08:46 Bedwyn to Newbury
09:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading
09:54 Bedwyn to Newbury
10:22 Newbury to Bedwyn
11:29 Newbury to Bedwyn
11:57 Bedwyn to Newbury
12:52 Bedwyn to Newbury
Short Run
04:54 Plymouth to London Paddington
05:23 Hereford to London Paddington
05:33 Plymouth to London Paddington
05:55 Plymouth to London Paddington
06:37 Plymouth to London Paddington
07:03 London Paddington to Paignton
07:24 Exmouth to Paignton
07:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance
07:40 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury
08:35 Plymouth to London Paddington
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
12:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Delayed
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington
06:05 Penzance to London Paddington
07:10 Penzance to London Paddington
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
08:15 Penzance to London Paddington
09:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
09:37 London Paddington to Paignton
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
11:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 29, 2024, 07:46:35 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[82] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[76] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[74] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
[67] Return of the BRUTE?
[57] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[46] 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury...
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
Author Topic: The train is/was so busy that ...  (Read 4593 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40691



View Profile WWW Email
« on: January 21, 2018, 13:47:58 »

Some things I have had said to me:

* I had to sit between two strangers
* The buffet catering trolley couldn't get through
* I couldn't get on and had to wait for the next train
* The aisles were blocked with luggage
* I have gone back to using my car
* "I have run out of tickets" ... train manager, TransWilts yesterday  Grin

Please add your "train was so busy that ..." stories
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
jester
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 134


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2018, 14:24:02 »

"I could not get back on the train to despatch it!"  -Train Manager working a train
in the run up to Christmas....
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 12334


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2018, 14:41:40 »

Some things I have had said to me:

* I had to sit between two strangers

Always gets me, that one. Seems as though they ought to be using taxis.....if you can have one stranger next to you, two won't hurt either....
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2018, 15:42:26 »

"... I had to sit on the floor and bemoan the state of privatised railways to a journalist. There were actually seats I could use though." - Jeremy Corbyn.
Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
NickB
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 711


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2018, 15:56:07 »

...there were two people stood in the toilet (note: door remained open. No funny business).   

This was an HST (High Speed Train). In one of the new style Turbo toilets it could have been 16. 😋


...someone sat on the table, back against the window.  (Relatively common on late night short formed services from Paddington I’ve found).

...that the government insisted on putting prices up by above inflation for a decade to try and dissuade people from using the trains. 😉
Logged
1st fan
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 402


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2018, 16:19:45 »

On a fairly packed turbo heading out of Paddington a few years ago I heard the following announcement:

"Ladies and Gentlemen we are going to be a few minutes late as we are awaiting the arrival of the catering trolley"

I think this would have gone down better if it hadn't been such a disaster when it eventually arrived. There was no water - except bottled - so no coffee or tea or hot chocolate. The selection of food available for purchase was similarly limited and he only had chocolate bars. Sadly I can't remember his explanation for why there was such a rubbish selection. He had parked the trolley in the vestibule at one end but this forced people from standard to stand in the 1st area to make room.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2018, 15:36:05 by 1st fan » Logged
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7747



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2018, 16:50:26 »

............it was simply not possible for me to get on the train as there were already people standing all the way down the aisles, in the doorways and perched in the luggage racks.......I reflected, with a rueful smile as the train pulled out on the fact however that this was entirely my own fault for being foolish enough to want to travel to the Westcountry between 4pm and 8pm from Paddington.......

I shared this little gem with my fellow passengers who were also left behind on the platform who, strangely enough, did not agree with me - they all seemed to feel, in a totally illogical manner, that having spent hundreds of pounds on a ticket, they had the right to expect to spend the next 4 hours sitting down, and that GWR (Great Western Railway) should keep their promises to provide more capacity.............I laughed at their naivety and responded "Oooooooooooooos gonna pay for it?"

.............several weeks later, when I was released from hospital, I got the bus home  Smiley
Logged
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2018, 17:07:29 »

"Could you", said the train manager handing me his keys with the appropriate key foremost, "unlock and open that door", pointing to the rear driving cab door, "and a few of you stand in there or else I wont be able to get to the panel to open the doors at the next station stop".   
Logged
Richard Fairhurst
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1204


View Profile Email
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2018, 19:57:09 »

..."passengers for A,B and C are requested to alight and remain on the platform from where alternative road transport will be arranged". (But apparently it wasn't!)
Logged
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 9810



View Profile
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2018, 20:13:31 »

Passenger to man trying to push his way onto the train: ”Excuse me there’s a queue here”

Man to passenger: “Yes sir and I’m the driver.”
Logged
Phil
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2042



View Profile
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2018, 21:25:22 »

“I looked through the window and I saw that people were actually sitting on the roof of the train and hanging on for dear life. I even saw people walking on the roofs of moving trains. There were people crossing the railway tracks by foot and jumping off trains while they were moving, hanging on to the doors….” (from The Road East to India: Diary of a Journey of a Lifetime by Device Rosamund)
Logged
sikejsudjek3
Full Member
***
Posts: 50


View Profile
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2018, 09:20:00 »

"... I had to sit on the floor and bemoan the state of privatised railways to a journalist. There were actually seats I could use though." - Jeremy Corbyn.

Except there weren't. Virgin were forced eventually to release cctv footage of the carriage with 'empty seats' Corbyn walked past and it turned out that they had kids or people who had their heads down on the still picture - but on the video you can see them pop up from time to time. So Corbyn, and the other passengers who complained on that service were correct after all. Branson and co. (supporter of the Tories by pure coincidence), was not.
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 12334


View Profile Email
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2018, 10:31:32 »

So you continue walking, right? You don't just give up on the one carriage you look through & start complaining when there were seats elsewhere (prove there weren't). It was false news.
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2018, 10:57:15 »

"... I had to sit on the floor and bemoan the state of privatised railways to a journalist. There were actually seats I could use though." - Jeremy Corbyn.
Except there weren't. Virgin were forced eventually to release cctv footage of the carriage with 'empty seats' Corbyn walked past and it turned out that they had kids or people who had their heads down on the still picture - but on the video you can see them pop up from time to time. So Corbyn, and the other passengers who complained on that service were correct after all. Branson and co. (supporter of the Tories by pure coincidence), was not.

Richard Branson a "supporter of the tories"? On what evidence?

Has he, or any of his companies, ever donated to the party? Has he ever endorsed a candidate?

As far as I can work out he tends to avoid party politics. Where he has made utterances that can be deemed political he's shown to be centrist at worst. Supporting remaining in the EU» (European Union - about). Favours a welfare state.

As for the seats. I agree that Richard Branson was selective in the footage he released, and that the footage released some 7 months later, after a Subject Access Request by the journalist accompanying Jeremy Corbyn, did show more clearly that there may not have been seats available for Jeremy and his wife to sit together.

Did Richard Branson enter the debate because he is firmly a tory? I very much doubt it. I strongly suspect his overriding concern was protecting brand Virgin. I also suspect he'd do that if Virgin was being criticised by any politician, left, right or centre.
Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
didcotdean
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1424


View Profile
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2018, 11:42:11 »

There was actually very little genuinely previously unseen footage in the August 2017 version. It was spun as a revelation by 'Double Down News', although nearly all of it can be found within the original release, although not necessarily within particular selected portions circulated by particular newspapers etc. 'Double Down' was in part directed by Yannis Mendez, the taker of the Corbyn footage, and was therefore a partisan rather than an independent journalist.

In the end my personal conclusion is that no one came out of it smelling particularly good: Corbyn, Mendez, Branson, or the Guardian (amongst others).
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page