Twyford Labrador makes Incredible Journey on First Great Western train

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Reading Post:

Runaway Twyford Labrador makes Incredible Journey on First Great Western train

A pet Labrador had a ruff journey this morning when he travelled solo on the train.

The dog named Shadow joined commuters at Twyford station and shared their 13-minute journey to Reading without his owner.

Shadow walked up the stairs to the passenger deck at Reading, where he was taken to the station manager's office by surprised staff.

His owner phoned the council for help, who were able to point her to the station after a call from the duty manager.

A spokesman for First Great Western said: "Shadow appears to have boarded our 7.16am service from Twyford to Reading where his journey tailed off a little.

"Following the smell of coffee and fresh sausages he climbed the stairs where he was seen hounding station staff for a Rover Ticket to Barking."

And, from the comments posted in response to that story on the Reading Post website:

I would like to thank everyone at Reading Train Station who helped us yesterday get our dog back. I would like to thank all the people who shared his description on facebook and the passengers on the train that reported he was on board. He has been getting overweight lately and we have started him on a diet - so you can imagine the comments on why he got the train. He is a family dog and loved by everyone and we are all so thankful he is home safe. Thanks Stan Smith

All's well that ends well, then. 

[plymothian]

Damn all the puns have been covered in the article.
Although it doesn't say if he got penalty furred.

[chuffed]

His adventure certainly gives one paws for thought. Think his owner may have a bone to pick with him later and he'll be in the doghouse for a while.

[bobm]

Reminds me of two other Labradors who had an adventure while at Twyford Station.

It was a cold December night in the early 1980s.  A man parked his car on the station forecourt to await his wife's return.

Shortly before her train arrived the branch train from Henley came in and failed to stop before hitting the buffers and ending up on top of the aforementioned car.  Minutes later the poor woman got off her train and walked out onto the station forecourt to see her husband's number plate sticking out from under the front unit of the Henley train.

Thankfully her husband was uninjured.  So too were the dogs.  When the train landed the tailgate of the car flew open and the dogs ran off into the night.

Following an appeal on local radio, they were found the next morning on a nearby housing estate, wet and cold but uninjured.

[Phil]

I don't see what's particularly "incredible" about the dog's journey, but maybe I'm missing a journalistic reference that's passed me by. The story does remind me though of a similar tail (sic) a lady told me not long ago when she met me and my dog, a Wire-Haired Fox Terrier, out walking one morning. "Oh, we had one of those when I was a child!" (this is in itself a very common opening sentence, we've found; but what followed was unusual). "There was a railway line at the bottom of the garden, and the dog [whose name I've forgotten] used to follow the school-children onto the train most mornings, ride with them to the town, have a drink of water at the station and then the guard would put him onto the train back again later. One day there was a new guard and he tried to charge us for the dog's journey - we had a terrible problem breaking the dog of the habit, otherwise it would've cost us a fortune!"

[BerkshireBugsy]

Did he travel turd class?