Railway Musings

[glencairn]

Do you have short anecdotes of what you have seen etc on the railways?

Here is one from me.

Way back in time, 1950 actually, I along with my Aunt and two cousins were going on holiday to Bridlington. To catch the train at Leeds City Station the entrance was at the side of Queen's Hotel. A long passageway led to the ticket office on the right. My cousins and I waited beside two heavy suitcases whilst my aunt joined one of the many queues to purchase our train tickets.

As we waited I could see smoke faintly drifting down from the trains in the station. I looked towards the ticket office. It looked eerily dark with a faint glow from the lighting. Lighting shades that (I bet) had never been cleaned since before 1939. The smell of smoke drifting ever closer. How could anyone see what they were doing? Whatever; the sight has never left me. Amazing. I loved it.

Glencairn

[glencairn]

Another little anecdote. This time it is the mid 1950s and living with my aunt and uncle and two cousins. The station is Dewsbury Market Place. The only times I ever went to the station was to go on the Annual Excursion to the Seaside. Southport or Cleethorpes were the main destinations.

Trains arriving at the station travelled through a tunnel. A short stretch of 20 yards leaving the tunnel before plunging into the station. Smoke was everywhere. Everywhere was dark and dingy. Once again the lighting was almost non-existent. I loved it.

The station opened in 1867, closed to passenger trains in 1930 (except for excursion trains). From 1930 it was a Goods Station and closed 1961.

Glencairn

[rogerfarnworth]

Visits to Bolton and the East Lancs Railway on steam running days were special. ... The smell of oil and steam is always special, alongside a very large mug of tea.

[Mountain Goat]

Some of the humourus things that happened. I can give many examples when I think about it. A young man who regularly used to go from one stop to the next with his bicycle. One day I was working a train which is the only train that does not stop at the next little station. In fact, as it was known as "The boat train" that met the ferry to Ireland, it even missed out some principle stations and only stopped a few places on its route. I saw him head for the train as I was on the platform, so in a loud voice I shouted which train it was and where it stopped. I then shouted "IT DOES NOT STOP AT" and then named his usual station. Then as he got on the train, I ran to the back cab and announced the same via the train announcement system. Finally I looked down the train and again shouted the same, and he smiled at me as if he saw it was amusing, so I thought "Ok. He must be going somewhere else today", and I checked the signal, closed the doors as it was time to leave, and then gave the driver the signal to proceed, and then waited until clear of the platform, switched out the door control panel and then went to the cab, picked up my ticket machine and slowly went down the train. There was only a small number of those waiting on the platform who went on my train, as most were waiting for the train a few minutes behind that did stop at the other stops. As I reached him, he said his usual. "Single to" (His usual stop). I said we are not stopping there and he smiled at me again. I asked "Did you hear what I said on the platform?" He said "Yes". I said "Did you hear what I said on the announcement system?" He said "Yes". I said "Did you hear what I said when I shouted down the train?" He said "Yes!" I asked "Why did you get on the train?" He smiled and said "Because you're joking". I said "I am not" and he continued smiling at me and then we flew past his stop at 65-70mph and his face suddenly changed! He said "Where is the next stop?" I told him and he asked "Where is that?" I then told him how to get back and wrote a note for the next guard to take him to his usual stop which he would get to about an hour and a half later.
The next time he saw me he came up to me and asked "Does this train go to..."