Confusion At St Pancras

[Aictos]

A better solution is to leave the train departing second locked until after the first has departed. IMHO, that works well at Leeds platform 17. I have major concerns what will happen if trains need lengthening post MML electrification and we can no longer fit two services in one platform.

That's exactly what we do at my workplace, a train arrives at 10:20 and splits to form the 10:34 and 10:54 with the 10:54 remaining locked up until well after the 10:34 has departed.

It's much better that way then leaving both open as people can and do just get in the 10:54 portion as they just see it as a train with 6 carriages even if they are now split into two 3 carriage trains, they do it at Peterborough, Kings Cross etc...

 

[Tomnick]

No use here though, not with two long-distance trains departing within four minutes of each other!

 

[EM2]

London Midland have the pointy signs as well as the concourse monitors highlighting "furthest from the concourse". This is what should happen at St Pancras, and doesn't.

St Pancras uses 'furthest from the ticket barrier'.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Depends how much spare money they have

I concur. However in respect of driving lessons and the purchase of a car my nephew has funded this himself by doing part time hours at McDonalds.
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I wasn’t taking the piddle!

I had assumed for a long time that because I used trains from an early age everyone would. Looking back I guess this wasn’t the normal thing, but we didn’t have a car for long periods of time so went everywhere by train. It was cheap then with the family railcard.

Also I guess my parents were happy to let me pop off on the train somewhere on my own as I was interested in railways, understood the timetables and systems etc and was always quite self sufficient, independent and had some common sense. I didn’t always tell them the entire truth about where I went (yes mum just going to Newcastle for the day. Oh I have ended up in Edinburgh opps! ) but I always had 10p for the phone box and always got home when I said!

Sadly, these days, I am somewhat older (perhaps wiser?) than 18 and but I am still going to away matches by train! I did use the supporters coach as a youngster as well for some of the longer trips (Torquay/Exeter/Shrewsbury/Herford/ Brighton etc) but always preferred the train as there was a chance of getting some cans in!

Perhaps these days people are more suspicious/cautious about the wider world but I found that travelling by myself from an early age really helped with confidence and independence and also helps generate some “street smarts”.

Anyway these badges you talk of? Where can I get one ……………………

When I was a teenager (I'm now 47), from the age 14 I too would often take myself off around the country (particularly the NW) chasing class 40's, 25's and electrics. Not to mention cycling over to the Woodhead Valley hunting down class 76's. This spirit of adventure has rubbed off on my children and my wife would often head into Manchester by herself from the East Lancs when she was a teenager.

However, my wonderful little sister was very different to me growing up and this shows in her children. Assuming that he gets the necessary A Levels my nephew will be heading off to Imperial College in September so he will soon get used to travelling by himself!

Badge is in the post.........

 

[anti-pacer]

I concur. However in respect of driving lessons and the purchase of a car my nephew has funded this himself by doing part time hours at McDonalds.
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When I was a teenager (I'm now 47), from the age 14 I too would often take myself off around the country (particularly the NW) chasing class 40's, 25's and electrics. Not to mention cycling over to the Woodhead Valley hunting down class 76's. This spirit of adventure has rubbed off on my children and my wife would often head into Manchester by herself from the East Lancs when she was a teenager.

However, my wonderful little sister was very different to me growing up and this shows in her children. Assuming that he gets the necessary A Levels my nephew will be heading off to Imperial College in September so he will soon get used to travelling by himself!

Badge is in the post.........

Can relate to heading to Manchester from the same part of the world your wife is from, in my teenage years, on the X43/743 bus.

Ah, happy days!

 

[RichmondCommu]

Can relate to heading to Manchester from the same part of the world your wife is from, in my teenage years, on the X43/743 bus.

Ah, happy days!

My wife has just had a quiet chuckle to herself Anti-Pacer! Anything to escape Nelson for the day and to rummage through the Arndale Centre market in search of bargains!

 

[34D]

Are both 5 car sets A B C D G? Would it lesson confusion if the Sheffield was J K L M N?

 

[Gareth]

Not strictly on topic but seen as it's a St Pancras thread, I'm curious about the arrangement of the platforms. The East Midlands and FCC trains are on different levels but can offer the same journeys (to Luton and Bedford at least). For people making these journeys, is this not a little confusing? I mean, East Midlands trains will be quicker but FCC is far more frequent. Going into London seems fine, as you can just get whatever shows up first but going back out, you need to make a choice due to the different levels. Can't be ideal. What do people tend to do? Look at the boards in the high level station and then make a decision?

 

[transmanche]

Look at the boards in the high level station and then make a decision?

That's the only way. Check the boards on ground level (the undercroft) and then go down to the FCC platforms, or up to the EMT platforms.

It may not be perfect, but it's a lot better than having to choose between King's Cross Thameslink or St Pancras!

 

[Bungle73]

Not strictly on topic but seen as it's a St Pancras thread, I'm curious about the arrangement of the platforms. The East Midlands and FCC trains are on different levels but can offer the same journeys (to Luton and Bedford at least). For people making these journeys, is this not a little confusing? I mean, East Midlands trains will be quicker but FCC is far more frequent. Going into London seems fine, as you can just get whatever shows up first but going back out, you need to make a choice due to the different levels. Can't be ideal. What do people tend to do? Look at the boards in the high level station and then make a decision?

There's a big set of departure boards at ground level opposite the NR ticket office and the FCC ticket barriers.

 

[edwin_m]

That's the only way. Check the boards on ground level (the undercroft) and then go down to the FCC platforms, or up to the EMT platforms.

It may not be perfect, but it's a lot better than having to choose between King's Cross Thameslink or St Pancras!

Indeed - both sets of trains appear on the boards opposite the ticket office. The EMT ones are also at fairly consistent times so regulars will probably remember them anyway.

 

[jon0844]

Not strictly on topic but seen as it's a St Pancras thread, I'm curious about the arrangement of the platforms. The East Midlands and FCC trains are on different levels but can offer the same journeys (to Luton and Bedford at least). For people making these journeys, is this not a little confusing? I mean, East Midlands trains will be quicker but FCC is far more frequent. Going into London seems fine, as you can just get whatever shows up first but going back out, you need to make a choice due to the different levels. Can't be ideal. What do people tend to do? Look at the boards in the high level station and then make a decision?

The screens in 'The Circle' are weird too. Split by TOC, which seems very odd and not how most London stations do things.

Okay, so Eurostar could probably be separated.. but it's not even that clear on those screens how they're split up.. and the tall screens that convey information are stupid when they have multiple panels so text wraps over them (and sometimes doesn't fit on the line - although that might be fixed by now?). I do wish they'd simply gone with the regular amber LED display boards like almost everywhere else. They can also offer scrolling text instead of the paged updating with the incredibly slow refresh rate.

Besides the screens and trains going from all over the place, those that have arrived from mainland Europe have also probably been rather confused by there being two ticket offices next to each other, and not realising one is FCC and the other EMT, but sell all the same tickets. Fortunately, the station has now tried to make it seem like they're one and the same (common sense prevails!) even though there are still separate entrances and queues.

 

[anti-pacer]

My wife has just had a quiet chuckle to herself Anti-Pacer! Anything to escape Nelson for the day and to rummage through the Arndale Centre market in search of bargains!

Ironically, Nelson's shopping centre was also called the Arndale Centre, although nowhere near as big as Manchester's. I believe the one in Nelson is now called the Admiral Centre.

Did your wife also use the X43 to get to Manchester? Still runs to this day, but it's much better than it was back in the 'Ribble' days.

 

[edwin_m]

The screens in 'The Circle' are weird too. Split by TOC, which seems very odd and not how most London stations do things.

Okay, so Eurostar could probably be separated.. but it's not even that clear on those screens how they're split up.. and the tall screens that convey information are stupid when they have multiple panels so text wraps over them (and sometimes doesn't fit on the line - although that might be fixed by now?). I do wish they'd simply gone with the regular amber LED display boards like almost everywhere else. They can also offer scrolling text instead of the paged updating with the incredibly slow refresh rate.

Besides the screens and trains going from all over the place, those that have arrived from mainland Europe have also probably been rather confused by there being two ticket offices next to each other, and not realising one is FCC and the other EMT, but sell all the same tickets. Fortunately, the station has now tried to make it seem like they're one and the same (common sense prevails!) even though there are still separate entrances and queues.

+1 to all of that. Maybe some text above the screens would help - "Trains to the East Midlands departing from platforms 1-4" with an arrow? I rather suspect amber LEDs were rejected on visual grounds - but white or blue ones would be just as good if they get the brightness right.

Here's the screen I'm referring to on Streetview:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5...!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s6WcBOvyxbihSKzYIDdH1Vg!2e0!3e5

 

[Qwerty133]

Very true.

But if someone does ask, chances are some of them will be met by someone who will be quite patronising because it's all on the board/sign/poster, and give some sort of sarcastic answer.. and it will end up on a RailChat thread about dumb passengers asking stupid questions!
.

Bet I'm mentioned in that thread loads
have to admit I'd like to read it now though

 

[EM2]

+1 to all of that. Maybe some text above the screens would help - "Trains to the East Midlands departing from platforms 1-4" with an arrow? I rather suspect amber LEDs were rejected on visual grounds - but white or blue ones would be just as good if they get the brightness right.

Here's the screen I'm referring to on Streetview:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5...!3m5!1e1!3m3!1s6WcBOvyxbihSKzYIDdH1Vg!2e0!3e5

Those screens have now been updated so that the first panel says 'East Midlands Trains services from Platforms 1-4'.
The problem with combining EMT & FCC departures on one set of boards, is that FCC is much more frequent, so there would be times when they use all the available panels and no EMT services are shown.