Train Etiquette

[moonrakerz]

The problems with luggage all down the coach and on seats has got a lot worse since we have been constantly bombarded with all those stupid "don't leave your luggage unattended or it will be taken away by the security services"!!!

 

[Bohemian]

A sweet old lady with a blue rinse was in my face telling me in no uncertain terms that this was a quiet coach when my phone went off on a Virgin Pendolino. She pointed at a sign above the window, which actually was one pointing to the toilets and not the one saying that the coach was a quiet zone. She then spent the rest of the journey talking to anyone who would listen to her in a very loud voice about the good old days of rail. Some days you just can't win.

:cry:

 

[Fred26]

Hmm, and how do you suggest we solve that then?

Hammer.

 

[moonrakerz]

A sweet old lady with a blue rinse was in my face telling me in no uncertain terms that this was a quiet coach when my phone went off on a Virgin Pendolino. She pointed at a sign above the window, which actually was one pointing to the toilets and not the one saying that the coach was a quiet zone.

Now we know who is using the phone box as a toilet

 

[Eng274]

My own personal hates:

People who board at London terminals in First Class and then walk through the train to standard.
THIS IS FIRST CLASS. ME AND A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE PAID EXTRA JUST TO GET AWAY FROM YOU LOT. GET OUT OF MY CARRIAGE.
Of course, the worst are those who then stay in 1st class and pretend they didnt realise when their ticket is checked. These people should be thrown off the train. Whilst it is still moving.

Also, people who go to the attendant at the ticket barrier, and dont use the automatic barriers, even if they have normal tickets. If I have an ALR, it wont open most of the barriers. So I have to see the guy at the end. BUT YOU DONT NEED TO YOU IDIOT, GET OUT OF MY WAY.

And worse than those who take 20 minutes just to sit down, are those who take an equally long time to get up, subsequently blocking the aisle fiddling with their coats and luggage, whilst blocking other people from getting off the train.

I have nightmares about the day I have a multiple-leg journey and the automatic barrier swallows my ticket when exiting a platform! I'd rather not risk it, and besides even with 50kg of luggage I don't like hanging around pestering the attenddant for longer than it takes him to OK my ticket lol:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Parents who let their babies cry. LOUDLY. CONSTANTLY. It's all because 'Yes, he's a baby, babies cry'. My God it makes me want to murder people.

We should set up a support group for this sort of thing. Word for word that is a more common sentiment than you think!

 

[GNER 373]

People crowding the platform when your trying to get off is my pet hate! You cannot enter the train until people move....the train will never ever leave the platform if the doors are open...the station staff have to check the platform for waiting passengers before giving the train the all clear to leave...hence the train will not move until you have boarded! If you kept clear to begin with people would alight a lot quicker and easier...total cretins!

Others include idiot teenagers listening to 'music' on board without the use of headphones, people with their heads or feet protruding from the seats as if they were on a sleeper service, poor spacial awareness in the luggage racks and screaming kids or overzealous women talking about their business so loudly the Driver knows all about their life stories! Also getting on a southbound ECML train at Newcastle that has travelled down from Scotland with Hen/Stag parties on board! You spend half the journey crushing down half empty cans of Stones and clearing the tables of pools of alcohol! Apart from all of this Train Travel is the best way to go! Rant Over!!!

 

[Bohemian]

I agree. You can’t beat train travel.

 

[chuckles1066]

I'm sure you can think of many others. Is it just region specific, or is it like this all over the United Kingdom?

People who sit down and plonk their bags, briefcases, <insert miscellaneous crap here> on the seat next to them.

What's that all about?

You're taking up two seats and there are people having to stand?

And when you say to them "excuse me, may I sit down?" they look at you as if you've asked them to empty your blocked toilet.

I blame the British education system........you buy one ticket and expect it to entitle you to two seats, how and when could anyone with a working brain cell expect that one to run?

 

[GNER 373]

People these days believe they have the divine right to take two seats up hoping, praying that no-one will sit next to them and when you ask to sit down it's a massive inconvenience to them! I simply say "did you bag/suitcase pay for that seat itself?" normally gets my point across! That's exactly the problem! People have no respect for others! Train Travel as great as it is is a public transportation service meaning you have to share confined space with other humans! Don't like it? Take your car then!

 

[ralphchadkirk]

People these days believe they have the divine right to take two seats up hoping, praying that no-one will sit next to them and when you ask to sit down it's a massive inconvenience to them! I simply say "did you bag/suitcase pay for that seat itself?" normally gets my point across! That's exactly the problem! People have no respect for others! Train Travel as great as it is is a public transportation service meaning you have to share confined space with other humans! Don't like it? Take your car then!

Well, a ticket doesn't entitle you to a seat

 

[bnm]

I blame the British education system.......

Human nature. Very difficult to educate out of the human animal. British education or otherwise. Yes, we're a social animal, but only within certain groups. Strangers on a train are not in those groups.

Luggage on seats has very little to do with the standard of education.

I blame the British education system for those in society who think that the British education system is at the root of so many of today's perceived ills.

 

[GNER 373]

Well, a ticket doesn't entitle you to a seat

Haha very true!

 

[Bohemian]

I blame edUKation also. Is it a case of dumbing down, or ME, ME ME attitude whatever!? Excuse me; I need to check Facebook mentality. I am the only important passenger on this train, man!

Does that sound familiar?

:-?

 

[bnm]

Does that sound familiar?

Nope.

 

[Bohemian]

My pet hate: Intolerant folk who moan on internet forums about every little thing their fellow passengers do or don't do.

Let he who is without sin......

... I thought this thread was a pet hate for you?

 

[chris89]

Most important to lets people off first before Boarding, Which when i get on is pretty much always follows. The buses are miles more worse for that.

General people about stations, tend to stand in the way and so on. Some even if you say excuse me will not move/ look at you like your the Devil.

About seats last journey i had on the 10th of December. I politely asked her if she could move her suitcase (Was in my reserved seat) She grungly moved it and proceeded to give me evil looks such as 'disgust' until about Preston when more spaces appeared (On an B'ham to Edinburgh service with 5 coach 221)

About quite coaches. My parents when i was a lot longer prefered them due to being a lot less noisey and me and my brother when we were under 10 just stared out the window (Castle Cary - London & Castle Cary - Aviemore). And recent times when i have been in the quite coach i always stick my phone on silent, if i take a phone call go to the Vestiables, and keep my MP3 player on low Volume.

Chris

 

[jon0844]

...she stopped the baby crying by breastfeeding it.

I might have to start crying and screaming on some trains and see what happens! (hmm, that's probably very wrong)



Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

 

[Mojo]

People who stand on the left hand side on escalators rather than the right

People who, on busy trains, stand right by the doors rather than moving down inside the cars

People who walk through empty trains which clearly don't have seat reservations on display, asking someone to move because they are sat in ''their'' seat

 

[ukrob]

People who block doorways with luggage and buggys when there is lots of space for it in luggage racks. Buggies should be folded up - Northern even has posters explaining this now. This is especially a problem on 156s with their single doors where someone gets on at a terminus with the doors open on the opposite side to those which will be in use for the rest of the journey.

 

[Bohemian]

... asking someone to move because they are sat in ''their'' seat

Excuse me, you're in my seat.

 

[NLC1072]

When you are patiently waiting for people to disembark then some idiot pushes you and the passengers getting off out of the way to get on....

Also when this happens to me when I am getting off a train I just stand there until the person trying to get on the train moves out of my way for them fearing of missing their train... I don't say a word until they realise and then say "thanks you" as I pass

 

[jay jay]

Well to get away from the dross that tends to be the great british public I pay to go First Class whenever possible (subject to price).

Things that annoy me:-

* People constantly talking on mobile phones, especially business people using corporate buzzwords etc and trying to sound all important.

* Teenage girls / young women who have gone all american speaking loudly with phrases such as "Oh my god" and the constant use of the word "like" i.e and I was like and he was like and I was like - FOR CRYING OUT LOUD SHUT UP!

* Idiots using iPods etc - no problem with them using them but keep the music personal to you. When I have asked people to turn it down they pull the ear plugs out of their ears and say oh can you hear it? Well obviously or I wouldnt be asking you to turn it down!

* People who show total lack of respect - feet on seats, foul language particularly when there are families with young kids travelling, commuters leaving trains with metro type newspapers everywhere and then moan about the state of trains, drunken football supporters...... lets face it we could go on and on!

* People eating hot food like kebabs on late night trains. It absolutely stinks and once again shows a total lack of respect for fellow passengers.

* People with suitcases with wheels who get off the train and stop immediately to pull the handle up baulking everybody else who is trying to get off behind. At least move clear of the doors!

 

[Bohemian]

jay jay has summed up the typical experience of travelling in cattle truck class on some services.

 

[TGV]

This is an eye opening collection of thoughts and rants.

It's as amusing as it is disappointing. Some of the comments sound very immature. First I must comment on the babies crying issue. If you've never had kids of your own you cannot possibly understand. I have two kids. I felt awful when they cried loudly in public - I felt like everyone was hating and blaming me. But let me tell you something: Most parents will be trying their very hardest to calm the kids for their own sake as much as the kids. The fact is that babies cry. Of course they do. They can't speak. I would be annoyed if a parent was ignoring their kid that was clearly distressed, but in any other situation I have SYMPATHY for the parent. If I can see them doing their best to entertain a toddler on a long journey or soothe an upset baby I empathise with them. Let them know that I'm not annoyed somehow - it makes them feel so much better. Believe me - I know what it's like - I have been there. Unless you've ever had to deal with an unwell or distressed baby on a train just trying to get home when you have paid the fare and have the right to be there as much as the snooty rail enthusiast sat opposite you then please keep your childish opinions quiet. I have no sympathy for you - you are selfish. That is the public that the railway exists to serve. It's not just a playground for spotters.

What disappoints me is that while there are things that frustrate and annoy me as much as the next man about rail travel I just bloody well get on with life, but so many rail enthusiasts (and I'm not directing this to anyone in particular) apparently see themselves as superior to other passengers.

I watched my pregnant wife close to death in intensive care when the lifeless body of my baby daughter was born. I tell you, that was a bad day. If someone talks loudly on their mobile in a quiet zone carriage, yup, it's annoying, but it'll go away. Life goes on. Get over it.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It's as amusing as it is disappointing. Some of the comments sound very immature. First I must comment on the babies crying issue. If you've never had kids of your own you cannot possibly understand. I have two kids. I felt awful when they cried loudly in public - I felt like everyone was hating and blaming me. But let me tell you something: Most parents will be trying their very hardest to calm the kids for their own sake as much as the kids. The fact is that babies cry. Of course they do. They can't speak. I would be annoyed if a parent was ignoring their kid that was clearly distressed, but in any other situation I have SYMPATHY for the parent. If I can see them doing their best to entertain a toddler on a long journey or soothe an upset baby I empathise with them. Let them know that I'm not annoyed somehow - it makes them feel so much better. Believe me - I know what it's like - I have been there. Unless you've ever had to deal with an unwell or distressed baby on a train just trying to get home when you have paid the fare and have the right to be there as much as the snooty rail enthusiast sat opposite you then please keep your childish opinions quiet. I have no sympathy for you - you are selfish. That is the public that the railway exists to serve. It's not just a playground for spotters.

I do go out every weekend with my baby brother, and when he cries I do all stuff as listed above, it is when parents do the stuff in bold that I get annoyed.

 

[Flamingo]

My pet hate is passengers who get on - off slam-door stock (HST's specifically) and leave the bloody door open! The technology is not difficult, they are called slam-door for a reason!

At this stage, I think it's a genetic fault in South Wales - there is no other reason I can think for it to be so bad in this part of the country!

 

[GarethW]

On the one instance that I was sat opposite a mother and baby in the quiet coach of a 390, she stopped the baby crying by breastfeeding it. I didn't know where to put my eyes, especially since it was dark so looking out of the window only gave a reflective view back into the carriage

Marvellous, you don't get that kind of entertainment in first class.

 

[Dai.]

Well to get away from the dross that tends to be the great british public I pay to go First Class whenever possible (subject to price).

Things that annoy me:-

* People constantly talking on mobile phones, especially business people using corporate buzzwords etc and trying to sound all important.

* Teenage girls / young women who have gone all american speaking loudly with phrases such as "Oh my god" and the constant use of the word "like" i.e and I was like and he was like and I was like - FOR CRYING OUT LOUD SHUT UP!

* Idiots using iPods etc - no problem with them using them but keep the music personal to you. When I have asked people to turn it down they pull the ear plugs out of their ears and say oh can you hear it? Well obviously or I wouldnt be asking you to turn it down!

* People who show total lack of respect - feet on seats, foul language particularly when there are families with young kids travelling, commuters leaving trains with metro type newspapers everywhere and then moan about the state of trains, drunken football supporters...... lets face it we could go on and on!

* People eating hot food like kebabs on late night trains. It absolutely stinks and once again shows a total lack of respect for fellow passengers.

* People with suitcases with wheels who get off the train and stop immediately to pull the handle up baulking everybody else who is trying to get off behind. At least move clear of the doors!

Pretty much sums up my journeys.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

What a misanthropic bunch we are on here!

You could easily be mistaken in believing that we'd all rather be condemned to solitary imprisonment than to share some of life's experiences with others.

Quite an eye-opener!


My idea of "Train Etiquette"?
All Locos and loco-hauled trains should be refered to as Madam, Units as Miss.
Trains will always allow those with a lower headcode class number to go first.
All Trains will give a polite 'toot' to P'Way personnel.
When refuelling in company, allways fill the tanks from the left.
Never empty retention tanks in the presence of a locomotive.

 

[Sun Chariot]

people who crowd round doors at stations preventing you from alighting

My patience was tested on that, whilst travelling around southern India. I almost had to crowd surf, just to get out of the darned trains. The most incredulous etiquette I had was when an old man sat down beside me on the Cochin train, plonked a live chicken from under his arm and onto my lap - and he turned away from me and went to sleep! What?!

I still marvel at the way French and Italian young teenage foreign students can occupy every possible space in a train / on a platform / concourse / escalator. Never see 'em achieving that level of inthewayness in their own country...