Embarrassing things you’ve done while travelling by train

[Purple Train]

Tripping and falling on those death-trap ramps on the Class 745, multiple times - particularly the ones like Mount Everest adjacent to the motor "cupboard room" in the centre of the train.

Do you mean 755?

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Do you mean 755?

I meant the 12-car electric ones which work between London and Norwich. I haven't experienced much of the 755s, though I imagine the ramps are the same in those.

 

[Purple Train]

I meant the 12-car electric ones which work between London and Norwich. I haven't experienced much of the 755s, though I imagine the ramps are the same in those.

I see. I was slightly confused by the reference to the "motor cupboard room", which I don't remember on the 745s, but assumed might be a reference to the power pack on the 755s. My apologies.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I see. I was slightly confused by the reference to the "motor cupboard room", which I don't remember on the 745s, but assumed might be a reference to the power pack on the 755s. My apologies.

No worries at all. If I recall correctly, it's more akin to a "cupboard room in two halves" on the 745s as it's split across two coaches, rather than the one on the 755s.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Travelling from Whitehaven to Northampton quite a few years ago, my journey was Whitehaven to Carlisle to Rugby to Northampton.
The train from Carlisle was running a little late meaning my connection at Rugby was extremely tight.
Train pulls in on platform 4, I rush down the ramp and up tge stairs to platform 5, there I see a LNR train standing at the platform, I jump on and the doors close, I am just congratulating myself and texting my partner to say I am going to be on time into Northampton. The PA then announced welcome aboard this train to London Euston, no problem there, calling at Wolverton, Milton Keynes Central ... uhoh, yes in my rush I had assumed this was my train. Cue new text. Fortunately my ticket allowed travel to Northampton via Milton Keynes.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Being sick on a packed rail replacement bus. Being on the top deck of a double decker did not help my travel sickness with which i suffered until I learnt to drive. Suddenly feeling the urgent need to liberate my tea I went to ask the driver to pull over. Unfortunately I only made it to the stairwell before redecorating the steps.

 

[Trainguy34]

Being sick on a packed rail replacement bus. Being on the top deck of a double decker did not help my travel sickness with which i suffered until I learnt to drive. Suddenly feeling the urgent need to liberate my tea I went to ask the driver to pull over. Unfortunately I only made it to the stairwell before redecorating the steps.

Bet going downstairs was interesting after that... Bit similar to my post.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Bet going downstairs was interesting after that... Bit similar to my post.

After a breath of fresh air and some disgusted looks out of the windows the driver gave me an old newspaper to clean up the worst.

 

[Trainguy34]

After a breath of fresh air and some disgusted looks out of the windows the driver gave me an old newspaper to clean up the worst.

Was it at a station or on the side of the road, bet the smeel made you gag when cleaning it.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Was it at a station or on the side of the road, bet the smeel made you gag when cleaning it.

By the side of the road and used newspaper left by roadside. I was given a front facing seat downstairs for the rest of the journey (fortunately only a few miles).

 

[High Dyke]

Fallen asleep a couple of times on trains.

Otherwise, pulling the comm cord on a Class 40 charter, when I realised it was not going to stop at my station for its booked stop.That didn't go down well with the traincrew or the stewards, but I stood my ground. They reversed the train about a mile or so back to the station.

Worst of all, and probably the stupidest, was getting berated by a tannoy announcement at London Waterloo. Me and a mate were spotting at the far end of a platform, and dangling our legs over the edge.

 

[BeccaOnATrain]

The first time I ever got on a train by myself, I was about 16 but I had never ventured anywhere on my own before. Going from Stockport to Birmingham New Street. I was so incredibly nervous and when I got on I wanted to make doubley sure I was on the correct train.
So I went to ask the first member of staff I saw on the train.. but instead somehow muttered out..

"Is ThIs A TrAiN?"



I like to imagine this story being told from the other perspective a thread like "Train staff - what's the stupidest thing a passenger has ever asked?"
"Well one time this panic stricken kid asked me, whilst on the train, if this was in fact, a train."

 

[Techniquest]

Oh my where do I start here? There's a number of situations I could list, so let's start with one that will annoy me for all time. I was on a North East Rover, which I barely used and that was bad enough. Time wasn't on my side with the couple of days off from a labouring job I had tried at the time, and let's just say I'd not recommend that to anyone, so I did what I could with one of the most expensive tickets I've ever bought. It was a Bank Holiday weekend from memory in 2007, and there were London to Leeds trains diverted over the curve at Hambleton West Junction. To get to it, I was travelling west from Brough after having to alight from the HST there due to late-runnning which would mean missing the train to Doncaster I'd needed to be on. I never did get Brough to Hull for HST coverage, and that also annoys me.

Anyway, a 185 rolls in and I was quite pleased with that as I recall 185s were limited to Hull at the time. Something about weight restrictions on that line? It's 16 years later, I honestly can't remember for sure! Foolishly, I'd forgot the Northern service a bit later than the 185 is what I wanted to be on, and I bailed at Selby so I could get to the B&B I'd got booked in York. When I got there, the owner had fallen asleep waiting for me to arrive as it was, I dread to think what he'd have thought of me if I'd arrived on the revised itinerary I'd been given to do that track. To this day, I've still got that curve at Hambleton West to do and I just don't know if I'll ever get it done. When I discovered I'd got on the wrong train, oh boy that was embarrassing. I spent a *lot* of time on the railway in the mid-2000s, so I should have known better!

There's been two charter trains I've fallen asleep on as well, one along the Weardale Railway and once on a Class 40 charter on the Far North Line. In fairness, I'd stayed up all night on the overnight charter, it was bound to happen! Back then, June 2007 I believe this was, I wasn't drinking coffee regularly and I have no idea how I survived! Fortunately I'd been awake for the bulk of the charter, so it wasn't too bad but still a bit on the embarrassing side!

I'm sure @Kite159 will remind me if I don't mention it, but in more recent years I got my 'ford' stations mixed up. This was well before 321s were being withdrawn, so I don't know when it was, but it was in the last 6 years. By now, I'd been travelling on trains for too many years to make stupid mistakes. I'd run over to join a winning 321 at Liverpool Street, off another train, and saw what looked like Stratford on the screen. Good, not a first stop Shenfield, cool beans. Straight through Stratford, oh maybe I was wrong. Shenfield, non-stop too. Eh? What? This service was non-stop London to Wickford in the morning contra-peak! I'd mis-read Wickford as Stratford, oops! Thankfully they sorted me out in the ticket office and I got back to London firmly with my proverbial tail between my legs!

I have others where I fell asleep and didn't wake up when I expected to, ensuring a change of plan to the day. It happened once on an overnight 185, in 2011, from Manchester Airport, and I'd planned to alight at Huddersfield to do the line towards Barnsley. I woke up just after the doors had locked! Thankfully I was on an ALR so could change my plans and I ended up on a XC HST from Leeds to Sheffield, from where I picked up a solo 153 (that sounds odd in the current era!) on a Saturday special towards Cleethorpes. I did eventually get the line from Huddersfield to Barnsley done, memory doesn't tell me when though.

Another time I remember way too fondly for unknown reasons, this would be back in 2004 from memory. I'd done an all-nighter in Manchester, no not in the pubs/clubs! To be honest, now I've typed that I'm amazed I never did such a thing. Anyway, I was on the 0527 or something like that out of Manchester Piccadilly and I was going via Birmingham New Street on the way back to Swansea. Unsurprisingly I'd fallen asleep and I woke up just before Birmingham International. I was so embarrassed I went and bought a single back to Birmingham, joining a full and standing Voyager the one stop. My next move to Cardiff was a 170, and unsurprisingly I fell asleep again during the journey. Somewhere I woke up and thought I was on the bridge into Newport, so I got up and ready to alight. I then saw I was passing through Chepstow! Nowhere near my destination of course, so at least I didn't miss my next train, but that was a bit awkward as I must have looked like a right pillock!

I have many other situations where I look back and wonder what lunacy was going on, but I'll not go into those. 19 years have passed since one of those not-to-be-discussed moments, I still haven't forgot that time in front of 3 or 4 RPIs! Or the group meet with some other enthusiasts in 2007 at Nuneaton where one of the group pretended to be diving in front of a passing train! One last situation I'll discuss though, and yes this is one where I look back and wonder what grade of idiot I was at the time. No I don't want an opinion on that This was in the mid 2000s, again, and yes I did spend way too much time on trains back then! This was a period when FGW HSTs were diverted between Cardiff Central and Bridgend via Barry, and I had my head out of the droplight. Somewhere along the line was some vegetation that slapped me across the face and I've not forgot that! I've also remembered the time I high-fived someone on a passing train at Bristol Parkway, now that was beyond stupid and outside the scope of this thread!

I didn't think I'd had as many embarrassing moments, and no I haven't got to all of them! I guess it's been the best part of 2 decades, there's bound to be a lot!

 

[Purple Train]

Oh my where do I start here? There's a number of situations I could list, so let's start with one that will annoy me for all time. I was on a North East Rover, which I barely used and that was bad enough. Time wasn't on my side with the couple of days off from a labouring job I had tried at the time, and let's just say I'd not recommend that to anyone, so I did what I could with one of the most expensive tickets I've ever bought. It was a Bank Holiday weekend from memory in 2007, and there were London to Leeds trains diverted over the curve at Hambleton West Junction. To get to it, I was travelling west from Brough after having to alight from the HST there due to late-running which would mean missing the train to Doncaster I'd needed to be on. I never did get Brough to Hull for HST coverage, and that also annoys me.

Anyway, a 185 rolls in and I was quite pleased with that as I recall 185s were limited to Hull at the time. Something about weight restrictions on that line? It's 16 years later, I honestly can't remember for sure! Foolishly, I'd forgot the Northern service a bit later than the 185 is what I wanted to be on, and I bailed at Selby so I could get to the B&B I'd got booked in York. When I got there, the owner had fallen asleep waiting for me to arrive as it was, I dread to think what he'd have thought of me if I'd arrived on the revised itinerary I'd been given to do that track. To this day, I've still got that curve at Hambleton West to do and I just don't know if I'll ever get it done. When I discovered I'd got on the wrong train, oh boy that was embarrassing. I spent a *lot* of time on the railway in the mid-2000s, so I should have known better!

There's been two charter trains I've fallen asleep on as well, one along the Weardale Railway and once on a Class 40 charter on the Far North Line. In fairness, I'd stayed up all night on the overnight charter, it was bound to happen! Back then, June 2007 I believe this was, I wasn't drinking coffee regularly and I have no idea how I survived! Fortunately I'd been awake for the bulk of the charter, so it wasn't too bad but still a bit on the embarrassing side!

I'm sure @Kite159 will remind me if I don't mention it, but in more recent years I got my 'ford' stations mixed up. This was well before 321s were being withdrawn, so I don't know when it was, but it was in the last 6 years. By now, I'd been travelling on trains for too many years to make stupid mistakes. I'd run over to join a winning 321 at Liverpool Street, off another train, and saw what looked like Stratford on the screen. Good, not a first stop Shenfield, cool beans. Straight through Stratford, oh maybe I was wrong. Shenfield, non-stop too. Eh? What? This service was non-stop London to Wickford in the morning contra-peak! I'd mis-read Wickford as Stratford, oops! Thankfully they sorted me out in the ticket office and I got back to London firmly with my proverbial tail between my legs!

I have others where I fell asleep and didn't wake up when I expected to, ensuring a change of plan to the day. It happened once on an overnight 185, in 2011, from Manchester Airport, and I'd planned to alight at Huddersfield to do the line towards Barnsley. I woke up just after the doors had locked! Thankfully I was on an ALR so could change my plans and I ended up on a XC HST from Leeds to Sheffield, from where I picked up a solo 153 (that sounds odd in the current era!) on a Saturday special towards Cleethorpes. I did eventually get the line from Huddersfield to Barnsley done, memory doesn't tell me when though.

Another time I remember way too fondly for unknown reasons, this would be back in 2004 from memory. I'd done an all-nighter in Manchester, no not in the pubs/clubs! To be honest, now I've typed that I'm amazed I never did such a thing. Anyway, I was on the 0527 or something like that out of Manchester Piccadilly and I was going via Birmingham New Street on the way back to Swansea. Unsurprisingly I'd fallen asleep and I woke up just before Birmingham International. I was so embarrassed I went and bought a single back to Birmingham, joining a full and standing Voyager the one stop. My next move to Cardiff was a 170, and unsurprisingly I fell asleep again during the journey. Somewhere I woke up and thought I was on the bridge into Newport, so I got up and ready to alight. I then saw I was passing through Chepstow! Nowhere near my destination of course, so at least I didn't miss my next train, but that was a bit awkward as I must have looked like a right pillock!

I have many other situations where I look back and wonder what lunacy was going on, but I'll not go into those. 19 years have passed since one of those not-to-be-discussed moments, I still haven't forgot that time in front of 3 or 4 RPIs! Or the group meet with some other enthusiasts in 2007 at Nuneaton where one of the group pretended to be diving in front of a passing train! One last situation I'll discuss though, and yes this is one where I look back and wonder what grade of idiot I was at the time. No I don't want an opinion on that This was in the mid 2000s, again, and yes I did spend way too much time on trains back then! This was a period when FGW HSTs were diverted between Cardiff Central and Bridgend via Barry, and I had my head out of the droplight. Somewhere along the line was some vegetation that slapped me across the face and I've not forgot that! I've also remembered the time I high-fived someone on a passing train at Bristol Parkway, now that was beyond stupid and outside the scope of this thread!

I didn't think I'd had as many embarrassing moments, and no I haven't got to all of them! I guess it's been the best part of 2 decades, there's bound to be a lot!

Excellent tales (and it makes me feel slightly better about what I've been up to )!

 

[Techniquest]

Excellent tales (and it makes me feel slightly better about what I've been up to )!

Glad you enjoyed those I think this thread helped create some unpleasant dreaming about going on a foreign expedition, only to realise en-route to Eurostar that I'd left the passport behind, that felt very real!

Another embarrassing tale I'd forgot about, the above dream reminding me, dates back to 2014 or so. I'd booked a trip in Belgium and was due to travel on Eurostar back to London. Somehow during the booking process, I'd chosen the wrong date, which I only discovered a while before the trip began. How? Eurostar had sent me an email asking how my recent journey had been, which confused me then I discovered my error.

That was certainly a waste of £50!

 

[Segedunum]

I recall doing an ALR in 2017 where I seemed to be asleep at just about every turn thanks to an absolutely trashing itinerary. I've never missed a stop, but was once woken up by a driver at Southend Vic during a turnaround.

Most of my "embarrassing" encounters though have been abroad....

• I took a Madrid Cercanias service (no idea which line) right up to the terminus and sauntered past some  Seguridad with their batons in hand to take a photo of the service. Suddenly they were all legging it after me thinking I was going to hop onto the tracks! There was a collective "ohhhhh" as I spun around and pointed my camera at the train...
• Opened the doors wrong-side at Devinska Nova Ves, just outside of Bratislava. The carriages didn't have anything like specific-side release, so off I hopped into a freight yard. I gave the driver a thumbs-up and stepped back, and let the train go before heading to the station building to wait for the next train. The stationmaster looked totally unbothered at me appearing from behind a train!
• My phone overheated and permanently died on a train from Oslo to Stavanger in 2020. Somehow, it took absolutely no persuasion at all for a stranger to hand me his laptop so I could message some people to advise of what had just happened. I also ended up talking to the buffet car attendant who handed me his personal iPad - I don't know if he realised I could see that the lockscreen was his boyfriend, topless There is a happy ending though, as a lass gave me a lift to my hotel (and a second-hand phone!)
• Got on a Madrid Metro service, thought I'd gone the wrong way, got off, swapped sides, realised I was in fact right the first time, and had to swap AGAIN.
• Eurostar staff in Standard Premier did manage to once load me up with so much red wine that I did clock the Train Manager seemingly telling them to stop. I was only 18 and hadn't eaten much, in my defence...
• Similarly, a Japanese police officer watched me stumble slightly getting off a Shinkansen in Kyoto and escorted me down the stairs to make sure I trip up again. I hadn't actually been drinking, I was just sleep-deprived, but I both appreciated and was slightly mortified at the thought of her thinking I was some daft drunk tourist falling over

 

[Tracked]

Alcohol may have* been involved, but I once got off at Rotherham Central ... nodded off, woke up as the train pulled in and didn't recognise the station (this would be around 2016, when it had been extensively rebuilt) so I thought I'd ended up somewhere like Scunthorpe! Staggered off the train, then saw the name board, walked back onto the train ....

*was

 

[trebor79]

Sat in the accessible toilet on a Mk4, doing my business. Noticed the "lock" button was lit. Couldn't remember if I'd pressed it or not and started wondering if it being illuminated meant the door was locked, or the button needed to be pressed.
Decided to play it safe and pressed it.
To my utter horror the door started opening, I scrabbled to pull my trousers up to cover my modesty whilst hammering the close button, but that didn't have an effevt till the door was nearly halfway open.
Fortunately there was no one to witness this, but it was close run!

 

[prod_pep]

Sat in the accessible toilet on a Mk4, doing my business. Noticed the "lock" button was lit. Couldn't remember if I'd pressed it or not and started wondering if it being illuminated meant the door was locked, or the button needed to be pressed.
Decided to play it safe and pressed it.
To my utter horror the door started opening, I scrabbled to pull my trousers up to cover my modesty whilst hammering the close button, but that didn't have an effevt till the door was nearly halfway open.
Fortunately there was no one to witness this, but it was close run!

This is a very funny thread and this one is brilliant! Very nearly did the same thing myself once.

Mine are boring by comparison but I did once, in a hungover state, ask for a return to the very station at which I was currently standing. Also, the penny didn't immediately drop when the ticket clerk said, "You're already here, mate." Then, a fortnight ago, I missed my stop for the first time in 20 years of regularly travelling by train. The fact it was the Liverpool loop and the next stop was the second visit to James Street, very rarely used for alighting, probably made it obvious to other passengers what had happened. Amazing what can happen after a bad night's kip.

 

[ABB125]

On the subject of missing stops, I (and the other passengers in the compartment!) recently nearly missed getting out at Hannover on the sleeper train from Vienna. I randomly woke up, looked out the window, and saw we were stopped. And the platforms looked like Hannover... A sudden jolt of alertness, and I was off the train in about 20s, followed swiftly by the extended family that was in my compartment and the adjacent one. Less than a minute later the train departed.

Moral of the story is, don't spend 2 hours in the middle of the night pacing up and down the platform at Nuremberg, waiting for the (late) other sleeper portion to arrive so that you can watch the shunting and record locomotive numbers, especially when you did the same thing the previous night at both Villach and Salzburg!

 

[nw1]

Getting on an RER travelling in the wrong direction from Paris Gare de Lyon. Needed Paris Nord but the service I boarded was heading south. Furthermore it skipped about 4 stops in the Paris suburbs before calling somewhere on the outskirts near a large junction and marshalling yard. Perhaps 5-10 minutes out of the Gare de Lyon.

Normally I'm very good at getting the correct train, even in unfamiliar places, so I've no idea how I managed this!

Luckily the TGV-Eurostar cross-Paris transfer was very generous and I wasn't close to missing the Eurostar back to London.

 

[occone]

Two spring to mind:
* Boarded a pendolino at Euston, ready to head to Rugby and got myself comfortable, opened some snacks etc. Even advised others who asked where the train was going of the destination. It was also one of, if not the, last train of the day. Announcement went over the tannoy saying the train is ready to leave and the first stop is Stoke on Trent (or Stafford, can't remember) - this is way way way past Rugby. I did an unglamorous scrambling to get my phone, charger, bag, bottle of water, and my litter together before barrel rolling off the train just as the beeps started. Sheepishly then made my way past everyone staring out the window to another platform for my actual train.

* As with all train horror stories it starts with the facilities onboard. Thankfully not a blunder with the accessible but unnecessarily technical and automated door revealing me like a prize on a game show though! I was using the "space saver" facilities on a stopping train and just about to wash my hands and I hear a knock at the door. Thought it was the conductor but I didn't want a conversation at that very moment and strangely I didn't know what to reply with, my words disappeared. So I stayed silent for a moment, and the person went away. Turns out it was another customer who then went and found the conductor claiming the toilet was locked with noone in. So I'm just about to leave, (save for a battle of wits of me vs the insolent hand drier which only worked in 1 second bursts when I placed my hand on the sensor itself and needed 5 seconds to calm down afterwards) but now I had two people knocking wondering why the toilet was locked. Words still were lost to me, and panicking slightly at how weird this must look, I sheepishly opened the door with an apology (why?!). The conductor was fine and headed back after a "ah good you're okay" but the other customer seemed awfully embarrassed. She went into a flurry saying the door locked sign didn't show on the screens, pointing furiously to the ceiling. She then darted in before I had a chance to ward her off with a five minute warning. I was sure she had been sat near me with a large group before, so I made the distinct choice to sit back down at the very polar opposite end of the train. A hatch to jump down onto the tracks would have been welcome.

 

[Purple Train]

Mine are boring by comparison but I did once [...] ask for a return to the very station at which I was currently standing.

Reminds me of Jethro's "We don't stop Camborne Wednesdays", which opens with the same tale!

 

[Sad Sprinter]

Walked into a toilet of a Eurostar train when I was 5 with my dad to find a woman already sitting on it. Funniest thing ever as a 5 year old, ran back to my seat to tell my mum exuberantly “MUMMY I SAW A LADY HAVING A WEE”

 

[C J Snarzell]

Embarrassing moment for me is vacating my seat on a busy train to allow a pregnant lady to sit down (I like to think my parents brought me up well!) only to realise shortly afterwards that the lady in question wasn’t pregnant - she simply had a gut belly probably brought on by a diet of McDonalds food and Smirnoff Ice.

CJ

 

[GatwickDepress]

Opened a can of Sanpellegrino Limonata earlier in the journey, only for it to be knocked over by the motion of the train going over the points at Willingdon Junction, all over my railcard wallet and my work trousers. Luckily, the lip of the seatback tray stopped the spillage from becoming an amateur diorama of Niagara Falls, but it had soaked my paper season ticket. I grabbed handfuls of toilet tissue from the small toilet at the end of the carriage and furiously tried to mop it all up. The family opposite found this quite amusing, the conductor less so when I held up a sticky soggy orange rectangle. Thankfully, the young lady at the Hastings gateline found it very amusing and just let me straight through.

It did convince me to get a Key smartcard season ticket instead of a paper one though, so perhaps that's the real reason behind the poor riding on the East Coastway?

 

[Merle Haggard]

Embarrassing moment for me is vacating my seat on a busy train to allow a pregnant lady to sit down (I like to think my parents brought me up well!) only to realise shortly afterwards that the lady in question wasn’t pregnant - she simply had a gut belly probably brought on by a diet of McDonalds food and Smirnoff Ice.

CJ

There used to be a saying for this situation 'I would rather let a pregnant women stand than make a fat woman cry'.

 

[route101]

Only one I recall is getting on a Class 390 at Glasgow Central with no intention of travelling to see someone off. I was distracted and before I knew we had left Glasgow with the next stop Carlisle.