Strange/unusual destinations programmed in the PIS

[AMD]

The Class 332s (Heathrow Express) PIS could announce a passage from what I think was a Brontë Sister novel. Saw it demonstrated once at the Old Oak Common depot. Used for PA test purposes.

When the Northern units got TrainFX, the test announcement was the Thomas the Tank engine theme. Until a number of conductors started playing it in passenger service and it got deleted.

 

[stadler]

Transport for Wales’ older TrainFX system has Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge programmed in.

Their new PIS files have things like ‘London St Pancras’ (said ‘Pancreas’) and some signal boxes and timing locations between Crewe and Chester added. I think they also have some stations on the GWR network they’re very unlikely to ever serve recorded, too.

The 197/231/398/756/MK4 have dozens and dozens of stations that will never be announced:

Acton Grange Junction
Beeston Castle And Tarporley Signal Box
Bristol International Airport
Bristol Parkway
Bristol Temple Meads
Crewe Steel Works
Dallam Junction
Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Park
Edinburgh Waverley
Glasgow Airport
Glasgow Central
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station
Heathrow Airport Terminal Five
Liverpool Central
Liverpool James Street
London Blackfriars
London Cannon Street
London Charing Cross
London Euston
London Fenchurch Street
London Kings Cross
London Liverpool Street
London Marylebone
London Paddington
London Saint Pancras International
London Victoria
London Waterloo
London Waterloo East
Milton Keynes Central
Moston East Junction
Norwich
Ordsall Lane Junction
Oxford
Parkside Junction
Salisbury
Saltney Junction
Water Street Junction
Winwick Junction
York

Some of them like London Fenchurch Street are especially odd as there is zero chance that TFW will ever serve it and nor will they ever call anywhere where connections to London Fenchurch Street could be announced.

When the Northern units got TrainFX, the test announcement was the Thomas the Tank engine theme. Until a number of conductors started playing it in passenger service and it got deleted.

Northern have changed it to this song which is still on the PIS (at least on the Televic units) as audio test music:

View attachment ssstwitter.com_1776965174358.mp4

Martin (@Martin_H_1986) on X

Getting the glowsticks out in Wilmslow siding. Always wondered what the ‘audio test file’ in the PIS menu did…

twitter.com

That might be good to play on late night last trains as you approach the terminus to wake up all the sleeping passengers.

The Class 332s (Heathrow Express) PIS could announce a passage from what I think was a Brontë Sister novel. Saw it demonstrated once at the Old Oak Common depot. Used for PA test purposes.

Heathrow Express also used to have this song on the PIS on their 332s both as audio test music and to accompany the next stop announcements:

View attachment Heathrow Express Class 332.mp3

Heathrow Express also used to regularly display "SGNTK1D C1A" on the screens.













About 50% of 332s that i went on would display this. I must have seen it dozens of times over the years. I have no idea why this used to come up on the PIS screens on the 332s so often or what the meaning of this code was.

 

[43095john]

TPE 185s still have their old destinations in but External displays only (have to be manually selected)

Stuff like:
Edinburgh
Glasgow Central
Lockerbie
Blackpool North
Barrow-in-Furness
Windermere

They also have Derby, Leicester & Nottingham in the system

 

[stadler]

Another very odd one is the C2C 357 PIS which has these two very creepy sounding childrens songs as the audio test music:

Could they really not find any better sounding music to use as the PIS audio test.

 

[Purple Train]

Another very odd one is the C2C 357 PIS which has these two very creepy sounding childrens songs as the audio test music:

Could they really not find any better sounding music to use as the PIS audio test.

One of my childhood toys would sing the first one if squeezed

Stupid question, but is there any reason why music would be used rather than e.g. just a simple, clear spoken sentence? (Not that music is inherently a bad choice, and if anyone discovers a Simon & Garfunkel unit please let me know, it just strikes me as weird to test a system not designed for music using music.)

 

[stadler]

NIR 3000/4000 PIS has the four stations of Knockmore / Ballinderry / Glenavy / Crumlin which all closed in 2003 over twenty years ago.

IE 22000/29000 PIS has the four stations of Bridgetown / Wellingtonbridge / Ballycullane / Campile which all closed in 2010 over fifteen years ago.

Also if we can include the PIS on buses then there are these two songs that Go Ahead South Coast created as audio test music for the PIS on their buses.

 

[saismee]

Another very odd one is the C2C 357 PIS which has these two very creepy sounding childrens songs as the audio test music:

To be fair, you did find just about the creepiest version of "We will find it" possible . The recording you posted sounds like a low quality of a normal recording of the song. Still would be creepy to hear on a train, especially a lightly-loaded one.

 

[stadler]

Trans Pennine Express Class 397 PIS has classical music as the audio test music:

View attachment ssstwitter.com_1777034011839.mp4

https://twitter.com/i/status/1853781530834801128

I too wonder why they use music rather than a phrase to test the audio. Maybe it is easier to tell the audio quality and volume with music. The music is more constant noise compared to talking where you have gaps between words.

 

[LickeyIncliner]

I too wonder why they use music rather than a phrase to test the audio. Maybe it is easier to tell the audio quality and volume with music. The music is more constant noise compared to talking where you have gaps between words.

I was about to suggest (in reply to @Purple Train ) that it's probably easier to detect problems such as unintended changes in volume, loss or excess of high or low frequencies, unexpected gaps in transmission and so on, using music rather than speech. But I think it would need a carefully chosen piece of music to show up such issues - a creepy, low-quality version of a children's song would probably be unhelpful.

 

[trentside]

The test file on EMR 170s (to the best of my knowledge) is just Julie Berry saying “Please listen for announcements”. I feel slightly cheated that we don’t have a creepy kids song or Thomas the Tank Engine!

 

[GordonT]

The test file on EMR 170s (to the best of my knowledge) is just Julie Berry saying “Please listen for announcements”. I feel slightly cheated that we don’t have a creepy kids song or Thomas the Tank Engine!

A good one for ScotRail might be Billy Connelly singing his "Last Train to Glasgow Central".

 

[py_megapixel]

Also if we can include the PIS on buses then there are these two songs that Go Ahead South Coast created as audio test music for the PIS on their buses.

First South Yorkshire buses have a very strange jingle programmed that only sounds when the system starts up. It is not used for any of the normal service announcements, but when the system starts up it plays the jingle and says "welcome aboard this First bus".

This means that as a passenger you only hear it when something has gone wrong and the system has rebooted itself mid-journey!

I've no idea why they have a jingle but only use for an announcement almost nobody is there to hear!

The regulations do require them to have an alert sound before the service terminating announcement though. So maybe the jingle is meant to be used for that, and they just haven't programmed it properly.

 

[Strathclyder]

Going back to blinds, I seem to recall the 314s having East Kilbride in their rollers, but of course they had been gone a good few years before the wires ever reached that part of the Strathclyde network.

The 158 fleet as built were programmed with a national set of destination codes in a roughly alphabetical order, so even though units only had a regional list of codes displayed in the cab, by process trial and error you could work out more 'exotic' destinations, such as this 158 I was working at Manchester Airport once (Thurso being 593)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Apr 2026 ==

And I definitely wasn't the only person to enter more interesting destinations, as demonstrated by this 158 at Liverpool...

In purely theoretical terms of course, there is a direct route - as in, without reversals/end-changes - between Liverpool Lime St & Balloch (with several routes to choose from between Law Junction & Dalmuir), so never say nothing...

 

[Chiltern006]

You say a 375 hasn’t served Edenbridge… can confirm that announcement has (presumably) been used.

 

[enginedin]

Again, not a destination, but ScotRail trains say "Chillin'" when they come out of service (maybe only after the last service of the day?)

 

[Transilien]

Again, not a destination, but ScotRail trains say "Chillin'" when they come out of service (maybe only after the last service of the day?)

I've seen them display that throughout the day. I think the 385s display that instead of the standard "Not in Service"

 

[RiverDon]

A good one for ScotRail might be Billy Connelly singing his "Last Train to Glasgow Central".

The PIS test mode on the Scotrail 158s and 170s is just repeated "Please listen for announcements" and orange lines scrolling down the screens.

 

[Intercity_225]

The 158 fleet as built were programmed with a national set of destination codes in a roughly alphabetical order, so even though units only had a regional list of codes displayed in the cab, by process trial and error you could work out more 'exotic' destinations, such as this 158 I was working at Manchester Airport once (Thurso being 593)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Apr 2026 ==

And I definitely wasn't the only person to enter more interesting destinations, as demonstrated by this 158 at Liverpool...

I wonder where 'All Segments Illuminated' is in the country?

 

[AMD]

Going back to blinds, I seem to recall the 314s having East Kilbride in their rollers, but of course they had been gone a good few years before the wires ever reached that part of the Strathclyde network.

Usually blinds were designed for use across different classes under an operator - when 319373 came north to work for Northern it was only intended as a short term borrow, so unlike all the other 319s/769s at Northern it never got TrainFX fitted, instead getting a standard Northern blind, I could have wound it on to something more exotic, but in 2018 a 769 had yet to make it to Southport (or anywhere really) when I did this.....

 

[TransportHub]

Usually blinds were designed for use across different classes under an operator - when 319373 came north to work for Northern it was only intended as a short term borrow, so unlike all the other 319s/769s at Northern it never got TrainFX fitted, instead getting a standard Northern blind, I could have wound it on to something more exotic, but in 2018 a 769 had yet to make it to Southport (or anywhere really) when I did this.....

The 144 at the East Lancs Railway has a roller blind out of a 319, it would be an interesting sight to see this at City Thameslink!


(Picture of a class 144 at Bury Bolton Street with City Thameslink on the destination roller blind)

 

[Thebaz]

Class 700/707/717
These have most if not all Thameslink/Southern/Southeastern/Great Northern stations except Brent Cross West which isn't programmed on the 707
Thanet Parkway are not programmed on either 700/707/717.
Ruislip Lido stations Willow Lawn / Haste Hill / Eleanors Junction / Woody Bay are included in the database with audio announcements
Couple of EMR stations such as East Midlands Parkway and Derby are also in the database with audio announcements
Hogesmeade and Walford East can be programmed but no audio announcements
Class 707s when at SWR can be programmed for Southampton, which actually did during one of the strikes.

I got on a Class 700 at Farringdon last year and it had Walford East on the display (certainly in the back car, wasn't paying attention when it arrived in platform.

 

[NSEWonderer]

I got on a Class 700 at Farringdon last year and it had Walford East on the display (certainly in the back car, wasn't paying attention when it arrived in platform.

You sure Phill Mitchell or Ian Beale weren't driving it?

 

[cduncan]

Giving this an update adding what's included in the Southern Class 313/2 database and more recently the Piccadilly line 1973 stock.

 

[styles]

That might be good to play on late night last trains as you approach the terminus to wake up all the sleeping passengers.

Reminded me of when Eurostar were running direct London-Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland, and as you approached Marne-la-Vallée they'd play the Lion King theme tune over the PA system. Those trains were such a buzz - everyone dressed up in Disney gear, kids all excited, playing games, etc. Then on the return journey, silence - kids all asleep, parents having a glass of wine and sorting out their Instagram posts.

 

[voyagerdude220]

When the Northern units got TrainFX, the test announcement was the Thomas the Tank engine theme. Until a number of conductors started playing it in passenger service and it got deleted.

Ah, that's a shame!

I was once on a Northern train several years ago when the test announcement sequence was triggered.

It played the song "Sweet" by Bensound:

 

[styles]

Do they have to pay royalties when they use these tracks?

 

[cduncan]

Ah, that's a shame!

I was once on a Northern train several years ago when the test announcement sequence was triggered.

It played the song "Sweet" by Bensound:

Just reminded me to add the test announcement featured on the Northern 319s, that being the Happy Days intro.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Just reminded me to add the test announcement featured on the Northern 319s, that being the Happy Days intro.

"We're sorry that this train has now been cancelled so please return to the Platform."

...

"Oh Happy Days!"

 

[321362]

When standing at Temple Mills (and presumably other depots) I've seen 745s with Berney Arms on the front as opposed to Not in Service

 

[Transilien]

"We're sorry that this train has now been cancelled so please return to the Platform."

...

"Oh Happy Days!"

That was when the railway jumped the shark for me.