Animals and stations?

[Michael.Y]

A beautiful torty with one blue eye and one green eye was a frequent visitor to Falmouth Town during my time living there. Snapped a few pics. Very friendly.

 

[EM2]

Great Thread!

I noticed a headstone to a cat at Bury Bolton Street. Didn't Reading have a dog, that was eventually stuffed & mounted on the platform?

Don't know about Reading, but Slough does (did?):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/in-praise-of-station-jim

Should you ever be on platform five of Slough station, waiting for the London train, you will find a most unusual observer watching you. Unusual in that he is (a) dead, (b) stuffed and (c) a dog. Station Jim was a favourite of commuters at the end of the 19th century. A mascot for the Great Western Railway Widows' and Orphans' Fund, he would, according to the plaque on his case, bark for every penny put in his collecting tin, beg, bow and many other tricks. When Jim departed for the great kennel in the sky, the good folk of Slough missed him so much that they had him embalmed. Proof, if it were needed, that Slough is a more interesting place than John Betjeman, with his "friendly bombs", would allow. Having been on posthumous display longer than Lenin, Jim is in surprisingly good nick. His coat is glossy, and his case well-polished...

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Charlbury has a cat, called Stanley: https://twitter.com/aligoldsworthy/status/285078444390379521

 

[Hebden Bridger]

There was a dog at Altnabreac station, who obviously considered the platform was his territory and yapped at the infrequent passengers who turned up. Many of the passengers were Lands End to John O'Groats walkers catching the train to find accommodation and when they returned in the morning, the dog would follow them for a couple of miles yapping away.

 

[mr williams]

Does anyone know if there's one at either Mew Bridge or Mew Gardens?

Surprised nobody has mentioned Purr-fleet!

Not strictly a station cat, but for years a lovely big orange and white Tom would sit on one of the rails (not a sleeper, on the rail itself!) just beyond Redland station in the direction of Clifton (Severn Beach line in Bristol for those not familiar with the area).

It wasn't a stray, was well looked after and was very friendly to passers-by when it sat on the boundary wall but it chose to spend much of its day hunting on the overgrown banks by the side of the track. It would sit on the rail for hours, hopping off when it heard a train coming and resuming its place after the train had passed. More than once I heard a concerned passer-by exclaiming that there was a cat on the railway line and worrying that it might get hit!

It was there regularly for a decade or more but I haven't seen it for some years now so possibly its owners moved or more likely it died of old age.

 

[mm333]

One of my favourite pictures, of a fluffy passenger waiting for a train at Northallerton
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allan5819/6189656456/

 

[RogerB]

Don't know about Reading, but Slough does (did?):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/in-praise-of-station-jim

Ah yes, it would have been Slough. I remember seeing it when I was on a training course in Slough, don't know why I got Reading into my mind.

 

[Howardh]

Looking at the TV, some stations probably now have regular fishy visitors

 

[306024]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Purr-fleet!

I will, but the only animals at Purfleet were some rats under the signal box that chewed through a cable one night.

 

[stut]

Haven't seen Boris, the Biggleswade station cat for some time now. I can only hope he's found a comfortable home (and that his propensity for walking along the rails hasn't got him into trouble!)

 

[Rail Bus]

Altrincham used to have a three legged cat in my youth, was lovingly known as Tripod

I believe it lost a leg due to a train