BBC Documentary 'The Railways'

[Cab2Cab]

Really enjoyed watching the episode but i can't do with staff swearing on telly. Colleague to colleague or mess room chat ok, but i think it gives a bad reputation of staff.

sorry!

 

[pinguini]

I thoroughly enjoyed the second episode, the only slight issue I have is showing real ale drinkers in a bad light, it should have been pointed out that most of the trouble makers on the real ale trail don't actually drink real ale.

To make a comment to those who are suggesting the the second episode was better than the first, most seem to be saying that it's because the second episode showed "the railway" in a better light, however that is not the purpose of a documentary. A documentary should show how things as they are rather than how we would like them to be, and to me the message came across that the staff working in and around Leeds have a more difficult job and do it more professionally than some of their counterparts working in and around Kings Cross.

(Can of worms open)

Lager louts is a more fitting description. I doubt any of those featured on the show are CAMRA members.

 

[CC 72100]

I thoroughly enjoyed the second episode, the only slight issue I have is showing real ale drinkers in a bad light, it should have been pointed out that most of the trouble makers on the real ale trail don't actually drink real ale.

To make a comment to those who are suggesting the the second episode was better than the first, most seem to be saying that it's because the second episode showed "the railway" in a better light, however that is not the purpose of a documentary. A documentary should show how things as they are rather than how we would like them to be, and to me the message came across that the staff working in and around Leeds have a more difficult job and do it more professionally than some of their counterparts working in and around Kings Cross.

(Can of worms open)

Whilst it did show things more positively, I can't help feeling that this second episode flowed more and was less 'bitty', making an improvement right from the off.

 

[duncanp]

A bit of an unfortunate coincidence, but today there are major delays on the East Coast Main line today, which must be a bit of a pain for the staff at Leeds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21516102

When I worked at Leeds a few years ago, it was ladies of ill repute hanging in an around the station who were hassling passengers.

 

[oddiesjack]

I thoroughly enjoyed the second episode, the only slight issue I have is showing real ale drinkers in a bad light, it should have been pointed out that most of the trouble makers on the real ale trail don't actually drink real ale.
)

This is exactly what I thought - the voiceover chappie describing those drunken rowdies as real ale fans annoyed me somewhat.

 

[pinguini]

Really enjoyed watching the the episode but i can't do with staff swearing on telly. Colleague to colleague or mess room chat ok, but i think it gives a bad reputation of staff.

sorry!

Personally I think a slightly more damaging quote came from the Northern driver, declaring how fantastic his job would be without passengers.

We all know 'the customer is not always right' and people often have a level of dislike for their customers, but to say so on national TV directly to an audience primarily of rail passengers is a bit out of order in my opinion. I doubt he would like to drive all day for no money.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Personally I think a slightly more damaging quote came from the Northern driver, declaring how fantastic his job would be without passengers.

We all know 'the customer is not always right' and people often have a level of dislike for their customers, but to say so on national TV directly to an audience primarily of rail passengers is a bit out of order in my opinion. I doubt he would like to drive all day for no money.

It was clearly meant in humor. And to be fair he has a point, but it would be more accurate, his job would be fantastic without 'some' passengers.

 

[balne-wonderer]

Leeds is like that though most evenings, late nights back from kieghley on a saturday are not fun...

Would you say so? I'm not so sure. Late weekend trains, usually no problems in the station and if we want to get a taxi I simply get them to pick me up from outside the Queens in a private hire. Therefore not having to queue with the drunk and the great un-washed for the cabbies outside the station.

It's easier than you think to avoid potential drunk fools.

Usually the station is ok in my experience, the odd incident obviously. I've seen more mentalists at Cross Gates and Cottingley.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Would you say so? I'm not so sure. Late weekend trains, usually no problems in the station and if we want to get a taxi I simply get them to pick me up from outside the Queens in a private hire. Therefore not having to queue with the drunk and the great un-washed for the cabbies outside the station.

It's easier than you think to avoid potential drunk fools.

Usually the station is ok in my experience, the odd incident obviously. I've seen more mentalists at Cross Gates and Cottingley.

Sorry i meant to say most weekend evenings. I will edit to suit. And i would say so for most weekends as i am usually there unfortunately.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Lager louts is a more fitting description. I doubt any of those featured on the show are CAMRA members.

Don't confuse Rail Ale with Real Ale! As quoted We are referring to the idiots who dash from station to station getting as p!$$€d as possible in the shortest time possible. These are the ones making the sensible drinkers look bad by dragging the ale trail's rep down.

 

[pinguini]

Don't confuse Rail Ale with Real Ale! As quoted We are referring to the idiots who dash from station to station getting as p!$$€d as possible in the shortest time possible. These are the ones making the sensible drinkers look bad by dragging the ale trail's rep down.

I'm not, the post I quoted was discussing real ale.

 

[chris89]

Watched it a bit earlier after sky plusing it.

Enjoyed it quite a lot and a lot better then the previous episode around Kings Cross.

Chris

 

[SPADTrap]

Good episode. Some slightly odd bits though, at EC staff swearing on camera and the two behind the desk laughing at one of their customers..bit odd but hey ho. The northern driver sounded like a nice chap with a good sense of humor, I wouldn't take his comments seriously however, we're not that sad are we? I liked how quiet his 158/140 cab was!

Glad the episode hi lighted the dangers of trespassing on the railway too with this case ending in the most tragic possible.

 

[jon0844]

I don't believe the driver really hated all passengers; indeed I think that was proven when he was on the platform and helping people - more than some drivers do.

He's absolutely right to have such views when we got to see some rather shocking examples. And I'm pretty sure that the in-cab stuff was filmed AFTERWARDS to add context to the footage already filmed, and no doubt he was guided on what to say.

I do agree that there was no need to have staff swearing on camera when wearing a uniform. I am not sure if there was any need for it, unless we've got to a point where saying f-this and f-that is the only thing that keeps people watching.

 

[stut]

The death was very well handled by the filmmakers, I thought, and the policeman involved came across extremely well. I can't imagine that part of the job ever getting easier.

I couldn't believe how rude many of the commuters were to the 'son' on the gateline, though. Takes a certain character to not get wound up by that kind of behaviour (and I hope he is able to shrug it off!)

 

[charlee]

Really enjoyed episode 2 was so much better the kings cross episode.bring n reading to paddington next week.

It's called 'standing room only' so I guess it's going to involve more crowded trains. Seems to be about the reading redevelopment which should be interesting.

 

[175001]

Don't confuse Rail Ale with Real Ale! As quoted We are referring to the idiots who dash from station to station getting as p!$$€d as possible in the shortest time possible. These are the ones making the sensible drinkers look bad by dragging the ale trail's rep down.

The Real Ale'ers do it Monday-Friday, its the binge drinkers who do it on Saturdays. They are a murder to work as a guard.

 

[ex-railwayman]

I like these kind of TV programmes, it shows the variety of problems that these professionals have to cope with daily and their responses.
I was quite surprised that there was no debate as to why the local Council wasn't lambasted for not clearing the drains so close to a railway cutting, why should Network Rail have to foot the bill to clear up a lot of surface water from the road that is most certainly under the jurisdiction of the local Council and Highways Agency, NOT, the rail network, they just have to do the mopping up and suffer the financial costs, this issue should have been expanded more, in my opinion.

Enjoyable documentary, I will look forward to next week's offering.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[Muzer]

I couldn't believe how rude many of the commuters were to the 'son' on the gateline, though. Takes a certain character to not get wound up by that kind of behaviour (and I hope he is able to shrug it off!)

To be fair, it's incredibly irritating as a commuter when your season ticket stops working in the gatelines and you're told (incorrectly, it seems, as I was) that you'd have to pay to replace it, so you refuse to; to then have certain gateline staff insist you show them you putting the ticket through the machine to prove that it doesn't work before they let you through (and what is the actual point of this, I wonder?). I agree that many of the commuters were unjustly rude, but the exasperation shown by that woman ("It doesn't work, I come through every day!" or something along those lines) is spot on IMHO. Assuming that's what happened in this circumstance; it's again hard to tell whether this was actually what happened because of the editing.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

There shouldn't be any charge for replacing a season as long as you produce the original.

 

[Muzer]

There shouldn't be any charge for replacing a season as long as you produce the original.

Indeed. Certain members of the gateline staff at Salisbury (usually the grumpy ones who insisted I put it through the machine) often used to say things like "you should get that replaced, it's £5 from a ticket office". Since I've stopped commuting to school (having gone to university) I've only now learnt that this was incorrect

 

[stut]

Oh, I know, I get an annual season which I normally have to get replaced several times a year. There's been promises to put it on more resilient ticket stock for, well, as long as I've been commuting, and nothing's come of it.

Getting it replaced is theoretically simple, but when you're commuting from a station with limited opening hours to a major terminus, it can turn into a major operation. Aside from the queuing, trying to get station staff to reissue an internet-purchased season ticket can often be quite a chore, and so you keep letting it slide and slide...

(If I miss my normal train, it's the best part of an hour before I get home. Why should I have to get home an hour late because they can't give me a ticket that lasts as long as it's valid?

And then there's the timeout on the barriers. The new layout at KGX means that if you need to get into one section of the station (for, say, the bike racks) and then out and into the other, or perhaps via the shops, your ticket will not work.

So yes, I do sympathise. But none of that is an excuse to be rude to the gateline staff.

Personally, I find that approaching barriers with the ticket out of the wallet, and a pleasant explanation of why you're approaching them, always results in both of you getting what you want. Of course, I'd much rather the barriers weren't there at all, but that's an entirely different debate...

 

[Muzer]

Indeed - I don't believe I was ever rude to anyone (if I was, I apologise). I'm just saying, I completely sympathise with that woman's exasperation over the situation. Gateline staff who insist you put the ticket through to show them it's broken don't help matters.

 

[RJ]

Replacement of season tickets due to the mag stripe ceasing to work is free. It's known as an Encode Exchange - a new, blank ticket is encoded then swapped for the existing ticket.

A ticket purchased from the internet can be swapped at a ticket office - this requires an additional form to be filled out and security checks on the ticket may also take place.

It's the WCML episode I'm really looking forward to!

 

[Captain Chaos]

Just watched it on iPlayer. Thought that was much better. The Ale Trail was a real eye opener. I have heard stories of course but having never witnessed it I had no idea what it was like. I'd hate to be a Guard working them! Think I'll stay down South! It is an accident waiting to happen though, that's for sure!

 

[wbbminerals]

I liked it, but it paints an awful impression of West Yorkshire - drunks wreaking havock everywhere, cable theft, trespass, deaths, EDL marches, flooding etc all seemingly in a short space of time!

 

[jon0844]

It's the WCML episode I'm really looking forward to!

Depending on when it was filmed, and given Virgin loves publicity and probably co-operated fully and put out their best people, I expect we might see VT looking very good on this episode at the expense of everyone else!

 

[balne-wonderer]

I liked it, but it paints an awful impression of West Yorkshire - drunks wreaking havock everywhere, cable theft, trespass, deaths, EDL marches, flooding etc all seemingly in a short space of time!

That's Leeds for you

 

[tiptoptaff]

I've got to say, I loved that Northern driver, what a great guy - heck of a sense of humour.

 

[rebmcr]

I do agree that there was no need to have staff swearing on camera when wearing a uniform. I am not sure if there was any need for it, unless we've got to a point where saying f-this and f-that is the only thing that keeps people watching.

I disagree. Some light profanity can actually be a positive tool, that de-formalises a situation and reduces tension. There's a difference between dropping the odd four-letter word and directing verbal abuse at someone, and a person watching a railway documentary can be trusted to know the difference.

As long as they're only swearing on-camera (not in the physical presence of customers), I think a lot of viewers will not only accept it as being a natural human trait, but will actually set them thinking "Hey, this isn't just some drone in a uniform, the railway is run by real f***ing people, just like me!"