Best & Worst ‘Live’ Station Announcers.

[louis97]

I don't mind Anne's voice but her and Roger's announcements on GWR are far too slow and juddery, and not engaging. They're like "Platform. Three. For the..." *SNORE*

Anne on GWR isn't hugely different to anywhere else - she is certainly much better than she was, flows much better now!

Rodger on the other hand, well where do I start - he seems to have a thing for any station starting with 'Saint' - saying them all in the slowest possible way.

 

[Andyh82]

Talking about recorded announcements, when and why did they replace the word 'service' with 'train' at London Liverpool Street

It's now the 00:00 Abellio Greater Anglia train to...

 

[louis97]

Talking about recorded announcements, when and why did they replace the word 'service' with 'train' at London Liverpool Street

It's now the 00:00 Abellio Greater Anglia train to...

Its across all AGA stations too... I honestly have no idea why, it sounds awful, happened in the last 6-8 months ish.

They even have a closing segment of an announcement which i'd argue does not even make sense - "Platform x is the tt:tt 'toc' train to zzzzzz"

 

[Russonomics]

I really like the Ruth announcements, most still flow okay but it must've been around 20 years since she originally started recording them so the shoehorned bits are quite noticable - They could probably do with re-recording her announcements again.

The Welsh language voice (don't know the name. I propose Dafydd) was done around the same time, and even with the shoehorns and dubs he's still one of the best as-natural-as-you-can-get flowing PA's out there. It appears whoever handles the voice sessions gets the same guy every time new things need to be recorded.

The only noticeable shoehorn is when he barks GWR's "penalty fares apply..." in the style of the Nuremberg rally.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Quite a lot of smaller stations might have staff who are trained in using the PA system but don't use it enough to know the nuances and foibles of the system to make their announcements totally audible and natural.

London Midland's automated announcements changed to using "carriages" instead of "coaches" a while back. It felt quaint at the time.

 

[Ianno87]

Talking about recorded announcements, when and why did they replace the word 'service' with 'train' at London Liverpool Street

It's now the 00:00 Abellio Greater Anglia train to...

About a year ago, IIRC. L

Sounds daft at Ely with "Platform one for the twelve fourty-eight East Midlands Trains train to Liverpool Lime Street"

 

[emoaconr]

The Welsh language voice (don't know the name. I propose Dafydd) was done around the same time, and even with the shoehorns and dubs he's still one of the best as-natural-as-you-can-get flowing PA's out there. It appears whoever handles the voice sessions gets the same guy every time new things need to be recorded.

The only noticeable shoehorn is when he barks GWR's "penalty fares apply..." in the style of the Nuremberg rally.

I'm pretty sure Glyn is the name of the Welsh announcer?

He is very clear alongside Ruth and I think they make a good contrast between both languages.

It does annoy me however that both Glyn is sometimes inconsistent with his Welsh translations, e.g. Shrewsbury will be given as 'Amwythig', Hereford is 'Henffordd', however both Ludlow and Leominster are in English, rather than 'Llwydlo' and 'Llanlleni' respectively.

For those who are familiar with Welsh, due to soft mutations, many placenames will have to have been recorded several times. For example, Penarth will be realised as 'Phenarth' within the 'calling at' list, e.g. "yn galw yn Grangetown, Ffordd Dingle, a Phenarth", but also as 'Benarth', e.g. "...10.35 Trenau Arriva Cymru i Benarth". Very complex system compared to the English version!

Both Ruth and Glyn fail to pronounce 'Hawarden' correctly, with Ruth pronouncing it as 'Howard-inn' and Glyn as 'How-arden'. Ruth's had her 'Llan-did-NORRRR' corrected but it still appears now and then.

ATW have also got a female text-to-speech (English language only) announcer on the electronic boards which is absolutely terrible at pronouncing Welsh names!

 

[thejuggler]

No idea who it was at Bradford Interchange this morning, but he made it plain in no uncertain terms to the train crew that the headboard destination was incorrect on Manchester Victoria service!

He then came running out to advise them face to face.

 

[Russonomics]

I'm pretty sure Glyn is the name of the Welsh announcer?

Ahh that's the name. Thanks!

Both Ruth and Glyn fail to pronounce 'Hawarden' correctly, with Ruth pronouncing it as 'Howard-inn' and Glyn as 'How-arden'. Ruth's had her 'Llan-did-NORRRR' corrected but it still appears now and then.

ATW have also got a female text-to-speech (English language only) announcer on the electronic boards which is absolutely terrible at pronouncing Welsh names!

Glyn likes to say Hendy-Gwyn Ar Daf for Whitland, despite it not being named that in anything official besides his announcement. The station signage, NRE site, ATW's timetables etc has it as just Hendy-Gwyn. He does say Clunderwen perfectly despite half of Pembrokeshire's residents insisting it's wrong. (it's a long story :P)

As far as TTS is concerned, although the technology today is quite advanced, as soon as you're required to TTS yn Gymraeg it all goes to hell the moment it reaches its first "ll" and "dd".

Edit: The Llan-did-NORRRRRR just reminded me of the overly enthusiastic way Ruth used to announce "LLANELLI!!", like she was celebrating an arrival into paradise. Bless her.

 

[louis97]

For those who are familiar with Welsh, due to soft mutations, many placenames will have to have been recorded several times. For example, Penarth will be realised as 'Phenarth' within the 'calling at' list, e.g. "yn galw yn Grangetown, Ffordd Dingle, a Phenarth", but also as 'Benarth', e.g. "...10.35 Trenau Arriva Cymru i Benarth". Very complex system compared to the English version!

Nothing hugely unusual about that recording standard, on the ATOS system (that used by Ruth, Glynn, Anne and Rodger) they all record three versions of each station: End of Sentence - to be used as a destination
Middle of Sentence - to be used in the calling pattern, but not the first station.
Start of Sentence - to be used at the start of the calling pattern.

Obviously they are also used in other announcements and for via's, etc too.

 

[Parallel]

Nothing hugely unusual about that recording standard, on the ATOS system (that used by Ruth, Glynn, Anne and Rodger) they all record three versions of each station: End of Sentence - to be used as a destination
Middle of Sentence - to be used in the calling pattern, but not the first station.
Start of Sentence - to be used at the start of the calling pattern.

Obviously they are also used in other announcements and for via's, etc too.

I've noticed this too - it's very obvious with Rodger on GWR. Some of Ruth's 'end of sentences' make her sound very excited, like "RHYMNEY!" "MAESTEGGG", "LLANDUDNORRR" and "HOLYHEAD!". When she was at Gloucester, she used to say "Calling at Cheltenham Spaaaaaaaa only" like she was disappointed that was the last stop. I wish Ruth would make a comeback - I always wanted to hear her announce the Barnstaple line and the Weymouth line calling pattern.

 

[greaterwest]

I've noticed this too - it's very obvious with Rodger on GWR. Some of Ruth's 'end of sentences' make her sound very excited, like "RHYMNEY!" "MAESTEGGG", "LLANDUDNORRR" and "HOLYHEAD!". When she was at Gloucester, she used to say "Calling at Cheltenham Spaaaaaaaa only" like she was disappointed that was the last stop. I wish Ruth would make a comeback - I always wanted to hear her announce the Barnstaple line and the Weymouth line calling pattern.

https://www.freesound.org/people/Louis94/sounds/103500/

Courtesy of forum user Louis94

Can't find one for Weymouth though I'm sure there is a recording floating around somewhere in the auto announcements forum section.

I'd like to hear more Ruth too, but I can't imagine she'd make a return sadly

 

[dangie]

I've always thought the announcers at Stafford are pretty good, but when I was there last week I think the announcer was training for a vocal speed record. Never heard anyone talk so fast.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I've noticed this too - it's very obvious with Rodger on GWR. Some of Ruth's 'end of sentences' make her sound very excited, like "RHYMNEY!" "MAESTEGGG", "LLANDUDNORRR" and "HOLYHEAD!". When she was at Gloucester, she used to say "Calling at Cheltenham Spaaaaaaaa only" like she was disappointed that was the last stop. I wish Ruth would make a comeback - I always wanted to hear her announce the Barnstaple line and the Weymouth line calling pattern.

Ruth's growled phrasing of "Great Western Railway" (at Newport at least) seems to come out of gritted teeth as referring to something with a bad smell!
I wonder who insisted it had to be the full version and not "GWR". Does anybody not know who GWR are, after 175 years?
Not a problem at Chester, of course, where she has at last learnt to say "Bache" properly (Baytch, not Back).

 

[urbophile]

Talking about recorded announcements, when and why did they replace the word 'service' with 'train' at London Liverpool Street

It's now the 00:00 Abellio Greater Anglia train to...

Why did they start talking about a 'service' in the first place? Probably about the same time they started calling passengers 'customers'. If they've gone back to sensible language that is surely a good thing. Nobody asks a member of staff 'is this the service for X?'; you would always say 'is this the train for X?' or 'does this train go to X?'

 

[319321]

[youtube]hApCn8nAGag[/youtube]

I remember the lady at Shenfield....the trains from Southend Vic always used to (and still do) spend a minute or two at the platform and her slow drone used to have a very calming effect....I'm not sure I could have been a platform attendent there and stayed awake though!

Even when I was at school (around 2000), there was someone who used came in from Shenfield on Mondays to do an impression of her which was legendary to someone who didn't know who she was....and I recognised the voice as soon as I started commuting myself.

Someone videoed her last day announcing and uploaded it to Youtube, unfortunatly it seems the lady doesnt sounds like she usually used to (probably because it was her last day) and the music just ruins the slow rhythm.....I think I would describe her as being usual voiceover as sounding like 'soul' being annouced by a very mellow Deirdre Barlow.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oh my God, its even on Soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/lorrainebowen/platform-1-shenfield-station

The fact that someone would make a song featuring the lyrics of a train announcer has got to make her a candidate for one of the best ones surely!?

I've also remembered I used to play (in my head) a kind of bingo....is she going to bother announcing all the stations (02:09) or not (02:33), as there was almost always a train waiting in platform 4 waiting to depart to London after my train to Southend pulled in to platform 5 (the Southend train crosses the track just beyond platform 4 as it pulls in to platform 5).

I like trains, but I having read the above sentence I realise quite how boring I found commuting.

 

[BurtonM]

The best announcer was a man named Ashley at Stalybridge station in the 90s/2000s. He was an Asian guy and as the Tannoy system was very poor it was difficult to understand what was being said, what a lovely man he was as he used to come out on the platform and inform you if your train was running late and even let us in his office for a warm on cold evenings. Myself and an elderly friend were waiting for the local train back to Manchester Victoria and my friend would of missed her connection to Swinton as the train was delayed- no problem for Ashley as he rang Victoria and a taxi was waiting for her when she arrived. He must be retired now.

That's interesting - live in Stalybridge and I've never seen or heard of the guy you're talking about (indeed must have retired quite some time ago), despite the fact I know one of the staff has been there since at least the early 2000s. I remember the low quality tannoy system though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've noticed this too - it's very obvious with Rodger on GWR. Some of Ruth's 'end of sentences' make her sound very excited, like "RHYMNEY!" "MAESTEGGG", "LLANDUDNORRR" and "HOLYHEAD!". When she was at Gloucester, she used to say "Calling at Cheltenham Spaaaaaaaa only" like she was disappointed that was the last stop. I wish Ruth would make a comeback - I always wanted to hear her announce the Barnstaple line and the Weymouth line calling pattern.

The announcer on the unrefurbed SWT Junipers sounded shocked that the train had arrived at Feltham. I suppose he would be


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[louis97]

I've noticed this too - it's very obvious with Rodger on GWR. Some of Ruth's 'end of sentences' make her sound very excited, like "RHYMNEY!" "MAESTEGGG", "LLANDUDNORRR" and "HOLYHEAD!". When she was at Gloucester, she used to say "Calling at Cheltenham Spaaaaaaaa only" like she was disappointed that was the last stop. I wish Ruth would make a comeback - I always wanted to hear her announce the Barnstaple line and the Weymouth line calling pattern.

Attached a Weymouth - recorded at Trowbridge.

 

[louis97]

https://www.freesound.org/people/Louis94/sounds/103500/

Courtesy of forum user Louis94

Can't find one for Weymouth though I'm sure there is a recording floating around somewhere in the auto announcements forum section.

I'd like to hear more Ruth too, but I can't imagine she'd make a return sadly

You mean 97

 

[emoaconr]

Ahh that's the name. Thanks!



Glyn likes to say Hendy-Gwyn Ar Daf for Whitland, despite it not being named that in anything official besides his announcement. The station signage, NRE site, ATW's timetables etc has it as just Hendy-Gwyn. He does say Clunderwen perfectly despite half of Pembrokeshire's residents insisting it's wrong. (it's a long story :P)

As far as TTS is concerned, although the technology today is quite advanced, as soon as you're required to TTS yn Gymraeg it all goes to hell the moment it reaches its first "ll" and "dd".

Edit: The Llan-did-NORRRRRR just reminded me of the overly enthusiastic way Ruth used to announce "LLANELLI!!", like she was celebrating an arrival into paradise. Bless her.

I'm hoping Clunderwen should be pronounced as 'Klin-dare-wen'

This is an old video of Ruth on the 175s announcing to HOLYHEAD!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7RD8Kit7Hw

Interestingly, this is the original system the 175s were built with for First North Western. As far as I'm aware, this voice is not Ruth and is instead an employee of Alstom (who built the 175s in Birmingham). To my ears, it sounds like the 175s still use the "calling at" from its original programming alongside Ruth. I could be wrong, however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u5QEAHgMrg

 

[Andyh82]

Why did they start talking about a 'service' in the first place? Probably about the same time they started calling passengers 'customers'. If they've gone back to sensible language that is surely a good thing. Nobody asks a member of staff 'is this the service for X?'; you would always say 'is this the train for X?' or 'does this train go to X?'

Don't know about that, the issue is that you've already got the word train in the announcement a couple of times already, so using service sometimes breaks it up a bit.

 

[faltskog36abba]

That's interesting - live in Stalybridge and I've never seen or heard of the guy you're talking about (indeed must have retired quite some time ago), despite the fact I know one of the staff has been there since at least the early 2000s. I remember the low quality tannoy system though.

Ive just checked on yahoo and I simply typed Ashley Stalybridge station. He retired in 2010 after starting on the railways in 76 and had a big retirement bash-as reported from the Manchester evening news, the guy was a well known fella and much missed.

 

[greaterwest]

You mean 97

I do, I was reading the name on the freesound link, I know who I meant!

 

[CheesyChips]

I've noticed a few times walking through Birmingham NS recently, some of the standard announcements (don't leave luggage, report suspicious stuff to police...etc) have been made by a recorded child's voice.

Not sure what the reasoning is there.

The language has changed on LM local services, I remember being told to 'alight' rather than 'change' at Stourbridge Junction for services to Stourbridge Town and to be careful on the platform due to 'inclement' weather, not 'poor' weather.

 

[Ianno87]

I've noticed a few times walking through Birmingham NS recently, some of the standard announcements (don't leave luggage, report suspicious stuff to police...etc) have been made by a recorded child's voice.

Not sure what the reasoning is there.

The language has changed on LM local services, I remember being told to 'alight' rather than 'change' at Stourbridge Junction for services to Stourbridge Town and to be careful on the platform due to 'inclement' weather, not 'poor' weather.

Better than referring to "adverse" weather conditions when it's drizzling.

 

[Russonomics]

I'm hoping Clunderwen should be pronounced as 'Klin-dare-wen'

Oh you're good!


That's the first time I've heard Ruth do the safety announcement in the first video you linked. Usually all I hear is "Emergency information is available aboard this train. For your safety, please take time to read it"

I wonder what other safety announcements she does? (and why nobody varies them any more?)

 

[louis97]

I'm hoping Clunderwen should be pronounced as 'Klin-dare-wen'

This is an old video of Ruth on the 175s announcing to HOLYHEAD!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7RD8Kit7Hw

Interestingly, this is the original system the 175s were built with for First North Western. As far as I'm aware, this voice is not Ruth and is instead an employee of Alstom (who built the 175s in Birmingham). To my ears, it sounds like the 175s still use the "calling at" from its original programming alongside Ruth. I could be wrong, however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u5QEAHgMrg

Worth pointing out that even that video of Ruth on the 175s is out of date! There is now even more Ruth in it now, including a very angry sounding 'ANDDDDD'.

The welcome aboard announcement now consists of Ruth entirely, "We will be calling at the following principle stations: x, y ANDDDD z."

 

[Russonomics]

Worth pointing out that even that video of Ruth on the 175s is out of date! There is now even more Ruth in it now, including a very angry sounding 'ANDDDDD'.

The welcome aboard announcement now consists of Ruth entirely, "We will be calling at the following principle stations: x, y ANDDDD z."

She gives a great ANDDDD on the last two stations towards Milford Haven. She doesn't announce Johnston because it's a request stop, so she says "We will be calling at the following principle stations. [noticeable, awkward gap]...ANDDD Milford Haven"

Then on approach to MFH (well past Johnston) she'll say "We'll shortly be arriving at [another noticeable, awkward gap] Milford Haven. [yet another noticeable, awkward gap] Our final station. Johnston stops are only available by request..."

 

[DaleCooper]

Waiting at Peterborough today I was surprised and pleased by the clarity of the annoucements, they really were something special to my, admittedly inexperienced, ears. The female announcer on duty today deserves a mention in dispatches.