Ridiculous Train Travel Mistakes

[ollyrogers]

A colleague had somebody today who bought a ticket from Didcot Parkway to "Liverpool Lime Street London". He meant Liverpool Street, London, he bought a ticket to Liverpool via London!

He said he thought it was a bit expensive - £70 as opposed to £20 odd!

That sounds suspiciously like an Olly mistake - my home station as well!

 

[Arriva 175]

A bloke dressed up for a friday night out boarded my Wrexham to Bidston service at Shotton. When i asked him for a ticket he wanted a single to Wrexham. I told him i was going to Bidston, Wrexham is in the other direction plus my unit was the only one on the line so he may as well stay onboard. 90mins later he finally left my train looking thoroughly dejected. A night out definately ruined.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I had a meeting arranged with someone from GNER (that's how long ago this story is from!) and, because we were going to be discussing platform facilities, we decided to meet (at whatever time we'd agreed) on the concourse "under the clock".
After a few minutes hanging about with no sign of the person, I strolled into the Station Management Office - "No, we haven't seen him in here today" so I called his moby. "Yes, I've been standing under the clock, where are you?".
He was in Kings Cross and I was in Newcastle.
Oooops.

 

[exile]

Apparently BR chairman Peter Parker once got on the wrong train with a gaggle of MPs and the like. The traincrew didn't cave in to his request to pull up at the next station and told them to get off at the next scheduled stop.

 

[Striker]

Oasis, Knebworth 1992.

Oasis played Knebworth in August 1996. They weren't even signed until May 1993!

Sorry! It seems a few people have already pointed this out!

 

[Donny Dave]

Worst mistake I've done is when I was coming back from Scotland a few years ago ....

I fell asleep as the train was leaving Newcastle, then woke up a few minutes later (so I thought) to see the tran speeding down a twin track main line. A-ha thinks I, we're still between Darlington and Northallerton.

The first seeds of doubt were sown in my mind when we passed the DPL near Shaftholme Jn, followed by Marshgate Jn shortly after. The bridge over the River Don zipped passed the windows followed in very short order by Doncaster station. Oh **** thinks I, so I leave my seat to go find the conductor, what should have been a 4 hour-ish trip from Edinburgh to Scunthorpe instead turned out to be about 7 and a half hours, and left me nearly £75 out of pocket (London - Scunthorpe single). At least I wasn't charged a York - London single though ....

A more recent one is September last year. After meeting a few friends in Sheffield (and consuming a few beers at The Tap), I get the 2011 TPE back to Scunthorpe. Doncaster comes and goes, but by this time, the long day and the beers are taking effect, and once again, I fall asleep.

I woke up to see the Steelworks sliding past the window and again thinking "Oh ****". Fortunately, the girlfriend (who lives in Grimsby) wasn't out that night, so I was at least able to have a roof over my head for the night, and no extortinate taxi fare back home ....

 

[Flamingo]

I had a meeting arranged with someone from GNER (that's how long ago this story is from!) and, because we were going to be discussing platform facilities, we decided to meet (at whatever time we'd agreed) on the concourse "under the clock".
After a few minutes hanging about with no sign of the person, I strolled into the Station Management Office - "No, we haven't seen him in here today" so I called his moby. "Yes, I've been standing under the clock, where are you?".
He was in Kings Cross and I was in Newcastle.
Oooops.

So did you wait for him to get there?

 

[Bevan Price]

One mistake I remember, many years ago on my first trip to Doncaster. Caught train from St. Helens to Leeds. Short walk to Leeds Central, joined 2x2 coach dmu in right platform. Had not spotted that the units were not coupled. Departed early and found myself at Bradford Exchange. Fortunately, a bit of luck. A Bradford to Kings Cross portion was due to depart. Steam (Black 5) via Morley Top to Wakefield, where a J6 0-6-0 shunted us onto the back of a Leeds - Kings Cross service, worked by an A3. So, bonus steam mileage and a now-closed route - and no excess charge as guard realised it was a genuine mistake.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

So did you wait for him to get there?

No. But if I'd thought that the Company would pay me an hourly rate whilst waiting 3hours+ for someone to attend a meeting, than perhaps I'd have been slightly better off (in terms of beer tokens / interest payments / pension credits)!

But it wouldn't have been very satisfying, in terms of quality of life. (Unlike some on here, I don't share the pleasure of remaining in stations).

I think I just laughed, re-scheduled the meet and returned to the offfice.

 

[N Levers]

I was on an evening Peak Charing Cross - Hastings a few years back and a guy got on at Waterloo East wanting London Bridge. He had been told the next train for London Bridge would leave from Platform C so he got on the first train that arrived at C. The peak train we were on was fast from Waterloo to High Brooms.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Apparently BR chairman Peter Parker once got on the wrong train with a gaggle of MPs and the like. The traincrew didn't cave in to his request to pull up at the next station and told them to get off at the next scheduled stop.

He did something similar on his own once; I put that instance in post #15. Now, what's that they say? Once is bad luck, twice is unfortunate... ( I wonder if he did a third "spectacular" at some point? )

Having said that, a mass boarding of the wrong train by a bunch of VIPs like the one you describe here certainly cannot be beaten!

 

[Mintona]

Somebody showed me a ticket a few weeks ago from Newport (gwent) to Newport (essex).

I did a double-take!

I had a Gillingham Kent to Gillingham Dorset a few weeks back, double took. Also seen a Mottingham to Nottingham.

Also had a lady with a ticket from Southend to Stroud Glos wanting to travel to Strood Kent.

And someone at Aberdeen ticket office must have messed up somewhere. Had a squaddie get on my train with a ticket to Gillingham Dorset instead of Gillingham Kent. Guess I can't expect ticket office staff up there to know the difference :P

Every now and again you get people trying to board trains to Rainham Essex but ending up going to Rainham Kent.

 

[Mike395]

Whilst changing at East Croydon on Saturday heading towards Central London, I missed 3 successive trains due to walking to the front before boarding (I had a fair amount of luggage with me so didnt want to be on a packed area of the train) and by the time I arrived there, the doors had locked! The dispatcher mustve thought I was a right nutter

 

[Wyvern]

Whilst changing at East Croydon on Saturday heading towards Central London, I missed 3 successive trains due to walking to the front before boarding (I had a fair amount of luggage with me so didnt want to be on a packed area of the train) and by the time I arrived there, the doors had locked! The dispatcher mustve thought I was a right nutter

Then they complain when everyone dives in at the back.

 

[12CSVT]

Probably the most common location for getting on the wrong train is platform 6 at London Bridge where people for Waterloo East and Charing Cross are forever getting on FCC trains bound for Bedford. Anything up to 50 people a day if some rumours are to be believed.

 

[4SRKT]

Very big nuisance the other day when the 07:35 Sheffield fast and 07:43 Huddersfield local were unaccountably swapped over their regular platforms of 17 and 13 respectively at Leeds. To add to the confusion, the 07:35 left 8 minutes late, and the 07:43 is one of few Huddersfield workings booked for a 158. Thus it was that I saw nothing to worry about as I sat on a 158 leaving platform 13 at 07:43. Unfortunately the guard didn't see fit to announce which train it was, or apologise that it was running late, until it was too late , which was quite remiss of him in the circumstances.

Not only did I have to endure an unexpected visit to Wakefield Kirkgate early in the morning (which was quite a shock, I can tell you), but I had to walk to Wakefield bus station and wait ages for the crappy hourly bus service to Morley, and hand over £2.60 to Arriva into the bargain. I also had to invent some excuse for being an hour late for work to avoid ridicule for getting on the wrong train.

 

[gnolife]

having a conductor misread Rose Hill (Marple) for Rose Grove (Burnley) while lacking my glasses. note that he didnt tell me that he'd misread my ticket, he just told me to change at Bolton onto Platform 1. the guard on the train that was waiting at Bolton also misread my ticket when he came along (after Darwen, i'd guess, i couldnt actually read the sign), and he told me to get off at the next stop, which was Blackburn. So I went to the ticket office and got told to go to platform 2. turns out that hed misread my ticket too... unfortunately the guard on the Colne train did NOT misread my ticket and charged me for a single from Bolton to Burnley Central (I decided that i might be better trying my luck with the X43 bus)

 

[lewisf]

Someone I work with got a SWT train to Alton wanting to go to Alton Towers.

 

[12CSVT]

Someone I work with got a SWT train to Alton wanting to go to Alton Towers.

Ah well, at least they could ride up and down on the kettles instead (and probably a lot cheaper than the admission fee for Alton Towers).

 

[Rich_D3167]

Back in November/December 2008, coming home from Leeds on a Friday afternoon, I usually caught a National Express East Coast (at the time) 91 & Mk4 set to Doncaster for the TPE to Grimsby. Saw a CrossCountry HST in one of the platforms, destination was somewhere in the south west (Plymouth perhaps), and I thought (CrossCountry call at Doncaster, it'll do!), so on I got. It didn't dawn on me that some CrossCountry trains avoid Doncaster until I noticed that I was passing Moorthorpe. Next stop, Sheffield! Ah well, change there for the TPE anyway, plus it got me the bonus of seeing a pair of DRS Class 20's on an RHTT set.

Every cloud has a silver lining!

 

[Bittern]

Ah well, at least they could ride up and down on the kettles instead (and probably a lot cheaper than the admission fee for Alton Towers).

Why would you ride a kettle? Free tea?

 

[Gordon]

Thought I'd post one of my own howlers. From Germany.


In 1998 I had a day to spare after a business event and decided to bash some of the threatened branch lines in the ex-GDR (loads of lines in the former GDR were closing at that time as reunification brought in the 'western' accountants to give the ex-GDR the 'beeching ' treatment that West Germany received in the 1970s/80s.

Made my way from the former West Germany to Leinefelde to track bash the rebuilt-after-the-collapse-of-communism line from (Kassel) - Arenshausen – Leinefelde – Halle route on my way to other branches.

In the bay platform at Leinefelde, sitting in the bay platform getting ready to push a push-pull set was a steam heat (by then getting rare) class 228 (ex-DR class 118). I was so tied up enjoying the spectacle of clouds of steam billowing out that I photographed it departing, then said to myself – “right now which platform’s my train going from – oh ****** it was the 228!”

As my whole itinerary to cover two about-to-close-for-ever branches (both with Class 772 ‘Ferkeltaxi railbuses to boot) would collapse I had to get to Mühlhausen (for the Schlotheim branch). I was very lucky, despite being a small country town station without a taxi phone I was able to flag down a passing Mercedes taxi. Also by luck I had a fair amount of cash (still Deutsch marks then) in my pocket. Being only a few years since the wall came down the driver was still in that period when ex-GDR people drove line maniacs as they had not long been ‘released’ from the restrictions of driving 2-stroke Trabbies on poor roads.

I watched as the taxi meter went up and up and eventually just on the outskirts of Muhlhausen I had to admit to the drive that his meter had reached the limit of my funds.
He was very decent and agreed to drive me on to the station without insisting on any more money (although he was probably well pleased with getting about £30 for 20 minutes of driving across country.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Two observations of other people's errors:

I once fond a tearful Japanese lady at Fratton. She wanted to be at Folkestone!

I once helped a pair of inter-railers in Italy. Somewhere near Pisa, I used my Cooks European timetable to show them how they had ended up about 300 miles off course and heading in completely the wrong direction!

They had got on the wrong part of a two-portion train heading east from the Adriatic coast and dividing into northbound and southbound portions on the Mediterranean coast. They were on the northbound portion to the Italian Riviera (Genoa), instead of the southbound portion for Napoli, Sicily etc

 

[Phil6219]

Ah well, at least they could ride up and down on the kettles instead (and probably a lot cheaper than the admission fee for Alton Towers).

That would probably be more fun too

I've had a few in the past but the one which sticks out the most could have cost me my job had I not noticed my blunder...

Back in the Summer of 2006 I was working for an airline in Manchester, this meant I would get the bus into the centre of town and then get a train from Piccadilly to the airport. I had been doing this for around 4/5 months without any problem until this one day I arrive at the station and spot a fTPE 185 sat in platform 1 so I grabbed my crewbag and climbed aboard. I sat down and looked around in excitement on being onboard this new train (IIRC they had only recently come online and I hadn't been on one yet), I think I had been sat there for a good five minutes before something twigged "Why is this train in platform 1?" Que the hustle alarm and me jumping out of the door like an NFL player goes for a Touchdown.

Turns out it was the service to somewhere on the East of the Pennines and the next stop was Huddersfield. I made a slow walk over to 8 just in time to see the airport train leave so it was another slog over to 13 where a had a ten minute wait for a pacer (of all things).

Still I got to work early (thanks to my "buffer" time) and the crew got a kick out of it.

Phil

 

[12CSVT]

Why would you ride a kettle? Free tea?

Steam engine - for the benefit of those of you not clued up on railway terminology

 

[4SRKT]

Steam engine - for the benefit of those of you not clued up on railway terminology

Bittern is a kettle veg. He knows what kettle means right enough.

 

[Bittern]

Steam engine - for the benefit of those of you not clued up on railway terminology

It was a joke.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Bittern is a kettle veg. He knows what kettle means right enough.

Steam, 08s and 318s!

 

[87019Chris]

I was on my way back from a day of spotting on Doncaster station as we borded what I now start to think is a fridays only relief train i stood in the vestibule as it was a HST of course. As we arrived into Wakefield the rain was coming down very heavily so I gave in on the idea of the window as I sat down an asian man then asked me is this the train for London Kings Cross despite the number of announcements saying 'this train is for Leeds calling at Wakefield Westgate and Leeds only' and all I could say was no this isnt the train for London the train is going in the wrong direction and that to get off now and contact some of the station staff. Talk about a mistake and the announcements and evey thing I couldn't beleive it when he asked me that.

 

[table38]

A few years ago I was off by car up to Glasgow for New Year, and gave some friends a lift as they were going through to Edinburgh. I dropped them off at Glasgow Queen Street no problem.

On our return, I'd arranged to pick them up at Queen Street but couldn't find them. I gave them a call and they said that they were stood outside Burger King, but I still couldn't find them.

Another phone call revealed that they were actually at Glasgow Central and hadn't even noticed that they were at a different station...

 

[Trains06]

Was seeing my grandad onto the train at Crewe with his bike (so putting it in the rear coach), had specifically told the platform staff that I wasn't travelling so I hopped on to make sure he was okay (the train was in good time)and the platform guy shut the door... I was a bit flustered but walked down towards the A and B doors, both of these were out of action so I ran up coach B only to hit a closed door. The TM was up in First so I had to sit on the train all the way to Rugby...

Not the see-off I had expected! The TM was fine with it and I was only charged for the return journey (which the TM on the VWC sold me) and that seemed very cheap to me..!

 

[43094]

A couple of 'oh dear' moments:

Back in 2003 I was having a day bashing 87's. Having arrived at Crewe I had an hour or so to kill until the next one to Lime Street, so I worked out that if the next Northbound Anglo-Scot was on time I could go to Bank Quay for a +1 onto the next one back to Crewe to fill in the time.

Problem was, i'd been up since 0400, and therefore hadn't really worked it out especially thoroughly. Having taken the 90 that produced to Bank Quay, I legged it sharpish over to the other platform to take another 90 back to Crewe, just making the +1.

Next thing I remember is the announcement passing Arpley, 'welcome to the Virgin Trains service to Euston, the next station will be Milton Keynes Central'.... Oh. My C&P isn't going to be valid there, is it....!

After an embarrassing explanation to the gripper, and an hours fester at MKC, another 90 produced northbound. I gave up and went home.

The second occasion was one Friday night. I'd gone out after work for a few, intending to get the 1919 Ribblehead home. Cleverly (or so I thought), i'd remembered to check the unit allox before I left.

1905 (plenty of time) and onto platform 5 at Leeds where the 1919 usually left from. HOWEVER - alcohol based schoolboy error - I hadn't checked the monitors.... There were a pair of 156's in, the front one of which was the unit that had been alloxed the 1919 earlier. This was slightly strange, as usually there was only one 156 in, the 1919 normally left from platform 5C, but never mind, this was the correct unit, wasn't it?

1909, and pulling out of Leeds, I was forced to conclude that no, it wasn't. A trip to Pudsey and back followed, and an hour extra onto the journey home.