Things you don't see in trains any longer

[Dr_Paul]

Ladies only 12 person compartments in Bulleid 4 Sub south western division Southern Region EMUs.. & probably also in the Brighton & South East divisions. At each end the 4 Sub had an 8 bay open coach including cab & guards van & seated 82 people, plus a 10 compartment trailer seating 120 & a 10 bay open trailer seating 102. Amazing..386 seats for 136 tons of train, plus up to 5 stances per bay..190 standees! That’s 40 tons of passengers. I am sure the ladies only compartment was next to the guards van in one of the end coaches. Yet the driving coaches were open layout. A minor mystery.
I think the ladies only sign was triangular like the no smoking window transfer. Anyone know the colour?

Ladies Only compartments on 4-SUBs! Now that's going back to the late 1960s, when I was still at school. I started daily commuting to London in early 1972, nearly always on 4-SUBs, and I think they'd all been changed to ordinary compartments by then.

 

[Ken H]

There were ladies compartments in the cl 501s. Still there in about 1976. Still no corridor then.

 

[dgl]

Didn’t the 158’s wipe all the data on the magnetic strip?

AFAIK they didn't use magnetic strips but instead burnt away a strip as it was used, the speed of that controlling the call cost per unit, naturally it meant that on trains where calls were more expensive it burnt through the strip much faster.

 

[satisnek]

There was a very similar thread years ago where I put 'good looking women'. This still holds true in my opinion but I've got my 'serious' head on this time . . .

What about glazed bulkheads behind the driver's cab as on the first generation DMUs (and one or two EMU classes)? We live in a country full of DMUs of all shapes and sizes but none have perpetuated this feature.

And steam heating, mentioned upthread. Typically, your coach was lukewarm because most of the steam was escaping from the connection to the coach in front, or you had one coach in a train which was like a sauna because of an internal leak!

 

[ls2270]

I maybe wrong but i think the intercity trains had cardphones in the vestibules unless the memory is playing tricks !

Class 442s had them too!

 

[32475]

The sheer variety of door handles. Twist and lever handles on carriage doors in chrome plated steel or brass. Those horizontal sliding mechanisms which you had to squeeze between thumb and forefingers to open. Vestibule and corridor doors with sort of egg shaped aluminium twist handles and then those sliding compartment doors with upright lever handles which slid shut with a satisfying whoosh and thud.
Every design of door had its own distinctive sound when closed with everything from a slam to a clunk to a thud and a clang. Even the sound of vertical drop windows on carriage doors had a distinctive sound. I can hear them all now!

 

[Ken H]

Was it Mk3's that had those square grab handles mounted on the gangway end of the seat backs?

And the electric toilet engaged sivn so you could while away the hours timing peoples visits.

Sitting in a train watching and hearing the wheeltapper.

Watchin the platform and vestibule get flooded by an overflowing water tank while the refilled the tank with a hose. And all the hoses on the ballast on the non platform side.

The short emergency ladder strapped to an end bulkhead. And the red fire extinguishers in their little recess. I think they were water filled. Hope no one used one on a leccy fire

 

[Rescars]

Doors being opened and passengers getting off before the train had come to a halt on the platform - and some crazy dashes to join an already moving train.

.... accompanied to cries of "stand aside" and, if that didn't work, a member of platform staff stretching up to twist the nearest telltale to tell the driver to stop the already moving train!

 

[32475]

A whole host of signs around the carriage interior. This steam heating one is the sort that was very comforting in a mark 1 compartment from Inverness to Wick in the 1970s!

 

[pitdiver]

At the end of the Met (LUL) certain "Magazines" would be left on the train. Particularly late evening services

 

[contrex]

Ladies only 12 person compartments in Bulleid 4 Sub south western division Southern Region EMUs.. & probably also in the Brighton & South East divisions.

At each end the 4 Sub had an 8 bay open coach including cab & guards van & seated 82 people, plus a 10 compartment trailer seating 120 & a 10 bay open trailer seating 102. Amazing..386 seats for 136 tons of train, plus up to 5 stances per bay..190 standees! That’s 40 tons of passengers.
.
I am sure the ladies only compartment was next to the guards van in one of the end coaches. Yet the driving coaches were open layout. A minor mystery.
I think the ladies only sign was triangular like the no smoking window transfer. Anyone know the colour?

There's a picture of a green(ish) oblong 'LADIES ONLY' sticker/transfer here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34061094 (2015 BBC story about Jeremy Corbyn wanting to bring them back, and which says they remained on London-Essex services until 1977). The one in the BBC picture seems to be (?) on the SR 3-set/'SUB' motor car in the NRM, but the typeface looks a bit BR to me.

My mother always used to laugh at them and say 'I'd better not get in there'. When I was 12 I accidentally scrambled into one one morning on the way from West Norwood to school near North Dulwich, and one 'lady' tutted at me and said 'This is for ladies only!'. Another one said 'Never mind, son', and offered me a sweet.

 

[robert thomas]

Prisoners handcuffed to prison officers in 1st class compartments

 

[Deepgreen]

Prisoners handcuffed to prison officers in 1st class compartments

That was before penalty fares...

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Members of train crew clearly under the affluence of incohol! (Thank goodness!)

Why was that a good thing?

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A top-hatted chap with a red flag walking in front of the train - ah, happy memories!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Prisoners handcuffed to prison officers in 1st class compartments

Not just prisoners (as in the film "Terminus") , but arrested or suspects enroute to various police areas. Generally plain clothes officers but the cuffs were a bit of a giveaway. Putting them in 1st class was sensible.

(Timothy Evans of Rillington Place was thus moved from Merthyr Vale to Paddington in a 1st class compartment for example)

 

[weepingwillowb]

The Beatles.

​

 

[D6130]

That was before penalty fares...

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Why was that a good thing?

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A top-hatted chap with a red flag walking in front of the train - ah, happy memories!

It wasn't a good thing at all.....hence my comment that, thank goodness, it's a thing you don't see on trains any more (as per the OP's title).

 

[Benters]

Livestock in the form of birds and small animals being sent along with parcels in the guards van of a passenger train.
Once, in the early '80s, I was waiting for my train home at Stoke-on-Trent station after a long day at college, when I noticed a package on a parcels trolley marked 'Live Hamsters.'
This piqued my curiosity, so I had a look at the parcel and it had plastic windows it the sides with small breathing holes incorporated. Several of said live rodents could be seen in the package. Think these were the days when vivisection was still rife...

 

[lookapigeon]

Comfortable seats. The ones aboard the slam door trains were very comfortable.

 

[robert thomas]

A parcel being unloaded at Shrewsbury for transfer to the Cambrian Coast in 1964 labelled Bull Semen With Care

 

[Merle Haggard]

And I actually saw one in use!

Once.

Even in the 60s they were little-used and created all manner of issues with draughts and water ingress.

I read somewhere that almost all the uses of the stretcher window was for staff travelling to one of the Railway Convalescent Homes - and probably travelling on a free pass...

 

[Taunton]

-
Bars of soap and roller towels in washrooms.

The (real) GWR had a variation on the soap, at least in the last-built Hawksworth stock, and probably before. It was liquid, in a hinged glass spherical dispenser that was fixed above the washbasin and weighted to point nozzle-upwards. You turned it downwards and the soap started to ooze out, slowly. Let go, and it swung back upwards. Little was wasted, what was fell into the sink. It was a classic idea by someone who, in the Swindon drawing office, was a qualified mechanical engineer ...

Speaking of roller towels, I did read that the new Amtrak stock in the USA built in the 1980s, had a roller towel specified as "self-cleaning" by some designer who didn't understand their principle, and thought they cleaned themselves on a continuous towel loop. The procurement manager found this an interesting and amusing challenge, and actually managed to find a manufacturer of such equipment. Unfortunately it was picked up and stopped before orders were placed.

 

[Merle Haggard]

There were ladies compartments in the cl 501s. Still there in about 1976. Still no corridor then.

On the D.C. their disappearance was connected with the Equalities Act 1974 - a man complained...

 

[Ashley Hill]

Paraffin tail lamps.

 

[Pigeon]

Livestock in the form of birds and small animals being sent along with parcels in the guards van of a passenger train.

Oh, yes. Often on the way to school the guard's van would contain a stack of flat cardboard boxes which emitted faint peeping sounds. Inside they were divided into little compartments each just big enough to hold one day-old chick and a few grains of wheat. I kept wanting to pinch one and take it home with me but never actually did.

The (real) GWR had a variation on the soap, at least in the last-built Hawksworth stock, and probably before. It was liquid, in a hinged glass spherical dispenser that was fixed above the washbasin and weighted to point nozzle-upwards. You turned it downwards and the soap started to ooze out, slowly. Let go, and it swung back upwards. Little was wasted, what was fell into the sink. It was a classic idea by someone who, in the Swindon drawing office, was a qualified mechanical engineer ...

They were still around in at least some Mk 1s, and were also common in non-railway use (first encountered them at my first school). I seem to remember that I very rarely saw one that was less than about a third full, which I attribute to it taking about the same time for the first part of it to be used and for the nozzle to clog up with dried soap so the rest wouldn't come out. After a couple of encounters with this phenomenon I gave up trying to use them.

Still do see them occasionally, but the modern ones are all stainless steel, so you can't see how much is left and I wonder if they ever get serviced at all...

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Between meal times two restaurant car stewards making their way through the train serving teas and coffees to passengers at their seats, the first one had a tray of cups and saucers (and collected the payments) and the second carried a pots of tea and coffee to fill the cups - I'd guess the jug of milk and bowl of sugar must have been on the first tray as the second steward had his hands full with the hot pots.

This service was also provided on the Edinburgh- Glasgow Inter City DMUs where unusually the buffet car had a staff of three, one on the counter while the other two worked through the six coach train - buffet cars on hauled services (RMB) normally had just one member of staff serving from the counter.

 

[6Gman]

Wages Boxes and travelling safes chained in guards vans.
Drain holes at the bottom of window frames to take away the condensation (or push matches down)

Or to play Ollies.

(A game played with a small marble. No I don't know why it was so named.)

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Prisoners handcuffed to prison officers in 1st class compartments

They used 2nd class round here.

Bit disconcerting to sit next to them before realising!

 

[Rescars]

Between meal times two restaurant car stewards making their way through the train serving teas and coffees to passengers at their seats, the first one had a tray of cups and saucers (and collected the payments) and the second carried a pots of tea and coffee to fill the cups - I'd guess the jug of milk and bowl of sugar must have been on the first tray as the second steward had his hands full with the hot pots.

This service was also provided on the Edinburgh- Glasgow Inter City DMUs where unusually the buffet car had a staff of three, one on the counter while the other two worked through the six coach train - buffet cars on hauled services (RMB) normally had just one member of staff serving from the counter.

Sugar with the cups first, then one visit with coffee and hot milk, followed by a second with tea and cold milk - or the other way around, depending on the time of day. Known as "serving the alley" IIRC.

 

[Taunton]

Between meal times two restaurant car stewards making their way through the train serving teas and coffees to passengers at their seats, the first one had a tray of cups and saucers (and collected the payments) and the second carried a pots of tea and coffee to fill the cups - I'd guess the jug of milk and bowl of sugar must have been on the first tray as the second steward had his hands full with the hot pots.

This service was also provided on the Edinburgh- Glasgow Inter City DMUs where unusually the buffet car had a staff of three, one on the counter while the other two worked through the six coach train - buffet cars on hauled services (RMB) normally had just one member of staff serving from the counter.

Standard feature on the "Electric Scot" service from Edinburgh to Liverpool, which I was a regular on from 1974 onwards. After a couple of years was replaced by the MaxPax system, an "industrial catering" product from Maxwell House, an all-in-one paper cup unit, where the (cheapest) instant coffee powder was ludicrously seen as equivalent to the former freshly-brewed offering. I believe the principal driver of the change was stock control, as 'not all' of the amounts charged for the service was making its way back to the office - does anyone remember ever getting a receipt?

 

[Merle Haggard]

Sugar with the cups first, then one visit with coffee and hot milk, followed by a second with tea and cold milk - or the other way around, depending on the time of day. Known as "serving the alley" IIRC.

There was a variation in the enthusiasm of the staff coming down the train. The very enthusiastic ones seem to provide a proportion of Maxpax cups that had loose instant coffee inside and giving change seemed to involve a float from more than one pocket. Jars of Nescafe on a shelf at the back of the buffet.
Remember the little tags that you ripped off the tops of Maxpax cups and deposited in a collection box so that a charity (fronted by you-know-who) received 1/2p each? Was that because Travellers Fayre were keen to help charities - or thought that 1/2p was a small price to make sure the cups could not be re-used? I know the answer, perhaps you can guess

 

[Rick1984]

.... accompanied to cries of "stand aside" and, if that didn't work, a member of platform staff stretching up to twist the nearest telltale to tell the driver to stop the already moving train!

What is a telltale?