Things you don't see in trains any longer

[WestAnglian]

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

Often in the buffets, and they were expensive. ISTR 50p per minute. The Stansted Express 322s also had them.

 

[AY1975]

I think there were some 2-car DMUs (Derby Class 108s?) assigned to the Cumbrian Coast line which had similar bars fitted to doors. Same reason - limited clearance in a tunnel along that particular route.

Some charter train coaches still have them for that reason.

 

[xotGD]

I think there were some 2-car DMUs (Derby Class 108s?) assigned to the Cumbrian Coast line which had similar bars fitted to doors. Same reason - limited clearance in a tunnel along that particular route.

A bit of a downer when one failed on the Tyne Valley and you had a loco on the front as they prevented flailing.

 

[John Luxton]

I can remember travelling from Glasgow to London sometime in the mid 1980's, during the day, and wheels being tapped at Carlisle

Oh, now you're talking! Haven't seen any for ages and it was never the same after Green King moved production to Bury St Edmunds, still a nice brew though! Last time I had some I bought a case of it in bottles from Costco.

They don't have Ruddles at my Costco - but they do have Hall & Woodhouse Badger in cases which I drink a bit too much of!

 

[d0mokun]

A handle to control the steam heating.

Steam heating full stop

 

[6Gman]

Carlisle - when I dealt with it from a freight business point of view , had early , late etc rolling stock examiners who were known as "tappers" , but they really dealt with anything arising on all trains. An excellent and dedicated bunch - complemented by the Shap team at Hardendale , who were really there for the limestone traffic , but like all dedicated railwaymen (father and son team) , could be relied to deal with almost anything arising / passing on the WCML.

The rulebook comment about "all staff must carefully observe passing trains for signs of distress , hot axle boxes , goods falling off" etc (quoted from memory) was embedded in these employees. Slightly off topic - "tappers" they might not have been , - but rolling stock inspectors they certainly were.

And very useful for office staff taking a break and looking out of the window when the boss walked in.

"Got no work to do?"
"Yes sir, but just checking 6P32 - seemed to be a loose load on one of the wagons, but it must have been the angle - looks fine now."

 

[Forty29]

Cranks hanging out of the windows saluting and bellowing "My Lords!"

Came from a high rank magistrate who worshipped diesel hydraulic's l believe.

 

[Bungle158]

Leather straps to open windows. Rather like belts, perforated at intervals to allow adjustment.

 

[delt1c]

Guards vans

 

[D6130]

People smoking....or have we already had that?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

BR internal mail - effective and efficient - "OCS" (on company services) in charge of the guard - (lost under privatisation) - stations had mail rooms to collate them - along with travlling safes - beautiful wooden boxes , locked and stenciled say - Colchester to Clacton , Hereford (Barrs Court) to Shrewsbury ......bundles of special traffic notices , even thrown from trains to passing signalboxes.....ahhhh - fond memories

 

[John Luxton]

Leather straps to open windows. Rather like belts, perforated at intervals to allow adjustment.

Well you do on some heritage lines and their use confuses the younger generations!

 

[Dr_Paul]

The internal door-latches of Southern Region slam-door stock, which required quite a strong push against the spring to open -- and being asked by grannies and little kids to open the door for them as the spring was so strong. I found it easier to open the window and turn the external handle. I remember a foreign bloke at New Malden who was utterly confounded by the latch, and was glad when I showed him how it worked and opened it for him.

Did these latches exist on stock outwith the SR?

 

[Matey]

Electric bells used to warn passengers etc of an approaching stopping train. Operated from the signal box I believe. All those pre-grouping cast iron warning signs. Usually either a black or red background framed in white, with the lettering picked out in white. On the Southern Railway/Region only the letters S and R were picked out on L&SWR headings.
I'm told that in days of yore this lettering was picked out using a cut potato dipped into paint.
Platform sweeping brushes with very wide heads.

 

[Western 52]

I have a vague memory of small notices screwed onto the internal wooden panels of Mk1 coaches which said what type of wood it was made from. There were also notices on the windows to indicate how far to open them for optimal ventilation.

 

[hexagon789]

Electric bells used to warn passengers etc of an approaching stopping train.

I'm sure I saw in a video from the late-1990s (about 1996/7), that Arbroath had something like this in the booking hall or waiting room.

Presumably long removed.

 

[Dr_Paul]

All those pre-grouping cast iron warning signs.

There's still an LSWR 'Passengers must cross the line by the subway' cast-iron sign on the vertical wall of the up fast platform at New Malden. It must be at least 100 years old by now.

The reason for those signs -- staff crossings halfway along the platforms and barrow crossings at the end of platforms -- now they are also long-gone features. My dad had permission to use the barrow crossing at Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway when he became too infirm to use the footbridge.

 

[Rescars]

Electric bells used to warn passengers etc of an approaching stopping train. Operated from the signal box I believe. All those pre-grouping cast iron warning signs. Usually either a black or red background framed in white, with the lettering picked out in white. On the Southern Railway/Region only the letters S and R were picked out on L&SWR headings.
I'm told that in days of yore this lettering was picked out using a cut potato dipped into paint.
Platform sweeping brushes with very wide heads.

And those strange right-angled brushes for refreshing the white line along the edge of the platforms.

 

[Ken H]

There's still an LSWR 'Passengers must cross the line by the subway' cast-iron sign on the vertical wall of the up fast platform at New Malden. It must be at least 100 years old by now.

The reason for those signs -- staff crossings halfway along the platforms and barrow crossings at the end of platforms -- now they are also long-gone features. My dad had permission to use the barrow crossing at Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway when he became too infirm to use the footbridge.

Are you talking about the little step on the rail side of a platform to allow a railman to get up from rail level with some ease.?

 

[Matey]

I'm sure I saw in a video from the late-1990s (about 1996/7), that Arbroath had something like this in the booking hall or waiting room.

Presumably long removed.

Lovely examples in the film, "Brief Encounter" released c1946.
At Datchet on the Windsor Branch the closing of the level crossing gates, without the warning bell, would arouse interest as it would often mean either an oncoming steam hauled freight or excursion.

 

[D6130]

Electric bells used to warn passengers etc of an approaching stopping train. Operated from the signal box I believe.

I'm told that the Station Hotel in Hawick had an electric bell in the public bar right up until closure of the Waverley Route in January 1969. Apparently it was operated by the signalman in Hawick South box and was particularly useful when trains were delayed and punters were trying to squeeze in an extra pint or two before the arrival of their train. Presumably the signallers repaired across the road once their shifts had finished....and maybe found the odd pint already paid on for them by grateful travellers!

 

[Dr_Paul]

Are you talking about the little step on the rail side of a platform to allow a railman to get up from rail level with some ease.?

That's right; with a crossing made of half-sleepers, usually (but not always) with a gap in the conductor rails. Some of the little steps are still there, but the crossings have long gone.

 

[Matey]

I'm told that the Station Hotel in Hawick had an electric bell in the public bar right up until closure of the Waverley Route in January 1969. Apparently it was operated by the signalman in Hawick South box and was particularly useful when trains were delayed and punters were trying to squeeze in an extra pint or two before the arrival of their train. Presumably the signallers repaired across the road once their shifts had finished....and maybe found the odd pint already paid on for them by grateful travellers!

I travelled, quite by accident on the last up sleeper, en route to Malta and witnessed noisy protesters on Hawick platform. Perhaps the Station Hotel had a hand in it.

 

[yorksrob]

The internal door-latches of Southern Region slam-door stock, which required quite a strong push against the spring to open -- and being asked by grannies and little kids to open the door for them as the spring was so strong. I found it easier to open the window and turn the external handle. I remember a foreign bloke at New Malden who was utterly confounded by the latch, and was glad when I showed him how it worked and opened it for him.

Did these latches exist on stock outwith the SR?

Yes, I remember often opening those through the drop-light as it was easier.

Trouble is, on some trains the drop-light didn't go down far enough.

 

[greyman42]

The company leather bags that drivers used to have. I remember we used to repair them at BREL York.

 

[Western 52]

No staff in BR uniform on trains any longer.

 

[Ashley Hill]

The company leather bags that drivers used to have. I remember we used to repair them at BREL York.

There are still a couple of drivers at my depot who use them and at least two guards with their leather bags.

 

[greyman42]

There are still a couple of drivers at my depot who use them and at least two guards with their leather bags.

Good to know they are still about.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Paper coach letters in the windows.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

ot actually in the train but essential to the operations:
Station Pilots - typically class 08 (some locations I think class 03), to assist with attach and detach moves and shunting of parcels vana and coaches as at e.g. Perth Carlisle and Preston, or to shunt ECS to adjacent carriage sidings e.g. Inverness, or to draw coaches off an arrival to release the loco for the return trip e.g. Edinburgh Waverley. Some stations used main line locos as pilots, Glasgow Central had several class 27s allocated for type f work this work.