• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Things you don't see in trains any longer

Status
Not open for further replies.

Taunton

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Aug 2013
Messages
12,328
Did anyone mention Card Sharps, those who would play cards for money, and inveigle others in the compartment to join in.

Some seemed to be business "reps" in cheap suits travelling around, others were professional at it, and on the lookout for suckers.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Pinza-C55

Member
Joined
23 May 2015
Messages
1,035
Beclawat windows.


Amazingly they are still in business.
 

75A

Established Member
Joined
31 Mar 2021
Messages
2,053
Location
Ireland (ex Brighton 75A)
Did anyone mention Card Sharps, those who would play cards for money, and inveigle others in the compartment to join in.

Some seemed to be business "reps" in cheap suits travelling around, others were professional at it, and on the lookout for suckers.
On Portsmouth FC 'Football Specials' in the 70's & 80's card schools were common place.
 

The exile

Established Member
Joined
31 Mar 2010
Messages
9,470
Location
Somerset
A bit off-topic but my early memories are of Merrymaker excursions. I recall my young petulant self, writhing at the itchy seat fabric adorning our carriage compartment, up the Midland Main to (I think) Blackpool, behind Peak 45003
It may well not have been the seat fabric, but what was living in it!
 

AY1975

Established Member
Joined
14 Dec 2016
Messages
2,185
Dedicated buffet cars
And dedicated seating areas in the buffet car for passengers consuming food and drink bought from the buffet - I think the Class 442 "Wessex Electric" EMUs were the last trains to run on the National Rail network that had that, at least in the BR and South West Trains eras before 2007 when they were withdrawn and refurbished for Southern/Gatwick Express.

In the days when buffet cars used proper cups and plates, rather than disposable packaging, taking your refreshments back to your ordinary seat wasn't really an option - it was expected that you would consume them in the buffet car. That began to change with the introduction of Maxpax tea and coffee in I think the 1970s, but even then passengers would often still consume their refreshment in the buffet and then return to their seats (or sometimes they would stay in the buffet for the whole journey).

And even on Mark 3 buffets without dedicated seating areas, in BR days you would often see passengers standing by the buffet counter drinking tea and coffee out of disposable cups or beer out of cans (either straight from the can or from a disposable plastic cup). Meeting for a drink in the buffet was regarded as a social occasion for many commuters and business travellers especially. Even on the few trains that still have a proper buffet rather than just a trolley you don't seem to see many passengers doing this these days, though. I suppose it died out with the Covid pandemic and no-one has got back into that habit.

The two exceptions to this are Sleeper trains, which still have a lounge car where passengers will often consume their refreshments on the spot, and the Eurostar bar car where it is also still quite common (albeit standing rather than sitting).
 

Geoff DC

Member
Joined
27 Jan 2018
Messages
242
Location
Penzance
Travelling Stores Vans on the Western Region.
There were 5, running out of Swindon to a fixed itinerary and attached to local passenger services.
I think the service started in 1910 and finished in April 1964
 

Helvellyn

Established Member
Joined
28 Aug 2009
Messages
2,587
And dedicated seating areas in the buffet car for passengers consuming food and drink bought from the buffet - I think the Class 442 "Wessex Electric" EMUs were the last trains to run on the National Rail network that had that, at least in the BR and South West Trains eras before 2007 when they were withdrawn and refurbished for Southern/Gatwick Express.

In the days when buffet cars used proper cups and plates, rather than disposable packaging, taking your refreshments back to your ordinary seat wasn't really an option - it was expected that you would consume them in the buffet car. That began to change with the introduction of Maxpax tea and coffee in I think the 1970s, but even then passengers would often still consume their refreshment in the buffet and then return to their seats (or sometimes they would stay in the buffet for the whole journey).

And even on Mark 3 buffets without dedicated seating areas, in BR days you would often see passengers standing by the buffet counter drinking tea and coffee out of disposable cups or beer out of cans (either straight from the can or from a disposable plastic cup). Meeting for a drink in the buffet was regarded as a social occasion for many commuters and business travellers especially. Even on the few trains that still have a proper buffet rather than just a trolley you don't seem to see many passengers doing this these days, though. I suppose it died out with the Covid pandemic and no-one has got back into that habit.

The two exceptions to this are Sleeper trains, which still have a lounge car where passengers will often consume their refreshments on the spot, and the Eurostar bar car where it is also still quite common (albeit standing rather than sitting).
Yet the 442s were built without the popular snug, originally having two brake vans either side of the Guard's compartment. It was the decline of parcels and newspaper traffic (another loss already mentioned) that saw NSE have the van space adjacent the buffet repurposed as the snug. Given SWT later converted the other van space to additional standard seating I suppose it's fortunate that didn't happen first and the other van was the one that was retained.
 

Western 52

Established Member
Joined
19 Jun 2020
Messages
1,672
Location
Burry Port
Travelling Stores Vans on the Western Region.
There were 5, running out of Swindon to a fixed itinerary and attached to local passenger services.
I think the service started in 1910 and finished in April 1964
I think there were some former GWR Siphon vans used for this in the 1970s? I think they said ENPARTS on them.
 

Gloster

Veteran Member
Joined
4 Sep 2020
Messages
13,044
Location
Up the creek
I think there were some former GWR Siphon vans used for this in the 1970s? I think they said ENPARTS on them.

Stores vans carried just about everything a station or goods yard might need, from lamp oil to pen nibs. ENPARTS vans were specifically to carry spares and items going to or from repair between the locomotive works and the various Traction Maintenance Depots or other important part of the CMEE’s empire. ENPARTS was short for ENgine PARTS.
 
Last edited:

D1511

Established Member
Joined
29 Jul 2023
Messages
1,227
Location
WCML N
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.
"Open to here for draught-free ventilation" and there were two inscribed lines to align the edges of the 2 frames. Were they the Widney windows?
 

Ken H

Established Member
Joined
11 Nov 2018
Messages
6,718
Location
N Yorks
"Open to here for draught-free ventilation" and there were two inscribed lines to align the edges of the 2 frames. Were they the Widney windows?
Early Mk 2 carriages didnt have bi-parting windows. Just 1 opening vent. so only had 1 line.
 

AY1975

Established Member
Joined
14 Dec 2016
Messages
2,185
Early Mk 2 carriages didnt have bi-parting windows. Just 1 opening vent. so only had 1 line.
Whereas Mark 1s and most older non-aircon stock did have bi-parting windows, so they had signs saying "For draught-free ventilation, open window between these lines" (or between these arrows) as alluded to in entry #253 above.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned in this thread is shaver sockets in the toilets. Mark 2 aircons, Mark 3s and Mark 4s had them when built, and I recently noticed that the TransPennine Class 185s still have one in the disabled toilet even after refurbishment. I don't know if they still work, though. I suspect that most new trains don't have them, and many trains that were built with them have had them removed, because not many people were using them (or people were misusing them) and the power supply that used to feed them is nowadays needed for the at-seat plug sockets to recharge laptops and mobile phones.

Also, with more people travelling it is deemed that that number one priority has to be to provide as many seats as possible, meaning fewer toilets so they don't want to encourage people to occupy the remaining toilets for too long.

There is this now-locked thread on shaver sockets in Mark 4 toilets from a few years ago at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/shaving-sockets-on-ecml-mk4-carriages.152854/ and they are also discussed in entries #206 to #209 on page 7 of this thread from last year on unwritten ettiquette as a railway passenger: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-unwritten-etiquette-as-a-railway-passenger.237131/page-7
 

renegademaster

Established Member
Joined
22 Jun 2023
Messages
2,222
Location
Croydon
The majority of passengers knowing how to behave in public...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==


Yes - even suburban units had them - this was 4SUB 4732 which was returned to faux-original condition for service in its last couple of years until 1982. I took the photo after boarding it one morning in 1981 at Ashtead on my way to Victoria. View attachment 132668
I always assumed this was a thing the heritage railways done, nice to know it was always a thing
 

Western 52

Established Member
Joined
19 Jun 2020
Messages
1,672
Location
Burry Port
I remember looking inside 4732 when it was on show at Waterloo. I think it was one of the network days? Maybe about 1986? It was certainly a period unit.
 

6Gman

Established Member
Joined
1 May 2012
Messages
9,230
One thing that I don't think has been mentioned in this thread is shaver sockets in the toilets. Mark 2 aircons, Mark 3s and Mark 4s had them when built, and I recently noticed that the TransPennine Class 185s still have one in the disabled toilet even after refurbishment. I don't know if they still work, though. I suspect that most new trains don't have them, and many trains that were built with them have had them removed, because not many people were using them (or people were misusing them) and the power supply that used to feed them is nowadays needed for the at-seat plug sockets to recharge laptops and mobile phones.
I wonder if the demise of shaver sockets is linked to the reduction in the number of overnight seated trains?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top