Train Journeys from Hell...

[blakey1152]

What is peoples worst train journey they've ever had?

Mine was with my other half from Birmingham New Street to Slade Green via Euston.

All started well, had First class tickets and got the train at Birmingham at around 5pm. left bang on schedule but the journey just seemed a bit slower than usual.
We got to Rugby where it was announced that our train was now terminating here and to cross the platform for an alternative service into London. This turned out to be a train from Glasgow which was jam packed because the previous journey from Glasgow into London had been cancelled!!!

Needless to say it was very hot. not a single available seat on the train in first or standard class and this train literally crawled down the line into Euston arriving just before 1am!

At this time just about anybody with an ongoing journey had missed their connections and as it was a Sunday night the tube was also shut now. Virgin however, realised their obligations to get people to their destinations so organised taxi's to take people where they needed to go (including one guy ahead of us who was apparently heading to Cornwall!)
But this queue was like the latest ride at Alton Towers - it was insane - Virgin staff did their best in the circumstances by offering free drinks and chocolate bars/sandwiches and it was 5am before we got a shared taxi back to Slade Green arriving just before 6am on the Monday morning!!!

13 hours from Birmingham to Slade Green!

I dread to think how much all those cabs cost Virgin that night but I did complain and I got our tickets refunded along with a complimentary pair of first class return tickets to use anywhere on the Virgin network (of which I chose a peak time morning journey from Euston to Glasgow and we went and enjoyed the sights in Edinburgh)

Chris

 

[185]

What was it? Cable theft?

 

[route:oxford]

Far better a journey from Hell than to Hell.

 

[fairysdad]

The worst I've been on would've been in the early '90s with the 'wrong kind of snow' incident when it took quite a lot of time to get between Waterloo and Fareham. However, I was only a nipper at the time and don't remember much apart from the fact that for some reason I thought that when they closed Waterloo station, they lifted it up like a drawbridge...

Other than that, it probably has to be a couple of years back when I was trying to get between Tiverton and London; I had a MegaTrain ticket from Exeter to Waterloo, but unfortunately it was when the line between Exeter and Tiverton had flooded. As I had been given a lift to the station, I didn't have my car otherwise I'd have attempted to drive to Exeter to catch my connection as soon as I found out about the problem (although the station staff at the time said that 'it was flooding on the line, probably at Dawlish' so wasn't told the real problem anyway) but instead I had to get a Tiverton to Paddington ticket. So we caught the XC Voyager that had to be terminated at Tiverton because of the problem as it returned northbound with the idea of changing at Bristol for onward connection. On arrival at Taunton, we were told that the FGW HST in the opposite platform was heading straight to Paddington, and we should change to that one. Well, they didn't lie, except that we had to wait for ages for the train to leave as we were waiting for coaches from Plymouth and Exeter to arrive, then we were behind a slow train until we managed to overtake it at READING!!! (why not Westbury, I don't know...) But true to their word, it did take us straight to Paddington with no intermediate stops (not even Reading). And as I got into London at around the same time as I would've anyway, although the wrong side, I guess I can't really complain too much!

 

[185]

On First Hell Trains?

I always had Souter down as the devil

 

[ReverendFozz]

The worst for me would either be:-

The 3 hour journey from Durham to Newcastle years ago, I think there was a signal fault near Chester-Le-Street

Or

Coming back from Berwick one night going home to Durham, the train stopped short, at Newcastle, the reason being someone had smashed a window, which brought about the message over the PA "this train will terminate at Newcastle, sorry for any inconvenience, as some little ******* has put a window out" I ended up walking back to Durham that night, a right pain in the behind

 

[87015]

Didn't we have this thread a short while ago?

Anyway, from Hell to Trondheim on one of these which are the best DMUs I've ever travelled on, although we passed through Hell on a much more rateable hauled set on the Trondheim - Bodo trek.

Or, from Hel to Gydnia, Gdansk and beyond with a selection of these working trains on the branch including a yellow one on heritage deckers

[/Snaptroll Mode]

 

[deltic1989]

The worst journey I've ever had was last week going from nottingham to skegness for a few days break, complete with suitcase and newborn in a pram. We got to the platform ok with about 10th mins to spare, as we were walking down we were overtaken by a family of about 12 with 3 buggys containing children no younger than 4 and half thier household contents in about 15 suitcases, they got to the already half full 2 car 158 deposited thier cases on 2 of the few empty seats and insisted on keeping thier ( perfectly able to walk and occupy a seat) children in the push chairs where as Mrs deltic and myself had to take izzy out of her pram fold it up and have me standing in the vestibule guarding it with two of the huge familys children throwing half chewed werthers original at me and the adults glareing at me as if to say " what right do you have to have a pushchair on a train" by no means was it EMT's fault exept maybe they could have put a 153 on the end to improve space. Stressful but pales in comparison to some things ive heard.

 

[davelew99]

Worst journey...

hmm...

In about 2002 we were making our way to London from Carlisle on what Virgin's pendolino/voyager predecessor (was this Mk3's? or HST?) anyway, it broke down.. twice and only a few coaches had working air con on what turned out to be the hottest week of the year!

Wasn't too bad though, i was with some friends and it was fun/part of the adventure.

The worst has to be that in the last 4 years i have been unable to sit down between Warrington and Carlisle on a Pendolino - even having a seat reservation, it wouldn't have been worth battling through all the people (with a suitcase) to then kick someone out of my seat. This occurs on services running to time (and previous services too).

My solution is to sit by the doors on my suitcase and make myself comfortable.

 

[mm333]

June 2003, and with the knitting down on the ECML between Grantham and Peterborough, a fatality at Bawtry, the MML blocked so no chance to go that way.

Got to Leeds, my 1040 to London was cancelled. GNER running shuttle trains Leeds-Doncaster.

1105-1150 Train from Leeds to Doncaster
1150-1215 Waiting at Doncaster, for a connecting service
1215-1240 Southbound service arrives, but sat at Doncaster due to fatality at Bawtry
1240-1340 Train from Doncaster to Newark Northgate
1340-1440 Awaiting replacement bus at Newark Northgate
1440-1510 Bus from Newark Northgate to Grantham
1510-1645 Awaiting train at Grantham
1645-1829 Train (standing) from Grantham to London Kings Cross

Two and a half hours of queuing in car parks, about five hours late and then continuing my journey on to Winchester.

 

[Greenback]

Didn't we have this thread a short while ago?

Yes, we did! I posted my nightmare journey there, and I haven't had a worse one since. Others may have soemthing new to report though!

 

[Wolvercoter]

Mine wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things but inconvenient nonetheless. I travelled from Oban to Oxford in about 1999 with my sister... Glasgow Queen Street High Level was closed for engineering works and there was a signal failure at Partick. Our train was held for over 2 hours between Partick and Hyndland and we missed the direct train to Oxford. We also missed the last train to London so we were placed on the sleeper.

We were told that we would be met in London by a ScotRail representative who'd arrange onward travel. When we arrived, no-one was there to meet us... our tickets weren't checked on the train, which weren't valid via London. We got to Paddington at our own expense and got to Oxford without our tickets being checked.

So, all-in-all, we were about 12 hours late - ScotRail subsequently refunded half our return fare, as they would have done if we'd been home 11 hours earlier.

 

[londonbridge]

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=461131&postcount=13

Didn't we have this thread a short while ago?

Over a year ago when I made the above post. Unless it's been done again since then and I missed it.

 

[northwichcat]

Far better a journey from Hell than to Hell.

Unless you travel short.

 

[chrisg]

My journey from hell was on the evening of Valentine's Day 2009. Boarded an FCC Brighton service around 7.00 with a colleague. We got stuck at Balcome and remained there for the next three hours (so this gets us to around 10.30pm). Was then shoved onto a replacement bus service to Brighton, packed to the rafters with drunken students all on their way to the South Coast for a night out. After hellishly skirting our way around the greenery of Sussex for an hour we arrived in the fun capital only have to walk the last mile to the station due to roadworks.

Upon arriving at Brighton station, the poor Southern chap was swamped with outraged passengers who insisted the distruption was due to his own personal shortcomings. I remonstrated with one middle aged female who thought she'd give him a piece of her mind, by politely pointing out that I'd very much like to go home and needed the assistance of aforementioned staff member and would she mind "shutting her mouth for a moment", and she duly complied. The relief on the Southern mans face was evident.

Funniest moment of the night however was being able to update the driver of the source of the disruption as he walked down the train. He didn't have any idea what was going on, but luckily I could check the FCC website on my phone and pass this information down the carriage! I think it was either a signal failure or a broken down FCC train. Suffice to say, my girlfriend at the time was not impressed with me arriving home at gone midnight on Valentine's Day!

 

[Yorkswatcher]

Mine was a few years ago on a then Virgin Cross country service from Edinburgh to Leeds at about 6pm. One of the coaches was already out of action when it pulled in. And so as we heading on our way we broke down in the middle of no where. We were stuck there for 4 hours before finally being able to move to a nearby level crossing where we were met by emergency crews as we have to evacuate the train we where then put on a coach to call at Berwick, Newcastle, York and finally Leeds. However as everything behind us was delayed we decided to get off the train at Newcastle and catch the train to Doncaster where we then placed in a taxi to reach Ponte. Got in at about 5am.

I dread to think of what time we would have got in if we had stayed on the coach all the way.

 

[ryan125hst]

Most of the train journeys that I have been on have been fine, but one does stand out as being the worst.

It was in 2003 and I would have been about 8 at the time. Me, my parents and sister were catching a train down to London for a short holiday down there. It was the first time that we had been.

My Dad had booked the tickets in advance and reserved the seats. (I think he brought them from the ticket office at Retford, I still have them! They are massive compared to the standard size tickets that are posted to you now if you buy online. They even came in a ticket holder with the formations of the trains on it, including the class 373!)

Anyway, to get to the point. We arrived at Retford station to be told that our train had been cancelled for some reason (broken down I think), but we were informed that another train had been put on, starting at Doncaster. When it arrived (a 225), we found the coach that we had booked tickets on but, with it being a different train, the seat were taken, as they were in the whole carriage and the one next to it. We ended up having to sit in the vestibule (the Mallard refurbishments were only just beginning and the tip-up seats were still in there then). I was upset because, with me only being young, I was only small and couldn't see out of the window on the door properly.

The TM told us via the PA that if we got off at Newark, we would be able to catch the train that was behind us that was, of course, also going to London. We followed his instructions and left the train there.

A few minutes after our train had departed, a GNER class 373 arrived into Newark. Now you would think that being longer than the other GNER trains (14 coaches long), there would be plenty of room. You would be wrong! A lot of people must have also followed the TM's advice as we were queuing to get on the train. I can still hear the TM now saying "we aren't going anywhere until everyone is on this train!

We set off to London eventually, although we didn't have a seat. We had to stand in the aisle or perch on our suitcase. The train was packed, and just walking to the toilet was a nightmare! Fortunately, a family allowed me and my sister to sit down with them for some of the journey.

We eventually arrived in London (I'm not sure whether the train was late or on time) and had a good few days there. The return journey was fine: We were in our reserved seats all the way back to Retford!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

You should have done the old 2337 Watford DC to Euston in the mid 1990's on a Saturday night - not for the faint hearted I assure you.

(it wasnt in the PSR , so I took it off and replaced it with a 2305 - we saved a fortune in discharged fire extinguishers and worse)

 

[yorkie]

it was 5am before we got a shared taxi back to Slade Green arriving just before 6am on the Monday morning!!!

That is crazy! In that time you could have easily got to Charing Cross for the 0450 to Slade Green, arriving 0533

I do think the Rail industry wastes money on taxis. For example I was once given a taxi (with 2 other people) from London to York... but there were trains to Peterborough, so they could have saved a lot of the fare. Not only that but the taxi they organised was a London black cab, the other destinations were Sherburn and Ashton. The taxi driver went to Ashton last, the bill was something like £760. We had also said we'd be happy with a hotel and to travel by train the next day but they dismissed that as too expensive. :-?

 

[davelew99]

That is crazy! In that time you could have easily got to Charing Cross for the 0450 to Slade Green, arriving 0533

I do think the Rail industry wastes money on taxis. For example I was once given a taxi (with 2 other people) from London to York... but there were trains to Peterborough, so they could have saved a lot of the fare. Not only that but the taxi they organised was a London black cab, the other destinations were Sherburn and Ashton. The taxi driver went to Ashton last, the bill was something like £760. We had also said we'd be happy with a hotel and to travel by train the next day but they dismissed that as too expensive. :-?

They always seem to do it the hard way - i was caught up in the recent Crewe closure, had i stuck around til 23:30 when the station re-opened i may have been able to get half way home, presumably they would have sorted something to get me all the way home.

I decided to stay over (with a friend) and go to bed around 22:30 and travel the next day - i attempted to have them issue me a new (free) ticket which they refused! So i travelled anyway... it would have been no cost to them, with no lost revenue (plenty of room in the morning on the way back) but nevermind...

 

[coupwotcoup]

About ten years on a E* back from Paris, both links to London were blocked. Got to Ashford on time around 7pm but eventually crawled in to Waterloo at 4am.
Crowds of Wembley proportions but again, E* sorted cabs for all, with some peeps going on to Newcastle.
But as one of the previous guys said, we made the best of it and cracked open a few bottles of wine and ended up having a party!
One poor girl was supposed to start her new job the next day too.
Re the taxi thing, I eventually got a shared cab and arrived home at around 6.30am and the metered fare was around £70 and I said to the driver, this must be your lucky day.
He said that because of a deal struck with the London Mayor's office and E*, they only get a percentage of the fare shown.
He may well have been pulling my plonker though and giggling inwardly...

 

[umontu]

This year.
Virgin trains,
attempting to board with cycle for the first time,
Preston, useless guard who decided to not help me but chat meaning I couldn't take my bike. Argument with him lasted to Lancaster. Followed by the shop assistant trying to trip me up.
I wrote a letter of complaint got little out of it, still infuriates me to this day.
That's all you need to know.

I will avoid Virgin Trains at all costs from now on.

 

[rmt-driver]

Last week, had to take a Pacer.. don't panic I'm OK

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Anything with WBA supporters on board