Train Rides from Hell

[bAzTNM]

Came back from a visit to Bowling in Scotland and was on my way to Bellgrove. I had to stand due to how busy the train was. Woman comes on with this gigantic bicycle. Oh I forgot, before she actually came onto the train she shouted as the doors were opening "Where is the help? I need help. Oi you (to some random guy at the doors) help me onto this train". Guy answered back "I don't answer to 'oi you'", then she tutted and went onto the train.

She gets on the train with the massive bike, ticket inspector comes running into the carriage saying that the train is too busy for her bike. She says "I'm staying here. You're not telling *me* to move". Inspector just took the abuse and walked away. About five minutes later, she starts shouting at random people on the train "the trains in this country are rubbish. BEYOND AWFUL", "I WOULDN'T LET A PIG STAND IN THIS TRAIN". Some guy answered her back and she answered back "You look like you live in a dump. **** off". The train was packed and the atmosphere was rather tense. She ended up getting off at Hyndland with a friendly "f*** you all!" to everybody. She looked the spit of Arsene Wenger, and she sounded German to me.

What are some of your stories regarding "trains rides from Hell"?

 

[Chew Chew]

I've been on a train when a fight broke out between 2 different groups of folk and that wasn't nice.

I know a lad who was on the train when an Aberdeen fan was set on fire on his way home from Edinburgh.

 

[bennorthyork]

I was on the TPE train from Manchester to York at about 01.00 about 3 years ago and a man lit up a cigarette opposite me and blew smoke in my face. I told him he couldn't smoke on the train so he lunged across the table at me screaming trying to grab my throat. I ran down the train to the back to his screams of "I'm going to kill you" The guard saw me and we both locked ourselves in the guards compartment until Leeds when he was arrested.

 

[gnolife]

Packed out 142 to Southport (abandoning it at Meols Cop)... enough said really

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Not just one train but a whole line......
Jubilee Line when England v Scotland matches were on during the 70's & 80's.

 

[gordonthemoron]

IME germans do have a tendency to think that you can force a bike onto a packed train although her language doesn't sound typical, they usually just barge on and say nowt

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Probably when on a absolutely packed train from London Bridge and some Millwall fans started a fight and started complaining about how they were treated and how "they paid for tickets and treated like this" and some Glaswegian guy right at the back of the train shouted "tickets please" in the most sarcastic way. The train went quiet as a mouse for a couple of seconds and than all the fans got off!

 

[trentside]

A rail replacement bus service like the one I was on the other day. Knackered old coach, driver who didn't know where he was going and a passenger who kept demanding that she needed the toilet, forced the driver to pull into a pub and then disappeared for 10 minutes. Driver then drove like a maniac to try and make up time and nearly hit a combine harvester on what he thought was a dual carriageway (it was just a single carriageway with a median and junction slip road).

Give me an overcrowded Pacer anytime over that!

 

[codenamecuebal]

Glasgow subway, rangers game. Train packed. I pay my 60p and take my single, get pushed on and the doors close. Everybody starts singing rule britannia.
I am not a football fan.

 

[WestCoast]

The most recent bad experiences was just last week, I posted it in another thread, sorry for the repetition for the readers of that thread.

A guy who appeared drunk approached me on a very quiet 323 between Wilmslow and Alderley Edge asking for 50p. I politely refused (I only had a £1 coin and he was up to no good), initially he just walked away and I thought I had got rid of him. Then he came back launching a stream of abuse of all names and how I was "a **** with an attitude problem". I though I was never going to get rid of this scumbag who looked liked he was going to attack me, but eventually he buggered off, probably because I resisted giving abuse back. It was really unexpected, right in the middle of the day. There was nobody about staff-wise or CCTV or any other passengers in the carriage!

Other than that I've had the rammed Pacer with football fans before, not pleasant at all.

 

[185]

My train ride from Hell was actually quite pleasant. Nicest 10 hours I've ever spent in a DMU....

....enroute into the Arctic Circle

 

[Blindtraveler]

train journey from hell? Any one iv ever made on a rammed and unplesent 185 or XC voyager.

 

[class57basher]

single 153 from Newton Abbot to Plymouth instead of the usual 153+150 during the morning rush hour. to say people were packed in like sardines would be an understatement

 

[Tracked]

Usually on London Underground, apart from late at night/early morning, one incident sticks out in my mind.

Late October 2004 me and some friends were going from Westminster to Russell Square, it's a sunny day but still quite cool and mid-late afternoon, the trains were quite busy and it's very warm down there, somewhere on the journey we changed, I think it may have been Leicester Square, waited for the train to go.

It didn't.

Stood around for 5 minutes or so waiting, then heard a member of staff saying it was about to go but because there was a train in front it may stop in the tunnel.

We walked the rest of the way

 

[ANorthernGuard]

The most recent bad experiences was just last week, I posted it in another thread, sorry for the repetition for the readers of that thread.

A guy who appeared drunk approached me on a very quiet 323 between Wilmslow and Alderley Edge asking for 50p. I politely refused (I only had a £1 coin and he was up to no good), initially he just walked away and I thought I had got rid of him. Then he came back launching a stream of abuse of all names and how I was "a **** with an attitude problem". I though I was never going to get rid of this scumbag who looked liked he was going to attack me, but eventually he buggered off, probably because I resisted giving abuse back. It was really unexpected, right in the middle of the day. There was nobody about staff-wise or CCTV or any other passengers in the carriage!

Other than that I've had the rammed Pacer with football fans before, not pleasant at all.

bad spot for us (ticket wise) as we have usually got everyone by Handforth and then don't go back out (usually) until after Holmes Chapel, when in doubt tho, do try and find one of my colleagues as we would help (obviously) lol

 

[87015]

My train ride from Hell was actually quite pleasant. Nicest 10 hours I've ever spent in a DMU....

One of the Type 92 things I presume? They are very good and totally incomparable to any DMU over here. You must have been pretty unlucky if you did the day train through from Trondheim to Bodo with the DMU as it only lasted one timetable change as the locals rioted about it being uncomfy and overcrowded so they were forced into bringingback the hauled trains, which is what I had in 2006: http://87015aewn.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/norway/nor26/

Of course, you can also take a trip from Hel in Poland http://87015aewn.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/poland-and-a-bit-of-germany/dscf7936/

On topic, a lot of journeys after Hatfield were pretty damn awful.

 

[quak_C]

a few years ago on the front coach of a 318 on a glasgow central to largs service someone throws themself infront of the train close to lochwinnoch i think, felt a bang at my feet as the body was thrown under the train waited about an hour for the BTP to turn up and then about another hour and a half for the train to move again. As one officer went into the drivers cab all i could see was blood all over the window and the driver looked like he was having a mental breakdown

 

[fgwrich]

Most trips on Cross Country and Southeastern i think....:roll:

 

[317666]

Last year, me and a mate were spending a day on the diverted FGW HSTs. Did Paddington - Bath Spa (via the Banbury), which was good as the train wasn't too busy. Then a 158 to Westbury, which was fairly busy but we still got seats. Then at Westbury, the HST from Penzance to Waterloo pulled in...

Absolutely wedged, we got on and opened the drop-down window next to us, then people were complaining "oh it's too cold, close the window!" etc. So we managed to jump off before the doors locked - and had to wait another 2 hours for the next train, which was just as bad. So we just went in the FC vestibule right next to the power car for the eventful journey to Waterloo. I say eventful, because the cab radio in the leading power car had failed, so we had to be turned around using the triangle just north of Westbury station. This involved going halfway up the Melsksham branch to reverse, and passing through Trowbridge station twice. This made us an hour late, so we got back to Waterloo 3 hours later than expected

 

[Crossover]

One of the worst (thankfully short loved) problems I've had on a train was probably last week on board 395019. Left Ebbsfleet fine heading towards London but once we got up to speed, the carriage was rocking quite violently side to side (not a little but enough to physically throw you in a rocking motion side to side)

Thankfully it stopped after Stratford and was fairly smooth. In hindsight I should have had a wander to see if it was just our coach that had the problem. We had been on the same line the day before on a different 395 and had a smooth journey.

 

[graham43404]

My worst was on a Virgin Voyager cross country service from Guildford up to Manchester Piccadilly about 9 years ago if memory serves me right.

We boarded a nice, quiet (but smelly) Voyager at Guildford in first class. All was well up until the Midlands, then at Solihull and New Street the train took on a sardine can look and first class was filled with chav types playing MP3's at full blast.

 

[150222]

On the 21.21 mcv to lds it is common on fridays for it to be filled with chavs. Between walsden and todmorden oncd (on a 142 vice 158) a group of them were chatting up a poor girl. Fortunatly they stopped after the guard came to the front to kick the door shut . Another time was a 158 same service, same chavs a bunch of them were swearing their heads off in the presence of children.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Another time was a saturday and a load of drunk blokes got on between victoria and rochdale and disrupted the whole train. (Again a 142 vice booked 155 +153). The very worst though was a single 142 (again vice a 158) on the busy saturday 19.21 mcv to lds. It was a sardine can. I think it even left some people behind at manchester. Note the majority of these involved a 142.

 

[Desiro360]

One of my worst trips by train was a return journey from Manningtree to Birmingham International on a Sunday back in September 2007. My parents wanted to look at that years Autumn Show being held at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre).

We got the 1st train of the day from Manningtree to London which was the 07:00 Intercity from Norwich which departs Manningtree at 07:52. We were slightly late into Liverpool St as our train was diverted onto the slow lines from Shenfield as the overhead power lines were down on the fast lines.

It all started to go pear shaped once we arrived at Euston from the Underground. We discovered that there was engineering work between Rugby and Birmingham New St which meant that no trains were operating through Birmingham International.

We boarded a Birmingham bound Pendolino which would be diverted via Nuneaton because of the engineering works and travelled on it as far as Rugby. Unfortunately it was delayed by TSR's en route and we had to stop at Red Signals a few times. From Rugby we were on a Rail Replacement Coach which stopped at Coventry Station for several minutes before finally getting us to Birmingham International at about 14:00 ish.

It had taken us 7 Hours just to get to Birmingham International which meant that we had little time to have lunch and explore the show before having to start making our way back. Our day got even worse whilst we were waiting for a coach back to Rugby Station but they were all going to Birmingham New St so it looked as if we were stranded.

However my Dad found what turned out to be an unlicensed taxi driver who drove like a madman to get us back to Rugby. My Mum was appalled by his driving and rightly so. At Rugby Station we didn't have to wait long for a London bound Pendolino to arrive so we could get back to London.

The Pendolino was well filled so the only seats left in the coach we boarded were right next to the toilet which to add insult to injury was very smelly. By the time we got back into London we had all had enough and knew that this was a disasterous day which we hoped would not happen again. We did manage to get back to Liverpool St Station in time to get one of the last trains back to Manningtree which was a Norwich bound Intercity service.

It was between 23:00 and 23:30 when we got home. I learned the very important lesson of always checking for engineering works before you travel.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
One of my worst trips by train was a return journey from Manningtree to Birmingham International on a Sunday back in September 2007. My parents wanted to look at that years Autumn Show being held at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre).

We got the 1st train of the day from Manningtree to London which was the 07:00 Intercity from Norwich which departs Manningtree at 07:52. We were slightly late into Liverpool St as our train was diverted onto the slow lines from Shenfield as the overhead power lines were down on the fast lines.

It all started to go pear shaped once we arrived at Euston from the Underground. We discovered that there was engineering work between Rugby and Birmingham New St which meant that no trains were operating through Birmingham International.

We boarded a Birmingham bound Pendolino which would be diverted via Nuneaton because of the engineering works and travelled on it as far as Rugby. Unfortunately it was delayed by TSR's en route and we had to stop at Red Signals a few times. From Rugby we were on a Rail Replacement Coach which stopped at Coventry Station for several minutes before finally getting us to Birmingham International at about 14:00 ish.

It had taken us 7 Hours just to get to Birmingham International which meant that we had little time to have lunch and explore the show before having to start making our way back. Our day got even worse whilst we were waiting for a coach back to Rugby Station but they were all going to Birmingham New St so it looked as if we were stranded.

However my Dad found what turned out to be an unlicensed taxi driver who drove like a madman to get us back to Rugby. My Mum was appalled by his driving and rightly so. At Rugby Station we didn't have to wait long for a London bound Pendolino to arrive so we could get back to London.

The Pendolino was well filled so the only seats left in the coach we boarded were right next to the toilet which to add insult to injury was very smelly. By the time we got back into London we had all had enough and knew that this was a disasterous day which we hoped would not happen again. We did manage to get back to Liverpool St Station in time to get one of the last trains back to Manningtree which was a Norwich bound Intercity service.

It was between 23:00 and 23:30 when we got home. I learned the very important lesson of always checking for engineering works before you travel.

 

[Chapeltom]

Probably one Saturday morning service from Chapel en le Frith to Manchester Piccadilly, the 150 quickly filled at Hazel Grove where people rammed it FULL and I was soon pressed up against a bit of panelling stood on my tip toes barely able to breath for about 20 minutes. Not nice.

 

[mmac]

I was in Hatfield on December 19th (my birthday) for a gig and seeing some friends who were down for it as well. Anybody in the country will remember the lovely blizzards we were having around that time. Left Hatfield on the 20th and had to change (and wait for an hour and a half) at Stevenage for a connecting EC train to Glasgow Central. Got on the train to go home and just outside of Peterborough, the overhead lines failed, I was stuck in the train with no heat for 5+ hours, no information and a hangover. Only good thing I got out of the whole experience was that my £35 fare was refunded!

 

[Rational Plan]

Just after the Hatfield crash, I had to go up to Leeds every week from London for a project.

As they would not pay for an airline ticket I spent it must have at least 6 weeks taking 6 hours getting to Leeds, once I ended up stuck outside Leeds Station behind a broken down Virgin Cross country for another two hours. Luckily as company rules at the time meant that if trip exceeded 90 minutes I could take it out of my working week or claim overtime. I had a nice holiday that year.

 

[Greenback]

A Sunday journey back down from Edinburgh in 1997 via the ECML. The train left Edinburgh just after 1000, two coaches short of its booked formation. I had bought a Weekend First supplement in advance,luckily my coach and seat were there, unlike many people with reservations, whose carraige did not exist.

The train was merely full until Newcastle. After that point, it became increasingly packed. At Birmingham New St, there were passengers sitting on tbales, and armrests ine very coach. It was August, so it was very warm and stuffy. The TM refused tot ake the train out of New St until people alighted. We were delayed by 40 minutes until people got off and the TM was happy to proceed. We were already late and arrived at Bristol Parkway over an hour behind schedule.

 

[175001]

The very worst though was a single 142 (again vice a 158) on the busy saturday 19.21 mcv to lds. It was a sardine can. I think it even left some people behind at manchester. Note the majority of these involved a 142.

I work the 2021 MCV-LDS often on a Saturday, and its a horrendous experience as far as RCD. In the week you have a 1955 and 2055 MCV-RCD stopper which lightens the load on the 2021 in the week, but they don't run on Saturdays, and 2 weeks ago when I was working it, lets just say, I got the unit swap I requested

 

[317666]

Another one I've just remembered, this happened many years ago, I think I must have been 4 or 5. Me and my Dad were going to the Warley Model Railway show at the NEC, but due to engineering works on the WCML we were going via Marylebone and the Chiltern line. My memories consist of being on the Bakerloo line at something like 6am (I remember Marylebone having wooden escalators, that's how long ago this was!). We had to change trains at Banbury for some reason, and I remember seeing a Virgin Voyager for the first time there. Then we were on a Class 165 (still in NSE livery), to Leamington Spa, where for some reason we got off. Can't remember why, but it then dawned on us that we could have stayed on that train to Birmingham! Quite how we got to Birmingham in the end remains a mystery to me, but it wasn't the most straightforward of journeys to say the least!

 

[JIMBO5444]

My first post has been deleted as I mentioned civil disobedience so I will be guarded with my words. Im afraid society is reflected in all areas eg mobile phones ringing in church/cinema and words like manners and reasonable behaviour are from a forgotton time. The trolls and chavs who travel by train dont always pay for the pleasure yet reasonable people do. Is it too much to expect that the BTP could travel the train network a bit more and be more visable?