Trains making unadvertised/off-station stops

[341o2]

Adrian Vaughn relates in Signalman's Twilight, how the commutor train calling at Challow was changed to not stopping there, and the service replaced by an extra stop by the Fishguard boat train, which, because of the ferry connection was unreliable. So, unofficially, the service was restored until Paddington got wind of what was going on and put a stop to it.

Not sure whether this fits the OP's definition, but on the Talyllyn during the Haydn Jones era, one could hire a slate wagon, and freewheel down the line after the afternoon train had departed

 

[xotGD]

I was once on a Euston - Brum intercity service that got stopped by a red at Stetchford.

I took the opportunity to bale and catch a bus home from outside the station. I must have saved myself at least half an hour.

 

[Thebaz]

Bit of a boring one this, but anyway... back in the days when the Thameslink used to run to Guildford, I got talking to the driver of train being held at Wallington for some reason - signalling issues I believe. At one point he asked where I was going and I said Carshalton Beeches (the Thameslink services didn't stop there), to which which he replied "hop on then, I'll drop you off". And he did!

 

[Roger1973]

On the London Underground the Metropolitan occasionally stops at Neasden Depot just before Neasden Station to drop or pick up drivers
I haven't bothered to see if this is in the WTT

The current Metropolitan Line WTT has this among the page that translates notes -

"T - Calls for train staff purposes only."

so the concept certainly exists, although I didn't spot any on a very brief look.

In the days when some Underground stations had restricted hours (I don't think many do that now) I think some trains would stop for station staff (presume on the basis they got on / off via the guard's or later the driver's door) a suitable time before opening / after closing time.

I have a vague recollection (again on the East London Line) of a train stopping 'after hours' at Shadwell in the days when it closed early (9 or 10 pm rather than end of service?) I assume this was an official arrangement but don't know for sure.

 

[vidal]

Back in the 1950's my father was in the Royal Navy. When he was coming home on leave from either Chatham or Portsmouth to Manchester the guard on the final service was also ex Royal Navy and ensured the train stopped near my grandmother's house so my dad didn't have to go a few miles further to Manchester Central. This happened on more than one occasion.

James

 

[Essan]

I was dropped off mid way between 2 stations, in a remote spot, a few times back in the 90s on a line somewhere in Scotland ...... Only on the late night service though.

I have heard that a (now deceased) friend even managed to get the train to stop there to pick him up .....

Another certain train somewhere would also stop on a regular basis to drop off someone living in a very remote cabin until fairly recently, and may still do so.


The Jacobite has also picked people up between stations (it was the next train along, otherwise the regular Scotrail service would have done the job instead)

A family stranded in the Scottish Highlands have been rescued by the "Hogwarts Express" steam train.
Jon and Helen Cluett and their four young children were staying at a remote bothy in Lochaber when their canoe was swept away by a swollen river.
Facing a long walk back to their car across boggy land, they phoned the police for advice.
To their delight, they arranged for the steam train used in the Harry Potter films to pick them up.

Hogwarts Express rescues family stranded in Highlands

The train featured in the Harry Potter films picked them up after their canoe was swept away.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[furnessvale]

On an old thread I read something about trains sometimes making unadvertised stops on request, in locations where there were no stations.

I can't imagine that this still happens but was this a common practice? I've heard stories of unscheduled stops for crofters children, shooting parties, estate workers etc in various places in the Highlands, but they're mostly anecdotal and there's little in the way of evidence I can find. Most of the accounts are from the 60s at the latest too.

As a BTP officer years ago, I used to ride with the driver on branch lines.

Firstly to get the best information on trouble spots, and secondly to come to a shuddering halt in the middle of nowhere to see to trespassers or thieves. Sometimes meant a long walk home as the train obviously couldn't wait for me!

 

[RT4038]

In the section Z (Aberdeen District) working timetable dated 25 September 1950, train no.1 8.10am Boat of Garten to Craigellachie and return train no. 3 at 2.55pm from Craigellachie made unadvertised stops at Knockando House Platform at 9.7am and 3.14pm respectively, on weekdays.

 

[flixtonman]

The entry for Great Longstone station [in the Peak District] on www.disused-stations.org.uk relates that it was a condition of the station's closure on 10/09/1962 that the station should remain available for the use of a local nursing sister whenever she was required to travel to her place of work in Buxton. The facility remained available until March 1967 when all stopping services on the line [between Matlock and Buxton] were withdrawn.

 

[Wolfie]

I was once on a Euston - Brum intercity service that got stopped by a red at Stetchford.

I took the opportunity to bale and catch a bus home from outside the station. I must have saved myself at least half an hour.

MK3 pre-central door locking?

 

[Ostrich]

Something like this has only happened to me once, from memory. Early 1970's, heading for Brentford vs Stockport County. Got to Clapham Junction and found the onwards connection to Brentford was cancelled, stranding myself and around 20 Stockport fans - the next regular service would mean we'd have missed the kick-off. We mentioned our plight to the authorities and were told to sit tight and await an announcement. When it came, it was "would the Stockport County fans please go to Platform x". There, we found they'd arranged at short notice to divert a Reading fast service and instructed it to call additionally at Brentford station. I do remember the guard of the Reading train wasn't the happiest of bunnies at the alteration!

 

[xotGD]

MK3 pre-central door locking?

Oxley set - Mark 2 aircons.

 

[65477]

In the early 2000's I went on a tour of Down Street station (as most will know long closed station on the Picadilly line) at end of the tour we did not have to climb the stairs instead we had a special stop made by a passing train. We had to board by the driver's cab door, so imagine the suprise on the passengers faces when about a dozen people appeared through the door into the carriage.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I haven't had a train example of this, but I have had it happen to me on a bus. A few years ago, I was in Tintagel and wanted to travel back to Padstow. I had to change at Wadebridge, and knew that I only had a few minutes there to make the connection. I asked the driver what the best thing to do was, and he said that he'd drop me at the stop before the river bridge and I should walk up the road and catch the connecting bus at a stop there, thus cutting out the bus station.

This is what I did, only to see the bus that I should have caught crossing the bridge and head the other way! I wasn't very happy, but I then saw the bus that I'd got off (and which should have gone back to Tintagel) heading towards me. It stopped, and the driver told me to get on; he'd forgotten that the bus that he'd suggested that I caught there didn't take that route, but had agreed with the other driver that he'd go and collect me and catch up with him down the road. This is what happened, and I made it back to Padstow on time.

I was going to write to the bus company and thank the drivers for going out of their way to help. However, I then realised that the driver who'd come an collect me had gone out of his way (with a full bus!) to do so, and may well have been sacked for doing so, so I didn't.

 

[Essan]

Buses are a different issue and, certainly in the Highlands, will usually pick up and drop off anywhere that it is safe for them to do so

 

[Bletchleyite]

Buses are a different issue and, certainly in the Highlands, will usually pick up and drop off anywhere that it is safe for them to do so

One of my best bus memories is taking the (beautifully scenic, like the train) Fort Bill to Glasgow coach, and, going across one of the moors in fog, an older bloke with what was probably his young-adult son appeared out of nowhere, rucksacks on backs, having clearly been wild camping, and flagged it down literally in the middle of nowhere.

I bet that was as welcoming for them as when I flagged down the morning train at Altnabreac at 06yuck years ago (sadly no longer possible as the first run is an express[1]) having wild-camped in the woods there in the snow. Great experience.

[1] In line with the thread, I wonder if, if you were to attempt to stop that train there, it would actually stop, even though not timetabled to do so? Sometimes places that rural do still work on the "old rules". Would probably depend on the specific driver and guard involved, I guess, and whether an inspector of any kind was on board.

 

[Ken H]

In the early 2000's I went on a tour of Down Street station (as most will know long closed station on the Picadilly line) at end of the tour we did not have to climb the stairs instead we had a special stop made by a passing train. We had to board by the driver's cab door, so imagine the suprise on the passengers faces when about a dozen people appeared through the door into the carriage.

probably thought the drivers cab was a tardis!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Buses are a different issue and, certainly in the Highlands, will usually pick up and drop off anywhere that it is safe for them to do so

Yes, you're right about that.

I've also taken a trip on a Post Bus between, I think, Inverness and Mallaig. It was many years ago, and I can't remember all the details, but I do remember that we seemed to stop at "places which weren't places", i.e. miles from anywhere, to pick people up and drop them off. Whether they were official or request stops, though, I don't know.

 

[Ken H]

Yes, you're right about that.

I've also taken a trip on a Post Bus between, I think, Inverness and Mallaig. It was many years ago, and I can't remember all the details, but I do remember that we seemed to stop at "places which weren't places", i.e. miles from anywhere, to pick people up and drop them off. Whether they were official or request stops, though, I don't know.

when i was a kid there were few bus stops between Leeds and Harrogate on the 36. They stopped anywhere safe.

 

[jumble]

On an old thread I read something about trains sometimes making unadvertised stops on request, in locations where there were no stations.

I can't imagine that this still happens but was this a common practice? I've heard stories of unscheduled stops for crofters children, shooting parties, estate workers etc in various places in the Highlands, but they're mostly anecdotal and there's little in the way of evidence I can find. Most of the accounts are from the 60s at the latest too.

My Folks has a shack on Dungeness beach for 30 years
It was adjacent to the long closed pilot halt on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway and the first time we had a ride on the train I asked the driver if he stopped there.
No I don't he replied sucking his teeth
However if I happened to slow right down and you decided to jump off I wouldn't be able to stop you !

(OT I also had this on a London bus which went off route and got stuck in traffic I asked to be let off and was told NO but if you press the emergency door open I can't stop you.
It felt very uncomfortable doing it however)

 

[Essan]

Yes, you're right about that.

I've also taken a trip on a Post Bus between, I think, Inverness and Mallaig. It was many years ago, and I can't remember all the details, but I do remember that we seemed to stop at "places which weren't places", i.e. miles from anywhere, to pick people up and drop them off. Whether they were official or request stops, though, I don't know.

The post bus will certainly stop anywhere.

Local services in the Highlands will also sometimes stop at a road junction or layby to meet someone in another vehicle to pick up or drop off a parcel - pre-arranged, of course, but probably intriguing to any tourists on board at the time!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The post bus will certainly stop anywhere.

Local services in the Highlands will also sometimes stop at a road junction or layby to meet someone in another vehicle to pick up or drop off a parcel - pre-arranged, of course, but probably intriguing to any tourists on board at the time!

Yes, from memory this is what happened ... I think!

 

[Graham H]

I have definitely been on a train (fast ex Portsmouth) that stopped at Durnsford to let someone off at the staff halt. Was a 442 and middle of the day so quite unusual. I also benefitted from a stop order at Emsworth after my Gatwick train had been cancelled. The following one was stopped specially for me thanks to the booking office chap at Emsworth. My only other example was on the last train back from Waterloo to Portsmouth which at that time stopped at all shacks after Guildford except for Rowlands Castle for some reason. Guard asked the driver who agreed and stopped with the first (slam)door just on the platform at Rowlands.

 

[185143]

My Folks has a shack on Dungeness beach for 30 years
It was adjacent to the long closed pilot halt on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway and the first time we had a ride on the train I asked the driver if he stopped there.
No I don't he replied sucking his teeth
However if I happened to slow right down and you decided to jump off I wouldn't be able to stop you !

(OT I also had this on a London bus which went off route and got stuck in traffic I asked to be let off and was told NO but if you press the emergency door open I can't stop you.
It felt very uncomfortable doing it however)

I've had that a couple of times. Once on a rail rep where the driver said it was station stops only, but on seeing I was in railway uniform pointed out he couldn't stop me letting myself put at the lights.

Had a rail rep on Northern a few years back where I'd spent most of the journey directing the driver as she had very poor instructions and the Sat Nav on the coach didn't work. She was happy to drop off anywhere sensible as "you're being messed about enough being put on a bus". At each stop I had a couple of people ask me were we going down X road and requesting stops! Then when it came to my stop I asked the driver, which she agreed to, if she minded taking the '1 minute slower' route to the station and dropping me off at the end of my road.

 

[DorkingMain]

In nearly 50 years of fairly regular travel through Wimbledon, I've never seen anyone waiting on the staff platform, nor seen any train stopped there. Can anyone explain the operation of the staff platform: how and when it is used?

Most trains that stop there are very early in the morning, and often ECS

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Dec 2020 ==

I also remember Southern Region trains (in the slam door era) with drivers trying very hard to avoid having to stop at a red signal in a platform when the train was either not booked to stop or 'ecs'

East London Line trains (when it was part of the Underground) used to stop for train crew change-overs near the depot between New Cross and Surrey Docks (Quays)

If I remember right a small 'staff halt' was constructed in later years (after the line went driver-only) which suggests it was an official arrangement. I think must have been a rarity on the Underground network.

It's still common practice to try to avoid stopping at an unscheduled platform on a red signal, and most drivers will crawl into the station at around 10mph or so with the hope the signal clears by the time they reach it

 

[AY1975]

Overseas again, I seem to remember reading some years ago that VIA Rail specifically advertised that on some of their routes through the wilder parts of Canada you could arrange to be dropped off or picked up, with your canoe if appropriate, at locations other than stations. I remember seeing some people disembarking in this way on my Canadian train trip in 1990 (they didn't have canoes, but were met by someone in a boat). However I don't see this option on their website now, although that isn't to say that it doesn't happen unofficially. On a more recent trip to North America, when my Amtrak train broke down a few miles outside Seattle some people with a cruise ship to catch were transferred to a taxi on the adjacent road.

Another example from overseas that I've come across was when I went to New Zealand in 1999 and rode the "TranzAlpine" from Christchurch to Greymouth. I seem to recall that it stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere shortly after leaving Christchurch and picked up a party of schoolchildren. There didn't appear to be a station there. I found out afterwards that there's a youth hostel/outdoor activities centre type place close to the line that's often used by school parties and the like, and I believe that they often stop the train there for them by special arrangement. As NZ is narrow gauge, the gap between the train and the lineside isn't as big as on a standard or broad gauge railway without steps from the train to ground level.

Closer to home, on my first trip to Northern Ireland as a child in about 1981 my parents and I travelled from Bangor to Portrush and there were engineering works on part of the route so we had a bus from (I think) Ballymena to Killagan. Rather than take us to the next operational station, the bus dropped us off at the closed (but still intact) Killagan station where we changed back onto a train.

Another example from overseas but again nearer to home was a Paris to Strasbourg train making an extra stop at Toul about 20 years ago in the days before the LGV Est high speed line. It was announced as an "arret exceptionel" (special stop) and again I seem to recall that it was to pick up a party of schoolchildren. Not sure how widespread this practice is in France (or was in the days before SNCF had a comprehensive TGV network): I believe that some time in the 1980s after a serious coach crash involving a school party the French government decreed that groups of schoolchildren should travel by train wherever possible so maybe it is (or was) common practice for that reason.

 

[philthetube]

Though to be fair, despite being called an "electric railway" it's basically a tram, which tend to be, hybrids like Metrolink aside, designed for passengers to board/alight to/from ground level.

Very unusual for trams to stop on request as well

When I was commuting to London some time ago I was headed to Bletchley via an MKC doubleback (I tended to get an MKC season so that was legit) due to disruption, I suspect on the then 1813 off Euston, though heavily delayed. It stopped unannounced at Bletchley and the doors were released, so I got off and saved 20 minutes or so I believe the stop was for crew relief due to the delay, and it wasn't advertised or on the PIS - I'm not quite sure why the doors were released, possibly the outgoing guard just did it without thinking, but it was useful

Of course "back in the day" of no central locking you had the old adage of "Sir, this train doesn't stop here"/"It's OK, I didn't just get on" Drivers I believe made considerable effort to coast very slowly up to red signals to avoid an actual stop.

As a driver I would do the same, to not do is inviting a pass alarm, however I do work for the underground and they tend to be a bit more flexible in these matters.

On the London Underground the Metropolitan occasionally stops at Neasden Depot just before Neasden Station to drop or pick up drivers
I haven't bothered to see if this is in the WTT

Sometimes as a favour and sometimes for operational reasons either for unusual crew relief, usually involving a spare, or because a member of staff usually needs to get somewhere quickly.

there used to be a couple of booked reliefs early morning but as far as I am aware these no longer exist.

 

[MrEd]

The name ‘Birmingham Pullman’ is usually associated with the blue diesel which ran between Paddington and Snow Hill in the 1960’s but for a time in the late 1980’s the title was carried by an early morning train from New Street and Birmingham International to Euston. Leaving International at about 7.40 it arrived in Euston for 9.00. There were clear platform announcements that the train was non-stop.

The train was a good time-keeper, often arriving early. I particularly enjoyed the dash through Coventry station where the train was routed through platform 2 rather than the normal platform 1, presumably because the line was a straight run.

One morning, as the train departed International with the usual ‘next stop is London Euston’, a young lady ran through the carriage in a state of panic looking for the train manager. It was not the first time I had seen a passenger who had not heard the platform announcements but I had never known the Pullman to make an unscheduled stop.

In fact, the train did not stop. Instead, as the train approached Coventry, speed was reduced to a slow walking pace. As soon as the first carriage came alongside the platform, the train manager opened a door, jumped onto the platform and, while walking alongside, lifted the young lady on to the platform, made sure she was safe, and smartly got back in. The train then picked up speed and arrived at Euston on time.

When I saw the train manager a couple of days later I tactfully asked what had happened. He explained that the lady was a student nurse, due to take her final exams in Coventry. When she realised the train was not going to stop, she became distressed to the point where he thought she might try to jump from the train. In the interest of passenger safety, he therefore spoke to the driver and arranged for the train to slow down.

I considered writing to BR to commend the train manager and driver for their action but on reflection I thought they might be in trouble for not actually stopping the train. I have no doubt, however, that they acted correctly and very promptly – and I hope the young lady passed her exam.

This reminds me of a similar incident in June one year in the late 2010s. A sixth form student was travelling from Manningtree to Colchester to sit morning A level exams, and did not realise that one of the southbound class 90-hauled Norwich-London expresses ran non-stop from Manningtree to London Liv St. He boarded this train thinking everything was normal and had a bit of a panic attack as the train sailed through Colchester at 90mph. I don’t know what happened after that but I hope he got back to Colchester in time to sit his exams. The train did not stop anywhere between Colchester and London though so presumably he had to go down to London and straight back out again on the 09:00 fast or similar. What a nightmare.

I’d have thought a switched on TM might have been able to arrange a stop at Witham or Chelmsford (where Mk3 sets operated by Norwich guards routinely stopped), but perhaps in the morning peak with tight headways it wasn’t possible.

 

[lkpridgeon]

On a few occasions with SWR I've had Micheldever added as a station stop (mainly during the period they decided not to give us a Saturday service) and I believe a Cross Country service stopped at the station during lockdown due to an obstruction on one of the lines (so the other was being used bidirectionally).

I've also had EMT stop at Hykeham on the 07:59 to Newark a couple occasions whilst going into work and had one stop at Hykeham unexpectedly to pick up passengers on my way back.

 

[D365]

On the London Underground the Metropolitan occasionally stops at Neasden Depot just before Neasden Station to drop or pick up drivers
I haven't bothered to see if this is in the WTT

Does this still happen on the Jubilee at Stratford Market Depot?