Trivia: Unusual or Amusing Messages to Passengers

[the-manxman]

I was once on a delayed service from Worthing to Brighton and the guard said over the PA, “Sorry for the delay, but there’s a loony on the line and people are out trying to catch him.” I had visions of them all racing around with a giant net…

 

[DelW]

Not really an announcement, but on Avanti’s Journey Check today:



Can’t help wondering where First Class was before the reverse formation!

It does sound odd, but likely it will have been made up of 2 x 5-car sets, so one or both of the sets having its first class near the "join" rather than at the outer end(s).

 

[izvor]

I was once on a delayed service from Worthing to Brighton and the guard said over the PA, “Sorry for the delay, but there’s a loony on the line and people are out trying to catch him.” I had visions of them all racing around with a giant net…

Oooh, not very PC!

 

[Steddenm]

I was on the 0759 TPE service from Newcastle to Northallerton yesterday morning and the train manager made the announcement first in French and then in English, and also welcomed "ladies, gentlemen and non-binary people" to the service which was a nice touch.

Also for a very relatively short journey due to engineering work I was surprised to find a full first class menu in operation.

 

[consettman]

Tyne Valley line pacer, quite a few years back, might have been in Arriva days. Local guard over the PA, as we're pulling in to Prudhoe on an evening commute.
- Ladies and gentlemen, this train is now approaching Prudda. For the benefit of those ladies and gentlemen who've recently bought houses in Prudda, this train is now approaching Prude-hoe.

 

[Greaseball]

I remember a few years back on a GWR Bristol to Paddington the guard saying something along the lines of: 'My apologies for the crowded conditions on the train today. I was supposed to have another five coaches but some other driver's nicked them, so we just have to make do.'

 

[ainsworth74]

Several years ago on a TPE service from York to Newcastle ... "apologies for the late departure from York. I've had a word with the driver, and he'll go up to Warp 6 to try to make up time."

Wonder if it was the same conductor I had a couple of years ago when TPE were going through an extremely poor patch who said on departure from York:

"Welcome on board this late running Transpantomime distress service to Saltburn. We're trying to call at Thirsk, Northallerton, Yarm, Middlesbrough, Redcar Central and if we're really lucky Saltburn. The reason for the delay is that our control had a mix up and forgot to assign anyone to this service so you've end up stuck with me.

 

[dodecahedron67]

I was on the 0759 TPE service from Newcastle to Northallerton yesterday morning and the train manager made the announcement first in French and then in English, and also welcomed "ladies, gentlemen and non-binary people" to the service which was a nice touch.

Also for a very relatively short journey due to engineering work I was surprised to find a full first class menu in operation.

Won't say his name but he's a lovely lovely bloke and a proper decent TM as well! An absolute credit to Newcastle Depot

 

[Travelmonkey]

Not really an announcement, but on Avanti’s Journey Check today:



Can’t help wondering where First Class was before the reverse formation!

Likely at the rear of the train if it's a 10 coach unit only the front 5 typically head into Wales at a guess one of the units has been flipped so the 1sts are running coupled (rear of one train front of the other) rather than the prefered avanti standard of 1st at the London end.

 

[Sad Sprinter]

I saw a Southern train on the approach into Victoria the other day display rte message “this train terminates her.”

When I was a small child not long after the JLE opened, my dad took me to the end of the platform at Stratford to look at the train. The driver, in his cab, invited us in. I remembering being so exciting I couldn’t speak. When we got back on the train, he did a special announcement for me, but I can’t remember what he said.

 

[davews]

'Large passenger flow' seems to be being used more and more as a reason for delays. I went to Reading on 2C17 yesterday and it was delayed 6 minutes or so after Staines. The platform CIS at Martins Heron gave 'large passenger flow' as the reason. But when it arrived it was pretty empty with the carriage loading indicators agreeing. Is this being used nowadays more as an excuse for what the real delay was?

 

[PZ 08895]

Many years ago, shortly after the Class 377s were introduced, the display at the end of the coach I was in said we were in coach 9 of 8, which is perhaps a bit worrying...

 

[Skiddaw]

I saw a Southern train on the approach into Victoria the other day display rte message “this train terminates her.”

When I was a small child not long after the JLE opened, my dad took me to the end of the platform at Stratford to look at the train. The driver, in his cab, invited us in. I remembering being so exciting I couldn’t speak. When we got back on the train, he did a special announcement for me, but I can’t remember what he said.

When I hear the usual 'this train terminates here' announcement I always imagine the train exploding or something. It sounds awfully final somehow!

 

[MoominAndChips]

'Large passenger flow' seems to be being used more and more as a reason for delays. I went to Reading on 2C17 yesterday and it was delayed 6 minutes or so after Staines. The platform CIS at Martins Heron gave 'large passenger flow' as the reason. But when it arrived it was pretty empty with the carriage loading indicators agreeing. Is this being used nowadays more as an excuse for what the real delay was?

"Your train is late and it's YOUR fault!"

 

[pnepaul]

For a short while, one of the PIS at Preston had a fault. One gem was Platform 1 Northern Service to Blackpool via the West Midlands. Another was Platform 4C stations to Colne - First class coaches at the rear of the train.

 

[Sealink]

GNER years ago

"There will be a trolley passing through the train, kids now is the time to start nagging your parents"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Nov 2025 ==

Haven't read all five pages but there is (or was) a Southern announcer and on would come out with things like

"There's nothing common about our next station, it's Wandsworth Common."

"The next station is Balham, gateway to the South"

And after West Norwood on the South London line he'd say

"We will be be calling at stations managed by TfL. You'll notice they are clean and tidy and have lovely staff"

 

[rower40]

'Large passenger flow' seems to be being used more and more as a reason for delays. I went to Reading on 2C17 yesterday and it was delayed 6 minutes or so after Staines. The platform CIS at Martins Heron gave 'large passenger flow' as the reason. But when it arrived it was pretty empty with the carriage loading indicators agreeing. Is this being used nowadays more as an excuse for what the real delay was?

And imagine how embarrassing it is for Flo, who is trying ever so hard to lose weight…

 

[RailWonderer]

I was on an EMR service to Sheffield the other day and the driver announced a game for the kids to look for a prize ticket hidden behind the safety notices at the ends of the coaches. He announced Chesterfield as Chestervegas - no idea why - and announced in a sing songy way which brought smiles to a lot of faces. I've noticed a lot of enthusiasm amongst railway staff, also my local t/o who says that it's about serving and connecting the community and he enjoys speaking to regulars and serving them. Staff thankfully aren't like Blackpool North's sentries all over the country.

 

[sheff1]

I was on an EMR service to Sheffield the other day and the driver announced a game for the kids to look for a prize ticket hidden behind the safety notices at the ends of the coaches. He announced Chesterfield as Chestervegas - no idea why

Never heard Chestervegas before, more usually referred to as Ches Vegas.

 

[rower40]

Back when Virgin ran Cross-Country, with an even more red-based livery than the current ones: Senior Conductor of a Cross-country train at Exeter St Davids, waiting to follow a late-running Paddington to Penzance train:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I apologise for the delay. We're on Great Western territory, and the Great Western trains are green. So they get the green signals. We're in a red train, so we get a red signal."

 

[The exile]

I regularly used to be amused by the announcement that “the front three coaches of this train will be detached at Bristol Temple Meads” as a two coach train pulled in. (To be fair - it was booked as 5 car which would have been overkill at the time because of COVID)

 

[47296lastduff]

A few years ago at Crewe it was announced by an automated voice that the (xxxx) to Chester will depart from platform 9. This train has 22 carriages.

 

[ThirteenArches]

A few years ago? Showing your age, it was 1868 and they were 4 wheelers.

 

[45669]

GNER years ago

"There will be a trolley passing through the train, kids now is the time to start nagging your parents"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Nov 2025 ==

Haven't read all five pages but there is (or was) a Southern announcer and on would come out with things like

"There's nothing common about our next station, it's Wandsworth Common."

"The next station is Balham, gateway to the South"

And after West Norwood on the South London line he'd say

"We will be be calling at stations managed by TfL. You'll notice they are clean and tidy and have lovely staff"

Did he pronounce Balham as Bal-ham? Older readers will know why I ask.

 

[4COR]

Did he pronounce Balham as Bal-ham? Older readers will know why I ask.

Ah Steve Copley.... "Whooooooo!"

 

[MoominAndChips]

GNER years ago

"There will be a trolley passing through the train, kids now is the time to start nagging your parents"

Also on GNER, first time I'd ever heard it called anything but a trolley service, lovely Geordie chap announced that there'd be an at-seat service - which I totally misheard. The trolley guy was definitely gruff, but I thought "a Nazi service" was a bit harsh!

 

[45669]

Ah Steve Copley

??? I don't know who that is.

 

[Gloster]

Did he pronounce Balham as Bal-ham? Older readers will know why I ask.

Ah Steve Copley.... "Whooooooo!"

??? I don't know who that is.

To my generation Bal-ham is the Gateway to the South.

 

[Railcar]

To my generation Bal-ham is the Gateway to the South.

Written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden, music by Ron Goodwin, and featuring the many wonderful voices of Peter Sellers.
"Broad-bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign
Lies Balham, four-square on the Northern Line
Matched by no marble, save in eastern scene,
A rose-red city, half as gold as green"

 

[45669]

Written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden, music by Ron Goodwin, and featuring the many wonderful voices of Peter Sellers.
"Broad-bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign
Lies Balham, four-square on the Northern Line
Matched by no marble, save in eastern scene,
A rose-red city, half as gold as green"

And produced by George Martin. Now where have I heard that name before...?