The wrong railway

Location _Kidderminster Town, Severn Valley Railway.
I had nipped up to Kidderminster to do a little shopping, and was heading back by rail to Bewdley.
The Guard was a friend of mine, so I was with her in the van. As we left Kidder, a message goes out that there are still people in the booking hall. The Guard gently put the setter in and stopped the train. The passenger runs through the Booking hall, and leaps on through the last door, and we set off once more. Suddenly, there is a yell for us to stop. Again, in goes the brake. The same passenger gets off and walks away very briskly.
As we roll down towards Bewdley, the ticket inspector wonders up to explain the problem. Apparently, the gentleman was, wisely, told to get his ticket on the train, and it was only when he asked for a return to Birmingham Snow Hill did anyone realize that he was on the wrong railway! You'd think the steam engine would be a clue wouldn't you?

 

Haha! #-o Then again, a mate of mine thought the GWR 2-8-0 at Birmingham Moor Street was in service! Very nice station by the way, worth a look around if you're stuck at Birmingham New Street for a while

 

That's normals for you, don't know the difference between a steam train, loco hauled, EMU or whatever. In my area, we once had a lady board a train of various manky coaches including parcel vans hauled by a class 31, rather than the two coach electric unit she should have got on #-o

 

A chap leapt on to a SD trip to Bristol at Bath and produced a single to Bristol, and was outraged to be asked for a tenner! He claimed that platform staff had told him it was the next train to Bristol. The stewards managed to make him stump up and questioned had he not noticed the big green thing on the front of the train? and did this look like his usual train?

Personally I thought it was someone trying it on, but you can never be sure

 

In fairness to the bloke at Kidderminster, the steam loco would be about seven coaches away at the far end of the train and may not have been immediately obvious as he was rushing to join the train. Similarly, the bloke at Bath may not have seen the train arrive and the Mark 2 coaches of the green train aren't that different from the Mark 2s that have recently been operating through on the Bristol to Weymouth services.

 

The train was stopped to let more people on board? That's a bit unprofessional really, the only time I would ever stop my train is if it's the last train of the day, or for a safety reason.

It's a big no-no for me. [-X

 

Working at the RH&DR ticket offices i have been asked for a ticket to London sevral times! Also I have answered the phone at the railway and been asked for what time the next train was and when i asked from which station are you wanting to travel from get the answer Kings Cross to York!!!.

Also i have been stood on the platform at Sheffield before now and the NMT rolls in and low and behold someone tried to get on it. To be fair it is an HST and so was the London train but i would have thought the bright yellow paint sechme might have suggested it wasnt the normal train.

JR

 

With all the different liveries on the network now, it's surprising that more people don't make that mistake.

 

I saw one guy at York once try and board a TPO! The fact staff were shoving trolleys on and off didn't seem to alert him to the fact it wasn't for passengers. Then again, considering how drunk he was it's not surprising!

 

No, true, but it does say Severn Valley Railway out side too!

 

It's called customer service!!! Besides, this is supposed to be the humorous side of things!

 

Towards the end of a day long steam hauled trip from Brisbane to Toowoomba and return, we stopped at a Brisbane suburban station to set down passengers.
A couple of people hopped on and were surprised to find that the train did not stop at the next station as they were expecting.

True, it was dark. But our train consisted of wooden clerestory end platformed coaches, hauled by a green 'Pacific'. The train that they were expecting (and caught regularly) was an air-conditioned, stainless steel, electric multiple unit.

They just didn't notice the difference..........

 

When I was on a Vintage Trains trip to London a few years ago, someone got on at Leamington(or Banbury) and got off again at Oxford. Presumably they were waiting for a different train and they were lucky to get off at Oxford as we only briefly stopped. You would have thought they would have noticed 6024 at the front

 

In the early 1960s when Crewe Works Open Days meant the running of a special train from Euston - Crewe via Northampton I joined at Northampton and distinctly heard the train announcer at Rugby repeat that the train at the platform ( ours ) was a restricted service for Crewe Works ticket holders only.
Unfortunately this was not heard / understood by one individual who was getting a connection to Crewe to catch the Royal Scot forward to Glasgow and hopped on board. He found his error at Crewe, where doors were locked for the onward transit to the Works Platform, and the BTP chased him back onto the train with his trusty Alsation without listening to any explanation. It was only when the stewards at the Works, checking detraining passengers, were shown his ticket that they explained his error and pointed out the rear coach of the departing Royal Scot as it headed northwards.

 

I remember me and my family were sat on Woking station, must be about 4 years ago now, and (completely unexpectedly) the Green Train arrived at the slow line up platform for a pick up. There seemed to be a lot of people on board when we heard an announcement on the train that it was not the SWT service to Waterloo and half those that got on promptly got back off again!! Now they had actually seen it pull in so no excuse there...

 

I've been on a tour not too long ago when we helped out SWT. I think it was a SSS. I just happened to be walking through the train back to the support coach and came across one of the stewards doing a bit of PR.

There was a group of teenage girls who I thought must have seen the train roll in but apparently oblivious to what we were. They were handed a couple of leaflets for the Watercress Line and they looked a little bewildered, even more so when they were told that they were on a steam hauled special and shown a pic of 73096. They seriously thought that we were having them on.

 

We had someone get on a charter trip of ours that was going to Weynmouth Quay, because it had a pair of Cromptons on the front. they were not acting in ignorance though, this was a blatant attempt to blag a ride. When asked how much they thought a ride behind a pair of 33s from Bristol to Weynmouth was worth, they replied 'At least £50 each,' they were duly charged this, much to the amusement of the rest of us, who had paid far less than that and traveled down from the midlands!

 

About 1979 or 1980, when we could still afford to do it, the Severn Valley ran a trip to Paddington from Brignorth with its own set of GW coaches. The motive power was 2 Sulzer Type 2s. The train stabled in Paddington. On the return, we had to make an unscheduled stop at Reading to set down a couple of passengers for Bristol. They had come to travel on one of the then new HSTs, had looked round, seen 11 chocolate and creams, decided that must be it because the set looked much smarter than anything else and got on. History does not record what they thought of the clientele! (The Clapham Buffet packed with dedicated Severn Valley **** -artists!)

 

He could, perhaps, be forgiven for the confusion. After all, our station is much more imposing than the Big Railway's! :smt003

 

Lol... No... Don't get me started!

When joining the train at a manned station or a station with a ticket vending machine (TVM) passengers must buy their ticket before they board the train.