Hi Everybody.
First I would wish to wish to assure all forum readers that the following is absolutely true and correct as incredible as it might sound. So, I think on this forum we look at rail travel very often through rose colored glasses in terms of past and present conditions of travel on railways.
On Thursday (13 January) I again had to travel up to London from Somerset (United Kingdom) for a 9.30 AM meeting. So, as a regular rail traveller what did I get for my now increased standard class return one hundred and seventy-eight pound cost of ticket.
Despite the 6:40 AM start as usual on the outward journey the train became overcrowded from bath onwards with many passengers having to stand from that point despite paying well over 100 pounds for their tickets. As I had a seat, the journey was at least acceptable to me.
The real problem started after I left the meeting not long after 2 PM and arrived at Paddington station after travelling through the crowded London underground for the return main line journey at approximately 3 PM.
On arrival at the station all the information boards where showing “all trains cancelled” an enquiry of a fellow passenger ascertained that there had been a fatality (suicide) on the line at Slough and that there had been no departures on the West Country mainline for over an hour prior to my arrival. Of course the death was no fault of network rail or first Great Western but I was informed that this was the third time it had happened in the same place over the last 10 days.
After waiting among the ever-growing hordes of potential passengers for about 30 minutes there was a sudden announcement that the services where re-commencing and that the first train out would be the London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare which was the train I required but had been listed well down on the information boards.
The above created a huge surge of potential passengers along platform by people hoping to get to various places and would not normally have traveled on that train. The more “mature” passengers tried to run along the platform close to the train with the younger and more agile passengers trying to outpace them on the left-hand side of the platform with all the seething human mass towing their bags, luggage trolleys and other paraphernalia as fast as they could. Virtually everybody had to pass the three first-class coaches before they arrived at the standard class coaches.
The above inevitably created an enormous human conflict at the first standard class carriage “the Buffy car”. As the more agile throng converged with the “mature” throng the Third World war erupted. A very large gentleman coming in from my left hand side physically pushed me backwards. This action caused my right hand carrying my laptop bag (with heavy laptop in it) to swing forward and “accidentally” collide with his crutch stopping him dead in his tracks with mouth wide open and emitting a strange high-pitched whine. I then lost sight of the gentleman as he was immediately consumed by the careering agile throng and I was carried relentlessly forward in the mature throng.
I scrabbled on board the carriage and found myself packed like a sardine in the gangway between the door and the buffet counter. Without even enough room to move my feet there was not any possibility of being able to get the large glass of brandy I felt I would have willingly give 20 quid for despite being only approximately 15 feet from the counter.
However, in these situations I always find that total strangers soon engage in conversation with the spirit of “where are all in this together” rapidly developing. But as usual there is always going to be the person who wants to make a bad situation worse. A rather posh speaking young woman started to complain loudly and bitterly about the person who had committed suicide and was causing her such stress and disruption. After stating that he had had a choice and she did not, someone replied that perhaps he had intended to get on a train until someone told in the price of the ticket. Virtually the whole carriage erupted in laughter.
It took us over three and half hours to arrive in Bristol (normally one hour 45 min) where the train was terminated and everyone for Somerset was kicked off. However, by then we had managed to get quite a few beers from the Buffet counter and I had some great conversation with people I had never known and will probably never meet again. Many of us made a rather merry concluding part of the journey into Somerset on a very old class 150 DMU with myself leaving my newfound friends at Yatton not at all upset at what had happened. My wife retrieved me from the station and could not understand why I was in such a great frame of mind after such a journey.
Bill
First I would wish to wish to assure all forum readers that the following is absolutely true and correct as incredible as it might sound. So, I think on this forum we look at rail travel very often through rose colored glasses in terms of past and present conditions of travel on railways.
On Thursday (13 January) I again had to travel up to London from Somerset (United Kingdom) for a 9.30 AM meeting. So, as a regular rail traveller what did I get for my now increased standard class return one hundred and seventy-eight pound cost of ticket.
Despite the 6:40 AM start as usual on the outward journey the train became overcrowded from bath onwards with many passengers having to stand from that point despite paying well over 100 pounds for their tickets. As I had a seat, the journey was at least acceptable to me.
The real problem started after I left the meeting not long after 2 PM and arrived at Paddington station after travelling through the crowded London underground for the return main line journey at approximately 3 PM.
On arrival at the station all the information boards where showing “all trains cancelled” an enquiry of a fellow passenger ascertained that there had been a fatality (suicide) on the line at Slough and that there had been no departures on the West Country mainline for over an hour prior to my arrival. Of course the death was no fault of network rail or first Great Western but I was informed that this was the third time it had happened in the same place over the last 10 days.
After waiting among the ever-growing hordes of potential passengers for about 30 minutes there was a sudden announcement that the services where re-commencing and that the first train out would be the London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare which was the train I required but had been listed well down on the information boards.
The above created a huge surge of potential passengers along platform by people hoping to get to various places and would not normally have traveled on that train. The more “mature” passengers tried to run along the platform close to the train with the younger and more agile passengers trying to outpace them on the left-hand side of the platform with all the seething human mass towing their bags, luggage trolleys and other paraphernalia as fast as they could. Virtually everybody had to pass the three first-class coaches before they arrived at the standard class coaches.
The above inevitably created an enormous human conflict at the first standard class carriage “the Buffy car”. As the more agile throng converged with the “mature” throng the Third World war erupted. A very large gentleman coming in from my left hand side physically pushed me backwards. This action caused my right hand carrying my laptop bag (with heavy laptop in it) to swing forward and “accidentally” collide with his crutch stopping him dead in his tracks with mouth wide open and emitting a strange high-pitched whine. I then lost sight of the gentleman as he was immediately consumed by the careering agile throng and I was carried relentlessly forward in the mature throng.
I scrabbled on board the carriage and found myself packed like a sardine in the gangway between the door and the buffet counter. Without even enough room to move my feet there was not any possibility of being able to get the large glass of brandy I felt I would have willingly give 20 quid for despite being only approximately 15 feet from the counter.
However, in these situations I always find that total strangers soon engage in conversation with the spirit of “where are all in this together” rapidly developing. But as usual there is always going to be the person who wants to make a bad situation worse. A rather posh speaking young woman started to complain loudly and bitterly about the person who had committed suicide and was causing her such stress and disruption. After stating that he had had a choice and she did not, someone replied that perhaps he had intended to get on a train until someone told in the price of the ticket. Virtually the whole carriage erupted in laughter.
It took us over three and half hours to arrive in Bristol (normally one hour 45 min) where the train was terminated and everyone for Somerset was kicked off. However, by then we had managed to get quite a few beers from the Buffet counter and I had some great conversation with people I had never known and will probably never meet again. Many of us made a rather merry concluding part of the journey into Somerset on a very old class 150 DMU with myself leaving my newfound friends at Yatton not at all upset at what had happened. My wife retrieved me from the station and could not understand why I was in such a great frame of mind after such a journey.
Bill
Also, a couple of years earlier, I fell out of the top bunk on the Rockhampton Tilt Train.