british rail

I carried my nice harbeth compact 7s back on a train after my car broke down is leeds....

I put them on the seat, to which , the guard said...

you can;'t put those there, put em in the luggage racks....

I said I hope you are insured to which he replied....

I will have you take em off in a minute....

Was he reasonable or was he a twat? I tend to think the latter....its disgusting to talk to a fare paying customer like that....he ought to find another job.....

 

Was the train busy? If it was a case of them taking a seat while others were standing then fair enough. Perhaps not in the way he spoke to you, but in asking you to MOve them.

I've carried a set of speakers on the train from london to newport before. Complete with spiked stands. Along with my usual luggage it was quite a challenge! I tend to travel late though so don't have to worry about seats too much.

 

So long as there was no-one on the train standing because they couldn't find a seat then it would be maybe a little jobsworthy of him, but also perfectly reasonable for him to ask you to move them, but he should have been polite about it. Seats are for people not parcels. It's one of the most irritating things for those of us that have to rely on public transport, not being able to get a seat because people have got luggage on them and won't move it.

As for insurance regarding carriage of luggage, I'm not sure about that. I guess there is some coverage but it's probably like most things, you take it at your own risk or should have your own insurance if it's something of real value.

 

it was the manner in which he replied I found offensive, but I was stressed, my car had overheated, and i only just made it to get the speakers I had been harrassing the guy to sell me for a year.

I had to push the car off the mway!, got towed to get the speakers, then find a quiet place for the car, got a txi to the station, nearly didn't get a seat, and then the guard nearly tells me to get off!!, with £1500 worth of speakers. Bloody british rail old school guard, wants to take some politenss and decency lessons.

 

Some of them do seem to have attitude problems, but if the train wasn't full, I can't really see what his problem is. Some of them just seem to have a superiortity complex, I guess.

I transported my AV amp from Richers in Southampton back to Portsmouth by train and just placed it in the seat next to me. There's no way - even on a £300 AV receiver that I'm prepared to take the risk of placing the thing in the overhead luggage racks - remember we're talking ancient South Worst Trains slam-door trains here!

 

those old trains are great, really comfy seats, I mourn their loss, esp the diesel ones, really feel like trains should
how a left wing lager swilling sun reading ignoramus can have a superioity complex I don't know...

 

A left wing sun reader wouldn't be capable of having an anything complex surely?

Yeah, those old trains were a bloody sight comfier than these horrid new things like Voyagers, hell, the Mk2's that Virgin and First Late Western were running a couple of years ago were more comfortable than the HSTs which were built to replace them.

 

Virgin are still running them down to Euston on West Coast. First Late still have them too.

I've seen a prototype tilting HST, known as the Advanced Passenger Train that was developed by the British in the late 70s. If we'd have developed it further and sold some units worldwide, I'm sure the UK rail industry wouldn't be where it is today. Typically, the project got canned, due to some government minister's interference and insistance.

For those interested in such things: http://www.apt-p.com/

It's parked up at the Railway Hertiage Centre in Crewe, which is where I saw it when visiting my parents a few weeks ago (they live in Nantwich):

 

Agreed, the old disel Intercity style trains do tend to be more comfy than some of the newer rolling stock (especially those Thames Turbo thingies that run around the Reading area and have very retricted knee room) BUT the slam door trains that nsherin is talking about are horrible and a completely different kettle of fish. As someone who use to live in Portsmouth, Southampton and Egham (i.e. Reading/Waterloo line) area I use to experience those things on an almost daily basis . Not to mention the occassion trip on a Connex train (same slam door type trains as the aforementioned South West Trains offerings).

Train spotter, moi?

 

Tilting Train

I know one tilting train was canned due to the fact that the passengers became sea-sick from the tilting!!

Alastair

 

The slam-doors are still running in full-force down in the Portsmouth area. As I'm travelling down to Dorset this weekend by train, I'm sure I'll have the pleasure of travelling on one at least once.

Legroom on them is good, but apart from that, nothing else is! Draughty, filthy - I'll leave the description of the bogs to your imagination.....

 

I must have been incredibly lucky with the SWT/Connex slam door trains I've used in the last couple of years. Not one has been draughty or unclean, and all have been really smooth. That's been mainly between Bournemouth and Southampton, couple of trips from London down to B'mouth and one from B'mouth to Brighton... maybe they maintain the mainline long distance stock better than what they do the commuter servicing stuff?

Those Turbo things are awful, made of tinfoil it seems and don't provide anything apart from seasickness and no idea of where you actually are at any given time. No announcements or anything. Really helpful if you can't see to read station name boards.

 

Yep - I dubbed them Thames Tinfoil after the way one was ripped apart like a KitKat wrapper in the Paddington crash; a crash my mate just happened to witness and even be injured in (he was hit by part of a flying train).

The APT was great; the only reason someone got sea sick was because a) the train's tilt mech's computers needed tweaking and b) the guy was a press dude who'd drank copious amounts of free wine at the press launch the night before. Certainly you'd get less ill on one of those than on a Virmin Voyager over anything other than perfect track.

As per usual in 1900s Britain, we came up with a great design, gave up before it was finished. Guess what - the Italians bought the rights, and then sold us back trains with technology we'd designed. How typical.

The Mk2s (in good nick - ie NOT Virmin Crosscountry) are not bad at all - provided you get ones without those horrid wingback chairs, where if you try to turn your head (especially with big closed back headphones on) you tended to knock yourself out.

InterCitys are OK barring the grossly underpowered "power"(real misnomer) cars - the EWS engines use similar technology and have a far higher startup torque. The IC225s aren't bad either - but the IC125s are cooler, since they've starred in the Young Ones "Do not lean out of the window - I wander why?" (Actually, the interior of the train in that episode's a Mk2 - look at the window edges and seat style - but the IC125 you see them get on has that lush yellow interior which used to rule! Oh - and the station they get on at is Bristol Temple Meads).

Mk1's are evil. The seats might be OK, but try commuting on one from 1996-2002 - you'll loathe them then. Smelly, dirty, and the bogs never seem to be clean.

Virmin Voyagers are rubbish. All style and no content. They roll like a demented porpoise on anything other than a perfectly level, straight track; the ride back from Bristol to Exeter last week was like a rollercoaster. Oh, and the seats give you arse ache and you feel every bump. And what's with the stupid klaxon noises you always hear on them?

The most comfortable trainride I ever had was on the Swannage railway - real steam, real comfort.

 

I think the problem may be the train company, rather than the trains when it comes to cleanliness of the toilets though. For 3 years I had to use South West Trains class 159 heaps of junk to commute to and from college, frequently only 2 of the 3 carriages were actually present in the unit, only on about 10 occasions were all the toilets actually available for use. It wasn't uncommon for them to be locked shut due to being full. They're very often flooded around that area of the carriage, either from the blocked facilities or the air conditioning units packing up big time. The attitude of their staff wasn't much better either, "not my problem" whenever you ask them any question.

Come to think of it, Stagecoach's bus services are pretty shite too. Do I sense a coincidence?

 

Agree with you, ilockyer - the TOCs have a duty to keep the trains clean. In the long run, it benefits them, as it should mean that they wouldn't need to refurbish the trains as regularly and as a result, reduce cost. But then as a lot of them are rarely refurbished anyway, they are simply profiting from neglecting cleanliness.

Wessex Trains run the 158s - which are identical to the 159s you mention, apart from different interiors. Have never found the bogs locked on them, but they are pretty vile at times. Several times I have had one flood on me - thankfully, I escaped in time :MILD:

 

Trainspotters on a Hi-fi forum.Whatever next?

Precisely how do you intend to do that Sir?

May I speak to your supervisor?

 

I'm a trainspotter by proxy - not through choice Having to use them to get anywhere, you end up finding out a LOT about them!

The APT is cool though - I see that every time I visit my sister in Liverpool (it's one of the only reasons I go there) - that thing was amazing - electromagnetic/fluid braking, tilting, though I STILL can't figure out where the passenger doors are on that thing!

Stagecoach = real irony. In the old days it was the dandy highwayman who held up the stagecoach; now Stagecoach hold up the highly peed off man!

 

you have some good sayings dom any more of your wisdom?

 

Not really - well, I've said a fair few things in my time but most never got recorded

I had a WHOLE page to myself in the university halls rag at the end of year called "The wit and wisdom of Dom Brown" - where my mates there collected some of the things I'd said and put them in print. Quite embarrassing and amusing all at once; the best one was;
"What the hell is that" (Steve, pointing to apple sauce)
"Oh, that's the antidote to THAT" (me, pointing at the full board hall's iffy roast beef)

Oh, and another good one - completely unplanned; when we were discussing favourite swearwords - I came out with THIS by accident:
"I love the word "c---" 'cos it rolls off the tongue nicely" - everyone laughed and then I suddenly realised what I'd said... He he he...

Oh - another one - when Lhatkins' wife, Ali, was looking through my vinyl, he said "She'll have it all messed up - did you have them in order" and I replied "yeah, well, they WERE alphabetical but now they're ali-phabetical".

I have my moments

 

cunnilingus is an irish airline...or is that air fungus

oral sex is a matter of taste

I must say, I am in danger of gettting branded an anorak if I say steam/older trains are wonderful, jsut like simple valve amps with coke can size caps and resistors, and monster horn loudspeakers, they are infinitely more fascinating than these modern techno anaesthetized characterless rubbish.

Fred Dibnah is brill, as is the whole industrial steam heritage...Isembard kingdom Brunel, what a hero....
oh dear..get ready for the bashing!!