Are our railways haunted? (ghost stories)

[df9901]

Just spent about 3 and a half hours reading this entire thread. Really a great read! Thanks kernowfem for starting it off. Hopefully there's more to come

 

[DiscoStu]

I think he meant this: One is killed, then the other commits suicide....

Sounds like something from a horror movie!

 

[Kernowfem]

Just spent about 3 and a half hours reading this entire thread. Really a great read! Thanks kernowfem for starting it off. Hopefully there's more to come

I myself have been surprised at how popular this thread has been, and it's credit to every member who contributes to it. I still enjoy reading the thread from the begining!!!
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Sounds like something from a horror movie!

Indeed it does....but it was just a theory, when the scottish mail crashed at grantham, it was also put forward that the crew could have been fighting, however this was thwarted by the on duty signalman who got a good view into the cab and reported that both driver and fireman were in their correct places at it passed his box into the station.

 

[deltic1989]

I'm going for a re-read now, some great tales on this thread, particularly those of Old Timer. Great stuff.

 

[Kernowfem]

A great (fictional) story in this months edition of Railway magazine. Page 27, Points of no return. Gave me a shiver.
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I'm going for a re-read now, some great tales on this thread, particularly those of Old Timer. Great stuff.

Agreed! old timer was one of the threads best contributors!! Hope you enjoyed reading it back deltic.

 

[DiscoStu]

I'm going for a re-read now, some great tales on this thread, particularly those of Old Timer. Great stuff.

I've read the whole thread from start to finish a couple of times myself on lazy sofa Sundays .... beats any book!

 

[deltic1989]

A great (fictional) story in this months edition of Railway magazine. Page 27, Points of no return. Gave me a shiver.
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Agreed! old timer was one of the threads best contributors!! Hope you enjoyed reading it back deltic.

Took me well over 3 hours to do, but worth every second.
I had forgotten quite how heated the debate between Old Timer and Captain Speaking got at times, but really entertaining to read their differing views.

I had also forgotten about the tale of Rolleston station, now I am living closer than I was I might have to give that a look.

 

[AndyJB]

A great (fictional) story in this months edition of Railway magazine. Page 27, Points of no return. Gave me a shiver.
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.

Yeah - just finished reading that one; hope that RM continue printing stories of that nature!

 

[Kernowfem]

Yeah - just finished reading that one; hope that RM continue printing stories of that nature!

Yeah, me too. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[Bridge189]

I heard a tale that a child fell from a platform into the side of an HST Buffet/kitchen coach as it went past at speed and can be seen wondering around the said coaches kitchen and counter area spotted by crews and depot staff. Apparently a guard went in there to make a cuppa on an ECS run and the kitchen door slammed behind him and it went icy cold.

No idea which coach or when, when I first heard the story it happened on EC, then secondly it was the MML, then I heard the boy had infact crashed his bike into the side of the train as it went past instead of the platform story so I'd take it with a pinch

 

[berob91]

And I'm fully aware of the story about 47299/47216 and still don't see anything unusual about the photo.

The Signal box in the picture is supposedly haunted. The Loco in the picture is the one that was supposedly a cursed loco (Physic telling BR it would be in a crash etc)
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How can you kill another person having just commited suicide?

Story from 'Railway Ghosts & Phantoms'. One of the enginemen committed suicide and 'allegedly' the other engineman saw him on the footplate and some how an accident was caused. Read the book my friend!

 

[Kernowfem]

The Signal box in the picture is supposedly haunted. The Loco in the picture is the one that was supposedly a cursed loco (Physic telling BR it would be in a crash etc)
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Story from 'Railway Ghosts & Phantoms'. One of the enginemen committed suicide and 'allegedly' the other engineman saw him on the footplate and some how an accident was caused. Read the book my friend!

Berob...another book you may be interested in. shadows in the steam. Certainly worth the read. Also try te ghost now standing on platform one.

 

[berob91]

Berob...another book you may be interested in. shadows in the steam. Certainly worth the read. Also try te ghost now standing on platform one.

I read Shadows in steam but seemed to be more concentrated on each of the railways history in each of the stories instead of the stories themselves so a bit disappointing really.

But I will read ghost standing on platform one!

 

[DJ_K666]

Interesting story...thankyou for sharing it. I have heard that an old deltic 'nimbus' can still be seen on a certain part of the railway network even though it was scrapped in 1980. My grandfather was a midland man, and he used to tell me about the sightings of it. Apparently its appearences were reported 9 times, lets face it, a deltic would now stick out like a sore thumb, and unless a special, would be widely talked about...

Hadley Wood, I believe.

 

[BlythPower]

Hadley Wood, I believe.

Back to post #115 yet again...

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Strange story I always remember.

About 15 years ago in my mid-teenaged youth, I used to go on family holidays to Scotland and we stayed in a small cottage on a farm near Cowdenbeath and close to the railway line there. As railfans, my dad and I would go for walks near the line - many of the farmer's fields bordered the line and some of the paths ran alongside it without any fencing.

Once while walking on a particularly remote section of trail, with my mum and younger brother following a distance behind, my dad and I were passed in the opposite direction by an old man wearing a vintage style dark suit which on first impressions made him look like a signal man, we bade him hello and he walked past. We thought it a little odd that anyone would be out there but ignored it until we mentioned it to my mum when she caught up with us and she said that she had not seen anyone else.

There was nowhere that you could easily leave the trail we were on and the trail provided the easiest route back to the road. So whether this was just some old man wondering the fields or something from a past era I don't know, although there was nether the smell you would expect from a farm hand or the tramp my dad suggested the man must have been (and far too well dressed for this) nor the icy feeling that you are supposed to get from phantasms.

The location was somewhere around here, just on the north sides of the track: http://goo.gl/maps/WP5jK

 

[GatwickDepress]

The Black Train

Location: Kyle of Lochalsh (Highland) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Locals say that the construction of the railway upset the natural balance; now a black train which spits flames uses the track at night, disappearing into nearby hills.

This is quite possibly my favourite reported haunting of all time. It evokes an image of a Scotsman decked in black metal attire standing on the footplate, playing bagpipes that belch forth flames.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

This is quite possibly my favourite reported haunting of all time. It evokes an image of a Scotsman decked in black metal attire standing on the footplate, playing bagpipes that belch forth flames.

I'm sure I've seen him at a Celtic Connections concert - part of the Steampunk crossover movement.

 

[lynni]

After finding this thread when I was searching good old Google for haunted railways and after spending two evenings reading the whole thread,I just had to register and say how much I've enjoyed your stories-specially Old Timer's tales-keep 'em coming!
Looking forward to getting to know you all

 

[Flamingo]

I used to know of a member of train-crew who claimed to be a medium (although I would have said more a large), who often said that Alstone Sidings just outside Cheltenham Spa (where HST's go to turn around on the Pad-Cnm run) was haunted by a presence she called Fred.

I have to say, I have never experienced anything there myself except for boredom, and I don't know anybody else who has!

 

[RPI]

When I was about 10, myself and my Grandma were walking along by the river in Bewdley (Severn Valley), we were walking on the town side of the river towards Arley near the Caravan park, we heard a train coming and sat down looking across the valley we could see the rails shining in the sun, HEARD the train come, go past and go away into the distance, but we didn't see a thing! We never did get to the bottom of what it was! Then a couple of years back I was sat in a messroom flicking through a magazine (think it was the Railway magazine) and there was an article about similar experiences people have had in the same area! strange..... My Gran even to this day gets spooked by it and she really isn't the type that gets spooked by things like that.

 

[Sun Chariot]

an image of a Scotsman decked in black metal attire standing on the footplate, playing bagpipes that belch forth flames.

Sounds like the ghost of a Top Gear prank gone rather awry:

"So, for this week's challenge, all we had to do was create our own Flying Scotsman and get him to go more than 100mph. With nitrous. Vertically.

I mean, what could POSSIBLY go wrong....?"

 

[uk_guy_1971]

When I was about 10, myself and my Grandma were walking along by the river in Bewdley (Severn Valley), we were walking on the town side of the river towards Arley near the Caravan park, we heard a train coming and sat down looking across the valley we could see the rails shining in the sun, HEARD the train come, go past and go away into the distance, but we didn't see a thing! We never did get to the bottom of what it was! Then a couple of years back I was sat in a messroom flicking through a magazine (think it was the Railway magazine) and there was an article about similar experiences people have had in the same area! strange..... My Gran even to this day gets spooked by it and she really isn't the type that gets spooked by things like that.

Hi RPI

I have also heard about this location about the steam train hope the following helps

Ghost train sightings claim probe
Strange sightings of a ghost train on the Severn Valley Railway are being investigated by a paranormal research group.


Strange sightings of a ghost train on the Severn Valley Railway are being investigated by a paranormal research group.

Parasearch, a Worcestershire based paranormal research group, are investigating reports of a ghost train seen along the track near the Northwood Lane at Bewdley.

Over the years the group has received a number of reports of a phantom steam train along the that stretch of the track.

It is a recorded fact that four people were killed during the making of the Bewdley Tunnel in the 1880s but railway officials claim the sightings can be explained and are down to filming on the line and the overnight running of trains during the annual Autumn steam gala.

The Northwood Lane area of the track has been closed to trains since the summer floods in June and July when 45 sections of the railway between Bewdley and Bridgnorth were damaged by torrential downpours.

The investigators claim their reports of a ghost train date back to 2004.

A train was allegedly seen late at night by a group of people who said they heard the tracks vibrate and saw a ghostly shimmering haze.

Parasearch chairman David Taylor said: “ Reports of ghostly steam trains are quite uncommon, which makes these reports from Bewdley so interesting.

“We would like to hear from anyone who believes they may have seen the ghost train over the years.” Parasearch investigators George Gregg, Russell Beard and Andrew Homer have visited the location of the sightings in Northwood Lane, Bewdley, but have so far been unable to come to any conclusions about the sightings.”

He said that the research group, which celebrates its 22nd anniversary this year, used scientific methods to investigate paranormal activities.

John Leach, marketing manager for the Severn Valley Railway, confirmed that the paranormal group had approached them with queries about sightings of a phantom steam train.

But he put the sightings down to a logical explanation.

He said: “There is no ghost train. In 1976 there was a short film made of Charles Dickens’ The Signalman, which was screened before Christmas and starred actor Denholm Elliott.

“Filming took place on the Kidderminster side of Bewdley tunnel and the story revolved around ghosts and nearly all of the filming took place at night.

“Also every year on the third or fourth weekend in September we hold the annual Autumn steam gala, a unique event when we run continually through the weekend and the Friday and Saturday night.

“Although they could not be specific the group said the ghost train had been seen in late September 2004 which is too much of a coincidence to ignore.

“If the air is cold and there is a lot of steam it can take on an almost ghostly appearance at night.”

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2008/01/07/ghost-train-sightings-claim-probe/

 

[uk_guy_1971]

Hello All,

Here is another true story from October 13th, 1928,

CHARFIELD’S GHOST RAILWAY CHILDREN. GLOUCESTERSHIRE,

At about 5.30am on October 13th, 1928. A Leeds to Bristol mail train crashed in Charfield.

Fifteen people were killed and 23 badly injured, two small bodies remained unidentified.

One body was a child (of about five), and the other of a child between twelve and seventeen. A granite cross was erected as a memorial to the victims. On it’s front ten names were inscribed followed by the poignant inscription “two unknown”.

From about 1929 a strange woman dressed in black visited the graves of the two unknown children. She continued her visits right into the 1950s, Joe Kloiber saw the woman:

“The poor lady is at rest now I suppose… All I can tell you is that she was frail, always dressed in black, and came to the grave two or three times a year. She always arrived in a chauffeur-driven limousine, the car was not black, but I cannot remember the colour. She would put flowers on the grave and prey there. “

Two lonely and lost ghostly railway children, walking hand in hand have been reported near the site of the crash.

More information about the crash below,

In the early hours of Saturday, October 13, 1928, the Leeds to Bristol night mail train crashed under the road bridge at Charfield station, South Gloucestershire.
Gas cylinders used to light the carriages blew up, and the fire was so savage that 12 who died were so badly decomposed that their relatives accepted the railway company's offer of a mass grave, which is still prominent in a corner of the village churchyard.


And it's on the memorial stone that the mystery lives on, for after listing 10 names and their places of origin, it ends with "Two Unknown". Despite a number of theories the true identity of the bodies is still unknown.
As the 80th anniversary of the tragedy draws near the Western Daily Press launches an appeal to anyone who might be able to finally uncover the mystery that has shrouded the crash for decades.


More than 50 passengers were sleeping on the night train as it headed for Charfield at about 5.30am on October 13, in thick fog.
According to sources, signalman Henry Button accepted the train from the Berkeley Junction and put the distant signal to danger.
That should have halted the express until a freight train had reversed into sidings.

But driver Henry Aldington and his fireman, Frank Want, both read the distant signal as clear instead of danger and ran headlong into horror.
The goods driver had almost cleared the line when he saw the mail train bearing down on him.

The express crashed into the goods tender and then ploughed off the line and hit another empty goods train head on.
One coach was thrown over the bridge which crossed the line but worse was to follow.

The engine of the express fell on its side among the splintered wagons and hot ashes sprayed from the firebox around the line. Gas, which fuelled lights in the coaches, escaped from supply pipes fractured in the impact.
As it came into contact with the hot ashes it turned the wrecked coaches into an inferno.

Amazingly, the driver and fireman survived and along with villagers awoken by the noise of the crash, and passengers who had scrambled clear, made frantic efforts to free those trapped by the fire.

Within 20 minutes the flames were leaping 40 feet high above the cutting and rescuers were driven back by the fierce heat.

Firemen from Bristol, Gloucester and Stroud fought the blaze for five hours before being able to bring it under control. But it was several hours after that before anyone could begin the grim task of sifting through the smouldering wreckage to recover bodies. In total 15 people were killed and 23 badly injured.

The victims who died were so badly mutilated that identification was almost impossible.
In most cases it was the recognition of a ring, a watch or a distinctive piece of clothing that put names to them.
According to some sources only some of the bodies could be properly identified with the other remains attributed to people known to be on the train. But two small bodies remained unidentified and unclaimed in spite of worldwide inquiries.

Down the years, folklore and legend has built about who they were. One theory aired in recent years is that two ventriloquist's dummies had been aboard, another that a jockey had been mistaken for a schoolboy.
Others said that children whose parents were in India had been put aboard unaccompanied by a slipshod governess, who had then disappeared through shame. But no ventriloquist, racing stable or anxious colonial parent ever made themselves known.

Every year villagers in Charfield lay flowers at a granite cross marking the site where the bodies were laid. But, in spite of the passing of the decades, nobody has ever been able to identify two of the victims of the carnage.
Yesterday Sue Bailey, the local parish clerk, explained that although memories of that fateful day live on, there was little hope of the mystery unravelling.
"I think the legacy of the crash is kept alive by local schools who often do projects on it," she said.

"We do get a lot of people phoning up about it and there has been a lot of media interest but there are not that many people who can remember it. It would be nice for the mystery to be solved but I think it is unlikely.
"If there was some new information you never know."
In an account of the crash Dick Goscombe said: "My father knew this old carpenter who actually put the dead into the coffins.

"They were in full-sized coffins but that were only to ease the feelings of relatives, there were that little left of some of them. And he always swore he hadn't seen the bodies of the children."
A porter on the train added to the theories and said he had seen two children on the train at Gloucester station.

He had moved through the train, checking tickets, and had found them travelling alone, the girl aged about nine, the boy between 11 and 12. The porter remembered that each had been wearing a school cap of some kind.
A police sergeant said part of a school blazer had been found after the crash, of a size to fit a boy or girl aged between eight and 10, Air Force blue in colour with black ribbon around the pockets. There was also a badge, a floral design on a red background, and a Latin motto Luce magistra, which translates as Light being the Test.

Links to Queen Ethelburger's boarding school, just 25 miles outside of Leeds, have since been drawn. The school carries the same motto and present day pupils wear a blue uniform but associations were never confirmed.
The mystery deepens after villagers remembered a lady in black arriving every anniversary between 1929 and the 1950s to stand silently by the grave.
Joe Kloiber, who saw the woman, said: "The poor lady is at rest now I suppose... All I can tell you is that she was frail, always dressed in black, and came to the grave two or three times a year. She always arrived in a chauffeur-driven limousine.

"She would put flowers on the grave and pray there."
There was also the chief constable of Bristol who disappeared mysteriously two years later and was found dead in 1931 in a London park, his throat cut. Word had it that he had recently met a solicitor to whom he had revealed the children's identity.

Since the crash there have been reports of sightings of the ghosts of Charfield's two lonely and lost railway children – often seen hand in hand near the crash site.

Images of the crash below.

 

[David F]

I used to travel from Cheshire to Euston and back a lot a while back, on Virgin trains. If in 1st class (as I often was) 1'd frequently encounter spirits. Gin & Tonic was my favorite!

A few thoughts:

You cannot prove a negative, so it's up to the believers in the supernatural to prove that it exists, not for the rational to prove it doesn't.

There is not one drop of proof, anywhere in the world, that the supernatural exists. If it did, you'd think there would be some proof by now.

When you die, you rot. End of. This might dissapoint you, as humans like to think they are so important they must 'go somewhere' after they leave this earth. It's an understandably self-important notion.

True story: When my dad died, my mum sold the family house and moved into a small terraced cottage in Cheshire. She noiced some nights that the room appeared to shake, and her bed vibrated. Being a tad superstitous she got the parish priest in to 'exorcise' the ghost (of my dad, presumably). Needless to say the mumbo-jumbo had no effect. She mentioned it to the neighbours. "Oh, that's the nightly limestone train from Buxton to Winnington. Makes the whole street shake". Her house was about 100 metres from the Mid Cheshire line.

Moral - look for the obvious cause before jumping to much more interesting but incorrectly superstitious rubbish conclusions.

Having said all that, I did once see a fellow pilot suddenly turn green and completely dissapear. Mind you, we were in the bar and it was his round!

CS

Just dropping in the forum, sorry I'm a bit late.

I do find this sort of approach (we'll be poite) so depressing.

The sheer volume of reported sightings should tell an ntelligent person something.

It seems to me that science is unable to prove as much as it CAN prove.

(I worked with a research student once who maintained she was in telepathic contact with her twin sister...I have no reason to disbelieve her and in case there are plently of other such unexplained events..... but then CS and his friends will no doubt turn the other way ....)
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My girlfriend once saw a figure of my grandad on the staircase of the house the first time she came here, she had no prior knowledge of what he looked like as she hadn't seen any photos of him, yet described him perfectly.

He had died two years before her and me even met.

More worrying is that she seems to feel watched whenever she is in my house to the point I have gone into my bedroom before from having a cigarette outside to find her goosebump covered, crying and shaking saying a black figure was stood in the room with her. It took me ages to calm her down and even longer to get her to turn around and come downstairs. We have heard doors banging, lights coming on and off, footsteps, shrieks, things like car keys will vanish and reappear somewhere else, whispers and crying, temperature drops and even had a hand print appear on a window that had not long been cleaned. She has seen a figure in my bedroom doorway at night which i worrying. There is also an oppresive atmosphere about the place, like a big cloud is having over the house, its most unpleasant.

But it only happens when she is there, when I'm home alone its a quiet and comfy as a mouse. We contacted a medium (rather she did and then told me) who explained some entity in the house (whatever that may be) is clearly extremely unhappy with her presence there and is very very keen to show that. Since then she has come over a few times and it gets progressively worse the longer she is there. It doesn't affect us relationship wise (if that is the intent of it) but freaks her out, and me if I am honest.

Intersting but might I respectfully suggest I think you need to do something aboiut this (if you haven't already).

If you have malevalent spirit in your place that doesn't like a certain indivual that is not a good place at all.

 

[CN7470]

There hasn't been much action in this thread in awhile.. Why is that? Id like to hear more railway ghost stories from people.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Probably because after 600 replies we've covered most of the bases!

I'm sure there are a lot from the US though if you care to share.

 

[CN7470]

Probably because after 600 replies we've covered most of the bases!

I'm sure there are a lot from the US though if you care to share.

lol thats true, and i have heard some interesting tales about phantom locomotives and headless brakemen.

One ghostly tale i have heard is of 'The Legend of the Olive Ghost Train'.


"In October, 1930, a number of people stood in front of the probate judge in the coal mining country around the Marion County courthouse, dividing the property of the recently deceased Widow Hargraves. The widow’s home had just been sold for $500, and the judge had arranged for relatives to adopt her two younger children. Her 18-year old son Tim stood in front of the judge as he said:

"Tim, times are real hard here in West Virginia since our coal mine closed down, and I want you to have a chance to progress elsewhere. I understand your Uncle Mart Hargraves works for a sawmill in East Texas."

"Yes, Your Honor," Tim responded, "but we ain’t heard nothing from Uncle Mart in years."

"Well, Tim, I’m going to give you $100 from your Mama’s estate, and I want you to buy a train ticket to Texas and look up your Uncle Mart. Maybe he can find you a job in a sawmill."

Tim found an old envelope among his mother’s papers with the return address of "M. W. Hargraves, Box 46, Olive, Texas." A day or two later, Tim bought a ticket on the Southerner Railroad to New Orleans and another on Southern Pacific for Beaumont, Texas.

It was a bright moonlight night that October 30th when Tim Hargraves reached Beaumont, and he went straight to a booth and asked for a ticket to Olive, north of Kountze. The ticket master inquired, "A ticket to Olive? Why, that’s a ghost town, and all the houses except 2 or 3 are gone. The East Texas Railroad passes nearby, but are you sure that’s where you want to go?"

"Yes," Tim replied. "I’ve got to find my Uncle Mart." The next evening, Tim boarded the train, and the conductor told him he’d let him off at Olive, but that was no place to be after dark.

A few miles past Kountze, the train stopped as Tim prepared to exit. The conductor added, "That’s the abandoned post office over there. You’ll find a couple of families, including old Jules Berg, living a mile or so up that dirt road."

Suddenly Tim felt quite alone as he started down the dirt road into the forest, carrying his suit case. But there was a full moon in front of him, and the music of all the forest insects, the crickets and cicadas, filled the night air with their song. It never occurred to Tim, though, that there were also predatory varmints, including wolves, bears and panthers, in the surrounding woods.

After walking a quarter mile or so, Tim heard the chug of a steam locomotive, followed by a loud whistle, but he knew it was not the train he had just left. And intermittently the engine’s headlamp flickered to his left, because the nearby pine trees sometimes blocked his view. Suddenly, with the full moon beaming in back of it, a locomotive started across the dirt road a hundred yards or so ahead, and Tim even saw the profile of the engineer in the cab. And then he counted five loaded log cars before the engine and its hissing sounds disappeared into the forest.

Tim hurried forward, and although he found evidences of a wide path through the forest, he could find no railroad tracks or crossties.

Bewildered, Tim kept walking until he saw the lights in the windows of a nearby "dogtrot" house. He knocked on the door until a voice within hollered, "Who’s out there?"

"I’m Tim Hargraves from West Virginia, and I’m looking for Mr. Berg."

After a few moments, the front door opened, and a gray-haired man observed, "I’m Jules Berg, and how can I help you?"

"I’m looking for my Uncle Mart Hargraves, who I understand works for a sawmill somewhere around here?"

"That’s a long story, young man." Berg could see that Tim was both tired and scared, so he invited him in to rest. Tim then related to Berg about the log train that had crossed the road ahead of him. He added that, although he had found a wide path through the forest, he could find no tracks or crossties on it.

"Yeah," Berg responded. "That’s the old Olive ghost train and it makes one round trip every Halloween Eve. Ain’t nobody but you seen it in recent years though. And there ain’t no tracks or crossties on the old Olive tram road anymore ‘cause they were all torn up years ago. By the way, what did your Uncle Mart do at the sawmill?" Tim said he did not know what his uncle did for a living.

"I knew your Uncle Mart Hargraves years ago when I was planer foreman at Olive," Berg continued, "but that was before the sawmill cut out and was torn down in 1912. Mart left here then and moved to Fuqua, in Liberty County, where he was engineer on the Kirby mill log train, before he died about ten years ago. My guess is that that was your Uncle Mart in the cab of that ghost locomotive you saw tonight."

Berg let Tim spend the night at his house, and the next day, as Tim prepared to return to Kountze, Berg gave him a letter and said:

"Young man, go back to Kountze and catch the Santa Fe train to Honey Island. Give this letter to Rufe Williams, who is dry kiln foreman at the Kirby mill, and if he needs a hand, he’ll hire you. Just tell him that old Jules sent you."

The last that was heard about Tim Hargraves, he was still a sawmill hand at the Honey Island mill, but that was a long time ago. No one has reported seeing the Olive ghost train in many years now, but some Halloween night, if a locomotive should dart out ahead of you into a dirt road near Kountze, it’s probably old Mart Hargraves, running late as usual and headed for the mill with a load of logs."

 

[DJD200]

Fascinating thread, read through three times now.

Thanks Kernowfem!

Anyhoo I cut and pasted this from a ghost story site a while back (can't remember which one) The author was a Peter McKechnie and I post it here for your delectation!

When I was 18 I had a girlfriend who lived 20 miles away at Park Gate. To get to, and from there I regularly used the train from Cosham to Swanwick station. To get home on this particular Sunday evening, I arrived at 11:00 pm on Swanwick station. It is a fairly remote and dingy station and it was unusual for anybody else to be there at this hour, but a lady in her late 40's or early 50's was seated waiting for the last train. She was about 5ft 4 inches tall, of plump build, with permed hair, and was wearing a "camel" coat and was carrying a very large canvas shopping bag, which had a tartan pattern on.

I sat down to wait for the train (which were frequently late). After a few minutes the lady asked if there was a train as she "had to get back to Portsmouth". I told her that I was also waiting for the same train and that it should be along soon. Several times she asked the same question and reinforced that she "must get back to Portsmouth". When the train eventually did arrive, she remained seated but became very agitated and began to cry. I told her that this was the last train, but several times between sobs she repeated: "I can't go back". I asked if I could help, and suggested that if she got on the train that perhaps we could talk about any problems she had. But again she said "I can't go back". Meanwhile the guard had got off of the train to point out that this was the last train on that night and that if I was getting on I should hurry (from his angle he probably couldn't see the lady). Reluctantly I got on the train, and as it pulled out of the station I could see her sobbing.

On the journey home I felt guilty about leaving her, as she was obviously very upset about something. On arriving home at Cosham I telephoned the Police at Park Gate and briefly related the story and asked if perhaps somebody could visit the railway station and see if she was ok. I gave a description of her height, dress, and the bag she was carrying. I assumed that perhaps some domestic dispute was the cause of her distress.

On arriving home from work the next evening (Monday) my mother drew my attention to an article in the local paper, "The Evening News". She knew that I caught the train from Swanwick and this article was appealing for witnesses to an accident near that station. I immediately recognized the photograph included in the article as the lady from the previous evening, the description of her clothing, height, dress and bag also matched perfectly. The article was appealing for witnesses to an accident where the lady had been killed whilst walking along the railway lines.... ON THE SATURDAY EVENING.

I telephoned the newspaper and suggested that they had confused the dates, and that I had spoken to the lady, they checked and to my surprise insisted that the accident had been on Saturday. I then telephoned the police who listened to my story, and indeed confirmed that I had reported the incident on Sunday evening, however were adamant that the incident had occurred on Saturday.

In a subsequent article in the local paper I learned that the lady was called Maureen Hampton, she was a patient in a local mental hospital (Coldeast). She had been allowed out on the Saturday and had been to Portsmouth. Returning in the evening she had missed the station at Swanwick and got off of the train at the next stop (Bursledon), not being familiar with the area she had decided to walk the short distance back to Swanwick along the lines, and been struck by a train.

Now, I wish I had remained or touched her!!! However, I caught the bus after this!

So far, I've had no takers for a Saturday night in Swanwick

 

[barbarajohn]

I see many of the forums users are railway workers, and i wondered if anyone had any tales to tell of mysterious happenings/hauntings while on duty, or if anyone has any railway ghost stories.
I appreciate this thread may not be everyones cup of tea, but i would love to hear any stories/experiences you guys may have

it was a cold dark night, i was putting the last railcar into the siding at skipton,over the pionts,change ends, i put the keys in ,reved the brakes off,into first gear and she trundled clickety clack, towards the block. suddenley the passenger door flew open but there was nobody there, a reaking smell of tobacco smoke went straight up my nose! i was terrified. i put on the handbrake and shot into the nice warm messroom and related this happening, this old skipton driver said, "its only owd cedric who died forty years back",john.