Are our railways haunted? (ghost stories)

[Ash Bridge]

Really interesting story there Springs Branch, if you ever do manage to venture back there please keep us informed.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I've looked to see if there have been any accidents or such at Crow Nest Sidings (plausible in the days of unfitted trains, since it was at the bottom of the long uphill gradient to Chew Moor) but I found nothing.

You checked for railway accidents, but did you check to see if there had been any accidents or murders on that footpath that had nothing to do with the railway at all?

 

[Springs Branch]

You checked for railway accidents, but did you check to see if there had been any accidents or murders on that footpath that had nothing to do with the railway at all?

Yes, I have tried to look for these sorts of incidents, but only by simplistic searching on the Internet, which is unlikely to be any good for something probably very specific, local and a long time ago - if anything ever happened at all. Unsurprisingly, I've found nothing.

Although I've now reached an age where I have a bit more time & inclination to do this sort of research, I also live thousands of miles away, which makes poring over old newspapers and microfilm in local libraries a bit hard. Maybe I'll have a go on my next UK visit.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Drop an e-mail to the relevant local newspapers They might have it in their archives and could search for you - especially if you tell them why you are asking!

 

[Kernowfem]

My spooky railway story started in the late 1960s or very early 1970s.

I was just about a teenager and had become interested in the trains in my local area. One of the spotting locations I discovered was on the Wigan to Bolton line, near the former Crow Nest Sidings signal box & goods loops (by this time abolished) about ½ mile east of today's Crow Nest Junction.

It was a quiet, rural site where an unmettled farm track passes over the railway on a bridge, in the middle of fields with just a couple of small farms visible in the distance. There was a good view either way along the railway and semaphore signals within sight to alert us to imminent trains. For anyone who may know the area, it's Jack's Lane at Hart Common near Westhoughton.

Another attraction was it was just about (actually a bit beyond) the limit of distance my parents allowed me to roam by bike on my own at that age.
This photo of the spot has been posted on the Wigan World website (not by me).

My first visits here were on my own, and in between the passing trains, I started to get an uneasy feeling - like someone or some sort of "presence" was watching me. This seemed to be coming from the hedgerows alongside the lane (which can be seen starting to the left of the bridge in the photo in the link).

There was clearly no-one around, but the uneasy feeling did not go away. I stuck it out, however, and eventually went home and thought no more about it.

On a subsequent trip, a train-spotting friend came with me. It was his first visit there and after a short while (unprompted by me), he also felt someone was watching us. He actually said he thought he saw someone's head peering above the hedges. We plucked up courage and cycled to the spot, but of course there was nobody there.

I must have been keen on exploring by myself because I went back there a couple more times on my own, always with varying levels of unease that something was not quite right. One time there seemed to be some inaudible, but very mysterious & pervasive vibration in the air, like a sub-sonic "hum" which you couldn't hear, but could feel in your guts. I actually bailed and went elsewhere that day!

Over the following months our sphere of travel increased and we cycled to more distant spots to see more interesting rail traffic, like the double-headed Class 50s which had been introduced on the WCML.

Wind forward about 10 years to the late 1970s, I'm 19 or 20 and a young bloke who enjoys a refreshing beverage or two at weekends. One moonlit summer's night, well after closing time at a favourite pub a few miles from home, I find myself taking a shortcut, walking on my own along barely-used Public Footpaths across the fields.

Too late, I realise that I will need to walk down Jack's Lane and cross that railway bridge and then recall the odd experiences all those years ago. All rubbish, I tell myself, I was just an easily impressionable young lad back then, obviously there are no such things as ghosts etc.

As I approach the spot, whistling a happy tune, I feel more and more uneasy & the hairs on my neck stand up. Again, something is definitely threatening and "not right" around here and it's made me sober up pretty quickly. I need to keep walking, there's no alternative route and I've already set off the dogs at a couple of farms I passed earlier on, so can't easily go back.

The closer to the bridge the more the feeling of dread increases and I end up jogging along, staring directly ahead, too scared to look either side of the narrow track into the hedgerows, but expecting something to come at me any time. The terror peaks at the place where my mate claimed he saw the head above the hedges, then eases only slightly as I make it to the end of those hedges and cross over the railway bridge. That subsonic buzz is there again, in my head this time (or is that just alcohol, or fear?)

Luckily the yellow sodium lights of the main road are not far away now, but there is still no way I'm looking behind me to where I just came from. The fear evaporates and enormous relief sets in as I reach the first terrace of houses, street lights and the occasional late-night car on the main road.

I don't know what it was about this place, but the thought of it gives me the shivers 50 years later. You could also argue this has nothing to do with the railway itself and it's coincidental that I was loitering around there trainspotting. I've looked to see if there have been any accidents or such at Crow Nest Sidings (plausible in the days of unfitted trains, since it was at the bottom of the long uphill gradient to Chew Moor) but I found nothing. Will I now have the courage to go back there next time I visit that part of the UK?

After reading your very interesting post, may I suggest you read "A strange experience at Walton Juntion" taken from the book Railway Ghosts and Phantoms by W.B Herbert. An almost identicle experience to your own

 

[AndyJB]

After reading your very interesting post, may I suggest you read "A strange experience at Walton Juntion" taken from the book Railway Ghosts and Phantoms by W.B Herbert. An almost identicle experience to your own

Although not from that particular book, the quoted written account can be found here:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MqyOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT24&lpg=PT24&dq=A+strange+experience+at+Walton+Junction&source=bl&ots=RiSFMMkBu2&sig=-h7qeIZLEswVpVBo8tPHDUmBTWM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kU6RVa7rBNPH7AalkI-QDA&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20strange%20experience%20at%20Walton%20Junction&f=false

 

[w0033944]

Although not from that particular book, the quoted written account can be found here:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MqyOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT24&lpg=PT24&dq=A+strange+experience+at+Walton+Junction&source=bl&ots=RiSFMMkBu2&sig=-h7qeIZLEswVpVBo8tPHDUmBTWM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kU6RVa7rBNPH7AalkI-QDA&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=A%20strange%20experience%20at%20Walton%20Junction&f=false

Here's a link to the accident report for the Walton Junction crash:

http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_WaltonJunction1867.pdf

 

[Alistair G.]

im very pleased to see we have passed the 666 post mark !!!.

Some years ago, my mother (Who wouldnt know where a train line ran if her life depended on it) was travelling back along the M1 between Leicester and Lutterworth (J21-20) and when she got home she told me i would have liked to travelled with her tonioght because she saw a steam train go over a bridge ahead of her.

i told her she was very much mistaken because theres no steam trains round here and havent been for a very long time. She swore on her own grave that she had seen a steam train and it was a steam train because of the smoke it throwing out.

anyway, next time we were travelling along the M1, all of a sudden she shouts "Here, here, thats the bridge where i saw the train.... right there"

this was the old GCR Bridge, obviously hasnt been used since the line shut. I told her this and tld her she was mistaken but she refused to be told and told me "i know what i saw and i know where i saw it..... im telling you there was a steam train on that bridge"

My mum, isnt one who knows where present day lines are, let alone bridges that have been long since shut, so its hard to figure out what she saw, i have to say i dont believe in ghosts but this one has certainly made me feel uneasy!.

 

[Springs Branch]

After reading your very interesting post, may I suggest you read "A strange experience at Walton Juntion" taken from the book Railway Ghosts and Phantoms by W.B Herbert. An almost identicle experience to your own

Thanks for the comments, and the link to the story of the happenings at Walton Station. I was not aware of this before, but it does sounds almost identical to my own experiences.

However the 1867 railway accident which is referenced in the book appears to be at a different Walton Junction - i.e. Walton Old Junction on the LNWR at Warrington, rather than Walton Junction, the site of the ghostly experiences, on the former LYR in the northeastern part of Liverpool .

What I have found though, (prompted by recounting my experiences on Rail Forums) is this recent photograph from the Geograph website of that exact stretch of laneway and those damned hedges. In winter daylight, the location looks a bit melancholy, but it's a different story with all the leaves on the bushes, on your own on a moonlit night!

 

[grumblingalong]

As we all know, contrary to what we were taught in history lessons, Anne Boleyn was in fact executed by a faulty reclining seat on 171803.

 

[12CSVT]

Something that has been doing the rounds again recently is that Mark Beech Tunnel, near Cowden, is haunted by the ghost of Anne Boleyn. As we all know, contrary to what we were taught in history lessons, Anne Boleyn was in fact executed by a faulty reclining seat on 171803.

Maybe that's what caused two thumper units to collide (15th October 1994)

 

[Kernowfem]

I am currently sat at the site of the old Claxby signal box. It's a lovely warm evening. Just gone dark. I may get to see the infamous Aubery Clarke or I may kak my pants and drive off very quickly (left my engine running) wish me luck!

 

[Elecman]

Anything happened then at your site visit?

 

[Kernowfem]

Anything happened then at your site visit?

Nothing. Nothing at all, but I enjoyed the drive at least

 

[WL113]

This one relates to an unusual happening at the beginning of the 1980s at an old signalbox which was switched out of use after the closure of the diverging route which it controlled. These were the days of mechanical signals with oil lights, and sometimes even the Boxes lit by oil and heated by coal stoves.

One night very cold and frosty night when I was On Call I received a telephone call asking me to attend to a signalbox that had been closed for some time.

It used to signal a diverging line that had been closed, and since then, the signalbox had not been manned but had been locked up and switched out of circuit, with the signals "Off", as it was not required for line sectioning purposes.

It was reported by a Driver of a Down freight that a person had been observed in the box, the lights were on, and the fire was going. Knowing that the box had been closed, the Driver stopped specially out of course at the next signalbox to report the matter.

Control had called the Police and wanted me to attend as well, which I did.

The box, itself could only be reached by a long, tortuous route which involved driving out of the City for some miles in order to cross a dyke from where you travelled back again along the opposite side of the dyke and down a poorly surfaced road to the box.

The box was visible in the distance from another signalbox (also closed), which had very easy road access from the City centre, so it was arranged that I would meet the Police there, which I did.

Sure enough in the far distance we could see the closed signalbox that was the subject of the report, and indeed the lights were on.

Of course we did not know who was in there or why so it was decided that the easiest and quckest way to get there would be to drive to it, which we did, albeit at some rapid speed. Remember that the Police were treating it as a potential burglary/vandalism/arson, and in an otherwise quiet City, it actually added some variation to an otherwise sedentary night.

Off we went therefore with the blue lights flashing, with me racing along behind in the Railway van trying to keep up.

Much quicker of course than would ordinarily have been the case, we reached the Signalbox................. to find it in total darkness.

Now of course the first assumption was that whoever had been there had done whatever they came for and had departed.

Now however comes the very strange thing about the whole incident.

We walked to the box steps to find them covered in frost, clearly no-one had been up those steps.

We walked around the bottom to see if they had climbed out of a window and shimmied down a rope, again there was no sign of this and the footboards over the point rodding were frost covered with frost so no-one had walked there.

Myself and the Policeman went up the steps to find the box door locked, which I duly opened and we went inside.

It was quite obvious quite quickly that no-one had been in the box whatsoever. The fire had definitely not been on, and there was no heat in the air either.

Everything looked to be in good order and there was no evidence of any damage, or interference with anything.

Of course by now neither of us were particularly impressed, me for having been summoned out of bed, and the Policeman who had been hoping for some action, only to find nothing.

I telephoned Control to confirm that I had been given the correct details, and to confirm the Driver's report.

We agreed that the Driver should be contacted to find out some more details as the was now a very clear issue of dispute with the report.

The Driver was actually at his relieving point depot waiting to work back, and we were able to challenge him about the story pretty quickly. Both he and his Secondman were absolutely adamant at what they had seen confirming additionally that the lighting appeared to be by oil light.

They were both flabberghasted and somewhat put out also at what they felt was the veracity of their report being questioned, and it was agreed that provided that they stopped momentarily at the Signalbox on the way back, that we would cover the delay. They also insisted on the TCI at that Depot confirming that they had not been drinking.

The Deputy Chief Controller also telephoned the TCI (privately) at their home depot and confirmed that they were two level headed men, with good records.

I went back to the Signalbox in the daylight, with an S&T lineman to check the situation.

The situation was exactly as it had been before, with nothing touched.

We never did reach any firm conclusion, and I was happy to accept that the Driver and Secondman had stopped and reported something they were convinced they had seen, for a variety of reasons.

The Driver will be long retired by now and there is every possibility that the Secondman will be a senior Driver somewhere.

Such a shame I do not have the records to identify them. It wiould be interesting to see what they had to say after all these years.

With apologies for resurrecting an old post, this is one of the most fascinating Ive read on here. Railways and ghosts.....

 

[Kernowfem]

Had a very interesting chat with a good friend of mine today. Driver for a very well known company. He has told me about a supposedly haunted voyager. Now I don't want to go into detail as this story is related to a horrific incident only nine years ago, and I certainly have no wish to upset relatives.

Keeping it as breif as possible, a fatality occurred on this particular unit while in use with another TOC. Since then many reports of odd sounds, doors opening and closing and voices. Apparently cleaners have witnessed things too.

Now my friend is a man of few words and a none believer but he thought I might be interested in this story, I thought id share it with you.

 

[simple simon]

This photograph shows part of the 1892 Metropolitan Railway Jubilee Coach as seen at Watford station during a "Steam On the Met" event on Sunday 13th September 2015.

If you look through the open door window you will see a face that looks out of place. It seems to be looking straight at me and is in the wrong place to be connected to the person sitting near the window.

If you look below the face and through the part of the window that is inside the door, you may notice that it does not have a neck!

Photographed by a spooked-out Simon.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

After reflecting on that for a bit I thought of a way to avoid such haunting images but as it might polarise opinion, I turned round and filtered it out.

 

[Pigeon]

The chap's face is in the right place to be connected to his legs, if you mentally fill in a normal size body in between. The shirt isn't his, it's someone's who's walking down the platform reflected in the window, and you can see the change in colour from the pink of his skin where his face is behind the reflection.

 

[scott118]

i see a woman walking away in a striped blouse, and a bloke slumped in his seat, enjoying what first class had to offer all those years ago..or have i missed something?

 

[Kernowfem]

Interesting picture. But in my opinion the head deffo belongs to the person sitting inside the carriage. On another note he resembles my old English teacher. In fact I'd swear it's him ??????

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Interesting picture. But in my opinion the head deffo belongs to the person sitting inside the carriage. On another note he resembles my old English teacher. In fact I'd swear it's him ��

Looks like Lon Chaney to me...

 

[Kernowfem]

Looks like Lon Chaney to me...

Didn't Lon Chaney have more hair?! From what I remember of his films he did always look like he'd just been dug up though. Spooky

 

[Ash Bridge]

Didn't Lon Chaney have more hair?! From what I remember of his films he did always look like he'd just been dug up though. Spooky

He certainly did when he played the Wolfman

 

[Kernowfem]

He certainly did when he played the Wolfman

Googled a picture. Furrtastic.

Back on topic, anyone got any more ghostly tales or pics seeing as it's coming up to the threads 6th? Halloween?

 

[Minilad]

Googled a picture. Furrtastic.

Back on topic, anyone got any more ghostly tales or pics seeing as it's coming up to the threads 6th? Halloween?

There is a note up in our mess room regarding ghost hunting at Leamington Spa station. Which is, apparently, haunted. I don't know any details but will have a look next time I'm in

 

[Kernowfem]

There is a note up in our mess room regarding ghost hunting at Leamington Spa station. Which is, apparently, haunted. I don't know any details but will have a look next time I'm in

Ahhh! Isn't it supposed to be so haunted NR called in some sort of ghost busting team?

 

[Minilad]

Ahhh! Isn't it supposed to be so haunted NR called in some sort of ghost busting team?

Something like that yes. Not sure of the details but a guy was visiting to see if he could solve it

 

[Kernowfem]

Something like that yes. Not sure of the details but a guy was visiting to see if he could solve it

Yes, just read the article on it very interesting. certainly freaked a few people out.

 

[Minilad]

Yes, just read the article on it very interesting. certainly freaked a few people out.

I think it's the ghost of someone waiting for a delayed XC train to Bournemouth