Kernowfem
Member
Bournemouth? That would scare the willies out of me, never mind t'ghost.
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Are our railways haunted? (ghost stories)
- Thread starter Kernowfem
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Bournemouth? That would scare the willies out of me, never mind t'ghost.
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Minilad
Established Member
You don't like old people then?
Kernowfem
Member
How very presumptuous, not at all. A student weekend back in 1997 in Bournemouth scarred me for life.
You're old, and I put up with you.
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Minilad
Established Member
Only because I will run you over in my new car if you don't
Kernowfem
Member
backontrack
Established Member
I'm not cognisant of such things; I don't believe that the railways are haunted, no. I don't really think anything is haunted TBH.
Kernowfem
Member
A refreshing post. Point of view made without being rude to others or telling people what they should/shouldn't think
backontrack
Established Member
A refreshing post. Point of view made without being rude to others or telling people what they should/shouldn't think
Thanks
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Charming. Let us know what you find out about Leamington!
I saw a poster up at Preston yesterday advertising a ghost hunt there ( Preston ) but forgot to note the details...
Kernowfem
Member
It appears there's quite a few of these events organised. I know there was one at Lancaster a few years ago, and I know Rothley on the GCR run many ghost hunts.
Perhaps ghosts and railway stations are becoming fashionable!
70014IronDuke
Established Member
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- 13 Jun 2015
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- 3,882
OK, here's mine for starters. I assume preserved railways count?
AIR, it was April, 1970, possibly Easter weekend, when I toddled along to Towyn with ma pal Derek and volunteered to work on the Talyllyn for a day or two. Neither of us were members, we just offered to help. A surprised man in authority asked us to augur holes for future telegraph poles somewhere up the line.
Anyway, I was a BR student at the time, with very limited cash. I forget what Derek was doing at (he's done a million jobs, including BR enquiry clerk at several major stations since then), but to save dosho, we decided to rough it at the first halt on the line, about a mile inland from Towyn.
I remember there were some sleepers in the corner of the open station building, and we spread our sleeping bags over those.
I think it was around 03.00 I woke up, and went for a pee by the side of the track. Came back to the sleeping bag and and lay down, and then, clear as day, someone started playing a pipe, or flute. It sounded as if it was about 20 - 30 m away, across the track, in the darkness. I can't say it was a threatening feeling, but it was bloody strange, for sure. And while it was a tune, it was not a tune I knew.
So I woke Derek - and he heard it too. I mean, this was not something that lasted for seconds - it was going on for, I dunno, 5 minutes at least.
I forget what happened - I think we fell asleep. While it did not sound threatening, for sure, I was not going to go off in the darkness to search out the cause!
next morning, we checked. It was just bushes/woodland from where the sound appeared to be emanating from.
On our other side of the track, at the back of the station, there was a caravan (or perhaps 2-3). The couple in one took pity on us, and invited us in for tea a bacon breakfast (bless 'em - the things you remember, eh?). We told them the story, but they'd heard nothing.
Derek said he'd looked up the site in a library later, just to see if there had been a battle or something historical happen there - but drew a blank.
Never went back to the Talyllyn - foreign travel took hold - so I never met a regular TR member to share the story with, and ask if any others had hear the flute in the early morning darkness.
Kernowfem
Member
Preserved lines certainly count. Thanks for sharing, thoroughly enjoyed reading.
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Any forum member had experience of working on the NR test track that runs from Edwinstowe to High Marnham? (Formerly part of the Chesterfield market place-Lincoln line)
There's a reason I ask, I took a run out to Marnham last night, I think I may have experienced something but would like to know if by any chance anyone would be working on that particular line after 10pm.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Any forum member had experience of working on the NR test track that runs from Edwinstowe to High Marnham? (Formerly part of the Chesterfield market place-Lincoln line)
There's a reason I ask, I took a run out to Marnham last night, I think I may have experienced something but would like to know if by any chance anyone would be working on that particular line after 10pm.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Kernowfem
Member
47634 "Holbeck
Member
I too have had 37069 blow two tones at me when it was on the rear of a tour standing at the station Doncaster i believe! I Gave her a quick look over and there was no railway men in or around her at the time as i spoke to tour train guard even he looked through the loco the doors were locked no one cud have got in or out passed me as i wud have seen them also 37069's fire bottles Discharge on their own!
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I Believe Her Name is Anne Naylor and also has been caught on video at Farringdon During the Met 150 event not sure though is a long time since i have seen the video
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Another story I heard was of a train travelling through the Sevenoaks tunnel, driver reported hitting something but when they went to check, there was nothing there...[/QUOTE]
A member of my Family was a guard later going on to driver on the South Eastern Division and he has recounted to me numerous times of goings on in Sevenoaks Tunnel also when i was in the cab with him on one occasion going through that very tunnel i have seen White Ghostly Shapes passing in front in the distance but as the train gets closer they fade away!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Because the Image is of 47299 @ Claxby Box
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I Believe Her Name is Anne Naylor and also has been caught on video at Farringdon During the Met 150 event not sure though is a long time since i have seen the video
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Another story I heard was of a train travelling through the Sevenoaks tunnel, driver reported hitting something but when they went to check, there was nothing there...[/QUOTE]
A member of my Family was a guard later going on to driver on the South Eastern Division and he has recounted to me numerous times of goings on in Sevenoaks Tunnel also when i was in the cab with him on one occasion going through that very tunnel i have seen White Ghostly Shapes passing in front in the distance but as the train gets closer they fade away!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Because the Image is of 47299 @ Claxby Box
tsr
Established Member
I think I forgot to mention this tale from the South. A while ago I was (in an authorised capacity) in the cab of a train on the Uckfield line. Coming round the corner from the junction into one of the larger stations in the Oxted area, the driver immediately sounded the horn. I asked what it was as I had seen nothing ahead, assuming perhaps that he had seen an animal on the line (animals have been known to damage trains on this route on many an occasion). He glanced at me curiously and asked if I hadn't seen the track workers by the points. I replied that I had seen nothing and (jokingly) said that was probably why I wasn't a driver! The driver had to concentrate on the line ahead, and presumably thought the workers had gone, but I saw absolutely nothing and then, looking at the whole track around the pointwork as we passed, all was in darkness and I couldn't see a soul. All the train lights were illuminated as usual so I'd have hoped to catch a glimpse as you usually do. There were no major works planned, no vans in sight, and I definitely didn't see anyone on approach.
I don't particularly believe the railways are haunted, despite the fact I have previously posted on this thread, though I do get a good feeling of the "atmosphere" of somewhere as that is just how my brain works. In this case the line did not feel spooky or desolate and everything was as normal on a summer night. I have always been curious as to whether p-way just darted out from a place of safety or whether there was something amiss. I've never heard of any prominent accidents at the spot.
I don't particularly believe the railways are haunted, despite the fact I have previously posted on this thread, though I do get a good feeling of the "atmosphere" of somewhere as that is just how my brain works. In this case the line did not feel spooky or desolate and everything was as normal on a summer night. I have always been curious as to whether p-way just darted out from a place of safety or whether there was something amiss. I've never heard of any prominent accidents at the spot.
Kernowfem
Member
The thread is now only a few days away from its sixth birthday! Another thank you to everyone who has contributed. I still enjoy reading back through it all. Even though the argument for whether ghosts exist or not rage on, the stories and experiences posted are enjoyable and interesting to read.
Keep em coming!!
Keep em coming!!
Minilad
Established Member
The thread is now only a few days away from its sixth birthday! Another thank you to everyone who has contributed. I still enjoy reading back through it all. Even though the argument for whether ghosts exist or not rage on, the stories and experiences posted are enjoyable and interesting to read.
Keep em coming!!
There is no argument. They don't
Kernowfem
Member
There is no argument. They don't
You and I will never agree on this, or anything else for that matter
so shush.Minilad
Established Member
You and I will never agree on this, or anything else for that matter
I am too SMART for you anyway
Kernowfem
Member
I am too SMART for you anyway
Hahahahahahaha of course you are! Find anything out about leamington spa?
Minilad
Established Member
Hahahahahahaha of course you are! Find anything out about leamington spa?
The advert was taken down before I could read it again unfortunately
Kernowfem
Member
*puts away ghost busters costume and vacuum*Rothley is widely supposed to have two sorts of hauntings. The first is primarily in the deep cutting immediately north of the station, and is related to a 6th Century Anglo Saxon cemetery that was disturbed when the line was built. It is recorded that the Navvies simply dug the interred bones out and threw them into the spoil wagons with the rest of the excavated material, from where they were tipped to form the embankment to the south of the station.
The second type of haunting is more railway specific, and relates primarily to the railwaymen who have lost their lives on and around the station, and consequently the sightings are reported as being in the immediate vicinity of the station - although in reality more than a couple of those who were recorded as being killed at Rothley were actually some way away from the station.
I have worked extensively in the area at night, both alone and in a gang, and both around the station and in the cutting, and have never felt or seen anything*. A colleague has reported being closely followed by footsteps as he walked through the cutting, although nothing was seen. And unexplained lights under the road bridge on the up line have been being mistaken for Guard's handsignals for years !
*Nothing at Rothley, but I have experienced "spooky" goings on at Quorn, Swithland and Loughborough !
Kernowfem
Member
Would you share your spooky goings on at Quorn, Swithland and Loughborough? I've heard a few things about Swithland viaduct. I've parked on the road next to the lake a few times, does get quite creepy at night.
Quorn. Woken on two occasions whilst bedded down in the mess coach by a train passing on the adjacent up main. Both times around 0230, and although extremely unlikely to be "legit" I did check with ops the following day who confirmed no traffic past 2230 !
Swithland. Continual (over three months, to the point of being unremarkable) sounds of life (footsteps, settling in to chairs, coughing) from the locked operating floor of Swithland box whilst my colleagues and I were installing and wiring the electric locks in the locking room beneath. This could be experienced at any time during the day. Never anyone there when checked, the door always locked, the only entrance and exit down the box steps, which could at all times be seen from the locking room, and on several occasions the steps were covered in undisturbed snow. Furthermore tools which had been in continual use through the sessions work (wire strippers, nut spinners, crimping tools, &c.) would disappear, and be discovered upstairs in the (again, empty and secured) operating floor - and this when none of the gang had left the locking room in the intervening period. Nothing experienced anywhere outside the box though, and we spent many long hours, deep in to the night, working all around the site, including on Brazil Island.
Loughborough. Two encounters with a "distant" (i.e. not apparently aware of my presence) figure in station staff uniform on the platform, both times in the early hours of the morning. As they were ignoring me, I decided to ignore them and both times contrived to leave the platform at a semi-dignified rate of knots. I know the station staff at Loughborough by sight, and it was certainly none of them, even if the vacant look was familiar A third time, working down at the signal box with two colleagues, late at night with no service running, all of us saw a figure, with a lit lamp, standing by the water column on the north end of the down platform. One of us went up the steps to get the binoculars for a better look, whilst the other two kept our eyes on the figure - which didn't exactly disappear, but suddenly wasn't there.
No doubt rational explanations can be provided for most of these (tired at the end of a long shift, a dream, imagination, &c.) but they seemed very real, and in some cases, particularly at Swithland, must have been a group hallucination !
Swithland. Continual (over three months, to the point of being unremarkable) sounds of life (footsteps, settling in to chairs, coughing) from the locked operating floor of Swithland box whilst my colleagues and I were installing and wiring the electric locks in the locking room beneath. This could be experienced at any time during the day. Never anyone there when checked, the door always locked, the only entrance and exit down the box steps, which could at all times be seen from the locking room, and on several occasions the steps were covered in undisturbed snow. Furthermore tools which had been in continual use through the sessions work (wire strippers, nut spinners, crimping tools, &c.) would disappear, and be discovered upstairs in the (again, empty and secured) operating floor - and this when none of the gang had left the locking room in the intervening period. Nothing experienced anywhere outside the box though, and we spent many long hours, deep in to the night, working all around the site, including on Brazil Island.
Loughborough. Two encounters with a "distant" (i.e. not apparently aware of my presence) figure in station staff uniform on the platform, both times in the early hours of the morning. As they were ignoring me, I decided to ignore them and both times contrived to leave the platform at a semi-dignified rate of knots. I know the station staff at Loughborough by sight, and it was certainly none of them, even if the vacant look was familiar
A third time, working down at the signal box with two colleagues, late at night with no service running, all of us saw a figure, with a lit lamp, standing by the water column on the north end of the down platform. One of us went up the steps to get the binoculars for a better look, whilst the other two kept our eyes on the figure - which didn't exactly disappear, but suddenly wasn't there.No doubt rational explanations can be provided for most of these (tired at the end of a long shift, a dream, imagination, &c.) but they seemed very real, and in some cases, particularly at Swithland, must have been a group hallucination !
Kernowfem
Member
I need to pay another visit to the GCR thanks for sharing, really enjoyed reading it.
thanks for sharing, really enjoyed reading it.
Elecman
Established Member
There is an organised Ghost tour of Preston Station 14th November
BorderColliez
New Member
- Joined
- 22 May 2016
- Messages
- 1
Just signed up today after reading this great thread!
I have experienced several things near railways, this being one of them:
I was walking along the Monsal Trail with some friends a few years back near Monsal Head when we heard a high pitch steam train whistle which sounded as though it was coming from about a mile away. We were all left very confused and have experienced several times since and have found no explanation, there are no preserved railways for about 10 miles and there aren't any narrow gauge ones as far as I'm aware.
The Chee Tor tunnels feel a bit eerie sometimes, I have a feeling I came across something about them being haunted somewhere but I can't be sure.
I've heard that the Totley Tunnel is haunted somehwere too.
Goathland station is a bit creepy at night. When we visited in 2013 I can remember being creeped out as at about 9pm we heard a train thunder through, but the signal was at danger and the points were set against it!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sorry to bring up an old post but I was chatting to a volunteer once and he said that he had never heard of the story and as far as he was aware the line wasn't haunted. There is a similar report of a steam train passing a campsite near Northwood Halt on the SVR.
I did find this report about Peak Rail though:
Location: Rowsley (Derbyshire) - Rail station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Members of the Society For Paranormal Research claimed to have seen a man dressed in soldier's uniform walking along the track, only to vanish when they went to investigate.
I have also heard stories of the Haddon Tunnel near Bakewell being haunted by the same entity which haunts the hall.
Also when I have been walking up Blencathra near Keswick, Cumbria I swear I heard a train horn coming from the direction of the former Workington - Penrith railway!
I have experienced several things near railways, this being one of them:
I was walking along the Monsal Trail with some friends a few years back near Monsal Head when we heard a high pitch steam train whistle which sounded as though it was coming from about a mile away. We were all left very confused and have experienced several times since and have found no explanation, there are no preserved railways for about 10 miles and there aren't any narrow gauge ones as far as I'm aware.
The Chee Tor tunnels feel a bit eerie sometimes, I have a feeling I came across something about them being haunted somewhere but I can't be sure.
I've heard that the Totley Tunnel is haunted somehwere too.
Goathland station is a bit creepy at night. When we visited in 2013 I can remember being creeped out as at about 9pm we heard a train thunder through, but the signal was at danger and the points were set against it!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sorry to bring up an old post but I was chatting to a volunteer once and he said that he had never heard of the story and as far as he was aware the line wasn't haunted. There is a similar report of a steam train passing a campsite near Northwood Halt on the SVR.
I did find this report about Peak Rail though:
Location: Rowsley (Derbyshire) - Rail station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Members of the Society For Paranormal Research claimed to have seen a man dressed in soldier's uniform walking along the track, only to vanish when they went to investigate.
I have also heard stories of the Haddon Tunnel near Bakewell being haunted by the same entity which haunts the hall.
Also when I have been walking up Blencathra near Keswick, Cumbria I swear I heard a train horn coming from the direction of the former Workington - Penrith railway!
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tsr
Established Member
There is a disused room part-way through Oxted Tunnel called "Rose Cottage". I'm not exactly sure about reported paranormal activity, but it is a weird name, to say the least. The most rational explanation I've found is that a name board was placed there as a joke by a member of a p-way gang, and the name stuck. I wasn't even sure it existed until I found separate confirmation from different members of staff who've been in there.
Oxted Tunnel supposedly does have a partial second (well, original) alignment, from the days when it was meant to be called "Marden Tunnel", before the first construction attempt was abandoned due to flooding and financial/organisational difficulties. The most I have been able to glean is that there is only a very small amount of this alignment left, and most of it was obliterated when the tunnel was completed. It's a very long tunnel heading through a number of the complex natural structures which make up the Surrey Hills, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are untouched cubby-holes, shafts and voids behind some of the surfaces, where tunnelling attempts once failed. And who knows what's left behind!
Oxted Tunnel supposedly does have a partial second (well, original) alignment, from the days when it was meant to be called "Marden Tunnel", before the first construction attempt was abandoned due to flooding and financial/organisational difficulties. The most I have been able to glean is that there is only a very small amount of this alignment left, and most of it was obliterated when the tunnel was completed. It's a very long tunnel heading through a number of the complex natural structures which make up the Surrey Hills, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are untouched cubby-holes, shafts and voids behind some of the surfaces, where tunnelling attempts once failed. And who knows what's left behind!
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