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Railway ghosts

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Redhilllink

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Redhill
Having read the other railway ghosts thread I would like to share something that happened to me 20 odd years ago, I would be interested if anyone had any more information:

On a particularly cold And frosty winters night I was working a ballast train in a block on the Mid Sussex line, I had a pair of Class 37’s which I had worked down from Three Bridges yard to the worksite, after dropping the required ballast I was instructed to pull up to the boards, and await for the block man to drop them before proceeding.

I pulling up short of the boards, and then settled down pouring a nice warm cup of tea from my flask and tucking into some hot-cross buns my wife had kindly packed me. I noticed a light flicking outside so dropped the window to see a chap wandering around, assuming he was the blockman I called over to him to jump up in the warm cab away from the cold (Class 37’s are far from comfortable but the heaters are pretty good if they are working) as he climbed up I noticed he was wearing an old BR donkey jacket and one of the original issue BR high vis vests from the 1980’s which I thought was a little strange as no one had worn those for years and was carrying an original style bardic hand lamp. As he settled into the second mans seat I offered him a cup of tea which he accepted and then we got chatting, he had a strong Scottish accent which made a few words difficult to understand. We chatted for a few minutes then I asked him about dropping the boards to get me away, at that moment he seemed to get upset and left the cab quite abruptly. Perplexed I dropped the cab window again to see where he had gone but there was no sign of him.

As it was freezing outside I wasn’t going to investigate so stayed put in the warm to wait for his return. About 25 minutes later I saw a van pull up near by an access gate and 2 figures get out dressed in the more familiar full orange and hard hats. They made their way down to me and explained they were the block-men and were here to drop the boards. I told them I had their mate up here a few minutes ago but he left in a hurry. They looked at me strangely and told me no one else was out here working tonight, I asked again giving a description and they thought I was having them on. I distinctly remember getting a chill down my spine as I realised the chap I had in my cab was not supposed to be there. They dropped the boards and I made my way out the block towards Littlehampton where I was relieved by another driver.

I made some enquires and whilst I never found anything concrete a retired colleague recalled a story of a track worker being killed by a engineers train on the Mid Sussex Line in the early 80’s. Could it have been him up in the cab with me that night? I will never know but it is certainly a night I will never forget.
 
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Blinkbonny

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16 Mar 2018
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Goodness me! That's certainly a change from the usual "strange shape in the distance" that these encounters often amount to!
 

ChiefPlanner

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6 Sep 2011
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Herts
A much missed work mate started as a young man as a porter at Litchfield Trent Valley in the 1950's , he did all the cleaning work , and his first task was to clean and light the waiting room fires around 0630 in the gloom of a winter morning. There was maybe one gas light on at that time.

So whilst raking the ashes out and no doubt wondering why he had taken the menial job , he had a distinct feeling of being watched as he crouched down , and felt a prescence. Turned out to be a frock coated Victorian gent , with a top hat or similar standing over him as he slaved away.

He beat a retreat and came back with the Station Manager maybe an hour later , -in daylight (leaving the fire to someone else to deal with) , only to be jocularly told it was old so and so, who always made his "prescence" known to new members of staff , and was quite commonplace.
 

WombleGuard

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16 Dec 2019
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192
Location
London
Inspired by an encounter of one my friends had recently at a South of England depot....and the fact its almost Halloween. Any railway ghost lore?
 

yorksrob

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38,818
Location
Yorks
What's the encounter at the depot then ?

I was aware that Addiscombe supposedly had a ghost, but that depot's long since gone.
 

WombleGuard

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16 Dec 2019
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Setting up commercial equipment and alone in the depot. Turns around to say hello to someone they are aware of in the room. Sees a man with a handlebar moustache, old style uniform with cap, pocket watch on chain and thumbs in waistcoat pockets. Man smiles at my pal and slowly fades away. I can't stress enough how un-my friend this is, they are so totally straight down the line. . They were utterly bemused.
 

yorksrob

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Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
Setting up commercial equipment and alone in the depot. Turns around to say hello to someone they are aware of in the room. Sees a man with a handlebar moustache, old style uniform with cap, pocket watch on chain and thumbs in waistcoat pockets. Man smiles at my pal and slowly fades away. I can't stress enough how un-my friend this is, they are so totally straight down the line. . They were utterly bemused.

That's interesting.

There was a good thread on gosts on here a few years ago that you might enjoy.
 

Scott M

Member
Joined
14 Aug 2014
Messages
395
Having read the other railway ghosts thread I would like to share something that happened to me 20 odd years ago, I would be interested if anyone had any more information:

On a particularly cold And frosty winters night I was working a ballast train in a block on the Mid Sussex line, I had a pair of Class 37’s which I had worked down from Three Bridges yard to the worksite, after dropping the required ballast I was instructed to pull up to the boards, and await for the block man to drop them before proceeding.

I pulling up short of the boards, and then settled down pouring a nice warm cup of tea from my flask and tucking into some hot-cross buns my wife had kindly packed me. I noticed a light flicking outside so dropped the window to see a chap wandering around, assuming he was the blockman I called over to him to jump up in the warm cab away from the cold (Class 37’s are far from comfortable but the heaters are pretty good if they are working) as he climbed up I noticed he was wearing an old BR donkey jacket and one of the original issue BR high vis vests from the 1980’s which I thought was a little strange as no one had worn those for years and was carrying an original style bardic hand lamp. As he settled into the second mans seat I offered him a cup of tea which he accepted and then we got chatting, he had a strong Scottish accent which made a few words difficult to understand. We chatted for a few minutes then I asked him about dropping the boards to get me away, at that moment he seemed to get upset and left the cab quite abruptly. Perplexed I dropped the cab window again to see where he had gone but there was no sign of him.

As it was freezing outside I wasn’t going to investigate so stayed put in the warm to wait for his return. About 25 minutes later I saw a van pull up near by an access gate and 2 figures get out dressed in the more familiar full orange and hard hats. They made their way down to me and explained they were the block-men and were here to drop the boards. I told them I had their mate up here a few minutes ago but he left in a hurry. They looked at me strangely and told me no one else was out here working tonight, I asked again giving a description and they thought I was having them on. I distinctly remember getting a chill down my spine as I realised the chap I had in my cab was not supposed to be there. They dropped the boards and I made my way out the block towards Littlehampton where I was relieved by another driver.

I made some enquires and whilst I never found anything concrete a retired colleague recalled a story of a track worker being killed by a engineers train on the Mid Sussex Line in the early 80’s. Could it have been him up in the cab with me that night? I will never know but it is certainly a night I will never forget.
Either a ghost or a crazed trainspotter wearing old BR clothes to get onto the lines.
 

bill1953

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Joined
18 Oct 2020
Messages
32
Location
WIRRAL
Not sure if this is a ghost story, time slip story or anything else. In 1967 I was walking with a school friend along what was known as The New Promenade’ at New Brighton. This was the result of a project in the late 1930s to provide work for the unemployed by building a huge concrete sea wall and reclaiming some land. There are what would once have been sea washed sandstone rock outcrops to one side called the Red and Yellow Noses and adjacent to them some common scrub land at the top of which runs the railway from New Brighton to Liverpool Loop Line . Steam trains on British Railways were in their last year of life then of course and none had run on this line since it was electrified in 1938. We were therefore both quite surprised and pleased to see a black steam engine pulling three maroon coaches and heading towards New Brighton. We raced up towards the station which was a steep climb up a hill. When we arrived panting we asked the porter was the steam train a ‘special’?. He looked puzzled and pointed to an electric train which had not long arrived saying that was the only train to have pulled in. At that time these trains were dark green in colour. He laughed and walked away. We were mystified and thought maybe he was pulling our legs but a check of the platforms and track held no trace of any steam train.It was then that we thought tthat although we had clearly seen the train and the steam puffing out of the engine ,we had not heard any sound at all. Had I been alone I think I would have doubted my own eyesight but we both witnessed it. Was it that the energy of the electric train had somehow created a window to the past? I don't know but would be interested to hear of anything similar.
 
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