Trivia: Furthest station away from their intended destination that you have seen someone accidentally end up at.

[shyanthony]

About a decade ago, I had a morning meeting in Manchester, of which I had been stressing about the night before. Fortunately, it went well and I decided that I'd have time to have a little nap at home in Warwickshire before heading to work in Birmingham that evening.

I caught the next XC service and drifted off shortly after departure.
I remember waking up shortly before Wolverhampton and then drifted back off.

Unfortunately, I found myself waking up departing Newton Abbot.

My boss wasn't impressed when I called to explain but he saw the funny side and mocked me for the following months after.

The worst thing was getting back to Birmingham just before midnight, wide awake, hungry and my wallet £45 lighter due to having to get a taxi to my village.

Never happened (that badly) since.

 

[DarloRich]

I may have once got on the wrong train at Euston and ended up at Warrington BQ rather than MKC.

 

[RichJF]

My dad. Supposed to get off at Redhill, ended up waking up at Preston Park!

 

[pemma]

How hard would it have been to confuse “Northwich” with “Norwich” with it being the destination of the EMR service he could have got to Cambridge on, changing at Ely?

Possibly if you're on a platform where a diesel train is stopped with the engine running and you say to a member of staff "Is this the Norwich train?", they might mishear Norwich as Northwich.

 

[sw1ller]

Rather confused looking young woman at Holyhead, got on at Shrewsbury for Telford. I still can’t work out how she did it. Luckily the train she arrived on was going right back to Birmingham.

 

[LowLevel]

I was kicking out my train at Liverpool Lime Street one afternoon and an American gentleman was sat reading a book.

I politely told him that he needed to get off as we were in Liverpool and he said "this ain't Liverpool Street!".

Luckily for him he had only boarded in Manchester (having made the usual assumption regarding Liverpool Lime Street vs Liverpool Street) and the Virgin staff were very helpful in passing him on the next train to Euston.

Far worse than that though was a Chinese student years ago when I was route learning on a train, again to Liverpool. The guard (an elderly gent, one of the more senior staff at the depot) had actually checked his ticket and in his words must have just been on bloody auto pilot because this lad was still sat there at Liverpool - on enquiring further he actually wanted to travel to Norwich and had boarded the wrong train at Nottingham - this was long before 158s had screens in carriages.

There were engineering works at that time so the service was split at Nottingham with a 50 minute change so it meant he was nearly 6.5 hours late by the time he arrived into Norwich.

Also had a booking office cock up which luckily the chap in question was savvy enough not to be mislead by - he had bought a ticket, he thought to Norwich, at Glasgow Central and they'd sold him one to Northwich. He said he thought it was a bit cheap and happily proferred some money to excess it to the fare he had been expecting anyway and luckily had ignored the printed itenary they gave him telling him to change at Stockport.

 

[pemma]

Rather confused looking young woman at Holyhead, got on at Shrewsbury for Telford. I still can’t work out how she did it. Luckily the train she arrived on was going right back to Birmingham.

How big did she think the county of Shropshire was?

 

[Class800]

My biggest mistake was boarding a train in the opposite direction at a station where the up and down lines are located one above the other (same horizontal location, different floors).

I was at Tsing Yi wanting a train to Hong Kong. The up and down platforms look identical except the signage and I had to enter a shopping centre and turned a few times to travel on escalators to the platform, so I lost my sense of absolute bearing at that station. I boarded a train and it started, and afterwards I saw it travelling on the Tsing Ma Bridge towards Tung Chung! And that's a long way (9 km) to the next station before I can turn myself back!

I mostly rely on geographical directions, and in unfamiliar areas, maps for finding my way, and I frequently lose my way when I'm in big indoor shopping centres when there are no external things to reference. I have also heard this is common among orienteers as well.

I did that at East Croydon once and ended up at Gatwick not London Bridge!

 

[507020]

How big did she think the county of Shropshire was?

I doubt she knew of the county of Shropshire at all, or the location of the Welsh border. Everyone who manages to be overcarried consciously clearly has no concept of the basic geography of this country.

The way to avoid confusing major termini e.g. Lime Street with Liverpool Street is just to know which city they’re in and omit it from the name of the station every time.

 

[Gloster]

I suspect that most of the users of this forum have a better knowledge of British geography, at least in the sense of where settlements are, than most of the population. Although there are only limited uses for one’s knowledge of where Reddish or Ripple Lane is.

 

[nag67]

My son was getting the Wigan to Crewe train (destination Euston via BHM), but everything was late and the earlier Wigan to Euston (last stop Warrington BQ) arrived at his train's time. Of course he didn't realise until after Warrington, so he had to get the last train north out of Euston. I had to drive Derby to Stafford to intercept him as the last connection at Crewe would have been long gone.

 

[Class800]

I suspect that most of the users of this forum have a better knowledge of British geography, at least in the sense of where settlements are, than most of the population. Although there are only limited uses for one’s knowledge of where Reddish or Ripple Lane is.

Reddish vs Redditch is a major issue for many

 

[pemma]

The way to avoid confusing major termini e.g. Lime Street with Liverpool Street is just to know which city they’re in and omit it from the name of the station every time.

Or if it has Road, Street, Avenue etc. in the name, presume the word before that is the name of the street. I've never heard anyone say Oxford Road is a stupid name for a station in Manchester because it's confusing for people wanting to go to Oxford. And I've certainly not heard anyone say they think there's a city called Lime.

 

[GW43125]

I'm sure many a passenger got on the 0730 off New Street wanting Coventry, and "all trains stop at Coventry", ending up in London.

A friend once managed to fall asleep on a train into Liverpool, and woke up two stations further from Liverpool than he was when he started!

 

[507020]

I suspect that most of the users of this forum have a better knowledge of British geography, at least in the sense of where settlements are, than most of the population. Although there are only limited uses for one’s knowledge of where Reddish or Ripple Lane is.

There is a particular use for knowledge of the location of Reddish most Saturday mornings!

Reddish vs Redditch is a major issue for many

But there is no station called Reddish. There is Reddish North and Reddish South, so if they ask for the station out of the 3 which doesn’t have a compass point they should end up on the Cross-City line. Also the staff at the ticket office should realise something is up if anyone asks for Reddish South!

Or if it has Road, Street, Avenue etc. in the name, presume the word before that is the name of the street. I've never heard anyone say Oxford Road is a stupid name for a station in Manchester because it's confusing for people wanting to go to Oxford. And I've certainly not heard anyone say they think there's a city called Lime.

The only other station beginning with Lime is Limehouse, the C2C-DLR interchange. I’ve never understood the need for what is simply Preston on the WCML where all trains do stop to be “Preston (Lancs)” to differentiate it from “Preston Road” or “Preston Park” and definitely not “Long Preston”

 

[MadMac]

Reddish vs Redditch is a major issue for many

Many years ago, I worked in a distribution warehouse near Glasgow: one night, we were loading a van for the Ayr area, and among the packages was one which had been out for delivery the previous day and had come back as “Unable to locate address”. Turned out that everyone who had seen it previously was unaware that there was a place called Prestwich in the Manchester area and thought it was a typo for Prestwick. When I pointed this out, the foreman proceeded to get an old AA book out and confirmed what I told them. From then on, anything like that was referred to me!

 

[paul1609]

I've got two (unfortunately!)


Other time I was heading back from Kenilworth Road, aiming for Pevensey and Westham. I sat in the wrong portion of the Ore train deliberately because it was less busy, knowing I'd have plenty of time to move when the train divided at Haywards Heath. Luckily some kind person woke me up when the majority of the train cleared out at Hove, otherwise I could've ended up in Littlehampton.

Ive done the reverse aiming for Littlehampton and got on the Eastbourne section of the last train at Victoria expecting to move back before Haywards Heath, woken up by the curve as the train pulled out of Lewes. Had no money for a taxi so spent the night in the waiting shelter at Berwick.
Luckily had a sleeping bag with me and slept so well I was woken up by the level crossing barriers going down for the first train to Brighton!

 

[Ayman Ilham]

Some years ago, the "Sunday Post" related the tale of a fellow who hopped on a train at Waverley around 5 PM to get to Haymarket and avoid the traffic jam on Princes Street: unfortunately for him, he chose the one train a day that DIDN'T stop at Haymarket and ended up in Dundee. His four minute journey ended up taking 3 1/2 hours as the train back stopped at every station in Fife.

Next time he'll probably just walk

 

[miklcct]

Some years ago, the "Sunday Post" related the tale of a fellow who hopped on a train at Waverley around 5 PM to get to Haymarket and avoid the traffic jam on Princes Street: unfortunately for him, he chose the one train a day that DIDN'T stop at Haymarket and ended up in Dundee. His four minute journey ended up taking 3 1/2 hours as the train back stopped at every station in Fife.

This shows how confusing the information is. All but sleepers and one other train in the morning (XC) from Edinburgh stop at Haymarket (as searched on Realtime Trains), therefore it's a reasonable expectation that I can board any train going west and alight at Haymarket.

 

[MadMac]

Next time he'll probably just walk

File under "It seemed like a good idea at the time".....

 

[Parallel]

I've been on a Waterloo-Bristol SWT service when a lady asked the guard when the train would be arriving at Salisbury, on approach to Bath Spa. The guard said we'd stopped there an hour ago! The next train from Bath to Salisbury was a 50 minute wait and the lady then tried giving him grief as she was now late for her appointment!

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Two more from me - albeit witnessed as opposed to endured:

On a train from Penzance going east, two ladies got on; one was travelling, the other one wasn't but had got on to see that she was okay. Thy started talking, and then realised that the doors had closed and the train was moving. Cue panic from the non-travelling lady who, I remember, had left her car unlocked in the car park outside the station! She got off at St Erth and, I presume, got the next train back to Penzance ... I never knew what happened to the car.

On the topic of "every train stops at ... " in the case, it's trains from Cardiff Central to London, and the station in question is Newport. Yes, every train does stop there ... except that in the 1980's, there was a FO non-stop service direct to Paddington just before the normal stopper. I often used to see people rushing to get on the non-stopping train and being intercepted by platform staff who asked them whether they wanted to go to Newport. I'm sure that they missed some, though, so I don't know where they ended up!

 

[FtoE]

Once saw a couple of teenage girls boarding a train at Haymarket platform 4 wanting some destination on the Bathgate/Airdrie line towards Glasgow Queen Street.

Unfortunately for them, it was the TPE service for Manchester Airport, and the next station was Lockerbie!

I wonder if the “1st train, 2nd train, 3rd train” signs used on busy platforms threw them? If you’re not used to it or just glance at them it can be easy done (if you don’t know the different liveries)

 

[Furryanimal]

I was once returning to Newport from Richmond having changed at Reading.
As we approached Newport the couple sat opposite me asked what time we got to Richmond.
They had somehow boarded the Swansea train on platform 4 rather than the Waterloo train on 4A!
Failed to notice stopping at Swindon and Bristol Parkway or that the train they got on was an Intercity125!

Two more from me - albeit witnessed as opposed to endured:

On a train from Penzance going east, two ladies got on; one was travelling, the other one wasn't but had got on to see that she was okay. Thy started talking, and then realised that the doors had closed and the train was moving. Cue panic from the non-travelling lady who, I remember, had left her car unlocked in the car park outside the station! She got off at St Erth and, I presume, got the next train back to Penzance ... I never knew what happened to the car.

On the topic of "every train stops at ... " in the case, it's trains from Cardiff Central to London, and the station in question is Newport. Yes, every train does stop there ... except that in the 1980's, there was a FO non-stop service direct to Paddington just before the normal stopper. I often used to see people rushing to get on the non-stopping train and being intercepted by platform staff who asked them whether they wanted to go to Newport. I'm sure that they missed some, though, so I don't know where they ended up!

A friend did that once!

 

[miklcct]

I was once returning to Newport from Richmond having changed at Reading.
As we approached Newport the couple sat opposite me asked what time we got to Richmond.
They had somehow boarded the Swansea train on platform 4 rather than the Waterloo train on 4A!
Failed to notice stopping at Swindon and Bristol Parkway or that the train they got on was an Intercity125!

Isn't platform 4A the same as platform 4 at Reading? They are the same at Southampton!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wonder if the “1st train, 2nd train, 3rd train” signs used on busy platforms threw them? If you’re not used to it or just glance at them it can be easy done (if you don’t know the different liveries)

Almost certainly. Usually there are other departures from platform 4 at Haymarket within just a few minutes either side of the TPE departure for Manchester Airport.

 

[Rescars]

Has anyone ever gone down the ramp to platforms 1, 2 and 3 at Euston, turned left and boarded the train at platform 3, thinking it was platform 2, as the train over on the right looked like it must be on platform 1 (forgetting that platform 1 was hidden away still further over to the right)? I have - and but for a very prompt on-train annoucement would have ended up at Manchester rather than Carlisle (where I was off to meet, amongst others, the granddaughter of one of the last signalmen at Riccarton Junction). It would have taken long enough to correct an error like Manchester / Carlisle. Back in the day I wonder how long it would have taken to make good a missed connection to Riccarton Junction though. You certainly couldn't have caught a cab to get around that problem, seeing there was no road access! ☺

 

[Stephen1001]

Isn't platform 4A the same as platform 4 at Reading? They are the same at Southampton!

Would guess this story predates the Reading remodelling a few years ago - the old 4 is now 7 and the old 4A is now 4.

 

[Lemmy99uk]

I think I may have recounted this in a previous thread, but back in 1980 I was travelling on a 7 day Scottish rover.

I caught an overnight from Perth with the intention of getting off at Carlisle.

Predictably, I found an empty MK1 compartment, closed my eyes, woke up at Euston!

I managed to blag my way back home to Birmingham for a shower and then returned to the Scottish region same day.

 

[plugwash]

I doubt she knew of the county of Shropshire at all, or the location of the Welsh border. Everyone who manages to be overcarried consciously clearly has no concept of the basic geography of this country.

Something I find happens to me is I get on a train, relax and stop concentrating on where i'm going and by the time I realise I need to get off it's too late and i'm stuck on the train to wherever it is going to stop next. Sometimes that can be quite some distance away.

I was once trying to go from Picadilly to Oxford Road and ended up a fair chunk of the way to liverpool on a TPE train. Other times I've ended up at Macclesfield or Wilmslow when intending to go to stockport. I've often worried that one day I'll end up in Milton Keynes or even London by mistake after missing Stockport.