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Weird train-related dreams

Sad Sprinter

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I dreamt not too long ago I was on a Piccadilly Line train that left Kings Cross heading north, and came out of the ground and ran along the ECML up to Alexandra Palace. I was absolutely astonished because, for the life of me, I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed the Piccadilly Line did that before. It was a fantastic journey running through Gasworks and Copenhagen Tunnels and up through Holloway. Sadly, I realised something was wrong when we joined up when the next station after Finsbury Park turned out to be Golders Green...
 
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Tracked

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I was at "Lympney" station, seemingly in the early days of railways, it was a two platform thing on a bit of a curve and a freight train derailed. The train got hit by a train going in the other direction, and shortly afterwards a light engine (a green 0-6-0 steam engine) ran into the back of the freight, closely followed by an express train which did the same thing...
 

LUYMun

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in the early days of railways [...] a freight train derailed. The train got hit by a train going in the other direction, and shortly afterwards a light engine (a green 0-6-0 steam engine) ran into the back of the freight, closely followed by an express train which did the same thing...
Sounds eerily distinct to the Quintinshill rail disaster...
 

lxfe_mxtterz

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I had a really strange one last night...

It starts off non train-related:

I happened to be enjoying a lovely day out in Southampton with the family. I cannot recall the day's previous events, however I do remember entering some grandiose building which appeared to be an art gallery of sorts. Attached onto this was a gift shop, and we spent a good 10 minutes in there browsing for items to buy.

The shop owner - a older, grey-haired woman with a severe hunchback - overheard a family member commenting on the price of some of the items, and began hurling abuse at us, accusing us of being "tight", before saying, "Well, I'm not surprised, you're Welsh!" (Nobody in my family is actually Welsh, so I have no clue where that came from!)

Alas, we hastily left the shop and headed back to the station as it was getting late.

Then it becomes train-related:

By the time we reached Southampton Central, it was dark and raining heavily. We were intending to board the 12-past (can't remember the hour) Southern service to London Bridge via Gatwick Airport, however we arrived at the station just minutes before departure time and had to rush around trying to find the platform.

This "Southampton Central" wasn't anything like the station in reality, however. Every platform was a terminus, and there was a long, continuous line of ticket barriers stretching across the concourse, similar to London Waterloo - except, there wasn't a grand canopy or anything, just a strangely long bus shelter which stretched all the way down the 10 or so platforms, and the left side (opposite the gateline) was completely open and led out to this desolate car park flooded with puddles.

At the end of the main concourse, the "bus shelter" stopped and the remaining four platforms (all surrounded by scaffolding) were out in the pouring rain, with two platforms directly ahead (at a 90° angle from the main platforms) and the other two, very strangely, just opposite, but behind the concourse, where the rest of the platforms were supposed to be.

Anyhow, we were unable to find the platform for the Southern service, and so the other family members decided to head over to the "outside" platforms (detailed above) and board a GWR Class 166. Hanging over the upper half of the doorway was this dark green curtain displaying "This train is for HILSEA". Before I could board (rest of family already onboard), the doors shut and the train crashed right through the buffers and thundered off into the night, not running on any rails at all(?!)

Afterwards, I decided the best thing to do would be to return to the concourse. On my way there, I passed three bears (two brown, one white) fighting in the aforementioned car park. I sat down on one of the seats in the concourse, and somehow the family members (who boarded the GWR train) suddenly reappeared sitting next to me, before accusing me of "not boarding the train because I wanted to make up an excuse for getting the coach home" rather than the fact that it was the complete and utter wrong service!

My recollection goes a little foggy here, but I think somehow we managed to board a train at around 12:50 am - a train which resembled an LNER HST inside. I remember falling asleep and waking up at 6 am - gone was the dreary weather of yesterday, the sun was shining and we were speeding past big, towering trees and modern buildings.

And I believe that's where the dream ended. I certainly can't recall anything past that point...
 

Peter C

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I had a really strange one last night...

It starts off non train-related:

I happened to be enjoying a lovely day out in Southampton with the family. I cannot recall the day's previous events, however I do remember entering some grandiose building which appeared to be an art gallery of sorts. Attached onto this was a gift shop, and we spent a good 10 minutes in there browsing for items to buy.

The shop owner - a older, grey-haired woman with a severe hunchback - overheard a family member commenting on the price of some of the items, and began hurling abuse at us, accusing us of being "tight", before saying, "Well, I'm not surprised, you're Welsh!" (Nobody in my family is actually Welsh, so I have no clue where that came from!)

Alas, we hastily left the shop and headed back to the station as it was getting late.

Then it becomes train-related:

By the time we reached Southampton Central, it was dark and raining heavily. We were intending to board the 12-past (can't remember the hour) Southern service to London Bridge via Gatwick Airport, however we arrived at the station just minutes before departure time and had to rush around trying to find the platform.

This "Southampton Central" wasn't anything like the station in reality, however. Every platform was a terminus, and there was a long, continuous line of ticket barriers stretching across the concourse, similar to London Waterloo - except, there wasn't a grand canopy or anything, there was just a strangely long bus shelter which stretched all the way down the 10 or so platforms, and the left side (opposite the gateline) was completely open and led out to this desolate car park flooded with puddles.

At the end of the main concourse, the "bus shelter" stopped and the remaining four platforms (all surrounded by scaffolding) were out in the pouring rain, with two platforms directly ahead (at a 90° angle from the main platforms) and the other two, very strangely, just opposite, but behind the concourse, where the rest of the platforms were supposed to be.

Anyhow, we were unable to find the platform for the Southern service, and so the other family members decided to head over to the "outside" platforms( detailed above) and board a GWR Class 166. Hanging over the upper half of the doorway was this dark green curtain displaying "This train is for HILSEA". Before I could board (rest of family already onboard), the doors shut and the train crashed right through the buffers and thundered off into the night, not running on any rails at all(?!)

Afterwards, I decided the best thing to do would be to return to the concourse. On my way there, I passed three bears (two brown, one white) fighting in the aforementioned car park. I sat down on one of the seats in the concourse, and somehow the family members (who boarded the GWR train) suddenly reappeared sitting next to me, before accusing me of "not boarding the train because I wanted to make up an excuse for getting the coach home" rather than the fact that it was the complete and utter wrong service!

My recollection goes a little foggy here, but I think somehow we managed to board a train at around 12:50 am - a train which resembled an LNER HST inside. I remember falling asleep and waking up at 6 am - gone was the dreary weather of yesterday, the sun was shining and we were speeding past big, towering trees and modern buildings.

And I believe that's where the dream ended. I certainly can't recall anything past that point...
That makes for a very interesting read - thanks for sharing :D

I had an odd train-related dream the other night too. I was at this station which was supposedly Charlbury, on the Cotswold Line, but it looked nothing like the real one. If anyone's seen the GWR 'Famous Five' adverts on ITV recently, you'll probably know the viaduct scene at the end - this had somehow worked its way into this version of Charlbury, with a station being situated at one end of it (the end the train appears from in the advert). Next to the station was a medium-sized carpark, somehow on the same level as the rails on the viaduct - I assume it was 'supposed' to be raised up on some sort of structure.

The station building was a small building, with a fairly low ceiling. I went inside, and there was a set of SouthEastern ticket machines. There was a long queue through the building to the exit onto the platforms. I walked out onto the platforms, and they were like those at Birmingham Moor Street. The station building led out onto an island platform, with a terminating platform to the left (if the tracks had continued, they'd have gone through the building - to give some sort of description) and one of the two through lines at the station on the right. There was a footbridge over to the other platform.

I think there was some sort of LM Class 170 in the station as I got onto the platform, and it was just leaving. I was on the platform for a short while before a member of staff told me - and a small number of people on the platform with me - that the trains had been cancelled for whatever reason, and there weren't going to be any for a while. By this point, it had started raining, and I decided to leave the station. As I got into the car park, I saw a GWR 800 rolling along the viaduct, heading to the station. I remember thinking I should go back and board, but I decided to go there by car instead. What that says about me as a railway enthusiast, I don't know!

-Peter
 

Tracked

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I had a dream the other night that I was watching an advert for a new series of Doctor Who, can only remember the bit about the train; a 2-car 144/143 - with pantograph up on the 1st car - was heading into what appeared to be a large depot at too fast a speed (it was on a single track in there, and every now and then I got glances of a 4-track mainline outside behind it), the driver of the train was in a panic and was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The run into the depot was taking some time, despite the speed of the train, there were also no other lines/trains actually inside the depot and no machinery of any kind.
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I had one the other night, a friend and I were arriving at Waterloo from a SWR suburban service with the intention to go to St. Pancras to catch a Eurostar service. When I looked over to the central platforms at Waterloo, there were French TGV's and German ICE's departing for mainland Europe. (If only.)
 

SouthEastBuses

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Another weird train dream for me:

I was somewhere on the WCML (I think it was near Bletchley) and I saw a Class 350/2 still in London Midland livery having been converted into bi-mode electro-diesel (just like the Class 319 now renumbered as Class 769). But unlike the 319/769, the 350 retains the original TOPS, and even the original fleet number (it was 350205). Near Bletchley, I spotted it running in diesel mode at around 160 km/h / 100 mph and then suddenly, whilst travelling at almost full speed, the pantograph was raised, whilst going south towards London.

When I saw that 350 again in diesel mode, I noticed that the diesel motor sounds exactly like a class 185 (but with 350 electric traction motors)! Basically the 350 in diesel mode would be a 350 electric motor sound with class 185 diesel engine sounds.

A very weird and unusual train dream.
 

SouthEastBuses

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Another weird train dream for me:

I was somewhere on the WCML (I think it was near Bletchley) and I saw a Class 350/2 still in London Midland livery having been converted into bi-mode electro-diesel (just like the Class 319 now renumbered as Class 769). But unlike the 319/769, the 350 retains the original TOPS, and even the original fleet number (it was 350205). Near Bletchley, I spotted it running in diesel mode at around 160 km/h / 100 mph and then suddenly, whilst travelling at almost full speed, the pantograph was raised, whilst going south towards London.

When I saw that 350 again in diesel mode, I noticed that the diesel motor sounds exactly like a class 185 (but with 350 electric traction motors)! Basically the 350 in diesel mode would be a 350 electric motor sound with class 185 diesel engine sounds.

A very weird and unusual train dream.

correction: 350235

350205 does not exist. LNWR's 350/2s are numbered 350231 to 350267.
 

Scotrail314209

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Walking through Glasgow Central station, all normal.

Until a 380 pulled in and the doors opened, sparking panic as a flock of mad seagulls flew out and started attacking passengers.
 

lxfe_mxtterz

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Had one involving both trains and buses last night...

I was travelling from Exeter to Barnstaple for a day trip with the family. A 3-car GWR Class 158 turned up and we boarded - all normal thus far. However, this journey happened to take 3.5 hours meaning we arrived into Barnstaple at 3:45 pm, giving us 15 minutes before the last train back to Exeter at 4 pm! :|

In addition to this, the line to Barnstaple was strangely scenic for what it is (not that it isn't already scenic). Most of the journey was spent meandering between towering mountains akin to those you find in places like Switzerland.

When we arrived at Barnstaple, the station was identical to the real thing itself, but the area outside the station had been completely redesigned. Surrounded by buildings on both sides, there was a large tarmacked forecourt as you exited the station - almost identical to Inverness.

In the forecourt, there was a group of what must've been at least 50 people. Our short time allowance meant we stayed put, and within the next five minutes, the crowd must've grown to over 100 people.

Alas, it turned out that there was some sort of problem and there were to be no more trains at Barnstaple for the rest of the day - despite the train we arrived in still parked up at the platform.

Tickets were being accepted on local Stagecoach buses back towards Exeter, so we made our way to Barnstaple bus station - which, strangely also looked identical to Inverness bus station, except it had just two stands.

An Exeter-bound bus pulled in - the "9" - and so I boarded. The bus was an Enviro 400 MMC in old Stagecoach livery. It turns out the other members of my family were too slow, and were unable to make the bus before it drove off.

As we pulled out of the bus station, I remember shouting down to the driver to request if he could stop for a moment so that they could board, but the response I got as soon as I said "Excuse me, driver," was "WHAT?!"

I remember telephoning the stranded family members, telling them to take the next bus and I would wait them at home.

After which, I happened to notice a old friend who was also on the same bus, incidentally just four rows in front of me. Now, in real life, this is a friend whom I hadn't spoken to for many years, until the other day when we coincidentally came across each other online.

We got chatting and decided to disembark at a farm shop in the middle of nowhere, where we must've spent an hour or so. By this time, it was already dark, so the bus journey must've been pretty long! During our time there, we witnessed the subsequent "9" service passing the bus stop (the bus which the stranded family members must've been on). This was an Enviro 400 City with a glazed staircase in old Stagecoach livery - do these even exist in real life?

Anyhow, we made our way back to the bus stop and very strangely boarded the same bus we had earlier disembarked.

I don't remember what happened after that, but I was suddenly transported home with my friend nowhere to be seen... it would've been another five hours before the rest of my family arrived back...
 

Calthrop

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An odd one recently -- its rail element, admittedly fairly small. I found myself -- obviously, for purposes of dream, born earlier in the 20th century than I actually was -- in an alternative version of World War II, in which France had not been defeated and occupied by Germany. (I knew -- in the inexplicable way in which one does in dreams -- that this was not World War I: it was the Allies' second "go-round" with Germany, and we were definitely in the 1940s.) I was stationed in a town somewhere in the southern half of France -- doing non-combatant stuff: the fighting was far away. Most of the dream involved my inept and unsuccessful attempts to "hit on" girls (British -- also there on some kind of war work). The town, however, was on a steam-tramway route; which ran through, and had a halt in, town's main square: wherein trams, accordingly, periodically came and went.
 

185143

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I had a wierd one last night. Sat at a table on a 185, I think, and two guys in the vestibule started arguing. Then one of them picked up my Quail maps off the table and starting battering the <expletive that describes what bears do in the woods> out of the other with them...

No idea where that came from!
 

Tracked

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I was in a mineral wagon, converted for passengers, on a train going through some caves. I had a book, the fact that last page of it had fallen out and I'd found it below my chair was of some significance that I can't now remember. I was asked if I wanted to get out before, or at, Sheffield station (the one in the cave, obviously) and was told the smells at them were different, the one at Sheffield station not being as bad ...
 

flitwickbeds

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Just woken up from the weirdest dream!

I was at Doncaster Station with my young son. No idea how I know it was Doncaster, but it definitely was. It was on stilts over the sea, like a pier. So, definitely not Doncaster!

We were waiting for a very late train, which was finally announced and we saw come in - as one coach (rather than then 10 coaches it was announced to be!). We ran all the way down the end of the platform to catch it. But was stopped by... a ladies tennis being played. Wimbledon style, a crowd, TV cameras, the works. The train tracks had been embedded into the court, so the trains were travelling right through the tennis game. The net even had gaps in it to allow trains to pass, and the players had to leap over the tracks when running for the shot!

Our train was parked at the other end of the court, so we had to walk through the game to board, dodging tennis balls being played.

I've never even been anywhere near Doncaster, nor watched a tennis match in a stadium!

(Mods - wasn't sure which forum this belonged in, please move if inappropriate!)
 

Chris217

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Had dreamt I was waiting at a station and a freight train went through and it had no locomotive haulng it. Just a brake van at each end.
It seemed to run on a different gauge too. Going back and fore at regular intervals.
 

SouthEastBuses

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Last night I had a weird dream of myself seeing a Thameslink 700 running on the GWML between Reading and Twyford.
 
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Had a dream the other day and there was a narrow gauge single-car electric unit running on third-rail. It
had a drivers cab on one end only, and the design was somewhat of a German type with the old 1960s
Panorama coach lookalike.

It was in a forest somewhere with a piece of Balloch, Stirling University and German Forest mixed in one
location!

In the exact same dream, I knew that there was also a two-car version of the same type of train, it is a
diesel multiple unit and runs on standard-gauge, on another line not far from the narrow gauge third-rail
line.
 

SouthEastBuses

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Another weird dream, I had, but this was from ages ago, was spotting a Southern Class 171 and 377 at Brading station on the Island Line (Isle of Wight).
The Class 171 was going to Shanklin, whilst the 377 was going to Ryde Pier Head.
 

LSWR Cavalier

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I just dreamed I got a West Midlands Explorer ticket, must have fallen asleep on the train, I woke up as it passed Caersws on the avoiding line, a big balloon curve south of the station, then I found myself in Llandudno, there were some steps going down, went to a charity bookshop, the very old woman at the till was talking about visiting her father. I realised I had to buy a single ticket to Shrewsbury.

Then I woke up. I like to guess the time when I wake up. 7:23? 7:23!
 

Tracked

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I was walking down Cleveland Street (Doncaster) and there was a single track normal sized railway and single track narrow gauge, somewhere the narrow gauge railway went into the centre of the normal gauge, but when they went towards the entrance to Doncaster station they went all over the place ...
 

Calthrop

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Railway-enthusiasm-related, even if not strictly train-related. Dreamt that I'd been visiting Germany, for railway-hobby purposes, with a long-standing fellow-enthusiast friend with whom I have done many rail-related trips and ventures in the past. He was showing me his splendidly intricately-detailed rail map of Germany, with lines on which he had travelled, inked-in in red (which was odd, because in real life this chap is very much not a line-basher; he's not far short of "a photographer first, last, and only"). We were returning to Britain by sea: doing it a very long way round, boarding the ship at Greifswald by the Baltic coast (consulting the atlas, this town is a very little way inland, up a river -- suppose it might, at a push, serve as a port). Unfortunately, shortly after getting on board, friend and I had a bad falling-out. He's tidy, I am untidy (this is true in real life); he was, without asking permission, hanging up various gear of mine from hooks -- this offended me, and things got unpleasant -- particularly so, with us cooped up on a ship for a long voyage.
 

185143

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Had a very bizzare dream the other night!

I was in a car with a family member and they were driving along platform 9 at Manchester Piccadilly. There was major flooding and for some reason they decided to drive off the platform and float to wherever we were going.

This didn't go well and we drifted over to platform 13, where there was a crowd of passengers stood waiting, oblivious to the flooding. Then a pair of 185s appeared, completely unfazed by the floodwater. We got out of the car and scrambled onto the platform, the train being driven by someone who does (or at least, did) videos of a driver's eye view. I made a mental note to apologise to him next time I saw him. One of the Northern platform staff went to make an emergency call to the signaller but the train stopped in time.

No idea what that was all about! :D
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I had a couple of odd dreams again recently.

On one, I was on a SeaLink Ferry coming back from Boulogne to Dover, when the ship arrived, all the quays were fully occupied, so we had to moor along side another ship and climb across from one boat to another to get off, a bit like happens sometimes on Rhine cruises and similar. Then I think we just walked along the quayside and clambered up on to a green electric slam door train as there were no platforms!

The other one was that I was coming from Sheerness on Sea to London, a journey which I used to do alot, had family there, we had to change a Sittingbourne, but the connection was only 2 minutes and they would not hold the onward train to London, so there was a frantic rush over the footbridge, it was really crowded, also the station at Sittingbourne was much larger than it really is and very modern!

!!
 

Tracked

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I got home on the train, and my local station appeared to now be on the coast, the line running along the flood bank there. The station was fairly remote, no houses around it and rather than a bridge on the station you could just walk across the line. After crossing the line a few people I know were walking out from a path that followed the line round the coast.
 
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Had one last night. I was at Taunton station waiting for a train to London. I saw a GWR 150 approaching the opposite platform, and I looked to the right and saw my train to London approaching. Very strangely this was a silver EMU, I believe the same kind of train you'd find on the New York subway. This appeared to be normal though as I wasn't surprised in the dream.

I then noticed there was an old man crossing the tracks over to my platform. I was panicking as both the trains were approaching quickly and only a few seconds away from him. I was also baffled that everyone else on the platform had seemingly either not noticed him or didn't care.

He narrowly dodged the Class 150 as it arrived, and calmly and nonchalantly stepped over onto the second track. My heart sank though as I realised that there would be no way he could scramble up the platform before the second train arrived. I flinched and looked away fearing the worst, but I heard no sound of an impact or screams or anything like that. I looked back and saw that the man was now miraculously on the platform waiting to board the train!

I believe this dream was derived from a real life memory I have from the last time I was at Taunton, where I saw someone cross the tracks, however it was very different in real life. The man was a twenty- something wearing a hoodie, and he quickly dashed across the tracks when there were no trains in sight. The staff rightly gave him a very stern warning when they saw what he did as well. To this date it's the only time I've seen someone trespass on the railways, and I hope it'll be the only time.
 

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