English Train Adventure

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CrazyTrain

Train Attendant
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
Messages
28
Location
New Orleans
While I'm waiting for time to pass and my first overnight trip to commence, I thought I'd share my unforgettable and completely humorous (though it wasn't at the time) adventure with the UK rail system.

In 2010, I spent two weeks visiting friends in England. I flew over and spent several days with a friend in Lancaster then a mutual friend of ours came to stay two days and I returned with him to spend 5 nights in Gloucester. He was gracious enough to pay for my train fare both ways, so I wasn't going to argue about departing times. The return ticket left in the early evening, around 6 PM or so. We'd had a full day, the day of my departure so once I was safely settled on the Virgin Train (https://www.virgintrains.co.uk), I fell asleep. I would wake each time we came to a station to make sure it wasn't the one I needed, then fell back asleep. At some random point on the line, we came to a stop when there was no station. To this day I have no idea why we stopped and don't recall exactly how long we were stopped for, but eventually we continued the journey. I was somewhat nervous about this unexpected and unexplained delay as I had to switch trains in a city called Preston, roughly an hour from Lancaster. We seemed to be making good time, though, so I didn't completely freak out.

By the time we reached Preston, however, I disembarked to a dark station. As you might imagine, the panic started to set in. I knew no one in Preston and didn't have a clue where a hotel might be. However, I soon spotted a group of people milling about and headed in their direction to possibly ask for help in the form of directions to a hotel. No sooner had I approached the circle of travelers, than I was asked if I had also missed a connecting train. I admitted that I had and noticed that the guy and one other in the group were employees of Virgin Trains. The guy who asked about my missed connection assured me that the company would get me to where I was going. This in the form of a taxi.

The small group was divided into three separate groups, by destination and after a while three taxis arrived to take us on. The two Virgin employees were actually heading to Lancaster, too, as that was their home base, so we three got a taxi from Preston to Lancaster. While we were on our way, one of them offered the use of his mobile phone to get in touch with my friend to explain I would be very late arriving to the Lancaster station.

Looking back on the whole adventure, I find it a bit amusing. At the time, though, I was terrified. If there hadn't been any help from the company, my biggest concern would have been finding someone who could direct me to a hotel.
 
The station at Preston creates the impression that it's just a junction station in the middle of nowhere. It can feel like a gloomy ghost station even at the best of times. But actually it isn't. Preston is a proper sizeable town with a downtown area. You wpouldn't ahve had trouble finding a hotel there. .
 
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My first and only free taxi ride, paid by the train service, was from London, all the way to Harwich, to catch the ferry boat to Holland.

I had a "rail and sail" combined ticket, all the overhead electric wires became damaged just before my train was to depart from Liverpool Street, and I was lucky to be offered a taxi. Made the ferry with just a few minutes to spare!

I shared the taxi with Eleanor Bron, a well known actress, so that was fun.

One problem that does arise here in the UK is that there are now several different companies running trains. A delay to one train is no guarantee that you will receive any help or even information from a competing train company employee.

Ed.
 
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One problem that does arise here in the UK is that there are now several different companies running trains. A delay to one train is no guarantee that you will receive any help or even information from a competing train company employee.

Ed.
Don't you love privatisation?
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