Every week or so I get a train from Glasgow Central to Paisley, usually about 6.00 pm - 6.30 pm. I notice about 1-2 minutes before the train leaves there are people running along the platform to catch it, but they don't get into the rearmost coach, but run along much of the length of the 6-7 coach train, about 100 yards or so. Must be psychology behind it , but can't figure it out. Another mystery of the Universe. The coaches are all connected so it's not a toilet thing and there's no buffet car (alas). Answers on a postcard please.
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/54/thumb_8093.jpg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=8093)
I do this sometimes at London Waterloo. It is quicker to get to the front of the train, where there are likely to be more free seats, by running along the platform then by fighting your way past people standing in the aisles, people standing in the aisles when taking their coats off or putting bags in the racks. Sometimes the refreshment trolley has to be navigated as are people sitting on the floor.
Every second counts in the battle to get a seat :)
I'm really interested in the psychology of catching a train.
Frequently I catch trains to/from Cornwall from various locations. Often, eg Bristol TM, the train I'm catching will be very busy. 90% of people all congregate at a point where the centre 4 or so coaches will pull in. Those coaches will be absolutely crammed.
I always walk to one end or the other and find the coaches (not 1st class) reasonably empty.
If I ten walk through the train to the buffet car, I find the centre coaches bulging to capacity with people standing but still the end carriages are realatively quiet !
Do others experience this ?
Also, carriages nearest the entrance tend to fill up, so in the last minutes or so before departure they are rammed full. You have to leg it down the platform to get through the doors.
The middle lot tend to be because that's where (most) bridges release the hoarde onto the platform ...
And yes, I head to one or other end for those trains ! Much easier.
At Waterloo you also sometimes have to get the right bit of the train otherwise you've got to mess around at Salisbury when it splits.
Likewise with some of the KX to Cambridge trains that split at Letchworth :)
Paul
Thanks for all answers, no trolley on rain, train doesn't split. no advantage to trying to be in a portion of the train for
getting off at a convenient part of the arrival platform if you miss the train! If there are seats further along you can always walk through the train. Mystery remains.
Regarding splitting trains, nothing worse than some announcement saying last four coaches for West Bumstead as the
train arrives at 60 mph and you try and count the number of coaches which are at the front and back.
Yes, Paul, I did experience that on my trip from KX to Cambridge on my adventure. Luckily it was Sun arvo and not busy, plus I must not have been all that jetlagged as I worked it out!
People tend to fill a train from the closest possible point, so the train tends to fill up from one end first.
Those in the know attempt to bypass the crush of bodies and use the platform to get to a less crushed part of the train.
I used to travel from Kings Cross to Kings Lynn every Friday and managed to arrange my working hours to avoid most of the manic crush. Also, I tried to leave myself plenty of time to get a cup of tea before boarding. Nothing worse than trying to rush with a tray of hot drinks and tripping over....................
The answers so far seem to me, who last caught a train in 1970, too rationalized - so as to make it seem as though there is some thought out logic behind it.
I suggest it is driven by the same subconscious psyche that makes people overtake just one more car before the first cone on a 10 mile long motorway contraflow. :unimpressed:
Thanks for all replies, still not any clearer ,next time I see it happen I'll rugby tackle the running passenger and ask
him/her why they're doing it. :D
They are probably running down the platform to avoid people who rugby tackle them :hmmm:
I have to say that I am disappointed in the scarcity of replies on the backs of postcards though :(
Sorry, Leo - I tried to telex my reply :-[
I really did witness a passenger at Lewisham asking why the more empty coaches at the rear were not put on the front of the London train ??? ???
When I was a commuter (Henley-Twyford-London), everyone had "their" seat, and therefore "their" waiting spot on the platform at Twyford. It was less well organised in the evenings because of randoms (tourists, shoppers etc.).
A cornucopia of answers !
Quote from: tadpole on November 12, 2013, 04:56:20 PM
When I was a commuter (Henley-Twyford-London), everyone had "their" seat, and therefore "their" waiting spot on the platform at Twyford. It was less well organised in the evenings because of randoms (tourists, shoppers etc.).
When I pull into Twyford it's so funny to watch the commuters, looking at each other, standing in the same spot every day, when someone new turns up and you can see them thinking " you can't stand there, that's Mr Brown Coats spot! " really funny watching the confusion when I stop 2 ft from the mark, and they miss the door...
Also at Ealing Broadway, Southall and Hayes & Harlington, you are running late coz of the number of passengers, but they still insist on walking along the outside of the train instead of getting on... That's so annoying when your trying to make up time.
Cheers, Timmo
Whenever I get the train from Chester to Euston I glance ahead at how busy the coaches are and often end up in the quiet coach as you're pretty much guaranteed a seat for some strange reason!
Used to be the same years ago when I lived in Tyneside and got trains from/to Newcastle.
Only back then it was the smoking coach and I don't smoke but I always got a seat! :laugh:
I'm sure there is a logic to the OP's question but I've no idea what it is!
The thing that always got me, was the entrance/exit to Fenchurch Street Station, and I have not noticed it to the same extent at any of the other stations I have used over the years, was the crowds of people rushing off the trains in the morning, pushing and shoving to get outside, that constant rush and busstle, that is so well know in the City. The crowds then stop, en mass, and light up cigerettes and inhale them in one almighty breath.
They then rush off trying the impossible task of lighting a second ciggy, talking on their mobile phone and trying to flag down a black cab, with a copy of the Stannard tucked under one arm and a briecase under the other..........................
Quote from: pape_timmo on November 12, 2013, 08:02:47 PM
When I pull into Twyford it's so funny to watch the commuters, looking at each other, standing in the same spot every day, when someone new turns up and you can see them thinking " you can't stand there, that's Mr Brown Coats spot! " really funny watching the confusion when I stop 2 ft from the mark, and they miss the door...
Cheers, Timmo
Aw . . . that's mean ;D
It can be quite amusing when the usual 12 coach Desiro 450 gets replaced with a five coach 444 (e.g. if the timetable is up the shoot because of a broken down train etc) as the passengers standing in their pre-set positions for a 12 coach train suddenly start racing down the platform, grumbling loudly. The people in their existing spots nearer the front of the train, then try to 'protect their places' from these 'invaders' - although having been in this situation myself, it is not really that funny :thumbsdown:
Many moons ago my dad used to do it at Waterloo. You couldn't walk through the train, people, brief cases etc.
I used to pick him up from Weybridge and if he wasn't just off centre for the exit for the footbridge to Weybridge itself or the connection to Staines it could take him 5-10 minutes to get through the ticket collectors. Then I had to fight my way through all the taxis.
When you just want to get home, presume minutes count.
Its simply called commuter mentality. When I commuted from Paddington in the good old days Mk1's with a good loco at the front the rear coaches full and standing whilst the front coach had a few spare seats. I always allowed plenty of time to walk to the front. BR then decided to put an extra coach on to alleviate some of the standing.
The net result I often had the front TSO to myself whilst the rear was still full and standing. Those who regularly stood asked the guard to have the front coach placed at the rear as the empty coach was at the wrong end!
Dodger
Back in 2011 I worked at Wimbledon Depot for 3 months, before being offered my current job, and I used to get the train from Basingstoke, a 12 car 450, always from Platform 4, with commuters lining the whole platform for their normal seat.
One morning I happened to be on platform 3, about 2 mins before the train was due to leave. As it rolled into the station, it was routed into 3 instead of 4 and the announcements went out of the alteration.
Well, the train came to a stand, doors opened, I got in and found a seat no problem, as hundreds of commuters piled down the subway to platform 3. They then came up the stairs, which are about in line with coach 4 (of the 12) and proceeded to walk the whole length of the platform to get their normal seat.
Time to depart, the despatched saw no one getting on, so have the too, guard closed the doors, and off we went, leaving all of them on the platform pointing at the train and looking mega confused coz they're not on their train.
I know their day was probably screwed from that point on, but it was so funny watching them as we glided out 3/4 empty.
Moral of the story.... Get on at the first door and walk through if the train is about to depart, no matter whether there's bags or not.
Cheers, Timmo
Hi,
When my Dad used to got to Waterloo from Whitton in the 1950\60's he would always let the the trains from Windsor and Reading go and wait for one that came off the Hounslow loop as they were always empty at Whitton,
That was in the good old 4 sub days can also remember their head codes all these all these years later Reading was H or 18 and the Hounslow loop were 57.I think the Reading train were 2 Bils but I could be wrong there,might have been 4 Lav's
Mike
thank god i live up north - with only our beloved 142's to worry about .... :veryangry: :laugh:
alan
Quote from: pape_timmo on November 13, 2013, 10:13:46 AM
Time to depart, the despatched saw no one getting on, so have the too, guard closed the doors, and off we went,
I hate the iPhone sometimes...
The despatcher gave the tip, the guard closed the doors and off we went.....
Cheers, Timmo
It even changes words when you're insulting it!!! It must know and have feelings!
Oh we communters are/were strange animals. After over 2 years retired I don't miss it at all
Quote from: pape_timmo on November 13, 2013, 04:22:37 PM
Quote from: pape_timmo on November 13, 2013, 10:13:46 AM
Time to depart, the despatched saw no one getting on, so have the too, guard closed the doors, and off we went,
I hate the iPhone sometimes...
The despatcher gave the tip, the guard closed the doors and off we went.....
Cheers, Timmo
It even changes words when you're insulting it!!! It must know and have feelings!
:laughabovepost: :laughabovepost: :laughabovepost: :laughabovepost: :laughabovepost:
With 8 train between 18.04 and 19:00 and a 9-15 minute journey I cannot think why they should even be running , unless it's the driver
Especially when its a minute to departure. I work as a guard for Kiwirail in New Zealand and I'll yell for the passengers to get in the next door. If they don't after the second call well.... its only 20 min till the next one
Quote from: Jerry Howlett on November 12, 2013, 04:14:19 PM
I really did witness a passenger at Lewisham asking why the more empty coaches at the rear were not put on the front of the London train ??? ???
This has reminded me of one of my 90 year old mother's stories.
When travelling by train to Addlestone where she lived the station announcer would say everyday something like "this is the 7.55 to Walton on Thames, Weybridge, Byfleet and Alton on behind". Some of the kids thought that Alton on Behind was a place.
I'm glad I work from home having experience London rush hour a few times.
A friend used to travel with a samsonite briefcase with a big radiation sticker on it, and lab sticky tape. Was one way to get a bit of room.