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Railway Ghosts

escargot said:
The old Nantwich station buildings are now an Indian restaurant.
Trains stop alongside and passengers peer in through the windows. A highlight of the Basmati experience is holding up one's meal and beer to show to hungry commuters.
They seem to appreciate it, I'm not sure. :chuckle:
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There was a crash there in 1964. Amputation without anaesthetic and a milk tanker pushed along the platform. It was all reopened in a couple of hours. Can you imagine how long it would take today?

http://billpearson.co.uk/nantwich-railways/

And one a bit closer to home;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppenhall_Junction_railway_accident
 
Floyd1 said:
There was a crash there in 1964. Amputation without anaesthetic and a milk tanker pushed along the platform. It was all reopened in a couple of hours. Can you imagine how long it would take today?

http://billpearson.co.uk/nantwich-railways/

And one a bit closer to home;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppenhall_Junction_railway_accident
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That Liverpool line accident is still spoken of locally. :cool:
It happened just down the line from our gaff.

Techy and I know all the Nantwich fatality sites well and often cycle over the level crossings. We've never seen anyone try to dodge round the barriers or otherwise trespass on the crossings.

There's a story of a man out walking his dog in Willaston near Nantwich who stopped to chat to a friend as the level crossing barriers came down.
He looped the dog's lead over the barrier to free his hands to light a pipe, and, engrossed in conversation, forgot to free Fido when the barrier lifted... :omg:
 
catseye said:
In 2013 an Interpretation Developer in the Public Programmes Team posted three photographs purporting to be of ghosts that had been taken in the museum. One clearly shows a man dressed in what could be period clothing either entering or exiting a steam train cab in the museum's South Yard.'
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I do know that at least two of the Museum's reserve stock were home to homeless people back in the 1990s. A Toad brake van and the LEV1 railbus in the yard both had sleeping bags and other signs of occupation when we looked at them in that period. I suppose they were weatherproof and relatively warm. If these guests were caught on CCTV they might have looked like ghosts.
 
WHY did Dr. Hallowed chose an image like that for his video—a zombie with washboard abs?!!?
 
A long BBC R4ex presentation about ghosts. It's a compilation of extracts from radio programmes presented by Diane Morgan.
I misunderstood the intention here and thought it was a jokey Philomena Cunk-Type affair but it's actually serious.

Diane Morgan Believes In Ghosts

At about 1:04:00 you'll find a segment from the 1980s about railway ghosts.
There is also a mention (starting 2:08:00) of an incident at the site of what I believe was the 1921 Abermule train collision in Montgomeryshire, Wales which killed 17 people.

I don't think it's come up on this thread before. If so, here it is again.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Absolutely.
I read the same urban legend about the level crossing in the UK's most haunted village - Farnham.
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Ahem, UK's most haunted town, if you please. ;) (I used to live there, and we were very proud of its status)

Incidentally, it's not a million miles away from Bramshott, Hampshire's most haunted village (reputedly).
 
catseye said:
<Thinks deeply> I'm not sure but I don't think I remember my dear old dad ever having washboard abs...
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ALL Dads have washboard abs. :cool:

That's what they tell us.
 
SimonBurchell said:
Ahem, UK's most haunted town, if you please. ;) (I used to live there, and we were very proud of its status)

Incidentally, it's not a million miles away from Bramshott, Hampshire's most haunted village (reputedly).
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Apologies.
I love Farnham to bits.
Of all the beerfests I (used to) attend each year, the Farnham Maltings one was my favourite.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
I've got a commemorative glass from Farnham beer festival, 1985.

No idea how, I was 9 at the time and lived in the Midlands.
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escargot said:
My father used to slap his barrel-shaped gut and say 'That's muscle, that is!'
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blessmycottonsocks said:
Apologies.
I love Farnham to bits.
Of all the beerfests I (used to) attend each year, the Farnham Maltings one was my favourite.
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SimonBurchell said:
(Wipes tear from his eye) Them were the days!
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I hope Endlessly Amazed, who seemed distressed at straying off topic in another thread, manages to see these posts.
Off topic is what shows us we're human, after all! Love 'em! :wink2:
 
Here's a treat: a railway ghost story written by an actual veteran of the Permanent Way!

Link to the safe and respectable Lancashire Loominary website:
Christmas Ghost Story

Who Signed The Book?​

A Christmas railway ghost story

Paul Salveson

Originally published in ASLEF’s Locomotive Journal in December 1985. This is a slightly updated version.

Two years of my railway career were at at Astley Bridge Junction signalbox, Bolton, in the 1970s.

The signalbox is long gone – it was on the viaduct above Folds Road where the Halliwell branch diverted from the Bolton – Blackburn line.

………………………………………………………………………
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IbisNibs said:
I hope Endlessly Amazed, who seemed distressed at straying off topic in another thread, manages to see these posts.
Off topic is what shows us we're human, after all! Love 'em! :wink2:
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And when Myth, Trev and Nosmo (where the heck is he?) get together, you've really got to try and not die laughing.
 
escargot said:
Here's a treat: a railway ghost story written by an actual veteran of the Permanent Way!

Link to the safe and respectable Lancashire Loominary website:
Christmas Ghost Story
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It's just a mile or two up that line were the young lad used to be seen
playing in the fields in summer and then disappearing next to the crossing as the
train passed, Church town I think was the station/stop.
:omr:
This may have been posted before if your interested it will keep you quiet for a hour or 3
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/are-our-railways-haunted-ghost-stories.27768/
 
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RaM said:
It's just a mile or two up that line were the young lad used to be seen
playing in the fields in summer and then disappearing next to the crossing as the
train passed, Church town I think was the station/stop.
:omr:
This may have been posted before if your interested it will keep you quiet for a hour or 3
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/are-our-railways-haunted-ghost-stories.27768/
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Haha, I'm on Railforums. My username is RustyOldBoiler or summat. :chuckle:

That thread is great fun once you get past the first 300 THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS GHOSTS posts. :wink2:
 
They do get wound up don’t they, I believe but thought it a load of crap till it bit me on the bum so to speak, thought my mother a daft old bugger when she told me about what she had seen, don't even try to convince others as if you have not seen it yourself then you wont
believe.

:omr:
 
RaM said:
They do get wound up don’t they, I believe but thought it a load of crap till it bit me on the bum so to speak, thought my mother a daft old bugger when she told me about what she had seen, don't even try to convince others as if you have not seen it yourself then you wont
believe.

:omr:
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Yup, I too have seen and experienced much weirdness. I don't care if others believe me or not and am not interested in proving things.
Like you say, sceptics might have a shock one day.

The ex would brag abut how hard-headed and sceptical he was, bein' a scientist an'all. When he was hit with various phenomena like The Drip, our ghost cat and some mind-reading he suffered severe cognitive dissonance and went a bit mad. As you do.
It's healthier to keep an open mind.
 
Heard this one today.

A bloke whose company uses our depot told me that a friend of his, nicknamed Dabber, had a job where he had to walk along platforms at night alongside 'stabled' trains.

As he went he'd check they were secure; looking for doors and windows left open or external damage, that sort of thing.

One night he looked into a carriage and saw a man sitting there. No passengers should have been on the train at it was after its service hours and locked off.
Dabber thought the man had fallen asleep and not noticed the train had terminated, and the guard had somehow missed him.

This is of course a huge no-no. Disciplinaries and all sorts.

Dabber went off to find his manager (this was pre-mobile phones) and they went back to the train together.
The man was no longer there and the train was still locked. The manager laughed at Dabber, who insisted he'd seen the man, whom he described as being black, with Afro hair and leather coat.
The manager joked that Dabber had seen Shaft (as played by Richard Roundtree) and Dabber protested in the strongest Anglo-Saxon terms.

After that Dabber would often be jokingly asked if he'd seen much of his mate Shaft. :chuckle:
He'd swear violently, but stuck to his story and refused to do the platform walk at night alone again.
 
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escargot said:
Heard this one today.

A bloke whose company uses our depot told me that a friend of his, nicknamed Dabber, had a job where he had to walk along platforms at night alongside 'stabled' trains.

As he went he'd check they were were secure; looking for doors and windows left open or external damage, that sort of thing.

One night he looked into a carriage and saw a man sitting there. No passengers should have been on the train at it was after its service hours and locked off.
Dabber thought the man had fallen asleep and not noticed the train had terminated, and the guard had somehow missed him.

This is of course a huge no-no. Disciplinaries and all sorts.

Dabber went off to find his manager (this was pre-mobile phones) and they went back to the train together.
The man was no longer there and the train was still locked. The manager laughed at Dabber, who insisted he'd seen the man, whom he described as being black, with Afro hair and leather coat.
The manager joked that Dabber had seen Shaft (as played by Richard Roundtree) and Dabber protested in the strongest Anglo-Saxon terms.

After that Dabber would often be jokingly asked if he'd seen much of his mate Shaft. :chuckle:
He'd swear violently, but stuck to his story and refused to do the platform walk at night alone again.
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I love The Railways ghosts and Theatre ones as well
 
catseye said:
Young women travelling solo on a train may well find themselves 'teaming up' with someone for the perceived protection it can afford. Young(ish) men travelling without their wives really can be most persistent in trying to atttract the attentions of women. If the woman in question can pretend (or even really) to be in conversation with someone else, it makes it that little bit harder for the chancers.

*source - was a young woman once.
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I have had victims of overt harassment upgraded to First Class and the offender kicked off at the next stop.
 
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