catseye
Captain of motley gang of rag zealots
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Malton station has had a recent revamp and the toilets reinstalled after many many years without any. As I was VERY relieved to discover last week...
Railway Ghosts
- Thread starter minordrag
- Start date
escargot
Disciple of Marduk
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- Tending the grave of Mad Carew
Station cludgies are essential.
escargot
Disciple of Marduk
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2001
- Messages
- 46,563
- Location
- Tending the grave of Mad Carew
Anyway...
Speaking of Platform 12, I had a spooky do there recently.
Was waiting for the lift at the north end. A Pendolino was stationary on the track and I looked with interest for its destination panel to see where it was going.
Just then I saw what looked like the reflection of a person walking past the train. As if someone was strolling along closely beside it and being picked up in the shiny paint.
As I couldn't see anyone nearby I expected whoever it was to appear from behind the lift shaft. Maybe ask me if I'm living the Dream
as railway people do, but nobody was there.
Tried walking up and down a bit myself to re-create the effect but I couldn't as I was too far away. Whoever had made the reflection had been right on the Yellow Line.
Eventually had to jump in the lift and tootle off to work so didn't have any more time to investigate.
This happened very close to the spot where Techy and I saw the apparent fall from height victim a couple of years ago.
Speaking of Platform 12, I had a spooky do there recently.
Was waiting for the lift at the north end. A Pendolino was stationary on the track and I looked with interest for its destination panel to see where it was going.
Just then I saw what looked like the reflection of a person walking past the train. As if someone was strolling along closely beside it and being picked up in the shiny paint.
As I couldn't see anyone nearby I expected whoever it was to appear from behind the lift shaft. Maybe ask me if I'm living the Dream
as railway people do, but nobody was there.Tried walking up and down a bit myself to re-create the effect but I couldn't as I was too far away. Whoever had made the reflection had been right on the Yellow Line.
Eventually had to jump in the lift and tootle off to work so didn't have any more time to investigate.
This happened very close to the spot where Techy and I saw the apparent fall from height victim a couple of years ago.
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2012
- Messages
- 6,180
So this was the platform?Anyway...
Speaking of Platform 12, I had a spooky do there recently.
Was waiting for the lift at the north end. A Pendolino was stationary on the track and I looked with interest for its destination panel to see where it was going.
Just then I saw what looked like the reflection of a person walking past the train. As if someone was strolling along closely beside it and being picked up in the shiny paint.
As I couldn't see anyone nearby I expected whoever it was to appear from behind the lift shaft. Maybe ask me if I'm living the Dream
Tried walking up and down a bit myself to re-create the effect but I couldn't as I was too far away. Whoever had made the reflection had been right on the Yellow Line.
Eventually had to jump in the lift and tootle off to work so didn't have any more time to investigate.
This happened very close to the spot where Techy and I saw the apparent fall from height victim a couple of years ago.
Where were you located and which livery was the Pendolino?
Paul_Exeter
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Have we featured this case before? Even if so, it is worth another read:
Having read the other railway ghosts thread I would like to share something that happened to me 20 odd years ago, I would be interested if anyone had any more information:
On a particularly cold And frosty winters night I was working a ballast train in a block on the Mid Sussex line, I had a pair of Class 37’s which I had worked down from Three Bridges yard to the worksite, after dropping the required ballast I was instructed to pull up to the boards, and await for the block man to drop them before proceeding.
I pulling up short of the boards, and then settled down pouring a nice warm cup of tea from my flask and tucking into some hot-cross buns my wife had kindly packed me. I noticed a light flicking outside so dropped the window to see a chap wandering around, assuming he was the blockman I called over to him to jump up in the warm cab away from the cold (Class 37’s are far from comfortable but the heaters are pretty good if they are working) as he climbed up I noticed he was wearing an old BR donkey jacket and one of the original issue BR high vis vests from the 1980’s which I thought was a little strange as no one had worn those for years and was carrying an original style bardic hand lamp. As he settled into the second mans seat I offered him a cup of tea which he accepted and then we got chatting, he had a strong Scottish accent which made a few words difficult to understand. We chatted for a few minutes then I asked him about dropping the boards to get me away, at that moment he seemed to get upset and left the cab quite abruptly. Perplexed I dropped the cab window again to see where he had gone but there was no sign of him.
As it was freezing outside I wasn’t going to investigate so stayed put in the warm to wait for his return. About 25 minutes later I saw a van pull up near by an access gate and 2 figures get out dressed in the more familiar full orange and hard hats. They made their way down to me and explained they were the block-men and were here to drop the boards. I told them I had their mate up here a few minutes ago but he left in a hurry. They looked at me strangely and told me no one else was out here working tonight, I asked again giving a description and they thought I was having them on. I distinctly remember getting a chill down my spine as I realised the chap I had in my cab was not supposed to be there. They dropped the boards and I made my way out the block towards Littlehampton where I was relieved by another driver.
I made some enquires and whilst I never found anything concrete a retired colleague recalled a story of a track worker being killed by a engineers train on the Mid Sussex Line in the early 80’s. Could it have been him up in the cab with me that night? I will never know but it is certainly a night I will never forget.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/railway-ghosts.204868/
Having read the other railway ghosts thread I would like to share something that happened to me 20 odd years ago, I would be interested if anyone had any more information:
On a particularly cold And frosty winters night I was working a ballast train in a block on the Mid Sussex line, I had a pair of Class 37’s which I had worked down from Three Bridges yard to the worksite, after dropping the required ballast I was instructed to pull up to the boards, and await for the block man to drop them before proceeding.
I pulling up short of the boards, and then settled down pouring a nice warm cup of tea from my flask and tucking into some hot-cross buns my wife had kindly packed me. I noticed a light flicking outside so dropped the window to see a chap wandering around, assuming he was the blockman I called over to him to jump up in the warm cab away from the cold (Class 37’s are far from comfortable but the heaters are pretty good if they are working) as he climbed up I noticed he was wearing an old BR donkey jacket and one of the original issue BR high vis vests from the 1980’s which I thought was a little strange as no one had worn those for years and was carrying an original style bardic hand lamp. As he settled into the second mans seat I offered him a cup of tea which he accepted and then we got chatting, he had a strong Scottish accent which made a few words difficult to understand. We chatted for a few minutes then I asked him about dropping the boards to get me away, at that moment he seemed to get upset and left the cab quite abruptly. Perplexed I dropped the cab window again to see where he had gone but there was no sign of him.
As it was freezing outside I wasn’t going to investigate so stayed put in the warm to wait for his return. About 25 minutes later I saw a van pull up near by an access gate and 2 figures get out dressed in the more familiar full orange and hard hats. They made their way down to me and explained they were the block-men and were here to drop the boards. I told them I had their mate up here a few minutes ago but he left in a hurry. They looked at me strangely and told me no one else was out here working tonight, I asked again giving a description and they thought I was having them on. I distinctly remember getting a chill down my spine as I realised the chap I had in my cab was not supposed to be there. They dropped the boards and I made my way out the block towards Littlehampton where I was relieved by another driver.
I made some enquires and whilst I never found anything concrete a retired colleague recalled a story of a track worker being killed by a engineers train on the Mid Sussex Line in the early 80’s. Could it have been him up in the cab with me that night? I will never know but it is certainly a night I will never forget.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/railway-ghosts.204868/
Floyd
Beloved of Ra
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Maybe just a local railway fanatic/ex worker who still had his old gear?
SimonBurchell
Justified & Ancient
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That's what I thought, more a railway wannabe, who didn't have the knowhow to lift the boards and left quickly in a fluster.
Paul_Exeter
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Yeah maybe, would be good to know the exact location as railways are pretty well fenced off nowadays and the two guy that arrived would have had to unlock the access gate. But regardless, put yourself in the driver's shoes and it must be have been pretty spooky experience.
Paul_Exeter
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One from the US:
"One night he was driving a train when at a long radius curve, he and the Conductor saw another train coming towards them in the distance.
He immediately placed the train into emergency, which is an irrecoverable brake step on the brake controller, and something that they are instructed to do in only the most dire of circumstances.
The Conductor immediately made an emergency broadcast giving their position and the situation in some pretty flowery language, before the both threw themselves to the floor convinced the end was upon them, as the train was still travelling too fast for them to even begin to think of baling out.
The cab filled with light but instead of the inevitable collision, it suddenly went black outside again, the only noise being made by the train braking hard.
In the distance they could hear an agitated Despatcher asking what was going on as there was no other train near them and definitely nothing coming towards them in that area.
Of course the whole episode became a fairly big incident because having braked in emergency, they then had to walk the train from end to end in the middle of nowhere with wolves and coyotes and whatever else walks around at night. The train was over two miles in length so it was sometime before the complete train had been checked, and of course in this time trains were standing along the whole route some hundreds of miles long.
On arrival at destination they were instructed that they were not to work back the next day but were to be driven back for interview with their Manager.
The interview was not initailly pleasant until the Manager was satisfied that they were not trying to cover up something, at which stage it came to light (pardon the pun) that over the years odd reports of a similar nature had come in. In most cases the crews had not had time to respond or make an emergency brake application.
It came to light then that several other crews had experienced this some had reported unusual lights, others had not said anything until this guy posted the story.
Now I can only vouch for the honesty of this guy from the messages exchanged and conversations we had, but I formed an opinion of a good guy, who certainly had the respect of the other members.
Sadly that Forum started to become trolled with heated Union debates and the site owner eventually shut it down which was a shame.
There is another story of a ghostly stop light that occurred in a place called Moonville Tunnel on the old Burlington and Ohio Railroad. After many occurrences of trains making emergency brake applications having seen a lamp stop handsignal, the operator, by then the Chesapeake and Ohio (Chessie), (later to become CSX) installed a lone stop signal on the western end of the tunnel and issued out instructions that no train was to stop unless this permanent signal was showing red. They also forbade track staff to use any other form of light to stop a train.
Here is a link to a website about this. It makes interesting reading.
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/moonvill.html
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/are-our-railways-haunted-ghost-stories.27768/page-5
"One night he was driving a train when at a long radius curve, he and the Conductor saw another train coming towards them in the distance.
He immediately placed the train into emergency, which is an irrecoverable brake step on the brake controller, and something that they are instructed to do in only the most dire of circumstances.
The Conductor immediately made an emergency broadcast giving their position and the situation in some pretty flowery language, before the both threw themselves to the floor convinced the end was upon them, as the train was still travelling too fast for them to even begin to think of baling out.
The cab filled with light but instead of the inevitable collision, it suddenly went black outside again, the only noise being made by the train braking hard.
In the distance they could hear an agitated Despatcher asking what was going on as there was no other train near them and definitely nothing coming towards them in that area.
Of course the whole episode became a fairly big incident because having braked in emergency, they then had to walk the train from end to end in the middle of nowhere with wolves and coyotes and whatever else walks around at night. The train was over two miles in length so it was sometime before the complete train had been checked, and of course in this time trains were standing along the whole route some hundreds of miles long.
On arrival at destination they were instructed that they were not to work back the next day but were to be driven back for interview with their Manager.
The interview was not initailly pleasant until the Manager was satisfied that they were not trying to cover up something, at which stage it came to light (pardon the pun) that over the years odd reports of a similar nature had come in. In most cases the crews had not had time to respond or make an emergency brake application.
It came to light then that several other crews had experienced this some had reported unusual lights, others had not said anything until this guy posted the story.
Now I can only vouch for the honesty of this guy from the messages exchanged and conversations we had, but I formed an opinion of a good guy, who certainly had the respect of the other members.
Sadly that Forum started to become trolled with heated Union debates and the site owner eventually shut it down which was a shame.
There is another story of a ghostly stop light that occurred in a place called Moonville Tunnel on the old Burlington and Ohio Railroad. After many occurrences of trains making emergency brake applications having seen a lamp stop handsignal, the operator, by then the Chesapeake and Ohio (Chessie), (later to become CSX) installed a lone stop signal on the western end of the tunnel and issued out instructions that no train was to stop unless this permanent signal was showing red. They also forbade track staff to use any other form of light to stop a train.
Here is a link to a website about this. It makes interesting reading.
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/moonvill.html
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/are-our-railways-haunted-ghost-stories.27768/page-5
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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Steam Engine
Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Mapperley Tunnel, southern endType: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970
Further Comments: Two school children playing in the tunnel heard a steam engine rapidly approaching them - terrified they ran out into the fresh air. A few seconds after their escape they realised that the train could not have existed, as the north end of the tunnel was barricaded.
https://paranormaldatabase.com/reports/rail.php?pageNum_paradata=4&totalRows_paradata=198
At the other end of the tunnel:
Woman
Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Railway bridge over Wood Lane, and Gedling Station (currently a youth centre)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The phantom woman who is said to peer over the edge of the bridge and watch passers-by may be the same entity also reported at the old station.
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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Another good one;
16 years old - just started work at Sutton station (South London) as a junior railman. About two months into the job, there were just two staff on duty to lock up after the last arrival. My job was to check the station for any stragglers and then lock the front doors in the booking office.
Having locked them, I walked back through the barriers to head back downstairs. Just wanting to go home, you can imagine my annoyance seeing someone halfway up the stairs from platforms 2 & 3. I called out to him that he had to leave and I turned around ready to unlock the doors. As I unlocked them, it struck me as odd the way he was dressed. Dark suit, waistcoat, watch chain etc... very formal.
I think you've guessed the next bit. By the time I had unlocked, he was nowhere to be seen.
Between the two of us, we searched the station from end to end, all waiting rooms, toilets etc. Took us a while. He was just no longer on the station. There were a few ways he could have got out, but we thought it unlikely he'd go to the bother of climbing a wall when I was about to let him leave through the booking hall...
I genuinely thought no more of this until I mentioned it to the supervisor a few days later. I gather the supervisor mentioned it to our acting station manager (Cedric Pearce, I think his name was) and I was duly called into the SM's office. I'd been in there a few times, but had never really paid any attention to all the historic photos of the station that were hanging on the wall of the office. The SM asked me to take a look at some of the pictures...
Imagine my surprise when I recognized the station master at Sutton between 1908 and 1914 as the man I'd seen on the stairs.
I got the distinct impression the SM and the supervisor had been sharing some kind of private joke.
I later found out that he'd been seen on the station many times over the last 70 years or so, and always either on the stairs or the station footbridge...
Source:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/42733-railway-ghost-tales/page/2/
16 years old - just started work at Sutton station (South London) as a junior railman. About two months into the job, there were just two staff on duty to lock up after the last arrival. My job was to check the station for any stragglers and then lock the front doors in the booking office.
Having locked them, I walked back through the barriers to head back downstairs. Just wanting to go home, you can imagine my annoyance seeing someone halfway up the stairs from platforms 2 & 3. I called out to him that he had to leave and I turned around ready to unlock the doors. As I unlocked them, it struck me as odd the way he was dressed. Dark suit, waistcoat, watch chain etc... very formal.
I think you've guessed the next bit. By the time I had unlocked, he was nowhere to be seen.
Between the two of us, we searched the station from end to end, all waiting rooms, toilets etc. Took us a while. He was just no longer on the station. There were a few ways he could have got out, but we thought it unlikely he'd go to the bother of climbing a wall when I was about to let him leave through the booking hall...
I genuinely thought no more of this until I mentioned it to the supervisor a few days later. I gather the supervisor mentioned it to our acting station manager (Cedric Pearce, I think his name was) and I was duly called into the SM's office. I'd been in there a few times, but had never really paid any attention to all the historic photos of the station that were hanging on the wall of the office. The SM asked me to take a look at some of the pictures...
Imagine my surprise when I recognized the station master at Sutton between 1908 and 1914 as the man I'd seen on the stairs.
I got the distinct impression the SM and the supervisor had been sharing some kind of private joke.
I later found out that he'd been seen on the station many times over the last 70 years or so, and always either on the stairs or the station footbridge...
Source:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/42733-railway-ghost-tales/page/2/
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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Not sure about these, not least because the author isn't identified:
During the course of my research into the Okehampton area, ahead of my Ghost Walk, I came across a story suggesting that the railway station there is haunted by the spirit of an old train driver, known as Sam. Having gone from being fully in use to a tourist attraction to being fully in use again, the station has gone through some turbulent times of uncertainty. Back in the late 90s, this state of affairs seemed to be felt quite keenly by its resident ghost, for he started to make his presence felt, moving things around, making noises, and generally making a nuisance of himself. This was taken as a sign that he didn’t approve of all the stress that the staff around him were suffering from and that he was coming out in sympathy with them. Once things were sorted out, and everyone was happy again, Sam seemed to settle down too.
At the recent meeting I held at The London Inn in Okehampton, where around 60 people turned up, designed as a way for me to learn about people’s local experiences, a gentleman stood up and shared his story. Being an avid train buff, he had spent a lot of time at the railway station, and once, whilst standing on the platform, he saw a man walk out of the office, wearing the livery of a porter, a livery belonging to a company that he knew had operated there many years previously, but not now. The “porter” walked to the edge of the platform and disappeared...hearing this, reminded me of the story of Sam, so I asked if it could have been him that he’d seen. The gentleman thought for a moment and concluded that it possibly was, as the livery for porters and drivers was the same back then, and the sighting was around the late 90s when Sam was most active. So we have a positive sighting of a phantom train driver!
And:
My good friend, Melissa, who owns The Whistlestop Cafe on Teignmouth railway station and when she used to come to our meetings, she would always tell us how active the place was. Furniture would often be moved around, in a tidy way, money would be left for her if she was ever short for making a bill payment, and she felt blessed that the place seemed to be looking out for her. There is even an annual sighting of a man, running through the cafe, on the same day, at the same time, to reach the platform, where he promptly disappears...obviously he never does quite catch his train!
And:
The tunnel itself, is about half a mile long, standing on the Primrose Line, one of Dr Beeching’s victims from his closures of the 1960s, and the owners named it Spooky World, as a feature of the theme park, hanging black plastic from the ceiling to add to the atmosphere.
There’s a story attached to the tunnel that eventually reached me, concerning a young boy visiting the attraction with his parents. They had walked the full length of the tunnel and were making their way back when the little lad decided to run on ahead. Just as he was nearing the mouth of the tunnel, he was approached by the figure of a little boy walking out of the wall. Shocked but not frightened, the lad listened as the spirit boy warned him about running on the railway line.
“Otherwise you will end up like me!” he said, before turning and disappearing back into the wall. Catching up with their son, the parents were puzzled as to who he had been talking to, having seen someone standing by him, but they hadn’t seen where they had come from, or where they had gone. The lad told them about the encounter and what was said, even giving them an exact description of what the spirit boy was wearing. Asking him to draw what he had seen, he drew a flat cap, shorts held up with braces, over a grubby shirt, and a battered old pair of boots.
https://www.torbayweekly.co.uk/gall...-porter-still-protecting-haunted-railway.html
In search of the phantom porter still protecting haunted railway
During the course of my research into the Okehampton area, ahead of my Ghost Walk, I came across a story suggesting that the railway station there is haunted by the spirit of an old train driver, known as Sam. Having gone from being fully in use to a tourist attraction to being fully in use again, the station has gone through some turbulent times of uncertainty. Back in the late 90s, this state of affairs seemed to be felt quite keenly by its resident ghost, for he started to make his presence felt, moving things around, making noises, and generally making a nuisance of himself. This was taken as a sign that he didn’t approve of all the stress that the staff around him were suffering from and that he was coming out in sympathy with them. Once things were sorted out, and everyone was happy again, Sam seemed to settle down too.
At the recent meeting I held at The London Inn in Okehampton, where around 60 people turned up, designed as a way for me to learn about people’s local experiences, a gentleman stood up and shared his story. Being an avid train buff, he had spent a lot of time at the railway station, and once, whilst standing on the platform, he saw a man walk out of the office, wearing the livery of a porter, a livery belonging to a company that he knew had operated there many years previously, but not now. The “porter” walked to the edge of the platform and disappeared...hearing this, reminded me of the story of Sam, so I asked if it could have been him that he’d seen. The gentleman thought for a moment and concluded that it possibly was, as the livery for porters and drivers was the same back then, and the sighting was around the late 90s when Sam was most active. So we have a positive sighting of a phantom train driver!
And:
My good friend, Melissa, who owns The Whistlestop Cafe on Teignmouth railway station and when she used to come to our meetings, she would always tell us how active the place was. Furniture would often be moved around, in a tidy way, money would be left for her if she was ever short for making a bill payment, and she felt blessed that the place seemed to be looking out for her. There is even an annual sighting of a man, running through the cafe, on the same day, at the same time, to reach the platform, where he promptly disappears...obviously he never does quite catch his train!
And:
The tunnel itself, is about half a mile long, standing on the Primrose Line, one of Dr Beeching’s victims from his closures of the 1960s, and the owners named it Spooky World, as a feature of the theme park, hanging black plastic from the ceiling to add to the atmosphere.
There’s a story attached to the tunnel that eventually reached me, concerning a young boy visiting the attraction with his parents. They had walked the full length of the tunnel and were making their way back when the little lad decided to run on ahead. Just as he was nearing the mouth of the tunnel, he was approached by the figure of a little boy walking out of the wall. Shocked but not frightened, the lad listened as the spirit boy warned him about running on the railway line.
“Otherwise you will end up like me!” he said, before turning and disappearing back into the wall. Catching up with their son, the parents were puzzled as to who he had been talking to, having seen someone standing by him, but they hadn’t seen where they had come from, or where they had gone. The lad told them about the encounter and what was said, even giving them an exact description of what the spirit boy was wearing. Asking him to draw what he had seen, he drew a flat cap, shorts held up with braces, over a grubby shirt, and a battered old pair of boots.
https://www.torbayweekly.co.uk/gall...-porter-still-protecting-haunted-railway.html
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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Great post by a named witness;
Hey all, this is my first ever post.
I had a weird experience at Woodbridge Station, Suffolk about a week ago. I'm a Train Guard and was in the rear cab monitoring everybody getting off and anybody getting on. Numerous people alighted, it was a very busy train. The platform cleared and there was nobody left on it. The doors shut and we began to pull away. As we pulled away from the station and the rear cab passed the platform a person stood on the platform in what looked like a long trench coat with a French Army WW1 light blue colour. I didn't see their face, but they were across the yellow line peering at the cab on the edge of the platform. As we pulled further and further away, they did not move until I lost vision of them. Their coat was swaying in the wind. Was I being dispatched? I've never believed or disbelieved in Ghosts. But this did make me question what I was seeing.
Dan
https://www.facebook.com/groups/553068361877808/posts/1699151267269506/?_rdr
Hey all, this is my first ever post.
I had a weird experience at Woodbridge Station, Suffolk about a week ago. I'm a Train Guard and was in the rear cab monitoring everybody getting off and anybody getting on. Numerous people alighted, it was a very busy train. The platform cleared and there was nobody left on it. The doors shut and we began to pull away. As we pulled away from the station and the rear cab passed the platform a person stood on the platform in what looked like a long trench coat with a French Army WW1 light blue colour. I didn't see their face, but they were across the yellow line peering at the cab on the edge of the platform. As we pulled further and further away, they did not move until I lost vision of them. Their coat was swaying in the wind. Was I being dispatched? I've never believed or disbelieved in Ghosts. But this did make me question what I was seeing.
Dan
https://www.facebook.com/groups/553068361877808/posts/1699151267269506/?_rdr
escargot
Disciple of Marduk
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- Aug 24, 2001
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- Location
- Tending the grave of Mad Carew
I'm in that group.
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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Like this one:
Bincombe tunnel.
I saw. It was 1991. I was on YTS in yeovil. We had a day a week at Weymouth college. Carpentry. I was traveling back on the train one winter eve with Giles. The posh boy who had the same course. He was no way a believer of anything paranormal. We sat opposite each other on the train with a table in the middle.
No word of a lie. This big black circle sphere or mass
shadow. Came through the window slowly past our table right in the middle of us and out the other side. We looked at each other and spoke the same thing at the same time. Did you see that. What the hell was that. I had totally forgotten about it
It was nearly 25 years later I came across other stories of the shadow man of bincombe
https://www.facebook.com/groups/553068361877808/posts/1699151267269506/?_rdr
Dene Hine
·Bincombe tunnel.
I saw. It was 1991. I was on YTS in yeovil. We had a day a week at Weymouth college. Carpentry. I was traveling back on the train one winter eve with Giles. The posh boy who had the same course. He was no way a believer of anything paranormal. We sat opposite each other on the train with a table in the middle.
No word of a lie. This big black circle sphere or mass
It was nearly 25 years later I came across other stories of the shadow man of bincombe
https://www.facebook.com/groups/553068361877808/posts/1699151267269506/?_rdr
Grumpyoldwoman
Devoted Cultist
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- Jan 20, 2018
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- Location
- Somerset,UK
Me tooI'm in that group.
Paul_Exeter
Antediluvian
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The Looe railway line and stations has featured on these forums before and this case is the mysterious Causland station payphone and more.
Commuters, tourists and locals have reported a few 'strange events' while waiting at Causeland Station, or while passing in cars, or the train itself:
The orange glow of the station is now visible through the trees, so I shall tell my fellow walkers about the station's payphone. It's not just any payphone. According to British Telecom, it is one of the busiest in the county for 'incoming calls'. Strange for a phone that accepts only cards, and is located in a deserted rural corner of the countryside.
The Public Telephone: A pay phone is located inside the shelter, on Causeland's one and only platform. It is surprising to find a phone here at all, yet this very phone has been heard 'ringing' morning, noon and night. A friend, from nearby Liskeard, has actually answered the telephone on one of these occasions. She described a clicking, or tapping sound, as the only sound from the earpiece.
http://www.darklingroom.co.uk/thl2/causeland_station.html
Commuters, tourists and locals have reported a few 'strange events' while waiting at Causeland Station, or while passing in cars, or the train itself:
The orange glow of the station is now visible through the trees, so I shall tell my fellow walkers about the station's payphone. It's not just any payphone. According to British Telecom, it is one of the busiest in the county for 'incoming calls'. Strange for a phone that accepts only cards, and is located in a deserted rural corner of the countryside.
The Public Telephone: A pay phone is located inside the shelter, on Causeland's one and only platform. It is surprising to find a phone here at all, yet this very phone has been heard 'ringing' morning, noon and night. A friend, from nearby Liskeard, has actually answered the telephone on one of these occasions. She described a clicking, or tapping sound, as the only sound from the earpiece.
http://www.darklingroom.co.uk/thl2/causeland_station.html
Paul_Exeter
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kesavaross
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Sometimes a signal post telephone is just yards away from the DC 3rd rail or maybe 15ft+ ft from the AC over head wires. From personnel experience, I never encountered any interference at all.
Pay phones have been on train stations since the 30's so I don't think it could be that.
Also, prior to privatisation, many GPO phone wires ran along side the track.
LadyDunmail
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Apparently (and I did not know this until just now when I did some investigating) not all pay phones can take incoming calls. It may be possible for the phone to ring but there'll be nothing but silence if you pick it up.
Does anyone know if the pay phone still exists? I wonder what its number is and whether it's one digit different from a local business which has led to misdials.
Does anyone know if the pay phone still exists? I wonder what its number is and whether it's one digit different from a local business which has led to misdials.
Paul_Exeter
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Very possibly, or maybe the ghost of Dr Beeching repeatedly ringing up to ask why the line is still open when he wanted it closed...
It is a charming quirk, especially of you are sat on your own on a dark night waiting for the last train.
Paul_Exeter
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There might be a clue in this article:
The shelter is basic, but because the information points installed at most stations in the area use the telephone system to provide train times, it does come with a working payphone:
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/I/R/stnpages/causeland.html
Perhaps the phone is being triggered by the electronic updates being sent to the train information points?
kesavaross
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I'm pretty certain the railways use their own cabling for that type of things. It runs along the side of the track.
escargot
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It certainly does, and do you remember it all catching fire at Euston a few years back?
Paul_Exeter
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Help Points might be an exception as a private company installs them:
Help Points transition from IDSN and 2G/3G to 4G.
IP Technology
Help Points leverage IP (Internet Protocol) technology for efficient, secure, and high-quality communication, ensuring rapid assistance and information dissemination.Installation
Once all planning is in place, our team will install the Help Points with high quality and accuracy. We will make sure the Help Point is connected to its call destination, ensuring emergency button presses are answered in rapid time.https://trans-data.com/help-points/
catseye
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If ghosts can use phones, why are there not constant reports of ghostly phone calls? I know there are one or two, but surely they would be far more common if it were possible for the deceased to activate telephones?
I'd put this down to a glitch or a fault somewhere on the line. The phone line, that is, not the train one.
I'd put this down to a glitch or a fault somewhere on the line. The phone line, that is, not the train one.
SimonBurchell
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Not really - you may as well argue that if ghosts could appear to people, everyone would see them all the time. If ghosts can interact with telephones at all, there is no reason to assume that the process is easy or straightforward.
Reminds me of a really creepy story that was doing the rounds somewhere a while back, sadly probably a hoax, someone dreaming of walking in a cartoon forest that got more and more creepy and trying to use his mobile phone. When he woke up and checked his answerphone there was creepy Disney music and bursts of static. I can't find the link now, but the audio recording was certainly disturbing. As I say, that one was probably a hoax.
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