• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Trainyard Ghost?

A

Anonymous

Guest
Mrs Andrea X

This event concerns my husband who works for the railway and does lots of night shifts.

As you can imagine many stories fly around the different yards about railway ghosts, legends and suchlike. Normally he laughs them off but on this night and at this particular location which is situated deep in the middle of the Derbyshire Peak District, he found little to laugh about!

It happened in August this year on a hot soundless night , as where this yard is situated means that it is surrounded by open fields and hills and so no traffic etc. can be heard, especially in the middle of the night.

He had seen to one train, he is a shunter by the way, and was in the cabin awaiting his next train due some half an hour later. The cabin is really just an old wooden shack with a little office and a kitchen area with an old chair and cooker. In fact the yard is so old that the old semiphore signal system is still in operation and I find the whole place spooky even in daylight!

http://www.forteantimes.com/happened/trainghost.shtml

Link is dead. See post below for complete text.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
trainyard ghosts

Your story sounds really spooky! However whilst on the subject, I remember reading many years ago in a local paper of a phantom scotsman that haunted a disused railway cutting not too far from me. The ghost was supposed to play a mournful dirge on the bagpipes whilst gliding along the cutting and several people had heard it. This seemed worth investigating until I mentioned it to my friend who burst out laughing. " That was me, " he giggled. " I'm practicing my bagpipes playing laments, but it drives my mum nuts so I hit on the idea of practicing in the cutting which I thought would be far away and deserted enough not to be noticed. "
brian
 
My local station still has it's semaphore signals in operation!
There are rather a lot of ghosts associated with railways, and I seem to remember owning a book on the subject. I shall have to fight off the giant silverfish and have a rummage in my library. I'll get back to you if I find it. It had some rather spooky ones.
 
For us, the age of steam seems a natural nostalgic setting for
ghostly events but the association of railways and ghosts seemed
to happen quite early on. Possibly the number of lives lost in the
building of the lines and then the lives lost in accidents had this
effect.

The most celebrated collection of ghostly railway tales appeared in
1866, when Charles Dickens devoted the Christmas number of his
All the Year Round magazine to a Special issue entitled Mugby Junction.

Himself, Wilkie Collins and others contributed tales which had titles
as Branch Lines. Probably the most often reprinted is Dickens's own
Branch Line No.1: The Signalman.

As a child I can remember reading comics which shamelessly stole the
plot of Arnold Ridley's comedy The Ghost Train. But then he had nicked the
idea of supernatural events as a cover for smuggling from Robert Louis
Stevenson's South Sea Island tales.

I came upon a very spooky recent adventure down a railway tunnel the
other night, where the trespassers find a pentagram and sacrificed fowl
deep inside an abandoned tunnel. It purports to be true! I will see if I
can relocate it. :eek!!!!:
 
There's an entire ghostly railway station here

http://www.forteantimes.com/happened/ghosttrain.shtml

The railways are full of ghosts. I've read a couple of books on this very subject. One story which sticks in my mind is of a signalman called Aubrey who'd turn up at shift-change time with his moped helmet and butty box and knock on the signalbox door. He'd be seen clearly through the glass by colleagues. Trouble was, they knew he'd died weeks ago........ Brrr.
 
Tulse Hill station in London is another said to have a phantom railwayman who visits his modern counterparts late at night.
 
Mrs Andrea X's story was terribly spooky. If I was her husband I would have died. We live in a strange world. :shock:
 
The link in post #1 is long dead. Here's the complete text, salvaged from the Wayback Machine ...

-------------------------------------------

TRAINYARD GHOST?

Mrs Andrea X

This event concerns my husband who works for the railway and does lots of night shifts.

As you can imagine many stories fly around the different yards about railway ghosts, legends and suchlike. Normally he laughs them off but on this night and at this particular location which is situated deep in the middle of the Derbyshire Peak District, he found little to laugh about!

It happened in August this year on a hot soundless night , as where this yard is situated means that it is surrounded by open fields and hills and so no traffic etc. can be heard, especially in the middle of the night.

He had seen to one train, he is a shunter by the way, and was in the cabin awaiting his next train due some half an hour later. The cabin is really just an old wooden shack with a little office and a kitchen area with an old chair and cooker. In fact the yard is so old that the old semiphore signal system is still in operation and I find the whole place spooky even in daylight!

Anyway this night - a Tuesday if I remember,there was a full moon in the sky - known for reasons that shall become clear later, my husband was sat on the chair waiting for the kettle to boil to make a cup of tea. He was sat in the dark, enjoying the peace and quiet. Suddenly he distinctly heard footsteps on the gravel in the yard outside. He could hear someone (or something!!) moving towards the cabin and the cracking sounds of the leaves and twigs as it grew closer. He is the only member of staff on duty at night, save for the drivers who arrive and depart with each train, so knew that he was completely alone.

The footsteps grew louder but seemed to be of a dragging nature as he could hear one foot being dragged behind the other! As I said, this place is so remote up a long dark lane, that no one from the nearby village bothers to go up there - it is private property after all and so it is desolate at night. Normally my husband would go out and confront whoever it was, as at other yards there have been cases of opportunists, out to steal from the standing trains, and he has had to call the police many times before. But for some reason the sound of these footsteps filled him with foreboding.

There is a small window at the side of the cabin and if you are sat in the chair you look directly at it. My husband could see the bright light of the full moon outside and suddenly he saw illuminated by it, as if leaning against the window, a dark inverted V shape ie, an arm bent at the elbow as if somebody was stooping and holding onto their back as they walked, it was also very knobbly - like a twiglet is how Sean described it!! . He could also hear a deep rasping sound like somebody breathing with a bad lung problem!

The elbow moved around the building away from the window and as myhusband looked at the door he realised that it wasn't locked! Instead of jumping up to lock it as he might have done he felt compelled to sit still and so sat stunned as a sharp tapping could be heard on the door itself. Suddenly the doorknob turned about three times - but not enough to open it .

By now my husband was scared stiff and expecting who knows what to enter the cabin, but as suddenly as it appeared it turned on its heel and was gone. The dragging sound and rasping disappeared - but not gradually, just all of a sudden!

He went out to investigate but found, as he expected, that he was alone again! He told me this story with some reluctance as I said he is a real sceptic!!

Incidentally, he regualary sees one particular driver and has to get into the cabin for part of the journey down the line to this yard. Anyway, this particular driver insists on keeping the doors locked - even though he knows that they never see anyone around there! My husband asked him why he kept them firmly bolted but all he asked in reply, was had Sean heard or seen anything strange whilst he had been working at this particular yard. Sean pretended that he didn't know what he meant, to see if he would say more - but he just shrugged and locked the door again!!

He has thankfully seen or heard nothing untoward since but now goes on nights at that particular yard with some trepidation!!

NB. I have changed my husband's name to protect identities, but otherwise this is a full and true account of what happened!!

--------------------------------------------

SALVAGED FROM: https://web.archive.org/web/20020409010339/http://www.forteantimes.com:80/happened/trainghost.shtml
 
read this at some point during early hours, having just had recent news by text of unexpected death of close personal friend

it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc

or it may be my current state of mind
 
This is a great story. I've discussed it on at least one other thread. It's local to me and a drinking friend of mine is an ex train driver, and I once spent an hour or so picking his brains about it.

I lost sight of the original IHTM tale for years.

Peak Forest - mentioned by signalnorth above - was one of the locations my friend suggested. There's also a section of one of the quarry lines around here that has an uneasy reputation among rail staff.

Edit: Yes, it's on page 2 of the Railway Ghosts thread. I'm happy to see that my memory isn't so bad after all - Topley Pike quarry gets a mention, as does Peak Forest.

And, sorry about your friend, henry.
 
Last edited:
read this at some point during early hours, having just had recent news by text of unexpected death of close personal friend

it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc

or it may be my current state of mind
Sorry to hear that, Henry.
 
read this at some point during early hours, having just had recent news by text of unexpected death of close personal friend

it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc

or it may be my current state of mind
Best wishes henry.
 
read this at some point during early hours, having just had recent news by text of unexpected death of close personal friend

it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc

or it may be my current state of mind

My condolences on the loss of your friend, Henry. Take care.
 
IDK if there is much in this tale, besides an old vagrant, or someone passing thru, following the tracks, someone looking for a handout or something to eat, who knocked, and receiving no answer, tried the door. maybe they decided at that point to move on, perhaps seeing someone moving inside. its always funny when people say, no one else goes there...id bet he would have been surprised to know how many people walked those tracks without him ever knowing. and by the way, and not anything but a personal pet peeve, i cant see why anyone would say "he was sat." That is the really scary part of the tale...a hideous abomination of the language.
 
IDK if there is much in this tale, besides an old vagrant, or someone passing thru, following the tracks, someone looking for a handout or something to eat, who knocked, and receiving no answer, tried the door...

It's possible that such a prosaic explanation is the correct one, but someone who regularly works the area will probably be familiar with how it is used, and whether passing pedestrian traffic is likely. And if they regularly work night shifts they are also maybe not so likely to get the wind up on a whim.

If the story is set on one of the Peak's quarry rail services (as I suggested here, and on the other thread), then they can be very isolated, and unlikely to have people just passing through. The road alongside which Topley Pike quarry is situated winds through an area of very steep sided woodland, with heavy undergrowth and no footpaths. There's a very rare orchid which grows up there - virtually within sight of the road, but insulated from theft by the difficulty of the terrain. The rail line itself is non-public and only serves the quarries - it winds in and out of tunnels and steep sided cuts above the valley. I imagine it a very lonely place for any rail workers who find themselves up there on a dark evening - and there's really no obvious reason why anyone who was trying to get somewhere else would struggle up to the rail tracks, rather than simply follow the road or the river.

I've not found an online image that perfectly describes the route - this gives a kind of inkling, but I think it is taken at the less isolated and jungle-like Buxton end of the line.

Topley Pike.jpg


The other area mentioned as a possibility - around Peak Forest - is generally less rugged and inaccesible, so pedestrian ingress maybe more likely. But I have been told by people who have worked the area that it does have a bit of a reputation among rail workers - drivers and line maintenance crew alike. Incidentally, the 'Forest' part of that name is in the medieval sense of that word - meaning a royal hunting ground; the area is not generally heavily wooded in the way the modern sense of the word 'forest' might suggest.

(As to grammar: The old-school IHTM's were presented in an almost conversational way, as if transcribed from a first hand account - fireside tales, rather than formal interviews, if you like. Informal usage is not so inappropriate in such a style of presentation - and besides, occasional misuse of the past simple seems to me to be a very small price to pay for some fantastic stories.)
 
Last edited:
There seems to be a particular sense almost of 'dread' that comes when working alone and isolated somewhere and hearing an unfamiliar noise. Maybe it's related to 'pan-ic' (there's a thread somewhere about this). I wonder if there's some primitive centre in the brain that dislikes being alone at night (because we are vulnerable) or in strange places?
 
read this at some point during early hours, having just had recent news by text of unexpected death of close personal friend

it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc

or it may be my current state of mind

My condolences, take care.
 
There seems to be a particular sense almost of 'dread' that comes when working alone and isolated somewhere and hearing an unfamiliar noise. Maybe it's related to 'pan-ic' (there's a thread somewhere about this). I wonder if there's some primitive centre in the brain that dislikes being alone at night (because we are vulnerable) or in strange places?

Yup, my job takes me to places across the country with lots of isolated and spooky spots to explore. I often find myself alone in underground tunnels and old buildings. Highly enjoyable, especially at night!

As nothing in the world scares me I'm RIGHT at home there, though certain colleagues won't set foot in some of the murkier shortcuts. What wussies.
 
There seems to be a particular sense almost of 'dread' that comes when working alone and isolated somewhere and hearing an unfamiliar noise. Maybe it's related to 'pan-ic' (there's a thread somewhere about this). I wonder if there's some primitive centre in the brain that dislikes being alone at night (because we are vulnerable) or in strange places?

Yes. Your instincts are probably more attuned, but I would think that your tolerance - or at least your ability to filter information along a spectrum from general night time sounds, that you may not even notice duing daylight hours, to something genuinely outside of the norm - would be higher.

I used to occasionally work overnight in workshop in east London. It's only in a situation like this that you really appreciate how noisy 'silence' can be.

(I also used to rig overnight in theatres in the West End, as well as all over the UK. Now, an empty theatre - there's a place that can seem ever so busy when no-one else is there.)
 
Last edited:
Lots of old railway lines have now been converted to cycling/walking paths. We often use the Derbyshire and Welsh ones. There are beautiful views, coffee shops, tunnels, viaducts, old stations, everything you need for a nice day out.

I'm always conscious that we're moving along where the trains would have been. Maybe we'll see one, some misty autumn evening...
 
Lots of old railway lines have now been converted to cycling/walking paths. We often use the Derbyshire and Welsh ones. There are beautiful views, coffee shops, tunnels, viaducts, old stations, everything you need for a nice day out.

I'm always conscious that we're moving along where the trains would have been. Maybe we'll see one, some misty autumn evening...

The Monsal trail is one of my favourite walks - it occasionally passes over and under the quarry lines mentioned above. You can also get an idea of the thickness of the woodland, and the almost mini-alpine nature of some of the landscape: precipitous limestone cliffs; steep valley sides; hills cut off from the land around them by sheer sides, like islands.

A great day out.
 
The Monsal trail is one of my favourite walks - it occasionally passes over and under the quarry lines mentioned above. You can also get an idea of the thickness of the woodland, and the almost mini-alpine nature of some of the landscape: precipitous limestone cliffs; steep valley sides; hills cut off from the land around them by sheer sides, like islands.

A great day out.

Oh yeah, we've been along there on t'mokes many times. There are others nearby as you'll know, all with epic features. Techy has had to learn not to pull a face when I insist on stopping to admire it all.
 
The Monsal trail is one of my favourite walks - it occasionally passes over and under the quarry lines mentioned above. You can also get an idea of the thickness of the woodland, and the almost mini-alpine nature of some of the landscape: precipitous limestone cliffs; steep valley sides; hills cut off from the land around them by sheer sides, like islands.

A great day out.

I am often to be found walking to Blakey Crossing on the old Rosedale line on the North York Moors. Nice level path, spectacular moorland views and the chance for the wind to blow through fourteen layers of clothing. Happy sigh.
 
Oh yeah, we've been along there on t'mokes many times. There are others nearby as you'll know, all with epic features. Techy has had to learn not to pull a face when I insist on stopping to admire it all.

When I was a kid some of the Monsal trail tunnels were accessible: dark, wet and potentially lethal - but if you really wanted to, and you had a torch and some guts, you could get through. Then they bricked them up properly, and for at least a couple of decades they were impenetrable. Now, as you'll know, they are accessible again - well lit and surfaced and somewhat sanitised, but still capable of being spooky.

Two weekends ago me and my partner were walking through Cressbrook Tunnel one late afternoon when, about half way along, I distinctly heard someone whistle close by - that short, sharp, two note whistle you use to get someone's attention, or to call a dog. I checked both directions - but we had the whole length of the tunnel, in both directions, to ourselves

I'm sure it was actually much further away than it seemed, and the apparent proximity was just the way sound travels in those places. But it added a nice bit of spookiness to the afternoon, and in the perfect setting.
 
When I was a kid some of the Monsal trail tunnels were accessible: dark, wet and potentially lethal - but if you really wanted to, and you had a torch and some guts, you could get through. Then they bricked them up properly, and for at least a couple of decades they were impenetrable. Now, as you'll know, they are accessible again - well lit and surfaced and somewhat sanitised, but still capable of being spooky.

Two weekends ago me and my partner were walking through Cressbrook Tunnel one late afternoon when, about half way along, I distinctly heard someone whistle close by - that short, sharp, two note whistle you use to get someone's attention, or to call a dog. I checked both directions - but we had the whole length of the tunnel, in both directions, to ourselves

I'm sure it was actually much further away than it seemed, and the apparent proximity was just the way sound travels in those places. But it added a nice bit of spookiness to the afternoon, and in the perfect setting.

You weren't standing anywhere near an air shaft were you, Spook? Sounds travel down those like nobody's business and if someone 'up top' was whistling for their dog, you'd hear it. Am, despite geographical proximity, unfamiliar with that trail, to my shame, and don't know what would have been above ground at that point, so I could be talking utter buttock-warmers here, of course.
 
You weren't standing anywhere near an air shaft were you, Spook? Sounds travel down those like nobody's business and if someone 'up top' was whistling for their dog, you'd hear it...

That's a very distinct possibility, and I did wonder about it at the time - but rather than spoil the atmosphere with logical explanations I decided not go back to investigate; I kind of liked the idea that an old and possibly semi-transparent ganger was hanging around trying to put the wind up.

...Am, despite geographical proximity, unfamiliar with that trail, to my shame, and don't know what would have been above ground at that point, so I could be talking utter buttock-warmers here, of course.

There are, or were (they may be sealed now), air shafts above ground - I've walked the hills above those tunnels and seen them.

Much to my chuffedness you can now check out that route by Google Street View - worth having a poke around there, if you're interested. (The eastern approach to the ominously named Headstone Tunnel is worth a visit - looks like something out of Tomb Raider.)
 
it didnt occur to me at the time but im now sure theres another retelling of this precise tale, only crammed full of detail, somewhere in ihtm ... went into great detail re sounds etc
thanks all ... strange times at the moment ... i have dug around and cant find the tale i was searching ... however there is some kind of cyclic thread link at work here, ive been round that other linked train thread several times without realising
 
This brings to mind for me the Denholm Elliott portrayal of the signalman which we watch every Christmas Eve
 
For us, the age of steam seems a natural nostalgic setting for
ghostly events but the association of railways and ghosts seemed
to happen quite early on. Possibly the number of lives lost in the
building of the lines and then the lives lost in accidents had this
effect.

The most celebrated collection of ghostly railway tales appeared in
1866, when Charles Dickens devoted the Christmas number of his
All the Year Round magazine to a Special issue entitled Mugby Junction.

Himself, Wilkie Collins and others contributed tales which had titles
as Branch Lines. Probably the most often reprinted is Dickens's own
Branch Line No.1: The Signalman.

As a child I can remember reading comics which shamelessly stole the
plot of Arnold Ridley's comedy The Ghost Train. But then he had nicked the
idea of supernatural events as a cover for smuggling from Robert Louis
Stevenson's South Sea Island tales.

I came upon a very spooky recent adventure down a railway tunnel the
other night, where the trespassers find a pentagram and sacrificed fowl
deep inside an abandoned tunnel. It purports to be true! I will see if I
can relocate it. :eek!!!!:
Thought of the Signalman straight away.. "Helloa bellow there!"
 
Back
Top