What's Your Longest Rail Delay?

[Bus Honeygun]

Having just spent two hours ten minutes at Liskeard thanks to a shed on the line, I was prompted to reminisce about other epic delays in my life.

Just over six hours sat at Bruxelles Midi due to a problem with the overhead wires in the tunnel is what I would describe as my record. That went in stages: ages queuing, more time in the waiting area, then sat on the train in the platform. Could have done without the twat who left his enormous unlabelled black holdall in the security area and created a two minute panic. Turned out he was sat in front of me and had a cold. He blew his nose in disposable tissues which he then wedged into the window vents. Lovely...

Was on a train that was nine hours late once, but that was only from Bristol Parkway to Temple Meads. It was the old Glasgow to Bristol sleeper and there had been a murder on board. A drunken sectarian row had seen some poor sod kicked out of the moving train somewhere near Beattock in the days before central door locking. Grim.

 

[A380]

Four plus hours on the Amtrack from Charleston to Orlando. Our train was ten minutes late to a junction which meant we were behind instead of in front one of those half mile long freight trains that go about 25 mph. And freight is run by the companies that own the tracks whilst Amtrack just rent the paths and so is a lower priority.

I used to use Thameslink and so sometimes the delays were infinite as they just gave up for the day...

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Had some major delays over the years - sometimes taking several hours to get home (compared to a journey of say an hour normally). Usually related to storms, but once due to someone setting themselves on fire in a toilet of a train that basicallly shut down the lines out of London.

 

[danny la rouge]

17 years.

 

[krtek a houby]

London Victoria to Brighton.

Took over 4 hours.

Some years later, a mate was over and she's not mad into trains (doesn't like confined spaces so much) and assured her that it would take less than an hour.

Mentioned that the last time had headed to Brighton it took ages, but that was a one off. Def wouldn't happen.

It took over 3 hours this time

She was not impressed

 

[cupid_stunt]

Having just spent two hours ten minutes at Liskeard thanks to a shed on the line,

Well that makes a change from leaves on the line.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Not longest but worst was when a through train I was on pulled into New Street and they announced it was cancelled. Never had a train 'cancelled' mid-journey before. The next train an hour later, also cancelled. By the time the train after that arrived, there were three trains' worth of people were waiting for it, all crammed onto those horrid tiny platforms. In the last five minutes before the train finally arrived they announced three platform alterations, all of them pretty much from one side of the station to the other, so there were thousands of people pouring up and down the escalators and legging it across the concourse. Utter shitshow.

 

[muscovyduck]

Ireland-England Sail Rail. 12 hour journey took 36 hours.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Having just spent two hours ten minutes at Liskeard thanks to a shed on the line, I was prompted to reminisce about other epic delays in my life.

Just over six hours sat at Bruxelles Midi due to a problem with the overhead wires in the tunnel is what I would describe as my record. That went in stages: ages queuing, more time in the waiting area, then sat on the train in the platform. Could have done without the twat who left his enormous unlabelled black holdall in the security area and created a two minute panic. Turned out he was sat in front of me and had a cold. He blew his nose in disposable tissues which he then wedged into the window vents. Lovely...

Was on a train that was nine hours late once, but that was only from Bristol Parkway to Temple Meads. It was the old Glasgow to Bristol sleeper and there had been a murder on board. A drunken sectarian row had seen some poor sod kicked out of the moving train somewhere near Beattock in the days before central door locking. Grim.

Was it this shed, or another shed-related train fuck up? You never know with Cornwall...

Massive shed blows onto train line causing chaos

The wooden shed somehow ended perfectly upright on the tracks, delaying at least one train for an hour and a half

www.cornwalllive.com

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Was it this shed, or another shed-related train fuck up? You never know with Cornwall...

Massive shed blows onto train line causing chaos

The wooden shed somehow ended perfectly upright on the tracks, delaying at least one train for an hour and a half

www.cornwalllive.com

That's the fucker! Was also quoted as being a stable, which seemed a bit unlikely at the time.

 

[davesgcr]

An ex shed - Network Rail chainsawed it to get the tracks clear.

One of the best ever log reports was in the great storm of 1987 , when they laconically reported a cockle shed on the line at Leigh on Sea, subsequently updated to several fishing boats on said line.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It’s just a poxy wooden shed, 200 ton train should just smash through the fucker and no delays needed, health and safety make it up couldn’t gone mad.

 

[SpookyFrank]

That's the fucker! Was also quoted as being a stable, which seemed a bit unlikely at the time.

It looks pretty stable for a shed that has fallen from the sky in some kind of Wizard of Oz type scenario.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

It looks pretty stable for a shed that has fallen from the sky in some kind of Wizard of Oz type scenario.

I'm told 'Wizard of Oz' was the exact phrase used by the driver who reported it too. Pretty bizarre really.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I have a rule of thumb nowadays that I'll never do rail travel on a bank holiday as something is more likely to go wrong and they don't have the staff to easily rectify it.
I think my worst was arriving into London at 1am when it should have been 9. That was a cunt. No tube working etc.

 

[davesgcr]

It’s just a poxy wooden shed, 200 ton train should just smash through the fucker and no delays needed, health and safety make it up couldn’t gone mad.

How do you know what is in the shed ?

A good few years back , some "Snowmen" innocently on the line in Yorkshire were actually laced with bricks and iron bars - luckily the train stopped short and the serious potential vandalism was spotted with no harm.


Yes -when I had a proper operational job - we had a few odd things spotted - metal objects hidden with foliage. I refer to the "eximanation of the line paragraphs in both the Standard Rule Book (1972) and the matching General Appendix.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

How do you know what is in the shed ?

A good few years back , some "Snowmen" innocently on the line in Yorkshire were actually laced with bricks and iron bars - luckily the train stopped short and the serious potential vandalism was spotted with no harm.


Yes -when I had a proper operational job - we had a few odd things spotted - metal objects hidden with foliage. I refer to the "eximanation of the line paragraphs in both the Standard Rule Book (1972) and the matching General Appendix.

See the Geeza in the bright orange suit, the one purposefully designed to be seen? He could have a nosey inside, and bosh, no need to wait for a chainsaw crew to arrive.

 

[MrSki]

Back in the 90s I had to go to Norwich for a training course starting Monday morning.

Travelled up on the Sunday & I think the driver was taken ill because the train was delayed for a couple of hours somewhere in Suffolk whilst a replacement driver was sought. I was happy as larry having a good book & a supply of beer. Was travelling for work & on double time being a Sunday.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

How do you know what is in the shed ?

A good few years back , some "Snowmen" innocently on the line in Yorkshire were actually laced with bricks and iron bars - luckily the train stopped short and the serious potential vandalism was spotted with no harm.


Yes -when I had a proper operational job - we had a few odd things spotted - metal objects hidden with foliage. I refer to the "eximanation of the line paragraphs in both the Standard Rule Book (1972) and the matching General Appendix.

A train I was on years back hit what they thought was a bag of ballast on the WCML. It was quite impressive - you could hear the stones hitting the bottom of the carriages as we passed over it. They had to close the main line so the staff could get out and check if there was any damage - not helped by the fact that it was pitch black outside in the middle of nowhere. We eventually limped to the nearest station.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Just remembered probably the best excuse for a delay I've ever seen. The train in front hit a pigeon - said pigeon then sailed in a graceful arc, hit the power lines, burst into flames and landed on top of the air intake thing on the top of the train filling the carriage with the smoke from crispy fried pigeon. That held up loads of subsequent trains (including mine) while they tried to figure out what to do.

(((pigeon)))

 

[Puddy_Tat]

22 minutes late, escaped puma at chessington north...

 

[SpookyFrank]

Was stuck on a train for a good few hours once because they'd found a world war 2 unexploded bomb a hundred yards from the west coast mainline.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Don’t know if it was my longest, but worst was a long and cold 4 hours at Peterborough on a pre smartphone Sunday afternoon, all thanks to a cancelled connection and every waiting room being locked. iirc I finished my book somewhere around the hour and a half mark, leaving me with nothing else to do but sit there contemplating my life choices.

I have never been back to Peterborough.

 

[not-bono-ever]

not me, but a chum had a 3 dayer in Myanmar when the train went off the rails and blocked the line