Re: Evocative sights/sounds/smells on the modern railway

On 29 Mar 2007 09:43:41 -0700, D7666 wrote:

On Mar 29, 4:49 pm, "exrailman" <spama...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

My pesonal favourite was "Exeterrr St david's, .... This is Exeterrr St
david's"
in a wonderful west country accent.


Exeter St. Davids long held my vote for top station announcer - but
the individual concered was there in the 1970s - but was not strongly
accented - although the man on the opposite shift was.

This was pre-power box, when the annoucer sat in a little cabin
located half way up (or down depending on your viewpoint) of one
otherwise blocked off flight of steps to the footbridge on the first
island platform (3/4 I think it was then).

He gave very clear precise speeches methodically ahead of, on arrival,
and before departure, ending with a classic ''please close all the
doors and stand clear Tiverton Junction will be the next stop'' (or
wherever it was) which is something in those days was seldom done
anywhere.

Leicester had a clear precise annoucer as well - I did not realise for
some time the main himself was a haulage basher thus travelled
extensively, and used his experiecne of poor info across the network
to make sure Leicester would show the rest how to do it properly.

Also, then then regular night man at Crewe who was there for eons as
far as I can remember before they rebuilt when the power box came in.
The characterisitc was trains to 'Olly'edd or 'Erreferd.

There were others - the woman at ReddingReddingReddingRedding was
another memorable one if not particlualry good.

Two that come to mind:
The rather attractive-sounding female announcer who always seemed to be on duty
at Sheffield Midland (well, every time I was there) in the 80s. For those with
a working knowledge of Hitchhikers Guide, she reminded me a little of Trillian's
announcements (but without the American accent) - "Probability of your train
arriving on time: two to the power of four thousand, six hundred and eight to
one against, and falling.".

and:
Manchester Piccadilly, specifically Plats 13/14, when announcments on them could
be (and quite often were) made from the staff "cubbyhole". There was a
supervisor with a noticable Irish accent and a volume control permanently set on
11, who always announced trains as if they were the personal property of the
passengers (the railway hadn't yet decided it wanted "customers" instead) - as
in "The train on Platform 14 is your Liverpool, calling at...".

I do recall one occasion when there was obviously some confusion as to what was
going where. A "fight" ensued between the local chap and the main announcer,
with the local chap countering the announcer's doubtful utterances with his own
(probably correct) versions. Unfortunately, the main announcer had a "bigger
switch", and their next announcement would cut him off. Not to be outdone, he
appeared on the platform, with a megaphone...

These days, they've both been replaced by a computer. Some things never change
though, this machine has been known to disagree - with itself.

--
WZR
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Evocative sights/sounds/smells on the modern railway
    ... in a wonderful west country accent. ... The characterisitc was trains to 'Olly'edd or 'Erreferd. ... The rather attractive-sounding female announcer who always seemed to be on duty ... in "The train on Platform 14 is your Liverpool, ...
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