Railway ghost tales

[winterbournecm]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before - so apologies if it has.... I was interested if anyone knew of any railway ghost stories. I had a macabre book once (which I lent and lost) about ghost stories and hauntings through the years. The main story was Charles Dickens' "The Signalman" which was later televised and featured a ghostly figure emerging from the mist in a creepy cutting tunnel and waving a red lamp, which kept frightening the local bobby. (A good one to read alone at night in the box of course!!)

 

There were other stories too. The ghost that we used to hear about was at Largin box in Cornwall. Some staff are reluctant to talk about it. The story goes that at change over time, the Signalmen would walk 1/4 mile from bird-cage down to the box across Largin East viaduct. One one occasion, on arrival the morning signalman mentioned to his relief that he was followed. Unaware of any other person in the vicinity he was unnerved and they looked back to see a figure in full moto bike gear on the viaduct. There were no trains due, and they we about to shout to the person when they vanished. The story was "sexed-up" to suggest that the figure jumped over the side of the viaduct - but noone was ever found below.

 

I'm sure there are better stories around than that though!

[Chris Chewter]

I've heard many. For example, I've been through Greet tunnel on the Glos Warks many times and yet to see the ghost of the track ganger. I'm sure that's just to scare the kids!

 

There was a book of Exeter ghost stories by Chips Barber (sic) who told the tale of a complete ghost train that caused some PW guys to jump of the tracks. Can't remember which line it was, but there was reports that after the Beeching axe, people still reported seeing it after the tracks were lifted. A tad far fetched for my likes.

 

However my favourite was a channel 4 programme of London Underground stories. Again, some were daft, but one stuck in my memory.

 

Apparently a crew member was doing a walk of one of the tunnels. This meant lone walking of the tunnel between stations and reporting any defects upon arrival at the next platform. Problem was, this LT operative walked the tunnel and met a PW guy with an oil lamp in the tunnel. The LT staff stopped and asked the guy why he was using an oil lamp. The chap said he preferred it. The LT crew member continued until he reached his colleagues at the next station where he asked why another member of staff was in the tunnel and why he was allowed an oil lamp. They all mentioned there was on one had entered in the section. As a result they had to re-walk the section but of course no one was there. Apparently others have reported a feeling of uneasiness at the same location.

[Mike J]

There is a tale told in a book about East Riding (Yorkshire) ghost stories about Market Weighton station.

One night after the last train had gone, the porter was closing the station when he heard the steady beat of an approaching steam locomotive. Not sure if there was a special due that he was unaware of he knocked up the station master who was also unaware of any specials due. They were both standing on the platform as the train roared through. Neither of them saw the train, but both heard it and felt it as it swept through the station and 'disappeared' into the night on its ghostly journey! No explanation for what they both felt was ever forthcoming.

[Bon Accord]

Wasn't there a compendium (of sorts) of Railway related ghost stories some years ago - aptly named 'Railway Ghosts'?

[pete_mcfarlane]

There certainly was a book about railways ghosts published in the 1980s. I remember going to a talk by the author - I seem to recall a story about a ghostly Deltic. Personally I don't believe in ghosts.....

No explanation for what they both felt was ever forthcoming.

It was Bolshies smugging machine guns using a "ghost train" as cover! (As in Arnold Ridley's "The Ghost Train", in case you're wondering what I'm on about!).

[Robert]

Personally I don't believe in ghosts.....

 

Neither did I!

 

I seem to recall a story about a ghostly Deltic.

 

Yes, I've heard this story. I seem to remember it was Nimbus (Deltic 20) - she was spotted numerous times, the first time several months after she had been cut up.

 

I also recall a story of a woman who had a premonition about a 47 involved in an accident. She was so concerned that she informed British Rail who changed the number on the locomotive. That same loco was later involved in a fatal collision, which was identical to the premonition. Of course, this one is highly likely to be an urban legend. I can't see BR changing the number based on a phone call from somebody. Still, it's an interesting story.

[60B]

Aviemore shed is haunted, thats for truth. I'd previously read about the ghosts (flushing toilet and footsteps) and thought nothing of it till the toilet flushed on its own accord. Needless to say I packed up and headed home quickly. The story goes that one of the shed staff was killed by leaking steam from a Black 5 but I'm not sure of the truth of this. LU has plenty of ghosts and funny goings on.

[Xerces Fobe2]

Has anyone got any stories/ experiences of ghosts and model railways? I know there is one in the Railway Ghosts book.

 

Xerces Fobe

[Tony Davis]

Do underground ghost stories count? I sort of have some;

 

Coming home from Chalfont to Harrow on the staff train (about 2:30 am) we got held at a signal outside Ricky depot, and while there the driver (who worked permanent nights) started telling me ghost stories about supposed sightings on the north met. This went on for a while and when the signal still hadn't cleared and he needed to contact the cabin from the phone on the stick, he had got himself so scared that he had to ask me to go down the track and make the call for him.

 

Second one; I was booked to cover Eastcote station one Sunday night and hadn't been on the job very long. When I arrived I had been double booked and the other foreman (who was rostered there) gave me a familiarisation of the station. The switchrooms are on the ends of the platform and when the second set are switched off the station is in total darkness, apart from the light from the bardic lamp (if youv'e ever used one you'll know their not great) He was telling me all about the "headless lady ghost" that frequented the place and wound himself up about it all. When we got back to the station the Duty Manager called and said I could go home and the other foreman had to stay, so I didn't get to see any ghosts at all.

[Stubby47]

The village of Trefnant is on the old Rhyl - Denbigh line. Where the line used to run through the village, there is now a row of bungalows. Rumour has it the trains can still be seen running along the line, through the bungalows...

[Oldddudders]

Sharpthorne Tunnel, on the Bluebell Railway, is said to be haunted. Apparently in late Victorian times the station master at adjacent West Hoathly station was said to have chased his wife into the tunnel after a row, and she never emerged. All good stuff. Except that on the SEmG site some years back, there was an entirely factual account of a Bluebell volunteer emerging from the tunnel in a state of shock at "something" that had happened therein.

[Diesel Dayz]

Isn't Mytholmes Tunnel on the KWVR supposedly haunted?

[trisonic]

Do underground ghost stories count? I sort of have some;

 

Coming home from Chalfont to Harrow on the staff train (about 2:30 am) we got held at a signal outside Ricky depot, and while there the driver (who worked permanent nights) started telling me ghost stories about supposed sightings on the north met. This went on for a while and when the signal still hadn't cleared and he needed to contact the cabin from the phone on the stick, he had got himself so scared that he had to ask me to go down the track and make the call for him.

 

 

And thereby hangs the tail of why there are so many ghost stories...........!!

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

 

[60B]

Isn't Mytholmes Tunnel on the KWVR supposedly haunted?

 

Supposedly. What I read was that they were working near the tunnel and heard a train coming but there was no train that day. I always thought it was a tunnel they didn't use though.

[Boris]

Well, my favourite has got the be the story of the little gir of 5 who saw a train at Sledmere and Fimber station, or in that area not so long ago, even though the Malton dodger is long gone. She described the train very well and was able to give quite a bit of odd detail. Especially seeing as slightly further down the track there was a horrendous accident during WW2 where the railway crosses the main driffield road in which a train hit a lorry and a good number of folks were killed. On a more local note still, when we were first married me and the wife lived in Esk Valley cottages near Grosmont. These are in a V between the old closed route via Beck Hole and the new preserved route via Goathland. We quite often heard steam trains, a) when we knew none were running and B) one the wrong side of the house. We had one house guest who was so scared she sat downstairs with all the lights on for the rest of the night! In the current (railway) house we often see the shadow of a man walking past the bay window on the platform at night, but he never goes past the next window along, strangely enough we saw him in the snow as well, not footprints though.

[ForestPines]

I also recall a story of a woman who had a premonition about a 47 involved in an accident. She was so concerned that she informed British Rail who changed the number on the locomotive. That same loco was later involved in a fatal collision, which was identical to the premonition. Of course, this one is highly likely to be an urban legend. I can't see BR changing the number based on a phone call from somebody. Still, it's an interesting story.

 

Not an urban myth! It was 47216, renumbered 47299. Despite the number change, a fatal collision still occurred as predicted, a couple of years later, in 1983.

[trisonic]

Not an urban myth! It was 47216, renumbered 47299. Despite the number change, a fatal collision still occurred as predicted, a couple of years later, in 1983.

 

Let's see some proof. Not just about the number change or collision but about the prediction.............

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

 

[ForestPines]

I don't have any primary sources to hand, but I've read it in a number of places: the book "Railway Ghosts" by W. P. Herbert is one (it has a lot of Lincolnshire-based stories, being by a Lincolnshire author); and funnily enough the story was posted on Flickr the other day. I've also found this page about it, with references to contemporary magazine and newspaper articles.

[trisonic]

The so-called prediction was not mentioned in the official report but if it's mentioned on the internet then it must be true.

 

Sorry don't mean to bust your gut over this.

 

 

Best, Pete.

[ForestPines]

I'm as sceptical as anyone about things published on the Internet; but that story has been published lots of times over the past 25 years, in the railway press, the mainstream press, and in books on the paranormal.

[trisonic]

And I've got an interesting bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn I wish to sell cheap......................................

 

Keep happy!

 

Best, Pete.

[John_Hughes]

A mate of mine - now sadly passed on - was a signalman for many years in East Anglia, and on one posting was given the local station house to live in, the station itself having closed to passengers some years before. The family's first job on moving in was to clear out all the bottles that were stacked up in one of the upstairs rooms - the former occupant having been a great toper, and having allegedly fallen down the stairs and broken his neck one night while drunk.

 

With the place all tidied up, they set up their little girl's bedroom in the place from which all the bottles had been removed, and thought no more of it, except that they would often hear her chattering away to herself after she'd been tucked up. On occasion they did think they'd seen, out of the corner of their eye, someone standing at the top of the stairs; but there was no-one there, so they just dismissed it as a trick of the light.

 

So far, so sensible. Except that when she was quite a lot older, the daughter - whom I know personally - asked her parents, When I was little and you'd put me to bed, who was that funny man that used to come and talk to me and make me laugh?

 

An interesting one, that!

[Robert]

That is an interesting one John.

 

I think that children in particular are often able to see things which we are often not able to see as adults.

 

My own experience of the paranormal (I have no other explanation of it) also involves my son, who was three at the time.

[Downendian]

The so-called prediction was not mentioned in the official report but if it's mentioned on the internet then it must be true.

 

Sorry don't mean to bust your gut over this.

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

Hi Pete

I'd heard this story before, and my source is Profile of the 47s by Brian Morrison (plate 45). Why exactly BR changed 47 216 to 47 299 is not really known of course, we need proof of this that it was due to contact with a clairvoyant. I'm a sceptic too, and it may have been sheer bad luck as many locos have been involved in fatalities over the years.

 

Neil

[ForestPines]

That is a good story! It has the perfect "horror/tragedy" combination of the classic "literary" ghost story.