Loudspeaker happiness

We are in a leisure industry, and some compromises have to be made, things like modern clean toilets, and giving the customer what they expect, part of this is public announcements, as i pointed out in my earlier post, customers expect ions are flavored by what they expect, to many if its a train ride, an amount of tannoy announcements i would say are necessary, its how they are used, that matters, some are just not right, but things like the train at platform one is the 1pm service calling at, etc and light refreshments are availible in the buffet car in my view are, of course not everyone will agree, same as asking people to move back from the platform edge as the train enters the station are, ask any footplate staff what their worse fear is as they enter a packed platform,its a one under,

 

One thing that can be done in the good old style is have someone with a powerful voice announce the name of the station as the train arrives. I've many a sound recording with "Oakworth, this is Oakworth." Really sets the scene for the recording.

 

We have gone over much of this before and our respective positions are well known to each other. I suspect our positions regarding getting people away from platform edges will differ too! Presumably you will favour a P.A. announcement whereas I would favour one of the platform staff with arms outstretched, ushering people away from danger if necessary. One is talking at people, the other is talking to people.

Paul H

(Incidentally, have you ever met an erstwhile driver who hit someone on the railway? I have. He hit but did not kill, a trespassing teenager somewhere near Worting Junction. Although in no way his fault he found he could not face driving trains again.)

 

Totally agree with the one under issue. It is also the guards worst nightmare having someone fall between the train and platform. If possible I will already have a hand on the setter. I will also wait to give the RA if someone is too close or a child is not under proper control

 

possibly, but that's not what this thread is about. Feel free to start your own if they annoy you

 

Actually i favour both the PA, and the human version, both working together, the pa to advise, the human to ensure its complied with, its called common sence, the public have a very different approach to their own safety than us who are, or were at the sharp end, and in answer to Pauls last question, yes i have, first hand, i knew a driver who when driving on BR had a suicide, jump out on him, some can cope, some cant, and as for someone you know getting killed on the railway, yes i know only to well what that feels like, remember that person who got killed by hitting his head on a low bridge, well earlier that day, i was cleaning the loco with him, i was due to have a footplate ride later that day, needless to say it didnt happen, i can remember to this day , the look on the crews faces later, when they eventually returned to shed, .

 

Yes. I met someone who had someone leap off the platform in front of him at a Scottish station (I'm not saying which). Worst of all, it was someone he knew and he had no choice but to watch him slide off the windscreens as he hit the emergency brake. The way he was dealing with it when I met him (it was still quite recent) was utterly humbling.

But please don't use the example of people being hit by trains to try and make some bizarre claim for being right on your views on preserved station PAs, Paul. You're bigger than that.

I've said it before - Joe Public does not want the genuine 1950s experience of steam railway travel, they want a sanitised, 21st century, 'theme park' version. The railway enthusiast who wants the 'genuine' experience is not the primary market, although we probably have a disproportionately loud voice when it comes to demanding what we want.

 

whilst I largely agree with you, it is totally unnecessary to have Network Rail Speak* announcements on board saying that this "service" is calling at xy and z when they only ever go to x y and z. What's next? Dot matrix destination boards on all platforms and yellow lines?

*for want of a better name

 

You'd be surprised at the questions passengers ask regarding the destination of the train and its calling points. That information should be given to them ideally before boarding though.

 

Some people's low level of intelligence isn't an excuse for inappropriate announcements. Invariably I get my ticket checked and the Inspector should be able to answer any questions. Why pander to the lowest common denominator?

 

Alas this is something of a distortion of the point I made.People getting too close inadvertently to the platform edge is not the same as deliberate trespass or suicide. However, in response to broadcast messages to avoid going too close to the platform edge , what constitutes "too close"?. A staff member on hand to warn is far better.

Of course tourist lines are selling an illusion of the past. I am old enough to remember the tail end of "The Golden Years". Golden years my hat! Filthy smoke, dirty trains, smelly lavatories and staff who were not always exactly solicitous were very common. Most tourist railways do much better nowadays but I went to one recently which was doing its best (highly successfully) to emulate the thick black smoke of yore. It was as if Daw Mill colliery had never shut. That's a matter for another thread though.

PH

 

If people keep 'distorting' your point or, as you see it, missing it entirely, perhaps the real problem is that you are either not making it clearly enough or you are unable to accept that others genuinely don't agree with you?

I like the vast majority of your posts, frequently agree with you and think you talk an awful lot of sense in the regular outbreaks of WIBN on NatPres. However, sometimes we just have to accept that we hold a minority view and, no matter how we keep convincing ourselves that we are being misunderstood, there is no point in keep gnawing away at the same bone in the hope that others will eventually come round to our way of thinking. They won't.

There is no truth. Only opinions. And you know the saying about opinions...

 

Thanks for your thoughts which I appreciate. Indeed, it's not disagreement that really galls but distorting what I said and then arguing against what I didn't say!
As a Parthian shot, let me just commend an article in this month's Steam Beano (yes indeed) called "Are we our own worst enemy".
Paul H

 

I take it you're not in a customer facing role. Just because someone asks a question that may seem strange to you, it does not mean they are of low intelligence. In fact I find your post quite insulting of the public at large.

 

I wasn't referring to "the Public at large" I was referring to some of them who are apparently able to board a train without knowing where it's going when there's only a choice of a maximum two directions and less than 6 stations or so available. Some Railways who assume all of their passengers fall in this category by providing main-line style announcements are in fact "insulting" all of those passengers who don't need them.

 

Yes. I often ask staff to double check something, particularly somewhere I've never been before. Apparently this means I'm thick.

Some of the volunteers I ask also make it clear that my question is "stupid" by their clever-dick answer or facial expression, which really makes me feel much better.

 

I have to admit, some questions customers ask do make you think " has the home let you out"? some are people who have no railway knowledge , for instance, in my time on MHR, being asked at Alton is this the waterloo train, when your loco faces the wrong direction, on the wrong end of the train some are just plain stupid, the questions that is, the best was an "expert" saying, they take power from the electric rail and boil the water from that, and that the coal is for when the electric runs out

 

... which assumes they are a regular traveller on Virgin, and know the difference between a Mk1 and a pendolino (which few people need to know).

 

Switzerland built some steam shunters with the boiler heated electrically from the overhead. http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/swisselec/swisselc.htm