MovieChat Forums > The Lady Vanishes (1938) Discussion > Questions about trains in UK

Questions about trains in UK

posted 11 years ago by mickeyone
11 replies | jump to latest

I've gotten the impression that lots of Brits are reading these messages. Here are 2 general questions I have about trains in your country (from watching other old films made there):

1) Is it really true that you used to be able to run along a train and jump on even after it had started to leave? That is so amazing, it certainly isn't something I've ever witnessed here in the U.S. Maybe people did that with trolleys when we still had them (ok, they still exist in many places).

2) Is it really true that trains in Britain used to (and perhaps still do) allow you to exit your little compartment to the outside via a door right there in the compartment (like Richard Hannay does in "The 39 Steps")? Something else that is totally foreign to trains here in the U.S.

Its just so cool the way on trains in the U.K. (and the rest of Europe I suppose) they have all these compartments that are just like little rooms and the people sit in seats facing each other and they even have a door you can close to separate yourself from the aisle of the train. All the trains I have ever been on here in the U.S. are just boring rows of seats on the left and right of the aisle, all facing the same direction (for an example, see the Twilight Zone episode "A Stop at Willoughby" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R7GAx_w7-4). No compartments or anything. Nothing separating you from the aisle. I mean I know that AMTRAK has special sleeper trains and all, so certainly they have something similar on those. But for regular trains here, no, as far as I know.

And just imagine if an American director wanted to make a "The Lady Vanishes" type picture here, using American trains. He couldn't even have a Mr. Todhunter and "Mrs." Todhunter scene, since that whole scene REQUIRED that they have their own separate compartment on the train that they could shut off from the rest of the train.

[–] renegadeuk-1 11 years ago

At the time this film and others like it were made yes these things were true and possible. However, today our trains are more similar to your American rolling stock, more like aircraft interiors with bland rows of seats (some with tables) and access doors only at each end of the carriage.

Up until the 1970s it was indeed possible to sprint along the platform beside a moving train, open the door from the outside and hop aboard. It is no longer possible as the doors do not have external handles and are centrally locked automatically when the train starts to move.

Between the 1800s and up to the 1970s many older carriages had individual doors in each compartment. Indeed many carriages did not even have the side corridor (aisle) allowing access to the rest of the train. You selected your compartment and you stayed there till the end of the journey. However, this was usually the case only on shorter local journeys on branch lines (as you had no access to a toilet or the dining car).

The 'little room' compartments with facing seats no longer appear on modern British rolling stock - and I miss them ... but they do feature on the dozens of preserved heritage railways run by volunteers and charities all over Britain ... if you ever visit the UK your trip would not be complete without a day spent on one of these small historic steam railways that are open all year round:

http://www.nymr.co.uk/
http://www.nvr.org.uk/
http://www.svr.co.uk/
http://www.breconmountainrailway.co.uk/
http://www.festrail.co.uk/
http://www.heritage-railways.com/map.php

Now that CGI is up to it will somebody PLEASE make a movie of Larry Niven's Ringworld

[–] NewtonFigg 11 years ago

As recently as the 70s, I remember chasing a Pennsylvania Railroad commuter train as it started out of the station and opening the door handle, pushing the door in and hopping on. I must have been crazy. Or very young. Same thing.

[–] mickeyone 11 years ago

In my original posting, I had 2 questions listed (I had originally thought of three things I wanted to ask, but had forgotten what the 3rd one was). I wonder if I have now remembered #3:

3) Did they really used to have the external doors to the cars of the train open out on a hinge (thus if the door had been left open or accidentally opened while the train was moving, someone standing along the tracks could get injured/killed)? I must admit, that seems pretty stupid to me now.

But something else I wanted to say. I always wondered about how they had those compartments where a group of people would sit facing each other (just like in "The Lady Vanishes"). Why were they like that? Then a while ago I was watching I think it was an old Sherlock Holmes movie (I used to love those old Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce flicks) and I noticed how the people were going around the streets of London in the old carriages pulled along by horses, and it struck me. Of course, that's it!! Those old compartmented trains they used in England, what they did was take the same arrangement/enclosure they used in the horse-drawn carriages and just lifted it up and plopped it down onto the base of the railroad cars. Put a bunch of them in a row with a door on one side (originally both sides as shown in "The 39 Steps") and a hallway up the other side. That's it isn't it??

[–] jd-276 8 years ago

3) Did they really used to have the external doors to the cars of the train open out on a hinge (thus if the door had been left open or accidentally opened while the train was moving, someone standing along the tracks could get injured/killed)? I must admit, that seems pretty stupid to me now.

Yes. It was entirely possible to be knocked down by an open door.

[–] giverny98 11 years ago

I loved those old trains. They were such a joy to ride in those compartments.

[–] cate08 8 years ago

From watching British TV (mostly Jeremy Brett's Sherlock)I have the idea that the separate compartments were marked 1st class and the rows of seats in other cars were 3rd class. I have the same in Poirot. The detectives were almost always in 1st class, while Scotland Yard detectives rode 3rd class. Is this correct? Was there a 2nd class compartment? I never saw one. Just from what I have watched.

[–] giverny98 8 years ago

You are correct, but I don't know why they skip to third class.

[–] Bluebell30 11 years ago

When I travelled from Zagreb to Budapest in 2011 the train had compartments where you sat facing each other. It was a very old train though with no air conditioning. The trains became more modern the further north we travelled towards Berlin.

[–] pt100 10 years ago

Just one correction to your observations. I have ridden on commuter trains in the northeast U.S. that have seats that can be easily changed by passengers to face a different direction so that people can face each other.

It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. -- Derek

[–] hugh1971 10 years ago

Actually 'slam door' trains were still running on British railways until about 2005, I think the Lymington line ran them until 2010. You could run after the train and jump on while it was moving, or jump off early to beat the rush at the station gate, though the guard usually gave you holy hell if you did it. Large stations such as London terminii used to close the platform gate just before the train left, to stop people jumping onto moving trains. Eventually also, central locking was introduced on some express trains with slam doors, so that people couldn't jump out while the train was moving.

Compartment trains (corridor trains) went out of service earlier, around 1980 I think, though there are still sleeper compartments on the London-Inverness service. London slam-door trains usually had one or two compartments at the end of some carriages until around 2000 I think. In those days there was also a dining car/bar on most long distance services, where you could get a meal and even smoke a cigarette (Imagine that today!)

The compartment trains with no corridor went out of service a long time ago - in the 1960s I think.

You can still travel on all these old fashioned carriages on the heritage lines in the UK, however. Some eastern European lines also have corridor trains - they certainly still do in Hungary, for example.

[–] carl_glynn 8 years ago

Just to say that compartment/corridor trains lasted much longer in the UK than 1980. I remember travelling from London down towards Southampton regularly in such trains in the late 1990s.