Ghost trains

[RandomGuy]

Fascinating article.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015...t-ghost-trains

The train that cuts across the West Yorkshire countryside from Leeds to the small town of Snaith departs just once at precisely 17:16, Monday to Saturday. Return trains depart twice: one at 07:16, one at 19:01.
Given these infrequent departures, you’d expect packed carriages. But on a recent Friday rush hour – when Leeds train station, the second-busiest in the UK outside London, is swirling with commuters – no one, aside from me and my companions, remains on the line for more than a few stops. Soon, one carriage after another becomes completely, eerily empty. You could cartwheel down the aisles.

he Leeds-Snaith line is what rail enthusiasts call a ghost train; Snaith station, a ghost station. The webpage about Snaith on ticket sales site TheTrainLine.com warns that ticket machines are not available at the station. Nor is there a ticket office, taxi rank or cab office.
It’s one of many train services around Britain that run with empty carriages – sometimes once or twice a day, sometimes as rarely as once a week. Sometimes even ticket sellers don’t know they exist, and it takes dedicated amateurs to seek them out. So why do these trains run at all?
The whisper of a service
There is no single definition of what cons utes a ghost train, although the general consensus is that it’s when a service is so infrequent, the train becomes effectively useless. Slippery or not, though, the term “ghost train” seems apt. It implies a service that is not exactly whole – something that whispers through towns and countryside, leaving barely a dent in its wake.

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(read the rest of the article at the link)

[man on wire]

What is so fascinating? I see ghost VIA busses all the time.

[Avante]

[DMC]

That ing commuter rail in Austin is empty every time I sit there waiting to cross. Here it comes, about the size of a bus, no one on it.. but 200 people waiting for it to pass. That's progress.

[~O~]

What is this, scooby doo?``

[Pauly D]

Of course the one time you post something Gorillaz it's a below average song

[CubanMustGo]

That ing commuter rail in Austin is empty every time I sit there waiting to cross. Here it comes, about the size of a bus, no one on it.. but 200 people waiting for it to pass. That's progress.

Oh, it's packed in the morning and evening ... full of people from Cedar Park, Round Rock, the Brushy Creek MUD and other outlying areas who do not pay taxes into Capital Metro.

[DMC]

Oh, it's packed in the morning and evening ... full of people from Cedar Park, Round Rock, the Brushy Creek MUD and other outlying areas who do not pay taxes into Capital Metro.

I never drive in the rush hours. I filter that way when it's easy driving and only stick around a hour or so, now and again.

[ohmwrecker]

Of course the one time you post something Gorillaz it's a below average song

There aren't any pre-war blues jams about ghost trains? I find that hard to believe. Must not be in the almanac.

[Avante]

There aren't any pre-war blues jams about ghost trains? I find that hard to believe. Must not be in the almanac.

Try 12big books on them blues and about 4000 blues CD's.

There are tons of train songs...TONS! but not about ghosts.(now this is where ya try your best to find one, ha~~~)

This being my fav prewar train song, done by one of the really unique talents, King Solomon Hill (Joe Holmes)