Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2012 17:27:12 GMT
Perhaps one for auxsetreq and ceiling cat here. I was looking through some old pictures of LU back in the good old days and found this old gem www.flickr.com/photos/colinbarnard/1547693902/in/faves-30818900@N08/A station cat at Marylebone in may 1990. What makes this picture more bizzaire is the fact its having a snooze on a UTS gate!? I always thought of station cats with the sterotypical countryside station but not one of a deep level tube station. My question is, how common were station cats? and are there still some about on the network today? |
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Post by norbitonflyer on Apr 3, 2012 17:33:56 GMT
how common were station cats? and are there still some about on the network today? There can't be many to judge by the numbers of mice down there |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2012 21:49:15 GMT
Here is a picture edited by me from a Richard Piccaver picture with thanks www.railwaycat.com/ Croxley Cats! XF |
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Post by snoggle on Apr 3, 2012 22:13:34 GMT
Perhaps one for auxsetreq and ceiling cat here. I was looking through some old pictures of LU back in the good old days and found this old gem www.flickr.com/photos/colinbarnard/1547693902/in/faves-30818900@N08/A station cat at Marylebone in may 1990. What makes this picture more bizzaire is the fact its having a snooze on a UTS gate!? I always thought of station cats with the sterotypical countryside station but not one of a deep level tube station. My question is, how common were station cats? and are there still some about on the network today? Some years ago there was a cat at Arnos Grove called Spooky. It used to sit on the ticket collector's box. The staff used to make badges to give to the passengers who "met" Spooky. I understand the cat eventually went feral as it had so many rats and mice to consume! No idea if it is still there. The details of this story are from a friend who was a supervisor at the station. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2012 22:24:33 GMT
Not strictly station cats, but there used to be a whole family of depot cats at Ruslip Depot, living in an old City and South London Railway carriage. The cats always used the official walkboards when they crossed the tracks!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2012 10:43:11 GMT
Hehehe I like that emu joke, pity none of my non rail enthusiast mates wouldn't have the faintest if I told 'em!
To think that a cat was overwhelmed by the fact there were too many meals around, thats hillarious. As for cats using official walkboards to cross the track, I suppose it shows how clever they are, they must sense that there is juice running through those rails.
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Post by phillw48 on Apr 4, 2012 17:05:29 GMT
Hehehe I like that emu joke, pity none of my non rail enthusiast mates wouldn't have the faintest if I told 'em! To think that a cat was overwhelmed by the fact there were too many meals around, thats hillarious. As for cats using official walkboards to cross the track, I suppose it shows how clever they are, they must sense that there is juice running through those rails. Not so one cat at Barking, he had a habit of gingerly hopping over the live rail until one morning something divided his attention and he missed his footing!  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2012 17:43:03 GMT
Hehehe I like that emu joke, pity none of my non rail enthusiast mates wouldn't have the faintest if I told 'em! To think that a cat was overwhelmed by the fact there were too many meals around, thats hillarious. As for cats using official walkboards to cross the track, I suppose it shows how clever they are, they must sense that there is juice running through those rails. Not so one cat at Barking, he had a habit of gingerly hopping over the live rail until one morning something divided his attention and he missed his footing! Gone in a flash  XF |
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Post by tubeprune on Apr 6, 2012 7:06:27 GMT
There were lots of cats around the system. Some were semi-official and were given a cat food allowance that was recorded in the proof book. I also recall a large family of cats living in an old PC car on the Alps at Ealing Common in the late 70s.
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DWS
every second count's
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Post by DWS on Apr 6, 2012 7:09:34 GMT
There were lots of cats around the system. Some were semi-official and were given a cat food allowance that was recorded in the proof book. I also recall a large family of cats living in an old PC car on the Alps at Ealing Common in the late 70s. What was a PC Car ? |
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slugabed
Zu lang am schnuller.
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Post by slugabed on Apr 6, 2012 7:47:28 GMT
Personnel Carrier...
I suspect.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2012 7:56:52 GMT
There were lots of cats around the system. Some were semi-official and were given a cat food allowance that was recorded in the proof book. I also recall a large family of cats living in an old PC car on the Alps at Ealing Common in the late 70s. What was a PC Car ? A Pussy Cat Car ;D XF |
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Post by nickf on Apr 6, 2012 8:21:31 GMT
Hehehe I like that emu joke, pity none of my non rail enthusiast mates wouldn't have the faintest if I told 'em! To think that a cat was overwhelmed by the fact there were too many meals around, thats hillarious. As for cats using official walkboards to cross the track, I suppose it shows how clever they are, they must sense that there is juice running through those rails. Not so one cat at Barking, he had a habit of gingerly hopping over the live rail until one morning something divided his attention and he missed his footing! So a cat at Barking, of all places, went WHOOOOFF! Sorry folks, bad taste I know, but I can never resist a cheap laugh. |
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pitdiver
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Post by pitdiver on Apr 6, 2012 8:33:42 GMT
I can remember the cats at Barbican when I was there in 1989. However I believe there were two can't remember their names but I'm sure the names had something to do with the name of the station " BARBI" or something like that for one of them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2012 17:28:51 GMT
Railway cat storys deserve a book! I've mentioned these before but they deserve another airing. Barnes station used to have a cat called 'Roger' after the Beano character 'Roger the Dodger'. He was so called because he didn't quite dodge quickly enough one day and lost most of his tail under a 455!
Bescot traincrew depot had a scruffy white cat called 'Kosovo' while my favourite is still the London location that, in the Drivers room, had a sign that said 'in the interests of security could all members of Traincrew ensure that, when leaving, they lock the external door with a BR1 key..... P.S. Leave the window open for the cat!'..... Priceless|!!!
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Post by bruce on Apr 7, 2012 19:33:25 GMT
When I was a AET at Kings Cross, I was on night duty and I got a call from the Report Centre that the Station Supervisor at Holloway Road could hear a cat meowing behind a trackside ventilation grill and could I go and have a look and see if I could do anything. At that time I used to keep cats at home and the person in the Report Centre knew this hence the reason why I got the call.
I met up with the Station Supervisor at Holloway road and was shown from where the meowing could be heard from. I took out protection and once the traction current had been discharged investigated further. I found a way through the ventilation grill and sure enough I found a rather bedraggled looking ginger cat in amongst the remains of the experimental circular escalator. By this time one of my supervisors had arrived on the scene and we decided to take the cat to the RSPCA centre near Finsbury Park.
I did hear that a few weeks later that the cat had been reunited with its owner.
I never did get the chance to return to Holloway Road to take some pictures of the experimental escalator.
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Post by tubeprune on Apr 8, 2012 6:34:12 GMT
Of course it was a Pussy Car! No don't go there  It was a Standard Stock trailer painted maroon and classified as "Personnel Carrier". |
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Post by The Tram Man on Aug 9, 2012 13:21:53 GMT
I must say, this thread gave me quite a few laughs. Especially the first pic, the cat sleeping on the gate, and the EMU joke.
I actually met a station cat here in Stockholm once. And, sure enough, that station was out in the countryside.
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It was a Standard Stock trailer painted maroon and classified as "Personnel Carrier".
