Is this a train or a boat? & request for help
 

Good morning all my first post having just joined.

I use rail lines mainly for business and unluckily for me I live in Southport using the Manchester Airport and Wigan trains extensively.

This morning's train has turned up with an inch of water in the engine lead carriage as it rained heavily overnight. No site of buckets & mops anywhere the driver being told it will be sorted at Manchester. Unsure who owns Northern Rail, however, health & safety of their staff & passengers is clearly not a priority.

If anyone knows who owns them do share as they must upgrade their stock if safety is breached.

Bye for now

At a guess, you're on a train - it's generally accepted that on a boat, the water is largely restricted to the outside.
Shameful, nevertheless. :)

Hello Paulkitchen62 and welcome to the Railway Forum.
Sounds like you need a pair of flippers to travel to work in when it rains. Some of the members will agree with you as they have complained about Northern Rail a number of times.

Strictly speaking if the 'boat' weighs more than 40 tons and exceeds 40 feet in length then it is a ship.
Then again if it was a submarine or a fishing vessel it matters not what size or length.............it's a boat.
It's not me, blame The Historic Ships Committee.

I don't think that a Class 150 or a 142 would qualify as a ship; must be a boat.
Do you think that bailers should be standard equipment on Northern trains? (it does rain a lot in their part of the country).

Perhaps they should hand out umbrellas when boarding these trains!

...or wetsuits, goggles & snorkels....:)

Hi Dave, I can just imagine the remarks if you walked out of Wigan Wallgate dressed like that! (They wouldn't turn a hair at the Airport, they get all sorts there!)

I think Northern is owned by Serco somethingorother, which is a joint venture with, I think, Dutch involvement. As someone who lives near Southport, I can sympathise with you on the trains to Manchester. I don't use them very often but the last time I was on the line, was just after New Year with sub zero temperatures and not so much as a smidgings of heat on the nodding donkey. The time before that was a trip to the airport, I nearly missed the plane because the first train of the day couldn't get to Southport because the signalman at Burscough didn't turn up on time. They then added to the mess by deciding that it would terminate at Piccadilly so it could get back on schedule

I thought you can get a boat on a ship, but not a ship on a boat!