The goal is to avoid being crowded to the last possible moment while still not being offensive to my fellow travelers.
This train is supposed to be ten coaches long. It frequently isn’t. There’s no avoiding a crowded train when they cram 10 coaches worth of people into 8 or even 6 coaches. I’m just glad that on the ride into town I can get a seat because it orginates here. On the return its every man for himself. If you don’t get on the train at Waterloo at least 15 minutes before departure you’re not going to get a seat. Period. Full stop. People frequently have to sit on the luggage rack, I know one guy who prefers it but he’s skinny enough to do so. I’m not.
My basic thought process goes like this:
I don’t try for a seat in the last coach even though logic would make you think it would be emptier. And it may be initially but it doesn’t stay that way for two reasons: one, people don’t choose seats in sequential order, and two, people go for the last coach en masse because they all had the same thought you had. Of course once they reach the end of the last coach they don’t want to turn around and walk back so they take every available seat even if they’ve passed good ones in the previous coach.
The coach at the front of the train is half First Class and half not, but new and unseasoned travelers entering from the rear don’t know that till they are in there and find the total number of seats are less than half that of a normal coach. They assume the rest of the train is first class beyond that point and opt to sit in the short section. In this coach you’ll find there’s about 10 people local to Salisbury who all sit in this section together. They do not welcome strangers. You also get people who fancy themselves in a hurry and choose to sit here since that’s the part of the train that will be closest to the station exit when it arrives.
At a few stations we get short platforms, which means people can’t board the last three coaches. Sadly the stations that give us the most passengers aren’t the short ones so this is of minimal effect.
I forgot to mention there’s less passengers on a Friday. Some people get all the breaks! So where does all this leave me? I sit in the next to last coach. It usually has empty seats but people push ahead for the previously mentioned reason, plus they think that if this coach is sparse then logically the last one must be even more empty, right? Is there a word for the next to last of something? There’s ultimate and penultimate, is there something like penultimate for last and…almost last? I think the British call this the ‘antepenultimate coach’ but opinions abound.
Other advice to help your journey:
Face away from the direction of travel–on this route anyway. Morning sun in your face on a train that’s already hot from all the bodies crowded around you is no fun. And going home I just want to close my eyes and its already stuffy in the coach because it never really airs out off from its last trip in. Not to mention I am probably hot and winded from the rush to the train. The white plastic backs of each seat make this less effective but at least its not direct sunlight shining right on your face. Which sometimes makes me sneeze.
And my last and probably most important point: Avoid the tables. Counter-intuitive I know and if the train is not crowded and unlikely to get that way they’re probably alright. But here’s the types of people you get at tables: The people who eat or drink some vile smelling thing on those filthy surfaces. Which you get to watch up close by the way. Then there’s the people with space issues who spread out their laptops, mice, and books hoping for that storybook train ride where no one needs to sit next to them. Add in a hot drink just for added drama. And the worst: The ones that sit inches away from you with their knees pressing yours while they cough, sneeze, or pick their noses. You can’t carry enough gel to combat that. Suddenly a blank white seat back looks inviting.
Crikey! Now I have to move!
Brb.