I seem to have accidentally booked me and loud DCs in to a quiet carriage on a train!

[MammaTJ]

WTF! I asked for a table, I asked for a power point, I most certainly did not ask for a quiet carriage!

We have a quiet carriage booked for on the way down. We are ok on the way home.

WTF do I do? I want seats, clearly, as I bothered to book them! I want seats together, preferably table seats but seats near each other would be ok.

So what do I do on the way down?

If its half term when you are travelling they may well have been the only seats left that met your specification. Check you reservations though - last time I booked online and asked for a socket, it assumed a socket for each seat and seated us behind each other .

Your children are 7-8, surely they shouldn't be making that much noise and running up down the carriage!

Amazed you can book a power point. What sophistication is this?

Rebecca I did not say they would be running up and down the carriage! Not sure what gave you that idea.

Elizabeth, that part of it is great. I get to charge my phone so I can continue to MN (when I have a signal)!

Meloria key tones are always off, I hate the beep beep of them!!

Same happened to us down to London last weekend. 4 yo dd just chatted quietly, coloured in quietly, and then watched a dvd on earphones. Nobody seemed to mind. It was a good lesson for her in being considerate actually.

ring the train company and ask to change.

or, as mentioned, occasional LOW-VOICED talking and watching things using headphones is fine. As it a bit of silent texting. Or (shock horror) read a book. It doesn't have to be a no child zone.

I love the quiet coach because it is always nearly empty on the journey I do - it seems people cannot cope with an hour or so without jabbering on phones and shrieking at each other.

Long distance commuter for work here, just to say thank you to the considerate & polite parents on this thread.

And no thanks to those of you who are seem to be revelling in being "rebels" about the Quiet Carriage. It's not big, and it's not clever. The Quiety Carriage should be just that.

I have to work on my commute. I book into the Quiet carriage whenever I can, & people who flout the conventions and are inconsiderate, and rude to me when I ask them to keep quiet, are just rude.

Enjoy the train journey with your DCs, OP! even though I do 2 hours each way most days, I do still love train travel. Mostly.

We are sat at the station now, watching trains come in and out.

Our journey is a particularly lovely one, we are going from Taunton to Plymouth!

Echoing what upthechimney said.

I don't think I've noticed children those ages being awful in the Quiet Coach - I did struggle with the people who had a screaming baby on a three hour journey, though I'm fairly sure they felt worse!

Why do rail companies do this, though?! It would be really easy to let you opt in or out of the quiet coach, it's such a stupid way to set it up.

Hope you have a good journey.

I would stay in the quiet carriage. Last time I was on the train (in the noisy carriage) with three DC aged 12, 10 and 6, we were right next to a gang of loud, sweary teenage girls, effing and blinding all the way to York!
DS thought it was fab, DD1 was horrified and DD2 was all ears, soaking up all this new vocabulary ready to repeat to Grandma!!!

Despite having v loud voices, all 3 are happy to plug themselves into a film, read a book, draw or go through a new magazine from the station WHS. I'd have avoided the quiet carriage with U5s but you should be ok with school age DC.

UpTheChimney - you may have to work on your commute (your choice) but as someone else said the quiet carriage is not your own personal desk.

Same goes for those people who spread out laptops, papers over a table for their work/student work etc - use your own space don't encroach on others!

super, I don't really follow that. You mind people encroaching spatially but not in terms of noise? You're not meant to be doing either!

It's not the OP's fault because the stupid system booked her into the quiet coach, but the fact remains it was set up so that people could get a reasonable level of quiet to work or sleep in, wasn't it?

I do mind noise encroachment but take into consideration others may not be so thoughtful.

The quiet coach really isn't for working... well it could be but for me (being pedantic here) a train is for travelling on, not working.

I like the quiet carriage because then a the cats bum faces get to sit together and tut every time the karma is disturbed.

Last time I travelled cross country with my three, the train was wonderfully uncrowded - apart from the quiet carriage which was full

I once shared a carriage with an huge stag party. To be fair they tried really hard not to swear too much in front of the kids.

Mmm. I think it's fairly common for people to work on trains, TBH! Why else do you think they provide powersockets and wifi? They know people choosing between driving or the train will go for the train if they can work or amuse themselves.

Oh, sure, I agree.

I didn't get the impression anyone was suggesting anything different, but perhaps I read things wrongly?

the quiet carriage is not your own personal desk

Did I say it was, superflyhigh? Goodness me, how rude you are. Who said anything about encroaching on others' space? I don't.

And here we go again. Anyone who says anything about the Quiet Coach being quiet has a cat's bum face, or is assumed to take up others' space, or actually working when they should, apparently, only be travelling

DFOD

Superflyhigh Why on earth is the quiet coach not for working? My DH has along train commute and ALWAYS works on the train. If he was in the quiet carriage he wouldn't make calls but would do e mails on his laptop. Just because you choose not to work in it doesn't mean others won't.

Tbh he actually prefers First class because they are strangely less snooty about people working in it.

You just have to acknowledge that it's public transport and not the British library. Do you might be able to work. Or my toddler might vomit on your laptop.

Really, BogQueen? You'd be completely incapable of looking after your two year old and would be perfectly content if he/she vomited on someone's laptop? How might you respond if this happened to you? Get off your high horse.

I only use trains to go in and out of London (35-70 minute journey depending) so I'm not familiar with reservations and quiet coach etiquette etc.

However, I do make that one train journey very frequently and find that it certainly isn't children who are the noisy, annoying ones.

Have you ever taken a late night train home from London? Especially at the weekend? It's just like an extension of the nightclub/stadium/sports bar that everyone's just poured out of. In the last few months I have seen/heard/smelled:

• loud, drunken out of tune football anthems that go on and on and on
• a man throwing up to the accompaniment of cheers and whistles
• VERY loud, screechy gossipy conversations
• a girl (of at least 18 or 19) wet herself while her friends cackled hysterically
• people randomly trying to start up drunk conversations with me or other passengers.

After all that, I really wouldn't object to a 7 or 8 year old, whatever they were doing!