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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think everyone knows you don't flush train toilets whilst train is standing in a station?

188 replies

ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 18:18

I've had to get multiple long distance trains this last week and on several journeys have had to stand in corridors near the toilets as it's been so busy. For various reasons I've not really used trains in about 20 years!

I honestly thought it was common knowledge that you don't flush train toilets whilst at a station? Or has that changed in the last 20 years?

It's like people are actually waiting for the train to stop moving to get out of their seats and head for the loo - over and over at station after station Confused

OP posts:
katepilar · 19/02/2023 21:30

It surely depends on what type of train and what type of toilets there are? You can certainly tell on the trains I use but thats not in the UK.

AndAllOurYesterdays · 19/02/2023 21:31

I remember the paper and shit on the tracks at stations. It was awful, especially in summer. I also didn't realise this has changed but then I get a lot less trains than 20.years ago.

TigeToo · 19/02/2023 21:33

I wouldn’t have known that was a thing but then I could count the amount of train journeys I’ve had in my life on one hand

JMSA · 19/02/2023 21:33

I hardly ever use public loos - I'm honestly like a human camel Grin - but now you come to mention it, there is often a horrible stench as you approach stations on the train. Glasgow Queen St station for absolute certain.

Original poster
ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 21:34

LikeTearsInRain · 19/02/2023 21:28

OP would you not think if that were the case there would be signs everywhere saying to avoid using at a station where possible?

Well, there used to be a sign in every train toilet saying it. And back in the 80s/90s everyone seemed to just... know not to. My parents didn't actually explain why I shouldn't, I just thought it was one of those weird British etiquette things, until I was a teenager and found out the real reason!

OP posts:
elevenplusdilemma · 19/02/2023 21:34

ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 18:18

Someone will come and tell me now that trains have tanks for sewage these days so it doesn't matter, won't they. Off to actually google it!

Yes. Almost all do nowadays. Those that don't have clear signs asking patrons not to flush when the train is standing at the station.

Original poster
ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 21:35

But definitely when I was young, nobody used the toilet in a station. It Wasn't Done.

OP posts:
NeedHelpToReachTheEnd · 19/02/2023 21:35

JMSA · 19/02/2023 21:33

I hardly ever use public loos - I'm honestly like a human camel Grin - but now you come to mention it, there is often a horrible stench as you approach stations on the train. Glasgow Queen St station for absolute certain.

Has to change at Preston last year, what a pong on the platform!
Is that on the same line by any chance?!

Original poster
ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 21:37

Also I see that the 8 companies who have managed to get an exemption from the ban include all of Transport for Wales, plus Cross Country, Great Western, Chiltern, West Midlands, Northern, Anglia, and Easy Midlands. That's a sizeable chunk of the rail network who are still discharging human shit onto the tracks, and I'm really surprised more people don't know it's a thing!

OP posts:
LikeTearsInRain · 19/02/2023 21:39

ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 21:34

Well, there used to be a sign in every train toilet saying it. And back in the 80s/90s everyone seemed to just... know not to. My parents didn't actually explain why I shouldn't, I just thought it was one of those weird British etiquette things, until I was a teenager and found out the real reason!

Show quote history

Yes and those signs no longer exist - so you didn’t ever figure it wasn’t a thing anymore?

elevenplusdilemma · 19/02/2023 21:42

amicissimma · 19/02/2023 21:00

I know a Network Rail engineer who claims there is plenty of sewage on the tracks.

I've no idea if some trains are still dumping it or if it's historic.

Possibly railway staff and train drivers. I live near a train track - I sometimes see bottles of yellow liquid discarded on the track, even if the label of the bottle indicates the original contents were a different colour Confused
I guess when you've got to go..

Gingernaut · 19/02/2023 21:46

Xrays · 19/02/2023 18:19

They have tanks now. You don’t see piles of turds and toilet paper on the lines do you? 😁

Yeah, you do.

Much of the UK's rolling stock is still quite old.

Stations on many branch lines fucking reek because of the filth.

transformandriseup · 19/02/2023 21:52

I'm pretty saw I have seen toilet paper on the tracks of GWR routes fairly recently. They have new trains now but still use some old slam door ones.

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2023 21:52

userxx · 19/02/2023 18:49

I won't go to the toilet on a plane as someone told me my intestines would be sucked out when I flush 🤷‍♂️

You get off the toilet before flushing and put the lid down….at least I do.

transformandriseup · 19/02/2023 21:54

Pretty sure not saw 🤦‍♀️

JMSA · 19/02/2023 21:55

@NeedHelpToReachTheEnd

Love your username in the context of that comment! Grin
Sorry, I have no idea if it's the same line but it does ring a bell!

NeedHelpToReachTheEnd · 19/02/2023 22:01

JMSA · 19/02/2023 21:55

@NeedHelpToReachTheEnd

Love your username in the context of that comment! Grin
Sorry, I have no idea if it's the same line but it does ring a bell!

😂😂

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:04

ReignBeauDash · 19/02/2023 18:18

Someone will come and tell me now that trains have tanks for sewage these days so it doesn't matter, won't they. Off to actually google it!

Yep, as of a couple of years ago dumping raw sewage onto the track is banned. That's why there's not really a flush as such, instead you press a button and a vacuum operates with a quick jet of water.

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:07

LivingDeadGirlUK · 19/02/2023 18:23

There were some old stock between Manchester and Cardiff a few years ago that still dumped on the track. The toilets locked when the train stopped, im not sure what happened if you were inside!

You're imagining this, I'm afraid. Anything with a door that locks itself will be fitted with a tank. The only trains which dumped onto the track had manual doors with physical locks for the toilets.

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:09

YesYou · 19/02/2023 18:37

I did think all had tanks now but apparently not on Merseyrail. Mingers

Why would Merseyrail need tanks? They don't have toilets, like London Underground.

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:15

ItsAllSoComplicated · 19/02/2023 18:52

you must be young @MoreSleepPleasee Grin

There used to be signs in the bathroom saying you must not flush when the train is standing in the station.

Show quote history

Not necessarily, I remember a 60+ year old woman who was confused by having a train with manual doors - I know that they were unusual by 2019 but surely she grew up with that.

flutterbyebaby · 19/02/2023 22:18

Is it true or an urban myth that tomato plants grow on tracks because people pass the seeds through their faeces and they end up on the tracks?

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:20

cakeorwine · 19/02/2023 20:05

I remember travelling on a train in India and the toilet was literally a hole in the floor.

I've encountered similar in Europe. Generally on trains old enough to have been built under communist rule - East Germany, Poland, Bosnia etc.

JMSA · 19/02/2023 22:20

flutterbyebaby · 19/02/2023 22:18

Is it true or an urban myth that tomato plants grow on tracks because people pass the seeds through their faeces and they end up on the tracks?

I had heard that about sewage plants! Loads of tomato plants growing there.

DdraigGoch · 19/02/2023 22:21

Sceptic1234 · 19/02/2023 20:32

I was once on a train in Russia.....lifted the lid and could see the sleepers rushing past as I looked down the toilet. There was literally nothing....just a pipe that opened out onto the track!

Apart from anything else....it meant that the toilet cubicles could get bloody cold in the russian winter!

I was amazed to find that we used to do the same thing here.... and am even more surprised that we still do!

It wasn't quite the same here, British train toilets did have U-bends so you didn't actually see the track.

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