"James" writes:
...Another four minutes and a Richmond train appeared. The announcer was
now in full swing "The train at platform three is not going to Parsons
Green but to Richmond. The train approaching platform two is also not
going to Parsons Green but to Ealing Broadway. These trains are not
going to Parsons Green despite what the signal men think."

Reminds me of a visit to New York in 1978. I had boarded a subway
train in Jamaica, Queens, at Sutphin station on what is now the F line
(I think both the E and F used that section back then). I was going
to Manhattan. The line is two tracks at that distant point, but at
71st Avenue it becomes four tracks and my train would become an express.

Except that it went onto the local track. Accordingly, when it had
stopped at the platform, the train crew announced on the PA system that
it was an express train. However, there was an immediate rebuttal on
the *station* PA system, saying that it was a local train! And this
pair of dueling announcements was then repeated about four times.

If I'd just been trying to get to my destination I would have stayed
on board, I suppose, but I wanted to ride the express, and I got off
to await developments. Finally the train PA announced in a rapid voice,
"This train is local to 74th Street", and faster than even a New Yorker
could have possibly have reacted, the doors closed.

(I boarded the next express when it came. 74th Street was the next
express stop, and my train reached it just behind the disputed train --
which then proceeded to cross over onto the express tracks ahead of
mine. As I guess I should've expected. Good thing I'm not into track-
bashing, or I'd be bewailing the missed opportunity there.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "It is one thing to praise discipline, and another
| to submit to it." -- Miguel de Cervantes, 1613

My text in this article is in the public domain.