Ian Harper wrote:

[1] And I do think that perhaps some of that wouldn't happen if they
actually had the correct information themselves. I don't understand
how they can tell people things that are just blatently wrong though
- bizzare!

I quite agree. I used to deliver cars for a living visiting strange towns
and villages on a daily basis and had to find my way to an address. On one
memorable occasion I was given an incomplete address simply because the
client's employee - a major softdrinks compamy IIRC - had failed to pass it
on. That cost me some two hurs wasted time since I was supposed to be six
miles from where I actually was and the only means of getting there was to
hitchhike. The worst part was that I'd already passed the place.

On some occasions I was delivering the car and so was driving, on others I
was there to collect it and so was walking. More than once I was given
deliberately wrong information by people who had never clapped eyes on me
before and who would gain no benefit. Some I'm quite sure did it as some
form of amusement.

In the specific context that you describe I suspect that you were told
untruths because the people telling you believed what they were saying.
Other may simply have been ignorant of the real situation but were trying to
get you forward on your journey. Others still may have simply been trying to
get rid of you, akthough quite why someone takes on the job of traincrew
when incapable of dealing with problems I don't know.