There's some very strange and very confusing "logic" being used by
London Midland to decide which train to display on the platform boards
on platforms 8-11.

Yesterday I arrived at about 21:06 expecting to catch the 21:24. Went
down to the platforms and it was nowhere to be seen.

Asked "Is there a 21:24?" expecting to be told it was going from
platform 18, 12 or somewhere else but got the reply "It will be the
front train on platform 8 when it's in." Platform 8 was displaying
the board for the 21:34.

I overheard several other people making similar queries and also
asking why the train on the platform was locked. It turns out that the
21:34 train was the locked train on the platform. It was locked to
stop people getting on the wrong train.

Well a train arrived so I walked up to the front but I still wasn't
sure. I asked another passenger walking along the platform if this was
the 21:24 and he thought so. As the 21:34 also stops at Watford
Junction it wasn't a huge deal if I got the wrong train so I got on.

At about 21:20 there was an announcement on the train, this train
calls at Watford Junction, ... and Northampton. "That's good" I
thought, this must be the 21:24 then. About 30 seconds later another
passenger in the same carriage looked up from his book and asked me
"Does this train stop at Bushey?". "No, this is the 21:24. You want
the 21:34 which is the locked train at the other end of the platform.
At least that's what I've been told"

I can understand the logic of keeping the 21:34 locked until the 21:24
has departed to avoid people wanting the 21:24 getting on the 21:34
without realizing. But I cannot see why it can ever make sense to
display the 21:34 board while the 21:24 is on the same platform. But
the people on duty on the platform seemed oblivious to the fact that
this was causing confusion.

I wonder how many other people got on the 21:24 expecting it was the
21:34 and how many people didn't get on the 21:24 thinking it was the
21:34. At least in the latter case they are likely to ask where the
21:24 is but people who wanted the 21:34 had to realize that there was
no board displaying the 21:24 - ask where it was - and then deduce
that the train on platform 8 with its doors open wasn't their train.

Tim.