Sorry, weirdly worded title, but I was at Stafford station this afternoon and as a train was pulling into the station, the announcement said something along the lines of ‘Dont get on this train. It is not for public use’. It really piqued my interest – what could this mean?
There were people on the train and a large number got off. They mostly looked pretty businessy, but didn’t act like a coherent group. Most people had luggage too.
I think the destination on the train said Manchester or maybe Manchester airport.
Does anyone know why was this train not for public use? Who was it for then?
Comments
Please help keep AskUK welcoming!
When repling to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
Don’t be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!
Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Perhaps private use?
They are taking the train out of service, moving it to a different station for timetabling reasons, that kind of thing.
It is possible for an entire train/carriage to be reserved but I think that’s the less likely answer.
Usually they say “not in service”, which means it’s going to the depot, or they’re running it directly to where they need the carriages for another service.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that’s out of service but still has people in. The “not for public use” phrase is unusual too.
Honestly I can only presume it’s full of spies.
Maybe they were recording an ep of the Traitors.
Possibly a special charter returning from a trip rather than private for a single group of people.
But more likely a minor fault has occurred and it’s being taken out of use, with people allowed off but no one else allowed on
If you’ve got enough money you can hire a train and go where you want with your guests.
If it was running late it might only allow people to get off.
There’s a list of all the trains that passed through Stafford from 1200 onwards at https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:STA/2025-09-11/1200?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt. Use the +1 hour link at the bottom to scroll through hour by hour. You might find which train it was and what happened after it left.
Could be for private use.
Could be owned by the train operator and used to move staff/engineers around.
Could be a test train, i.e a new train that is being tested.
Could be a train that just runs to check the condition of the track that is reported back to network rail. (there is a bullet train in Japan that just goes from station to station and it is just fitted with equipment to check the condition of the track.)
I’m guessing it was this Cross Country service which was cancelled at Macclesfield
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C23389/2025-09-11/detailed#allox_id=1
It could be set down only, this occasionally happens when they don’t want a particular train to be too full before it gets to a busy station.
Businesses can hire trains if they have enough staff to warrant the expense. If it’s going to an airport then it very likely was this reason. I’ve seen trains run from Birmingham international to Manchester (going through Stafford) that a company had hired to ferry a large number of overseas staff from Manchester airport to the NEC which is attached to Birmingham international. They made 2 scheduled stops in New Street station and Stafford (I am assuming for staff who lived locally/ helping with the event?) and I only know so much about it because I was at Birmingham International and needed to get to Stafford and my train had been cancelled due to a fault with the train and it was frustrating knowing there was a train going to my station, with an empty wheelchair space that I couldn’t take.
I’ve hired parts of a train before, for school trips where we had 2-3 carriages that the public couldn’t use, this doesn’t cost any extra than the price of the tickets- but I’ve looked into hiring a full train and it’s a lot more. Still makes sense for large companies who need to ferry a large amount of staff around.
I’ve seen this when it was a newly electrified line and only government officials were riding it.
Having lived in that general area for half my life, I’m assuming they just said that because they don’t want people from Stafford in Manchester. So dissuade people from getting on.
Trains can be chartered by business for large events and conferences with catering and services provided on board for guests while they travel
At my station it means “The company running this service are a bigger bunch of cunts than the usual operator”
Once an hour there’s a train that’s going to where I’m going, it stops and people get off, but we’re not allowed on.
It’s a different company to the other trains and they’ve decided to not cooperate.
Frequently it’s late and holds up the other trains 👌🏼
Charter train service, usually running old trains like the blue HST Pullman. There are companies that preserve old trains and run them for special outings, usually cost quite a bit depending on the train and where it’s going.
My morning train is like this. We pull into the London terminus, get off and then the announcement is made that no-one should get on, ‘this train is not for public use’. It’s because they’re going to speed it back to the suburbs end, where it’s needed for another London-bound journey.
Did you know, Stafford station doesn’t actually have a second platform.
Go to realtimetrains website and you can look it up
When they were filming World War Z in Scotland. Brad and Angelina stayed in London and had a 12 coach private train and a Euston platform reserved for them over the course of the filming to go backwards and forward.
It wasn’t very very yellow was it?
NR can and occasionally do hold meetings on one of their monitoring trains(Google nmt)