Back in “the day”, many UK passenger trains were of the “slam door” variety - with multiple doors in each car/carriage, each serving a compartment (or unenclosed) group of usually 4 to 8 seats. This allowed passengers to board and disembark quickly. However- the doors didn’t return to their closed posistions after being opened (or were there some that did?). Someone woukd have to walk the length of the train slamming all the doors shut.
Was it proper etiquette to leave your door open upon disembaking (maybe others were going to board in your compartment) or close it (to keep the rain out)? Even after boarding, it could be a long reach to the open door.
I don’t know about British etiquette specifically, but I ride German long-distance trains fairly frequently, and I prefer compartments over open coach cars (unfortunately, the former are slowly but steadily phased out in favour of the latter). The compartments doors are sliding doors that do not shut automatically. I am mildly annoyed when someone walks through the door and does not shut it afterwards. I can see the reason to leave it open when someone else comes to use the same door immediately after you, but if that’s not the case then I would expect the last person to walk through to shut the door.
Then again, I admit this preference of mine might be the result of an irrational instinct that makes me assume that doors are supposed to be closed, rather than a tangible consequence that might arise from leaving the compartment open.
If it was a terminus then everyone just left them open.
It was good manners to shut it after you, unless someone else was obviously about to pass through.
I’ve never traveled in a train like that, and I always wanted to just from watching all the movies (like Sherlock Holmes Terror by Night, or The Lady Vanishes). I suppose it’s pretty much too late now. As far as I know, we never had them here in the US.
I miss those trains. I used to travel on them to get to school and the best thing about them was that you could open the door and leap out long before the train had come to a halt, running like buggery to avoid falling flat on your face. As I recall it was common practice to leave the door open at a terminus or if there were people waiting to embark, otherwise you slammed it shut yourself. The latching mechanism had a deliciously positive kerr-lunk which is rare in modern equipment.
I think that’s true; the open coach seating layout is, in railway terminology, also known as the American car for precisely this reason.
In continental Europe the compartments still exist in some countries, even on high-speed trains, although the railway companies are gradually phasing them out (or have already done so in other countries) because the open coach allows for more efficient use of space. Compartments make for a much cozier way of travelling; it’s also conducive towards conversation among passengers.
As an interesting side note, the compartmentalised railway car is a direct descendant of the horse-drawn stagecoach: In the early days of railways, cars would be built by simply taking one or more passenger cabins from stagecoaches and placing them, one after another, on a frame with axles underneath.
Yeah. Slam door stock was still used until 2005 in some places. I saw someone open the door while the train was coming into the station, jump onto the platform and run, then fall over. They kind of rolled along the platform as several other open doors passed over them, then they just got up and walked away. Could have been nasty.
As a correction, there were a few single car slam-door units reintroduced in Aylesbury and Cardiff between 2003 and 2017. These units had central locking, so you couldn’t open the doors till the train had stopped.
Back in the Victorian era, special guides to railway etiquette were published and sold on station platforms. Gentlemen were supposed to open doors for ladies, and close them afterwards unless there were more people attempting to disembark. Any doors left open afterwards would be closed by station staff (who were legion) or by the guard (conductor).
If you have but a short time to reach the station in, be careful to choose a cab with a fresh-looking horse attached to it.
With regard to conversation, the English are notoriously deficient in this art. Generally speaking, the occupants of a railway carriage perform the whole of the journey in silence.
Yes, there was a misunderstanding on my part. The sliding doors I referred to were the internal ones from the compartments to the corridor within the car. I wasn’t referring to the slam doors that open to the outside - on some trains I’m familiar with, those exist, and you have to open them manually (which requires some force), but they slam shut automatically, so there is no etiquette that requires passengers to close them.
