Wildlife (Underground & Overground)

The closest I can get is (admittedly a TOC station) - Upminster used to have a black cat, though I haven't seen it for a while.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned seeing anything between the Bollo Lane bridge at Chiswick Park and Gunnersbury! There's a pretty big nature reserve running alongside the DR between these points...

Högdalen depot is situated in a forested area on the edge of an industrial park, and within the depot area there are several small copses of woods, so there is a quite extensive wildlife in the depot.

The most famous ones are probably the hares living in the depot. HUGE! ones, often with a very shiny and sleek grey-brown fur. They are absolutely unafraid of trains, and you almost expect them to start passing hand shunting signals to you when you enter the depot. "Stable on no.8 road, Driver, and bring a bag of lettuce while you are at it!" The hares are actually big enough to frighten and chase away some of the dogs belonging to the depot staff that also lounges about, depending on what shift is on duty.

The cable runs and throughs are home to an extensive collection of field mice, keeping themselves warm and cozy in there durign the winter. More than one tired driver has thought that they were hallucinating when grey pieces of macadam suddenly sprouted little legs and paws and ran away...

There are also two foxes living on or near the depot grounds. One is a big and healthy animal, the other one looks a bit scruffy and ragged. It can be absolutely fascinating to sit on a moonlit night and watch them stalk and pounce the mice.

We have also had quite a few celebrated animal visitors. Roe are quite common, finding their way onto the track from people's gardens through holes in the fence cut by two-legged pests. Not as common, but still something that happens every now and then, are elk on the tracks. An elk is actually big enough to be something of a concern even for a train -they can rip your brake rigging and air system to shreds, for example.

And, of course, all the runaway pets. Cats and dogs are quite common, but we have also had weasels, chicken, vietnamese black dwarf pigs, lizards and snakes (oooh! stones! warm and toasty! I think I'll lie here for a while...), rabbits and a few horses, although they are fortunately quite rare.

There was, one morning in the late sixties, a most beautiful Deer gambolling about over the reception roads at Upminster. A young Hind. The crews going down the depot tried to corner it but it got a belt from the juice and made off rapidly over the LTSR tracks and away. It was not far west of the wash and where it had come from or went to is a mystery

Is it true there is about 1/2 million mice/rats on the underground?

Is it true there is about 1/2 million mice/rats on the underground?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Quite possibly Chris. There are (or were) a large colony of Rats down at the Elephant and Castle too. D you know that rats migrate? One time when I was night spare at E & C myself and the Yardmaster were sitting quietly on the bench by the messroom on the northbound platform reading the paper sent down from upstairs (South London press). It was getting on for 3 in the morning and quiet as grave. Suddenly there was an odd noise from the tunnel to the sidings as if a train was approaching very slowly. The yardmaster got up to investigate and came scuttling back rapidly with the admonition to "gerrup on the bench quick" He did not give me chance to answer but jumped up and hoiked me up too. Then my horror THOUSANDS of rats came out of the tunnel running along the track. Some came up on the platform too and milled around the bench. A couple of them jumped up on the bench with us but were rapidly kicked off. This hoard passed us for around 90 seconds/2 minutes and carried on along the track towards Lambeth North and disappeared. The noise even woke the signalman who was having a doze in his cabin and he had seen that before and had slammed the cabin door before any of them got in. He told us that it happened every so often when a colony got too large so some of them upped sticks and moved elsewhere. They apparently came from the half completed Camberwell tunnel that continues on behind the plug at the end of the southbound siding. Bloody scared the life out of me I can tell you.

It wouldn't surprise me at all.

Most times when you stand near a headwall in a tube tunnel station you'll see a few mice scampering about. You do have to keep your eyes open for them, as they're very much dust coloured - I've been told that it's not that they're dirty, but that their colouring has evolved to fit their environment. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds plausible to me!

As for rats, oh yes - there's those too! There's some as big as kittens (I joke not!) and they tend to appear more on open section stations. There's a particular one who is often seen on the tracks at the departure end of Platform 2 at Earls Court. I know it's the same one as he's got half his tail missing.

There used to be one at Acton Town too who was often seen wandering along the wall ajacent to Platform 1, but I haven't seen him for a while.

Shame the useless git seen perching on my shoulder
<<<<<<<<<----------
wouldn't be any good at chasing them - he'd run a mile!

Cheers for the info Q8. I've beeen down to the end of both and stood beyond the sand drags as can be seen here (end of SB siding) but I have to admit I never looked at the bottom of the plug.

The fan is staill there, though it hasn't been working for a few years now and the sidings are as hot as they ever were.