I'm really annoyed but it seems like I don't have a lot of choice. I will just have to wait.

Marilla Wiggins

One woman, who refused to give her name, said she was facing a two-hour delay as her usual direct train from Clapham Junction, south-west London, to Farnborough, had been cancelled.

She said: "I have been travelling since 9am and I don't think I will get to Farnborough much before 11.30."

Caught unawares

Some passengers remained unaware of strike action until they came across empty tracks and jammed platforms.

Marilla Wiggins, from Islington, north London, said she was trying to travel to Portsmouth, Hampshire, where she was studying at university.

The 20-year-old, who was laden with five bags as she prepared to return to her studies after the Christmas break, said: "I didn't know the strikes were happening.

There wasn't enough advanced warning, said some passengers

"I thought I had left plenty of time to get there but now there is no train for almost an hour and even then I'm going to have to go to Southampton and change there.

"I'm really annoyed but it seems like I don't have a lot of choice. I will just have to wait."

Many people said they were angry that more had not been done in advance to tell them about the industrial action.

Passenger Dave Ogden, from Sprotbrough, near Doncaster, who travelled to London on Wednesday night, was unaware of the strike until it was too late.

He said his problems had begun at Wimbledon, south-west London, where he had faced a 50-minute wait to get a ticket.

He said: "There were hundreds and hundreds of people queuing, even outside the station. We were not told what was happening or how services would be affected."

Keeping their cool

One American passenger was less flustered by the delays, and even offered some praise for British trains.

Tourist Richard White, from State College, Pennsylvania, said he was facing a delay of up to an hour for the train to Ryde Esplanade on the Isle of Wight.

He said: "It will add about an hour to my journey, but coming from America I find British railways, even under strike conditions, are so much better than Amtrak."

One passenger who e-mailed BBC News Online's Talking Point even found his journey better than usual on Thursday.

'Emptier than normal'

Anthony, from England, wrote: "Luckily my line to Reading is shared by both SWT and Thames Trains. Thank goodness for competition.

"The Thames Train came on time and was emptier than normal."

However motorists also suffered some knock-on effects from the skeleton train services.

Jamie Nelson-Singer from London wrote: "I think that the train system will not be having problems over the next 48 hours - it will be the roads.

"This morning it took me a whopping 1hr 30mins to do a three mile journey!! Thank you RMT!"