Passengers Support, fury and weary resignation

Whether it was the advance warning or the fact that so many people have become accustomed to working from home, the predicted chaos at many of England's major railways stations did not materialise during yesterday's strike.

- Helen Pidd, Jessica Murray, Alex Lawson

Assembling their picket line outside Manchester Piccadilly station at 6am, strikers wondered if they would receive a hostile reaction from those inconvenienced. But instead of abuse they received toots of support from passing buses and taxis, while cyclists rang their bells.

"Passengers who use our railways day in, day out support us. They know that most of us are not on the inflated wages you see thrown about by rightwing commentators and newspapers," said Clayton Clive, the RMT branch secretary for Manchester. About 950 of his 1,500 members had downed tools for the day, he said, a turnout of 63%.

Inside the normally chaotic station, calm reigned. The handful of passengers who had arrived without getting the memo were sanguine - even the couple who by 8.30am had been waiting four and a half hours for a train to Wolverhampton.