Railway General Knowledge.

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Open floor chaps, I've got to go pick up my son now, so I won't be getting a look in on the computer tonight - it uses the same monitor as the X Box.

I will step into the breach and set the next one....

Which of the the pre-1923 grouping companies had a locomotive superintendant who was afflicted with an visual problem, so that from 1870 to 1905, the name of the colour given by him to the passenger locomotive livery was absolutely nothing like the name given to it.

Besides the name of the railway company, it would also be good to know the name of the locomotive superintendant and the name of the "false" colour scheme used by the company.

 

[steamybrian]

Would it be William Stroudley of LBSCR

His "improved engine green" was actually yellow..?


(open floor if correct..)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Absolutely correct on all counts. The official colour of yelllow was "Golden Ochre".....but no-one dared to inform him of his mistaken colour naming for 35 years...:roll:

You have intimated OPEN FLOOR....


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


No-one has come forward, so I will set one of my usual historical ones...


In 1881, a short branch was constructed on the West Lancashire Railway. Where did this serve and what was the reason for it and what other method of transportation was at the terminal end of this branch line.

 

[Welshman]

Was that the branch from Hesketh Bank to Tarleton Lock on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal?

So the transport on the terminal end would be canal barges, and the branch would convey freight from the canal for Southport and Preston, although I gather passengers were conveyed for a short while.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Correct in every detail.

Please set the next one.

 

[steamybrian]

Paul- I can now pose a question if you wish but I may be out of order.?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

To be fair, it was Welshman who gave the correct answer to the last question.

 

[Welshman]

From history to literature:-

Where was Betjeman's "waving diesel driver's friend"?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Nottinghamshire springs to mind.....Would it be Hucknall South ?

 

[Welshman]

It is indeed.

"She waved to us from Hucknall South
As we hooted round a bend,
From a curtain-fronted window did
The diesel driver's friend."

Great Central Railway - Sheffield Victoria to Banbury by John Betjeman.

It also has the lovely couplet:

"And quite where Rugby Central is
Does only Rugby know"

All gone now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What Military Railway was constructed during the Second World War and stayed in operation for 19 years ..... the name of a settlement in the title of this railway has current implications regarding commercial shipping terminii.

 

[steamybrian]

Cairnryan Military Railway
(near Stranraer)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Absolutely correct


Please set the next one

 

[steamybrian]

Which UK station has seen passenger trains in the same platforms of broad gauge, standard gauge and narrow gauge.?
Note- trains of the three gauges have used the same trackbed and station platforms but obviously not at the same time. Discount stations where trains of different gauges have used different or separate platforms. Discount triple gauge track!!!!



I only know of one station but I am open to correction if readers mention another one.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Which UK station has seen passenger trains in the same platforms of broad gauge, standard gauge and narrow gauge.?
Note- trains of the three gauges have used the same trackbed and station platforms but obviously not at the same time. Discount stations where trains of different gauges have used different or separate platforms.


I only know of one station but I am open to correction if readers mention another one.

I was thinking in terms of GWR North Wales involvement for the broad gauge and thought of Porthmadog .......and also Blaenau Ffestiniog which had a GWR influence

 

[Mvann]

Stab in the dark at launceston. Can't think of any other narrow gauge railway that fits the bill.

 

[steamybrian]

Stab in the dark at launceston. Can't think of any other narrow gauge railway that fits the bill.

I am sorry- Incorrect.
The station serving the present Launceston Narrow Gauge Railway is a new station on a different site from the old station.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I was thinking in terms of GWR North Wales involvement for the broad gauge and thought of Porthmadog .......and also Blaenau Ffestiniog which had a GWR influence

Also- incorrect. Neither Porthmadoc or Blaenau Ffestiniog

 

[Mvann]

Attempt no.2. Bickleigh.

 

[steamybrian]

Attempt no.2. Bickleigh.

No-also incorrect based upon the following.

It was served by both broad gauge and standard gauge trains.
It has a narrow gauge railway on site but it appears from the site plan that the narrow gauge system does not use the original broad gauge/standard gauge platforms. It appears the original platforms/trackbed are just used as a static display of standard gauge stock.


I am going out this afternoon so I shall leave you to think about this one. I will look in again this evening to check on further answers.

 

[Welshman]

Did the Broad Gauge get to Aberystwyth?

Then you'd have Broad Gauge, Standard Gauge and the Narrow-Gauge VOR Railway.

 

[Mvann]

Not that I know of.

 

[Johnuk123]

Did the Broad Gauge get to Aberystwyth?

Then you'd have Broad Gauge, Standard Gauge and the Narrow-Gauge VOR Railway.

It was extensive in South Wales and got to Hereford and Wolverhampton but never Aberystwyth.

Interestingly a broad gauge track was on Holyhead breakwater till 1913 but never connected to the rest of the system.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Interestingly a broad gauge track was on Holyhead breakwater till 1913 but never connected to the rest of the system

This was constructed to aid the construction of the one and a half mile long jetty (by the contractors J & C Rigby) which took from 1848 to 1873 to complete. The line ran to the quarry on Holyhead Mountain, bringing stone for the construction of the jetty.

The line was taken over by the Board of Trade from 1873 and was not converted to standard gauge until 1913.

 

[Welshman]

It was extensive in South Wales and got to Hereford and Wolverhampton but never Aberystwyth.

Interestingly a broad gauge track was on Holyhead breakwater till 1913 but never connected to the rest of the system.

Thank you for that information.

Based on that, I'm thinking somewhere around Swansea where you had three lines - The Oystermouth Railway[later Swansea & Mumbles Tramway], the Clyne Valley Mineral Railway and the Swansea High St-Shrewsbury main line.

I know the Oystermouth Railway was originally laid to a 4ft plateway gauge - if the Clyne Valley was standard guage and the main line originally broad gauge, then could the answer be somewhere which had all three lines running through it, eg Blackpill?

Please pardon the contrived thinking, but this is a fascinating question.

 

[Mvann]

Right. Last attempt. Working on the basis that the southern end of the camarthen to Aberystwyth line was broad gauge and there was a branch to Newcastle, would the answer be henlan, home of the tefi valley railway.

 

[steamybrian]

Right. Last attempt. Working on the basis that the southern end of the camarthen to Aberystwyth line was broad gauge and there was a branch to Newcastle, would the answer be henlan, home of the tefi valley railway.

Correct- Well done
Henllan was the answer I was looking for

Broad gauge passenger service1860-1872
Standard gauge passenger service 1872-1952
Original station and platforms used by 2 foot gauge Teifi Valley from July 2009

For those you following the "Guess the Stations " competition I did recently state I was on holiday in South Wales 9-15th September. It was during this holiday that I found this information when visiting the Teifi.

 

[Mvann]

What's the connection between lanelli and mynid mawr railway, padarn railway and the Glasgow underground? And which one is the odd one out?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

They are all four foot gauge railways.....unsure of the second question (Was the first named clue cable operated).


I note you use a most arcane way of spelling Llanelli in your clues.....this came up in a thread recently when someone insisted Landudno was still an accredited spelling.

 

[Mvann]

First part correct. I suppose it's the English welsh equivalent of franglais.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We are still awaiting the answer to the second part of your clue.