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Railway General Knowledge.

Calthrop

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Two stations in Great Britain, about 85 miles apart, on the systems of different railway companies pre-nationalisation, and different BR regions after. They have borne the same (one-word) name; but did so simultaneously, for only three years. One of the two carried a different (two-word) name for 104 years, including an eleven-year closed interval followed by reopening -- ten years after which, it resumed the former one-word name; its counterpart of that name 85-odd miles away, having closed to all traffic 29 years previously.

Please identify, and indicate locations of, the two stations / names concerned.

Hint: the one with the chequered history, which has carried two different names, is in the flat-and-low-lands; the other is up in the hills.
 
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martinsh

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Two stations in Great Britain, about 85 miles apart, on the systems of different railway companies pre-nationalisation, and different BR regions after. They have borne the same (one-word) name; but did so simultaneously, for only three years. One of the two carried a different (two-word) name for 104 years, including an eleven-year closed interval followed by reopening -- ten years after which, it resumed the former one-word name; its counterpart of that name 85-odd miles away, having closed to all traffic 29 years previously.

Please identify, and indicate locations of, the two stations / names concerned.
I think you are referring to Watlington (between Ely and Kings Lynn), which was renamed from Magdalen Road, and was closed from 1968 to 1975. As opposed to Watlington in Oxfordshire, which was at the end of a branch from Princes Risborough.

PS didn't need your clue as not many stations reopened in the 1970s !
 

Calthrop

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Correct ! I had the then Magdalen Road as closed 1968 -- '79, not '75; but had forgotten about its spell of closure, and got the info from Wiki -- could well be, wrongly.

Your floor.
 

martinsh

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Which of these heritage railways is the odd one out - and why

Brecon Mountain Railway
Gartell Light Railway
Kirklees Light Railway
Llanberis Lake Railway
South Tynedale Railway
Wells & Wolsingham Railway
 

EbbwJunction1

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EbbwJunction1

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The answer is "National Train Day" ... and, no, I'd not heard of it before consulting Mr W Pedia either!!

This is what he says about it:
"National Train Day was a holiday started by Amtrak in 2008 as a method to spread information to the general public about the advantages of railway travel and the history of trains in the United States. It was held each year on the Saturday closest to May 10, the anniversary of the pounding of the Golden spike in Promontory, Utah which marked the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. Events were held at major Amtrak stations as well as railroad museums across the country and often have passenger cars and model railroad layouts on display. The largest events took place in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.[1] National Train Day was discontinued after 2015 due to budget cuts within Amtrak."

The people named in the question were involved in promoting the event.

I'll declare a free celebration for whoever wants to take it!
 

Calthrop

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Which -- not narrow-gauge -- public railway in the British Isles; with a working life of some 75 years, lasting a very considerable way into the 20th century; throughout its life gave names, but never numbers, to all its locomotives?
 

Calthrop

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Good thinking; but it wasn't the Bishops Castle, which had at least one numbered loco: its No. 1, an ex-Great Western 0-4-2T, date circa 1870.
 

Calthrop

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Further hint: the immediate cause of closure of this railway (though it was pretty much at its last gasp anyway) was the abandonment of lines of a bigger rail undertaking, which it connected with at one end of its route.
 

Calthrop

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And another hint: the railway's official title can be paraphrased as "One county; a second county; and a bunch of counties sharing one common characteristic".
 

martinsh

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Didn't need any of the last 3 clues. Just needed to be well enough to reach a keyboard !

Answer is

Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway

Better make it open floor, I'm still not 100%
 

Calthrop

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Didn't need any of the last 3 clues. Just needed to be well enough to reach a keyboard !

Answer is

Sligo Leitrim & Northern Counties Railway

Better make it open floor, I'm still not 100%

That's the one, indeed -- with their fancy, for their named-but-never-numbered loco fleet, for 0-6-4Ts by Beyer Peacock (though they had locos of other types and origins too).

As directed, open floor.
 

Calthrop

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The year 1948 saw two counties nationalise all or part of their railway systems.

Great Britain was one, but what was the other?

Argentina, I believe -- causing some hard feelings Britain / Argentina at the time, with many Argentine private railway companies' having been British-owned till then.
 

EbbwJunction1

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Yes, it was, well done.

My source only says that they nationalised all the foreign owned companies, but I do know that there was a large British community in Argentina at the same time, so the problems don't surprise me.

It's your opportunity to ask a question about ... well, anything!!
 

Calthrop

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Gracias, senor !

This "distinct and distinctive" part of the world was served over a period of 66 years, by public railways on two different gauges; with a route length at maximum extent, of 22-and-a-half kilometres. A few years after closure of the last public line, the area experienced a brief new flowering of railways during a period of about three years -- lines (for specialised purposes, not public use) being reinstated over all former public-rail routes, plus new construction over a total distance nearly equalling that of the erstwhile public railways. In this short-lived rail renaissance / bonanza, the lines were of two different gauges -- not the same two, as in public-railway days. What is the place where all this went on?

(Clue: the short, prolific "second railway era" took place during a time of cataclysmic global conflict.)
 

Cowley

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Interesting question. How about Cobo D5705?
 

Cowley

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Hmm. What about the loco that became E2001? It was one of the WR gas turbines - 18100 originally.
I can’t think why it would’ve been used there mind.
 

Ash Bridge

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Hmm. What about the loco that became E2001? It was one of the WR gas turbines - 18100 originally.
I can’t think why it would’ve been used there mind.

Can't see anything online but from memory I can remember reading something in the past about wind velocity experiments/testing etc. whatever that means. I do recall seeing a shot of it stood possibly with a couple of derelict coaches attached at a remote looking location on a closed stretch of the former GCR.
 

Cowley

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Sorry for the delayed reply.
I didn’t realise it had lasted that long. Interesting stuff.
My question is of a similar theme:

By early 1987 there were a few classes of locomotive that although long departed from mainline duty - still remained on BRs books. Can you provide details of them and their uses? (just an overview, don’t worry too much about particular numbers).
The locomotives are:

1) A single remaining class of shunter of an 0XXXX type.
2) A remaining but obsolete type 1.
3) A single remaining class of AC electric.
 

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