EbbwJunction1
Established Member
Abolition of Second Class accommodation?
Correct, well done ... strictly speaking, by the London & South Western Railway, but still correct.
You may have the calendar, as you got most of the answers.
Abolition of Second Class accommodation?
Correct, well done ... strictly speaking, by the London & South Western Railway, but still correct.
You may have the calendar, as you got most of the answers.
Does the British Isles include Éire?
Yes, the whole of the island of Ireland
Also the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.
Quick one (hopefully)
Which BR station until the 1970s required all trains in one direction to run past and then reverse into the platform ? Normal working applied in the other direction to another platform
Dorchester South? Until 1970 Eastbound trains had to reverse.
Correct. Your unusual operating procedure

As is known, I'm fond of stuff about track gauges. Hoping I may indulge myself here with a bit more of same: the 3 feet / 914mm gauge has been quite widespread, and is well-loved, in the British Isles; but has not been particularly common on public railways elsewhere in the world.
Please name four countries outside of the British Isles, which have had public railways of 3ft / 914mm gauge.
Very quick -- and right ! (Canada, of course, only by virtue of the White Pass & Yukon line, cross-border USA (Alaska) / Canada.)
hexagon789, your floor.
The White Pass and Yukon was exactly why I mentioned Canada. I think Australia and New Zealand may have had 3ft at some point but I went for the four countries I was most certainly of.
Annoying know-all department on my part: beyond our own islands' shores, 3 ft. gauge was plentiful only in certain parts of the Western Hemisphere. Re public lines anyway -- Australia had a variety of gauges, but 3ft. was never one of them; New Zealand was 3ft. 6in. only.
What bankrupted the contractor Morton Peto, almost bankrupted the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and forced the Wye Valley Railway to get an Act of Parliament passed to save it?
No. It was one specific event that resulted in the above (as opposed to, say, three different bridges).Bridge-building? Open floor if correct.
No connection with the Channel Tunnel.Was it connected with plans to build the Channel Tunnel?
And that share price collapse is what I'm after.His financial scheme was essentially a Ponzi scheme based on increasing share price which collapsed when shares fell.
Sorry. I forgot I posted this and my notifications were not turned on.And that share price collapse is what I'm after.
The financial panic of 1866 (caused mainly by the collapes of the bank Overend & Gurney, a bill discounter who were heavily invested in railways) led to the end of the railway mania of the 1860s. A number of contractors (who were taking payment in railway shares) were ruined: Thomas Savin was wiped out, and David Davies (later of the Barry Railway) survived only because his bank had earlier distanced itself from Overend and Gurney, and was able to back him through the crisis.
The LB&SCR had been expanding its network industriously, and the drop in revenue due to the crash left it almost bankrupt. Many other railways of the time were left in a similarly awkward situation, several having issued debentures (loans secured on the railway's assets) that they found they could no longer pay off.
The Wye Valley Railway is an example of a railway that was unlucky enough to be authorised on the summer of 1866, just as the crisis hit. Investment capital was impossible to raise for years to come, and the time limit set by Parliament for building the railway ran out. They had to go back to Parliament to get a time extension, which they used to complete the 15-mile line ten years after it was originlaly authorised.
Your floor.
I think that you're at the National Slate Museum in Dinorwic, Snowdonia.
If so, here's what I think are the answers:
Name and address: see above;
Who first built me: The Padarn Railway;
When: 1870
For what purpose: The engineering works for the Vivian Colliery
What is now my present use: See above.