Railway General Knowledge.

[LSWR Cavalier]

Some way from Colwyn Bay, but can be reached from CB without changing

 

[Calthrop]

Penmaenmawr?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Penmaenmawr is the right answer, when the expressway was built most of the railway yard was lost

 

[Calthrop]

Taking it that "baton would pass to me": open floor, please.

 

[444045]

In which year did the 1st train run over the Weymouth tramway to the Quay ?

 

[341o2]

Passenger or freight? The first passenger was 1889.

The line was in the news locally only a week or two ago, as track lifting has commenced

 

[444045]

Passenger or freight? The first passenger was 1889.

The line was in the news locally only a week or two ago, as track lifting has commenced

Sorry it was 1st passenger train - You are correct - that didn't last long - the tablet is yours to ask the next question

 

[341o2]

Which neatly leads into the question I thought of. I mentioned Abermule in the Sutton tunnel disaster, and the incident I have in mind draws parallels to it, although, thankfully there was no collision or injury.

The incident took place very recently in the UK.

Where was it, and what happened?
The RAIB investigation found, while the incident was principally caused by one individual, two other members of staff contributed to the situation.
Who were they, in their positions on the railway?
The RAIB made 5 recommendations to prevent a repeat occurrence
What were they?

 

[341o2]

Think South and small

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

There was an incident a few weeks ago with an oil train near Abertawe/Swansea, was that the one you were thinking of?

 

[DerekC]

Oh - the RH&DR incident last year. I am afraid I only recall that it was an infringement of the single line with two trains heading towards each other. I think the ticket for a section was written out without the tablet being present, but who did it I don't remember.

Edit - thinking about it, it must have been on the New Romney - Dungeness section because the rest is double track, I think.

 

[341o2]

DerekC, essentially you have described the incident, which has been described as a "serious operating irregularity" by the RAIB at Romney Sands and involved the single track section to New Romney.

The stationmaster was criticised for not supervising the trainee member of staff
The driver of train no12 did not follow the correct procedure, in that he should have seen the tablet before accepting the ticket as authority to proceed.

As you have said, the trainee was not passed for the tablet and ticket procedure. As directed by Control, the New Romney signalman contacted Romney Sands to advise that train no 12 should operate by ticket. This was done by telephone rather than by radio. The call was taken by the trainee, who apparently did not understand fully, but went ahead and wrote the ticket anyway, most importantly without being in possession of the tablet.

The drivers of the two trains saw each other, radioed an emergency and stopped well short of a collision.

Recommendations have been

Tickets to be kept in locked boxes, the key to open the box to be attached to the tablet.
Changes to timetabled workings to always be radioed through to control

Full details here https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...g-irregularity-at-romney-sands-28-august-2019

Your floor

 

[DerekC]

One for Halloween - who or what was "Fowler's Ghost"?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

One for Halloween - who or what was "Fowler's Ghost"?

Sorry to steal in when I've not been on the thread for years... but wasn't it a locomotive designed (by Fowler) to be smoke-free for use on the Metropolitan Railway (as was)? It wasn't a success however so was dismantled and rarely spoken of by Fowler or the Met. Depending on who you ask, the "ghost" nickname is one of: a reference to the lack of smoke and noise; the attempts to erase the failed experiment from history; or the pale off-white livery of the locomotive- perhaps all three.

Or am I miles out?

 

[Cowley]

Sorry to steal in when I've not been on the thread for years... but wasn't it a locomotive designed (by Fowler) to be smoke-free for use on the Metropolitan Railway (as was)? It wasn't a success however so was dismantled and rarely spoken of by Fowler or the Met. Depending on who you ask, the "ghost" nickname is one of: a reference to the lack of smoke and noise; the attempts to erase the failed experiment from history; or the pale off-white livery of the locomotive- perhaps all three.

Or am I miles out?

I hope you’re right because it was a great answer.

 

[DerekC]

Sorry to steal in when I've not been on the thread for years... but wasn't it a locomotive designed (by Fowler) to be smoke-free for use on the Metropolitan Railway (as was)? It wasn't a success however so was dismantled and rarely spoken of by Fowler or the Met. Depending on who you ask, the "ghost" nickname is one of: a reference to the lack of smoke and noise; the attempts to erase the failed experiment from history; or the pale off-white livery of the locomotive- perhaps all three.

Or am I miles out?

Absolutely spot on - the only thing I can add to your excellent summary is that it was (I think) the only broad gauge locomotive built for the Met. I did wonder, since it was built by Robert Stephenson & Co on Tyneside, how they got it to London!

Your floor.

PS - something I hadn't realised is that Sir John Fowler, designer of the "Ghost" (and an eminent civil engineer) was no relation of Henry Fowler, the CME of the Midland and (at least notionally) designer of many locomotives in the early 20th century.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I don't have anything off the top of my head, so I'll open the floor

 

[444045]

Which preserved railway station featured in a film and tv series please ?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Did Goathland feature in Heartbeat?

 

[444045]

Did Goathland feature in Heartbeat?

You are correct it did indeed and was in the 1st Harry Potter film as Hogsmeade station - the floor is yours

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

'Coming up England by a different line
For once, early in the cold new year,
We stopped, and, watching men with number-plates
Sprint down the platform to familiar gates,
'Why, ********!', I exclaimed'
..
******** is which station?
Who wrote the poem?

 

[SuspectUsual]

'Coming up England by a different line
For once, early in the cold new year,
We stopped, and, watching men with number-plates
Sprint down the platform to familiar gates,
'Why, ********!', I exclaimed'
..
******** is which station?
Who wrote the poem?

That’ll be Philip Larkin, and Coventry

You presumably omitted the final words “I was born here” in case it was too much of a clue? The poem is “I Remember, I Remember”, and isn’t his best known railway-mentioning poem, which is probably The Whitsun Weddings, the first verse of which is, in my opinion (possibly slightly biased as like Larkin I’m both a Coventrian and an Old Coventrian) is just bloody brilliant....


That Whitsun, I was late getting away:
Not till about
One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday
Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out,
All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense
Of being in a hurry gone. We ran
Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street
Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence
The river’s level drifting breadth began,
Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

You are right of course, I had been preparing to offer clues

My favourite is
'Swerving east, from rich industrial shadows
And traffic all night north
..
Gathers to the surprise of a large town
..'
What impresses me in Larkin, R S Thomas and others is the concentration, intensity, every word counts
Much more fun than reading a novel with 800 pages

 

[SuspectUsual]

You are right of course, I had been preparing to offer clues

My favourite is
'Swerving east, from rich industrial shadows
And traffic all night north
..
Gathers to the surprise of a large town
..'
What impresses me in Larkin, R S Thomas and others is the concentration, intensity, every word counts
Much more fun than reading a novel with 800 pages

Despite going to the same school as Larkin, I first heard of him from my first girlfriend at college, who was studying English. He’d written some pretty uncomplimentary stuff about the school so they’d effectively erased him from history

But “the river’s level drifting breadth began, where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet” is to me absolute genius. I can just see what he’s describing so vividly

Anyway, open floor as I can’t think of anything at the moment

 

[444045]

The 1st Class 47 locos to be named in 1965/66 were D1660 to D1677 - how many can you name with the loco connected please ?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Thor, Odin?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I can't remember the numbers, but "George Jackson Churchward" "Sir Daniel Gooch" "Great Western" were, I think, some of the names?

 

[444045]

Thor, Odin?

You are correct with Thor (1677) & Odin (1666)

 

[444045]

I can't remember the numbers, but "George Jackson Churchward" "Sir Daniel Gooch" "Great Western" were, I think, some of the names?

You are correct with Sir Daniel Gooch (1663) & George jackson Churchyard (1664) but not Great Western

 

[SuspectUsual]

Mammoth
Titan
Cyclops
Colossus
City of Truro