Railway General Knowledge.

[EbbwJunction1]

Boston Lodge, Minffordd, Penrhydeudraeth, Tan-y-Bwlch, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Campbells Platform, Dduallt, Tanygrisiau? Must be one of those, just guessing, not been there for years, and I shall not cheat %)
Got a feeling there was something new at the Lodge

It'd be impossible for you to be wrong with that list, so I'll say that you're right when you say Minfford. It's described as "the old Y Gweithdy (workshop) at Minffordd station", although it doesn't say exactly what they did. Nevertheless, that's a second point for you.

Turning to the other two categories, here's a couple more clues:
Partnership: The report from the NRHA says: "Finally, to emphasise that the competition is not focussed exclusively on the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, the distinctive fascias at Xxxxxx Xxxx (1959-60) have been restored." This missing place is on the West Anglia Main Line.

Conservation: The report from the NRHA says: "On the operational side, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Goostrey, Xxxxxxx, Ockendon and Upminster stations had substantial work done to lighting, ticket offices and booking halls and other public areas." This missing place is on the East Coast Main Line.

I'll give you the answers this afternoon if necessary.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Harlow Town?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@EbbwJunction1
I cheated, I am afraid. I thought Anglia was East, not west
Could the answer be Audley End?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Harlow Town?

That's correct, thanks.

@EbbwJunction1
I cheated, I am afraid. I thought Anglia was East, not west
Could the answer be Audley End?

Sorry, no.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

As promised, I'll now give you the final answer, which is that the Conservation award went to Morpeth Station.

As he got two correct answers, the honour of opening the golden envelope goes to LSWR Cavalier - well done!

As a matter of interest, here's a link to the NRHA web site with a full list of the winners and the reasons: Winners 2020 | National Railway Heritage Awards (nrha.org.uk).

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Diolch yn fawr iawn

Here are some first lines from railway poems, I seek title and author

1 Swerving east, from rich industrial shadows..

2 Yes. I remember [station] -
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly..

3 This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order..

4 There are places in Wales I don't go:
Reservoirs.. Troubled far down with gravestones, chapels, villages even..

5 Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train
With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's
Daintily alights Elaine..

6 As through the wild green hills of Wyre
The train ran, changing sky and shire..

7 That Whitsun, I was late getting away:
Not till about
One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday
Did my three-quarters empty train pull out..

 

[Calthrop]

2: Adlestrop -- Edward Thomas

3: The Night Mail, I think -- accompanying the film -- W.H. Auden

5: by John Betjeman; but the title -- oh, dear... Metroland ??

7: The Whitsun Weddings -- Philip Larkin

and 6 sounds rather like A.E. Housman; but no idea of the title.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@Calthrop
2,3,7 correct

5 author right, title wrong

6 A E Housman, A Shropshire Lad XXXVII, no title, describes leaving Shropshire for London

 

[SuspectUsual]

1 is Here, another Larkin poem. Not as good as Whitsun Weddings though. That line “where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet” is perfect

4 is an RS Thomas poem, not sure of the title, possibly Reservoirs

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

@SteveM70
Both correct, but I think 'Here' is better than WW. Really two poems about the same route in opposite directions. Both are better than his most-quoted poem about parents

R S Thomas was writing about Capel Celyn I think, where the railway was drowned as well as the village

 

[SuspectUsual]

I think 'Here' is better than WW. Really two poems about the same route in opposite directions

Hmmmm. Each to their own

I presume it was deliberate, but I’ve always thought the lines in TWW “all windows down, all cushions hot, all sense of being in a hurry gone” as well as being incredible evocative also scan perfectly to the beat of Mark 1s on jointed track

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Yes, one can smell the dusty cushions

Only need the title of number 5 now, it does begin with M!

Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train
With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's
Daintily alights Elaine;
Hurries down the concrete station
With a frown of concentration
Out into the outskirt's edges
Where a few surviving hedges
Keep alive our lost Elysium - rural Middlesex again
..

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Is No. 5 "Metropolitan" or "Metropolis"?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Is No. 5 "Metropolitan" or "Metropolis"?

No sorry, but it is very 'easy'. When one knows the answer

 

[xotGD]

Metroland

 

[SuspectUsual]

Middlesex, wouldn’t have got it without the clue

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Middlesex, wouldn’t have got it without the clue

Correct, the word appears in the poem. Betjemans poems are good (despite being very popular%)), but he thought RST was much better than himself

@Calthrop got three right plus a couple of part answers, so may set the next question(s)

 

[Calthrop]

Thanks.

Please name those islands in the Hawaiian group, which have had public passenger railways. (All long gone, except for a shortish stretch on one island which survives as a "heritage" line.)

 

[341o2]

Hawaii itself and Honolulu

 

[Calthrop]

Hawaii itself and Honolulu

That's two: "the Big Island"; and Oahu, on which is situated Honolulu -- headquarters of the one-time Oahu Railway (3ft. gauge). There was one more.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Kaua 'i? Maua'i?

 

[Calthrop]

Kaua 'i? Maua'i?

The second of these -- also spelt Maui -- was the other island with a public passenger railway: the 3ft. gauge Kahului Railroad -- centred on the island's chief town, Kahului; total length 31 km., opened 1879, pass. services withdrawn 1936, abandoned 1966.

@LSWR Cavalier: you've got one of the three islands concerned. @341o2: you got two; so the triumphal "lei" garland, and the floor, go to you.

(The preserved line, incidentally, is a remnant of the Oahu Railway.)

 

[341o2]

On the Central Railway of Peru, there is the Verrugas viaduct. The third structure to span the gorge (after the first was washed away and the second replaced in 1937), was named Puente Carrión. Why?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Because the whole line was rebuilt with a new easier alignment? Sorry, just read the question: carrion = vulture bridge?

 

[Gloster]

Because they decided to ‘carry on’ building viaducts.

 

[341o2]

Neither answer correct nor any way near, I'm afraid

 

[Calthrop]

Senor Carrion (can't do accents) was, I believe, a figure of considerable significance in the history of the Central of Peru -- a prominent engineer? Commemorated anyway, in the name of the bridge.

 

[341o2]

You are right in that the name of the bridge commemorates a person, but sadly what he did meant he died at the age of 28. He was not an engineer or worked on the railway

 

[Calthrop]

He and the bridge get a mention in Brian Fawcett's Railways of the Andes; but his deed(s), I have totally forgotten.

 

[SuspectUsual]

You are right in that the name of the bridge commemorates a person, but sadly what he did meant he died at the age of 28. He was not an engineer or worked on the railway

Revoultionary hero?