Railway General Knowledge.

[SuspectUsual]

Open floor

 

[htafc]

Between which two stations did The Palatine operate?

 

[Whistler40145]

Manchester Central and London St Pancras via the Midland Mainline?

 

[htafc]

Manchester Central and London St Pancras via the Midland Mainline?

That's right! All yours.

 

[Whistler40145]

Sorry for my delay in replying

Open Floor

 

[D6130]

What are the semi-official nicknames and their English translations - at one time indicated by comical transfers on the cab sides - of the following classes of FS-Trenitalia electric locos?

(1) E444

(2) E632/633/652

(3) E656

 

[xotGD]

If they were inspired by the UK:

(1) E444 - Can

(2) E632/633/652 - Roarer

(3) E656 - Dyson

 

[D6130]

If they were inspired by the UK:

(1) E444 - Can

(2) E632/633/652 - Roarer

(3) E656 - Dyson

How I love the dry Geordie wit....my mother was from Wallsend!

I'll give you a clue.....they're all animals - but at least one of them (the fastest one) is rather ironically named.

 

[Gloster]

One of them had a sort of twisted bright green crocodile or alligator, or maybe it was a newt or something similar.

 

[D6130]

One of them had a sort of twisted bright green crocodile or alligator,

Correct....that was because one of the classes concerned have/had a certain characteristic of an alligator. We're getting there slowly

 

[xotGD]

From the clue, is one of them a tortoise?

 

[D6130]

From the clue, is one of them a tortoise?

Correct! Ironically, that's the fastest of the three classes (E444) with a maximum speed of 200 km/h (124.9 mph) - Italian name 'Tartaruga'....so called after the shape of their original bodywork, prior to rebuilding in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

@Gloster guessed the alligator ('Caimano'), which is class E656....a powerful articulated Bo-Bo-Bo locomotive for heavily-graded and sharply-curved mountain lines, some of which have now been re-geared for freight work only and reclassified E655.

The final group of locos (E632/633/652) are externally identical Bo-Bo-Bos with a single body, but have different motors and gear ratios. Their nickname is related to the appearance of their bodyside grilles when painted in their original livery. Who will break the tie, I wonder?

 

[xotGD]

Snake?

 

[D6130]

Snake?

No....afraid not. Wikipedia may have to be your friend!

 

[xotGD]

Leopard

 

[D6130]

Leopard

No, but you're getting closer!

 

[xotGD]

Tiger?

 

[D6130]

Yes indeed! Your turn on the Direttissima!

 

[xotGD]

I don't feel worthy, but anyway...

Which was the first depot to receive an allocation of Class 20s?

 

[Gloster]

Bow?

 

[xotGD]

Bow?

Yes, Devons Road, Bow.

Your floor...

 

[Gloster]

When and why was Hope the last to be lost?

 

[Gloster]

Nobody seems to be biting on this, so I will give a first small clue by saying that there was a reason why Hope is in italics.

 

[Gloster]

I will give the answer to the When: February 1948. I won’t let this go on much longer if nobody looks like getting the Why.

 

[Gloster]

Well this one hasn’t gone anywhere. 2136 Hope was the last of the LNER Sentinel steam-railcars to survive and the only one to be taken over by BR while still in operating stock, although it probably hadn’t worked since the previous year.

Open floor.

 

[315801]

During the introduction of electric locomotives the classes 81 - 86 had 2 pantographs, 1 of these was for operation on the standard 25 kv OHLE, but as the overhead was not all the same voltage, what was the operational voltage for the 2nd pantograph?

 

[xotGD]

6.25kV?

 

[315801]

Correct answer, your floor

 

[xotGD]

How many Class 08 shunters were built? I'll accept +/-10 of the correct answer.

 

[D6130]

958?