Special Sub-Topic: British Railways #5 Authored by: m1a2lt Sub-topic of: U.K. Railways

The Severn tunnel between Wales and England requires how much water to pumped out daily to maintain the rail link?

20,000,000 gallons. The Severn Tunnel was constructed across a fault line in the earth's crust that is continuously shifting, causing huge amounts of water to leak from the river above.

This preserved railway has the oldest locomotive in the world still running on its original line:

Festiniog Railway. This locomotive came to the railway in 1864, a year behind her sisters, Princess and Mountaineer. Unfortunately, Princess and Mountaineer were sold as scrap, but this locomotive was rebuilt in the 1950s and currently runs the line on regular excursions.

What is the name of the locomotive on the preserved railway that is the oldest still running on its original line?

prince. Prince was a tandem locomotive with boilers at either end with a central driving cab. This locomotive has been rebuilt to use oil instead of coal due to the sparks from the locomotive that started fires in nearby woodlands.

True or False: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest station name in the world is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch which means "St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the White Hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave."

f. Believe it or not, the longest station name in the world is "Gorsafawddachaidraigodanheddogleddollonpenrhynareurdraethceredigion" which means "The Mawddach Station with its dragon's teeth on the northerly Penrhyn drive on the golden beach of Cardigan Bay" on the Fairbourne-Barmouth line. Both names were made as a "joke".

Class 52 locomotives were affectionately known as _______.

western & westerns. The locomotives were nicknamed "Westerns" since all the class had names that began with western, such as "Western Pathfinder" and "Western Ambassador".

Which of these companies does not operate Intercity 125 trains?

English, Welsh and Scottish. English, Welsh and Scottish is the premier freight operating company in Britain and does not operate the Intercity 125 passenger trains.

The Class 73 locomotive is unusual in the fact that it can be driven either by third rail electric or by a diesel engine.

t. The Class 73 locomotives were created to operate within and outside the third rail electrified system and this makes them perfect locomotives for engineer trains where the third rail may have to be shut off.

The rail line used for the shooting of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was____.

The West Highland Line. The West Highland Line was used for the running sequences in both Harry Potter movies. Interestingly enough, when the locomotive "Hogwart's Castle" attempted to get to Fort William Station to pick up the stock for filming, it was found the locomotive could not pass Banavie Station due to the width of the loco. It was not until a couple of days later that the train would actually link up and filming could start.

What are "Silver Bullets"?

These are specially modified tank cars for carrying clay slurry.. Although the Lone Ranger shot these at bad guys, that has nothing to do with railways! The silver bullets (unfortunately, today, they aren't very "silver") are used to haul clay slurry from Cornwall to places such as the Irvine Paper Mill in Scotland or to Italy.

What is unusual about the Class 47/7 variant?

They were modified for push/pull operation.. The Class 47/7s were modified for push/pull operation between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Furthermore, the maximum speed of these locos was increased to 100 mph. Once they were replaced by Sprinters, they moved to Network SouthEast and were then absorbed into the Intercity pool.