All Aboard Cross Country! Trivia Quiz

Bristol Temple Meads is celebrated for its fantastic facade and was Brunel's choice of terminus for the Great Western Railway. As is the case with a number of big stations in the United Kingdom, Bristol Temple Meads suffers from being somewhat distant from the city centre. Stations on the Severn Beach line afford Bristolians the chance to join the railway network at local stations that provide direct services to Bristol Temple Meads; passengers can then continue with their longer distance journeys upon interchange at this architectural gem.

Bristol Parkway is the original parkway station and has "inspired" (if that term is really appropriate for discussing stations in the middle of nowhere with a massive on-site car park) countless others such as Southampton Airport Parkway in Hampshire. Located in South Gloucestershire, this celebration of tarmac acts as a key interchange between South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham and London.

Cheltenham Spa is a relatively small station (two platforms) in Gloucestershire that serves Cheltenham and its surrounds. Despite not being designed as a terminus, Cheltenham Spa acts as the terminating station for services from Cardiff Central via Chepstow and Lydney as well as for a number of Great Western Railway services from London Paddington via Stroud.

Worcestershire Parkway was opened in 2020 to improve interchange opportunities for passengers utilising services between Bristol and Birmingham and from Worcester (Foregate Street and Shrub Hill) to London via Oxford. The station is a "parkway" station that is geographically in the middle of nowhere but due to its convenient location on the railway network and decent car parking capacity, passenger volumes have exceeded all expectations. Build it and they really will come, it seems!

Birmingham New Street can be regarded as being at the heart of the British railway network. Platform level at New Street station is not a glamorous environment, to be as polite as possible we will stick with the descriptor of "functional". Trains arrive at Birmingham New Street from all over Great Britain and it is the major hub of the broader Cross Country network which serves locations as diverse as Penzance, Bournemouth, Reading, Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Tamworth railway station is located in Staffordshire and permits interchange between the Cross Country route and the West Coast Main Line (Stafford to Rugby section), with services along the latter line of route terminating at London Euston. Tamworth is associated with the breed of long-snouted pig that takes on the name of the town - Tamworth pig.

Burton-on-Trent is one of the smaller stations on the Cross Country route. The Staffordshire station provides the travelling public with services to major British cities such as Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, York, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh (this station certainly punches above its weight).

As referenced in the clue, Burton-on-Trent has a strong industrial past and is particularly famous for its brewing heritage (Bass and Marston's amongst others).

Britain's railway network has always been political but the early 2020s was a particularly difficult time for the industry and its passengers. One of the key debating points centred on whether the railway should be renationalised, remain in its current state or take a new hybrid form in order to best deal with infrastructure development, service delivery, industrial relations and customer satisfaction.

A body called Great British Railways (GBR) - a "central guiding mind" - was at the heart of the debate and one of the somewhat less important points related to where GBR would call home.

After a public vote, Derby was chosen, a city with a well-located railway station with services to three British capital cities: Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.

Chesterfield is situated on the Midland Main Line and as such provides passengers with direct services to East Midlands locations such as Loughborough, Leicester and Market Harborough. The Midland Main Line also serves two airports, East Midlands and Luton.

The station forecourt is home to a statue of George Stephenson, a significant British Industrial Revolution figure and railway locomotion pioneer.

Sheffield is the busiest railway station in the county of South Yorkshire and forms a multimodal (train and tram) hub flanking the busy Sheaf Square. As well as being on the Cross Country route from Bristol Temple Meads to York, Sheffield is served by trains travelling along the route from Reading to Newcastle.

The station is also served by trains to London St Pancras International, the London terminal that is home to services that cross the English Channel to destinations such as Paris, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

The principal stations along the Cross Country route between Derby and Leeds are fairly straightforward to memorise (you know you want to) as they all curiously contain "field" and are in alphabetical order: Chesterfield, Sheffield and Wakefield Westgate.

The third of these stations is the mainline station for Wakefield with Wakefield Kirkgate primarily serving as the station for local stopping services across Yorkshire and the north of England.

The station at Leeds is a significant transport hub for the English county of West Yorkshire as well as for Yorkshire more broadly. Leeds is one of the busiest railway stations outside of London in terms of passenger numbers and this is a function of numerous local line services and a high volume of direct trains to and from London King's Cross, Birmingham New Street and York (via Harrogate or Church Fenton).

The railway station at York is a magnificent feat of engineering with a shed that is worth marvelling at whilst awaiting a delayed train service. As well as being a key station on the Cross Country Route, York is a major station call on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) which is utilised for a variety of services including London King's Cross to Edinburgh.

A short walk from York railway station is the superb National Railway Museum, a place of pilgrimage for trainspotters, "cranks", "anoraks", a certain FunTrivia author (I will not self-incriminate) and - in all seriousness - anybody looking for a good day out.