U.K. Railways Trivia

1. Whereabouts in the UK could you climb aboard a train on the Watercress Line ?

From Quiz All Aboard

Answer: Hampshire

The Mid-Hants Railway runs between Alresford and Alton in Hampshire. The line used to carry locally-grown watercress up to London, resulting in the nickname.

From Quiz GWR, LNER, LMS, SR - The Big Four

Answer: Forced mergers under the 1921 Railways Act

Although many railways were producing little profit and many had merged, an Act of Parliament was passed with a view to making them more efficient through forced mergers. At the time of drafting, serious consideration was made to having a fifth railway, an expanded Caledonian Railway, but this idea was scrapped before the Bill came before Parliament.

From Quiz British Railways #2

Answer: St Pancras

When the Channel Tunnel was first opened in 1994, Eurostar's terminal station in Britain was Waterloo International. This line was too slow and inefficient, so eventually St Pancras was chosen for re-development and to be the terminal station for a new high speed line. In 2006, CTRL (Channel Tunnel Rail Link) was renamed High Speed 1 (HS1) and in 2007, St Pancras International was officially opened after £6 billion of spending on the project. The Eurostar class 373 electric trains can reach a top speed of 186 mph; the fastest in the UK. Eurostar has terminal stations in Paris, Brussels and Lille.

From Quiz Tracking through Sussex

Answer: Clayton

Not just turrets but battlements complete this view. Between the two turrets sits a cottage, a prime location for a train spotter. But to see the tunnel entrance properly you need to be either in the cab of the train or better still standing on the bridge over the line. The nearest station is Hassocks from where a mile long footpath runs beside the line to the village of Clayton. Clayton tunnel is the longest tunnel on the line, closely followed by the two Merstham Tunnels (which are in Surrey). Balcombe Tunnel is in Sussex, on the Brighton line between Three Bridges and Balcombe, only half the length of the Clayton Tunnel it has no such ornamentation. Although there is a station 'Box Hill and Westhumble' in Surrey close to Box Hill on the North Downs, the Box Hill Tunnel is further away near Bath. The Box Hill Tunnel was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and has an impressive west portal, but no turrets.

From Quiz British Railways

Answer: Pantograph

The Z-shaped pantograph is the most common today, mostly replacing the diamond-shaped roller pantograph.

From Quiz Train Stations in Wales

Answer: Cardiff Central

Cardiff Central is the biggest railway station in Wales. It has a total of 7 platforms with trains to London, Swansea, West Wales, the Valleys, the Welsh Marches, Manchester, North Wales and Barry.

From Quiz English Twin Stations

Answer: Lymington

Although it's only a few hundred yards from one to the other by train it would be a lot further on land as the train has a bridge over an inlet so everyone else has to go the long way. The Pier, like Ryde's Pier Head, is one end of the Isle of Wight Ferry. Ryde, which is on the Isle of Wight, has another two stations, Esplanade and St John's Road. Southampton and Weymouth both have dedicated stations for ferries, one also to the Isle of Wight, the second to the Channel Islands.

From Quiz London Mainline Railway Stations - part 2

Answer: Chatham

Trains for Clacton-on-Sea leave from Liverpool Street. To get to Colwyn Bay the girls would have to leave from Euston. The girls would need to leave from Liverpool Street and change at Norwich to get to Cromer.

From Quiz London Mainline Railway Stations - part 1

Answer: Euston

Euston Station was built as the terminus for the London and Birmingham Railway in the 1830s. It was completely modernised in the 1960s.

From Quiz Cardiff and Valleys Railways

Answer: Arriva Trains Wales

The railways in South Wales were for many years, part of the GWR, Great Western Railway. The railways were an essential and integral part of the steel and coal industry, and to this day coal is still transported by rail from what is left of the South Wales coal mines. The Arriva Trains Wales expired in 2018 and Transport for Wales took over.

From Quiz Name that British Rail Train

Answer: Scafell Pike

This locomotive was one of ten Class 44 members, all of which were named after geographical high points in England and Wales, and as such were nicknamed "Peaks". Scafell Pike is the highest point in England, and thus assigned to locomotive D1. Ben Nevis, albeit the highest point in the British Isles, is in Scotland. The Fens, 12 feet below sea level, is the lowest area in England. Penyghent is another "Peak", number D8, and is preserved by Peak Rail in Derbyshire. D1 was scrapped in 1977.

From Quiz British Railways Steam Engine Names

Answer: LMSR

One of the LMS Jubilee 4-6-0s, it carried the BR number 45697.

From Quiz Railway Stations Of The UK

Answer: Bristol

Bristol Temple Meads is a large Great Western Station just outside Wales.

From Quiz LNER Steam

Answer: Flying Scotsman

Although City of Truro is claimed to have achieved 102mph in 1904, this cannot be authenticated. Thirty years later Flying Scotsman's speed just peaked at 100mph down Stoke Bank on a test run (for non-train buffs, that's between Grantham and Peterborough).

From Quiz British Railways #6

Answer: 512

The Class 47 was the most numerous class of BR mainline locomotive, although by 1993 there were only around 350 remaining.

From Quiz Easy British Railways

Answer: East Anglia Mainline

The East Anglia Mainline is also known as the Great Eastern Main Line and it connects all the above cities in one, electrified route.

From Quiz British Railways #5

Answer: 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.

From Quiz British Railways #3

Answer: Joseph Locke

Joseph Locke was responsible for the mapping, surveying and the engineering of the WCML from Carlisle to Glasgow. He selected to use the Lune Gorge, via Oxenholme instead of the route through Windermere that would require an extensive tunnel north.

From Quiz British Railways #2

Answer: Cheriton

Cheriton is the site of the Road/Rail link for the cross-channel car carrier trains, located right after Dolland's Moor Exchange Sidings. Ashford and Westenhanger are stations on the route from Paddington to the tunnel.

From Quiz West Midland Stations

Answer: Birmingham International

Attached to the NEC, Birmingham International is about half a mile from the airport. The two use to be connected by one of the worlds first Maglev railways in passenger service, albeit at a low speed, the same technology is currently being used to provide high speed rail services in China. In the mid-nineties the service was stopped because of the high cost and lack of spare parts and replaced by a bus service. Recently this has been replaced by a new rail link using a chain-driven automated train adapted from the existing Maglev tracks.

From Quiz All Aboard

Answer: Bluebell Railway

The Bluebell Railway runs through Sussex between Sheffield Park and East Grinstead. The first stretch of the heritage railway opened in 1960 and the connection with the national railway system at East Grinstead opened in 2013.

From Quiz UK Railways - Locomotive Names and Nicknames

Answer: B1

"Bongos" were LNER two-cylinder mixed traffic 4-6-Os designed by Edward Thompson. The first one, named Springbok, was completed at the time that General Smuts, the then war-time Prime Minister of South Africa, was visiting the UK. Many of the class were given antelope names and Bongo gained popularity from its weirdness. Two live on actively in preservation.

From Quiz British Railways #2

Answer: Northern

The Northern line was originally two separate lines, the first of which opened in 1890. When the two lines were joined, the resulting line was called Morden-Edgware. In 1937, there was a planned expansion of the line, called Northern Heights, which is where the name for the Northern line came from. The expansion didn't happen because of disruption caused by World War 2 and because of a change in circumstances afterwards. Altogether there are 50 stations on the Northern line, 36 of them are underground. Morden is the southernmost station; Edgware and High Barnet are the two northernmost stations on each of their branches. Of the other three lines in question, the map colours are Central red, Metropolitan purple and Bakerloo brown.

From Quiz British Railways

Answer: Waterloo & City Line

There are only two stations, Waterloo and Bank. The line goes underneath the River Thames.

From Quiz Train Stations in Wales

Answer: Swan

Swansea has 4 platforms and serves trains towards West Wales, Cardiff, Manchester, London and the Welsh Marches.

From Quiz London Mainline Railway Stations - part 2

Answer: Portsmouth and Southsea

Paignton trains leave from Paddington. It would be necessary to change at Birmingham New Street to get to Pwllheli. To get to Prestwick, the girls would have to leave from Euston and change trains at Glasgow Central.

From Quiz London Mainline Railway Stations - part 1

Answer: Marylebone

The Great Central Railway opened Marylebone Station as its London terminus at the end of the nineteenth century. It is also well known as the second station on the UK Monopoly board.

From Quiz Cardiff and Valleys Railways

Answer: Taffs Well

Treforest Estate also lies between these two stations, but it is NOT on the Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil line. Treforest has for many years had a large trading estate providing goods and services to commerce, industry, and the general public.

From Quiz British Railways Steam Engine Names

Answer: LNER

Merlin was one of the 1936 batch of A4 Pacifics, built by the LNER that spent their early life pulling high speed trains from London to Leeds and Edinburgh. (In 1938 another locomotive of this class, the 'Mallard' achieved the world speed record for steam - 126 m.p.h. between Peterborough and Spalding). This is not to confused with Maunsell's LSWR (later SR) King Authur class 4-6-0 of 1925. Amongst the first batch of loco's was number 740 "Merlin". When this was destroyed in a TV stunt, the name was transferred to a BR Standard 5 no. 73080. (Source O.S.Nock books LNER Steam and Southern Steam, and the Observers Book pub 1966)

From Quiz British Railways

Answer: Gloucester

Gloucester has trains going either to Wales or Bristol. It used to have a station on each line, one called Eastgate. When it closed in 1975 all the trains on the Bristol line now have to take a little branch to the existing station and then reverse back to their own line. British efficiency at its typical best.

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Last Updated Apr 22 2024 11:02 AM

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