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Railway General Knowledge.

ArchieWoodbine

ArchieWoodbine

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On the SWB from Wootton Bassett Jnc. to Bristol Parkway, you'll often find which (once common) item re-purposed as mileposts?
 
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theageofthetra

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'Camelback' type locomotives where the driver sat in a cab on top of the boiler were almost entirely a US curiosity. They were later banned.

What money saving scheme required their development?
 
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Calthrop

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The use of cheap, poor-quality coal (lignite / anthracite); to get efficient generation of steam from which, required locos to be built with such deep, wide firebox grates that on some classes, there was no room to put the cab in the usual position -- had to be set on top of the boiler, with just a small "perch" at the rear end of the loco for he fireman?
 
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theageofthetra

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Calthrop said:
The use of cheap, poor-quality coal (lignite / anthracite); to get efficient generation of steam from which, required locos to be built with such deep, wide firebox grates that on some classes, there was no room to put the cab in the usual position -- had to be set on top of the boiler, with just a small "perch" at the rear end of the loco for he fireman?
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That's basically the main reason but combined with the four wheel rear truck having not been developed at this time. Your perched on top floor.
 
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Calthrop

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Thanks.

There are continental European countries which had / have some public narrow-gauge lines of what seem to be strangely random gauges; but some of said gauges in fact make, at one level, a certain amount of sense, and are not just random. Examples: 785 mm and 891 mm. Where do these not-totally-arbitrary measurements "come from"?
 
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Calthrop

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Hint: the Continental region concerned with 785 mm is a one-time nation-state, nowadays a part of a larger nation-state. It has given its name to a particular shade of blue; and its name rhymes with that of another country which "has-and-does" feature prominently on the European scene.
 
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Calthrop

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It's indeed Prussia: 785 mm = two and a half Prussian feet. This gauge was used on a very few lines in what is nowadays Germany, all now closed; but its biggest concentration was in Upper Silesia, now in Poland, but Prussian territory in the 19th-century boom time for rail openings. I believe that a couple of short stretches on this gauge in Upper Silesia, now survive under preservation.

martinsh and EbbwJunction1, you each got one. Would you like to sort out between you, who has the floor next (given the countries involved, preferably in a milder way than "Thirty Years' War" fashion !)
 
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EbbwJunction1

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Thanks; I'm not going to be around for the next few days, so I'm happy for martinsh to ask a question.
 
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EbbwJunction1

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The two that occurred to me were the ones at Lynton & Lynmouth (1890) and Aberystwyth (1896), but I'd be surprised if there weren't older ones that these.

In fact, having asked Mr W.Pedia, it seems that the South Cliff Lift at Scarborough dates from 1875, so it's older than my two guesses!

Whether it's the oldest in the world, though, I don't know. I've travelled on the ones in Hong Kong and Wellington, New Zealand, but these are newer than both of my original guesses, so they're not the right answer, either!
 
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theageofthetra

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Oh it's not that one in some castle in Austria? If it was a true funicular- I thought it was horse/mule gin powered?-if it does count it goes back to the middle ages a good 400+years old.
 
martinsh

martinsh

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theageofthetra said:
Oh it's not that one in some castle in Austria? If it was a true funicular- I thought it was horse/mule gin powered?-if it does count it goes back to the middle ages a good 400+years old.
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You've got the right line, so I'll give it to you. The Reisszug which serves Hohenselzburg castle is believed to date back to around 1490. So approx. 525 years old !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reisszug

Your medieval anachronism
 
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EbbwJunction1

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It's been a couple of days, so can I ask this one:

What method of transportation was introduced by whom and on which railway on this day in 1830?
 
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EbbwJunction1

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EbbwJunction1 said:
What method of transportation was introduced by whom and on which railway on this day in 1830?
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Hmmm .... My answer to this question was that the Liverpool and Manchester Railway introduced transport of freight in containers on 22nd November 1830. However, although this is the claim in the western Mail, and I did find some proof of it, I can't find it now!

Anyway, I'll declare an Open Intermodal Freight Operation!
 
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Calthrop

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Two stations in Great Britain, about 85 miles apart, on the systems of different railway companies pre-nationalisation, and different BR regions after. They have borne the same (one-word) name; but did so simultaneously, for only three years. One of the two carried a different (two-word) name for 104 years, including an eleven-year closed interval followed by reopening -- ten years after which, it resumed the former one-word name; its counterpart of that name 85-odd miles away, having closed to all traffic 29 years previously.

Please identify, and indicate locations of, the two stations / names concerned.
 
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