Railway General Knowledge.

SteveyBee131 · 1 Jan 2020

Good, but not 43006's county. It's considerably further North

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Marton · 1 Jan 2020

Not a county per se, but Royal Deeside sounds likely.

SteveyBee131 · 1 Jan 2020

Getting warmer, as it's in Scotland, but not quite as far North as that.

Marton · 2 Jan 2020

Kingdom of Fife

SteveyBee131 · 2 Jan 2020

That's it! Well done @Marton

Incidentally, I seem to remember 43006 being the first one to have super-bright (at the time) headlights. But I digress!
The kingdom is yours Marton

Marton · 2 Jan 2020

Thank you

What three different railway schemes played a role in the Confederation of Canada in

1867
1871
1873

krus_aragon · 2 Jan 2020

1867 was the date of confederation, and the original "start" of building a railway to unite the provinces as a federal project. My recollections are that progress wasn't exactly fast.

1871 saw British Columbia join the other provinces, on condition that the railway was extended out to them. The scope of the project now stretched from ocean to ocean ("a mari usque ad mare").

I can't think of any particular significance to the 1873 date, though.

Marton · 2 Jan 2020

The first is essentially right. One of the conditions was a railway from Halifax to Montréal.

Correct on Count two.

I will give others a bit of time before giving a hint on 3

DerekC · 2 Jan 2020

I confess to having consulted my copy of Pierre Berton's The Impossible Railway (highly recommended read). Could it be the acquisition of the semi-derelict and bankrupt St Paul and Pacific Railroad ("two streaks of rust and a right of way") by a consortium led by Jim Hill? They would later use it as the "Manitoba Road" to make their fortunes by extending it to Winnipeg and then using it to transport materials for the Canadian Pacific build westwards, the section round the Great Lakes being still under construction.

Marton · 2 Jan 2020

Not that, but very similar inasmuch as it is the bail out of a railway. But specifically linked to the railway in the Province which joined the Confederation that year (The 7th province) which also obtained the guarantee of a ferry.

DerekC · 8 Jan 2020

Well, it's nearly a week now. I confess to a bit of Googling and I think the railway is the Prince Edward Island Railway, which was bailed out by the Canadian Government in 1873 as part of the deal under which the former British colony of Prince Edward Island joined the Confederation. Sadly the railway was closed completely in 1989.

Marton · 8 Jan 2020

That’s it.
Sorry for the delay. Travelling back from Canada I forgot this.

over to you

DerekC · 9 Jan 2020

Sorry - I forgot too.

Open floor

Y Ddraig Coch · 9 Jan 2020

In 1985 the "New" built Llandudno Junction power signal box was opened next to the old lever box, why wasn't this box actually new? It was also a memorable one for another reason as well?

Does anyone know either reason?

DerekC · 15 Jan 2020

Was it relocated/recycled from somewhere else?

Y Ddraig Coch · 15 Jan 2020

DerekC said:
Was it relocated/recycled from somewhere else?

It was indeed.

DerekC · 15 Jan 2020

Hmm - I suppose I have to guess where from. Since 1985 was about when the first SSI scheme was introduced at Leamington Spa - did it come from there? (complete wild-assed guess).

Y Ddraig Coch · 15 Jan 2020

No, not Leamington Spa, but further south.

EbbwJunction1 · 17 Jan 2020

Cardiff?

Y Ddraig Coch · 17 Jan 2020

EbbwJunction1 said:
Cardiff?

No not Cardiff, as this has been on for a while I shall tell you.

The new box arrived in sections by train to Llandudno Junction and was second hand from the redundant West Hampstead Re-signalling Scheme in the late 1970's. It was also the last box of its type to be constructed by the then London Midland Region of British Rail a type which was introduced in 1954 and lasted until 1983 but didn't open in Llandudno Junction until 1985 was the last

DerekC · 19 Jan 2020

I am assuming it's now open floor.

How did Black Harry, working in 1849, cause five fatalities to members of the public in 1953?

Peter Mugridge · 19 Jan 2020

I think that's somewhere here on the forum a few months ago; I seem to recall it's a mine working which collapsed and caused an accident to a train which happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

DerekC · 20 Jan 2020

Peter Mugridge said:
I think that's somewhere here on the forum a few months ago; I seem to recall it's a mine working which collapsed and caused an accident to a train which happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Not that. The fatalitles were not on a train. They were to members of the public not travelling on or involved with the railway at the time.

AndrewE · 20 Jan 2020

As it is so early, was it a boiler explosion? No, not if the deaths were in 1953. Maybe restorers[of an old engine] got anthrax from horse-hair boiler lagging?

DerekC · 20 Jan 2020

AndrewE said:
As it is so early, was it a boiler explosion? No, not if the deaths were in 1953. Maybe restorers got anthrax from horse-hair boiler lagging?

Very imaginative idea, but not right. (Were early boilers lagged with horse hair?). The accident happened at 05:35 on 28th April 1953 in the suburbs of Manchester and the consequences are still visible.

EbbwJunction1 · 20 Jan 2020

Was it connected with factory chimneys - were the contractors hired to demolish the remains of chimney were crushed under the rubble when it collapsed?

Hang on, though, what's that got to do with railways? Okay, maybe it was a railway viaduct or a tunnel? (Says he, clutching at straws!!)

DerekC · 20 Jan 2020

EbbwJunction1 said:
Okay, maybe it was a railway viaduct or a tunnel? (Says he, clutching at straws!!)

Latch on to the thought of a tunnel.

martinsh · 21 Jan 2020

I think this is the tunnel on the Eccles - Clifton Junction line which collapsed ?

DerekC · 21 Jan 2020

Good enough. It was the Clifton Hall Tunnel - aka "Black Harry" - supposedly named after the foreman of the construction team which built it in 1849/50. It was a difficult tunnel through clay and sand and eight intermediate shafts were built to speed progress. After the tunnel was joined the shafts were sealed and their locations forgotten above the brick lining. As became clear more than 100 years later the job was bodged, the brick shaft linings being left propped on timbers above the tunnel crown instead of being supported on load bearing brickwork. At 05:35 on 28th April 1953 the bodge in No3 shaft failed and the lining together with the sand fill fell into the tunnel, bringing with it the pair of semi-detached houses that had been built in 1909 directly over the shaft, and half demolishing another. Five people died, some of them found still in their beds.

There is still a gap in the houses in Temple Drive, Swinton.

@martinsh - your floor.

martinsh · 22 Jan 2020

Of the steam locomotives acquired by British Railways in 1948, name three unique wheel arrangements i.e. only one locomotive of that wheel arrangement was acquired.

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