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DerekC

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I reckon @Ashley Hill has got as close as anybody is going to without Googling! From what I recall (and I travelled on them a couple of times in about 1978) it was more of a brand than a service. I was very impressed with the look of the train the first time I arrived in Heuston station to travel to Waterford, but it didn't seem to match the rate of progress which mostly seemed to be about 45 mph.
 
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hexagon789

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I reckon @Ashley Hill has got as close as anybody is going to without Googling!

Agreed, @Ashley Hill your floor :)

From what I recall (and I travelled on them a couple of times in about 1978) it was more of a brand than a service. I was very impressed with the look of the train the first time I arrived in Heuston station to travel to Waterford, but it didn't seem to match the rate of progress which mostly seemed to be about 45 mph.

The Mk2d were launched to the public on the 4th December 1972, with the new timetable making much use of the new stock by running more trains than ever before being launched from the 2nd April 1973.

Supertrain was indeed the "brand", but the services worked by the Mk2d in the early years were generally the fastest on each route they worked and so they were as much a symbol of faster journeys as increased comfort.

An advertisement for the 'Supertrain' can be found here: https://ifiplayer.ie/cie-supertrain/
 

Ashley Hill

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The standard Great Western Railway single line key tokens came in four configurations:-
A
B
C
D
What were they're corresponding colours? All four at once for a correct answer.
 

krus_aragon

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The LNWR used red for A and blue for B on single line staffs for at least one line in my neck of the woods, but I'd be astonished if the GWR did things the same way. ;)
 

krus_aragon

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As it's a little quiet here, I'll go further and suggest that green and yellow would be likely guesses for the remaining two colours, but I don't know what order the GWR would choose.
 

Ashley Hill

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You've both got the right colours but in which order? I'll give it a few more days and if no response give the answer and open the floor.
 

Ashley Hill

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image.jpeg Krus_aragon,having looked at both your replies you have actually given the right colours in order. Therefore the token section is yours.
 
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krus_aragon

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View attachment 75990 Krus_aragon,having looked at both your replies you have actually given the right colours in order. Therefore the token section is yours.
Thanks.

On reflection, red and blue seem like the obvious choice for a two-staff system, and if pushed to three, I seem to recall that green paint was a lot stabler (colour-wise) than yellow, which makes it the next obvious choice.

For the next question:

What transport company was formed on January 1st, 1945?
 

xotGD

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Thanks.

On reflection, red and blue seem like the obvious choice for a two-staff system, and if pushed to three, I seem to recall that green paint was a lot stabler (colour-wise) than yellow, which makes it the next obvious choice.

For the next question:

What transport company was formed on January 1st, 1945?
British Railways?
 

Calthrop

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What transport company was formed on January 1st, 1945?

In the Irish Republic, Coras Iompair Eireann ("Irish Transport") -- combining and nationalising the Great Southern Railway, and assorted road-transport undertakings?
 

krus_aragon

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In the Irish Republic, Coras Iompair Eireann ("Irish Transport") -- combining and nationalising the Great Southern Railway, and assorted road-transport undertakings?
Correct. It was originally due to be formed on July 1st, 1944 (so my copy of the Railway Magazine for July/August 1944 tells me), but the bill failed the first time, so a general election was held on May 30th. De Valera was returned to power with an increased majority, which meant the bill could then be passed.

Your floor...
 

Calthrop

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My thanks. I like Ireland, so here's another Irish one.

There's a location in Ireland (not in one of the cities) where up until the Irish equivalent in 1925, of our Grouping: three different railway companies met, and physically connected with each other in the area (including a junction-avoiding line between two of them). Each of the three had a separate station; each of such stations bore the name of the community on which the three companies' lines converged.

Please name the place; and the three railway companies involved.
 

DerekC

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In that case I think the answer is Collooney, Co Sligo. The Great Southern and Western, the Midland Great Western and the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties came together at that point, each with its own station. The only other junction between three railways that I can see is at Amiens Street in Dublin, but that's obviously in a city and there are no stations at the junction.
 

Calthrop

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Sure and ye're right, there. Actual coming-together of the three railways was just north of Collooney, at Collooney North Junction and Carrignagat Junction; but Collooney was the three-station place. (Avoiding line allowed traffic directly between GS&W and SL&NC routes, without reversing.)

Your floor.
 

DerekC

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Ok - a piece of ancient history. In 1845 the "Northern and Southern Connecting Railway" presented its Bill to Parliament. Sadly it failed to get financial backing and was wound up. What route would this useful line have followed?
 

Cowley

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Ok - a piece of ancient history. In 1845 the "Northern and Southern Connecting Railway" presented its Bill to Parliament. Sadly it failed to get financial backing and was wound up. What route would this useful line have followed?
No idea but let’s have a guess.
Liverpool
Birmingham
London
Dover?
 

Calthrop

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When the word "junction" is mentioned in context of a question about Irish railways, the answer is ALWAYS either Limerick or Collooney.

Just saying ...

I just wanted to do something Irish -- a weakness of mine !
 

DerekC

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No idea but let’s have a guess.
Liverpool
Birmingham
London
Dover?

Euston to London Bridge ?

Those answers kind of straddle the target in scope. I think there was a scheme to link Euston to London Bridge, but the City of London decreed that no railways were to enter the central area. The N&SCR was an ambitious scheme in concept - about 60 miles long by my rough estimate, but linking up the railways that then existed rather than building a competing trunk route. If it had been built and survived I think it would be seeing a lot of use in modern times.
 
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krus_aragon

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Going by the fine map at the back of my copy of Jack Simmons' The Railway in England and Wales 1830-1914, the following trunk(ish) routes were opened before 1845:
Euston - Birmingham - Crewe - Warrington -Lancaster, and routes to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birkenhead
Paddington - Reading - Oxford/Swindon - Bristol - Exeter
Bristol - Birmingham
Rugby / Birmingham - Derby - Rotherham - Leeds - York - Stockton - Newcastle - Carlisle - Maryport
As well as radial routes from London to Southampton / Portsmouth, Dover, and Colchester.

Gauge differences aside, there was already a fairly good coverage of trunk routes. The only place I can see ~60 miles of railway making a significant change in north-south traffic would be a route from Rugby to Oxford and thence Reading to Basingstoke for a more direct route to the south coast.

Alternatively, there's a gap between Lancaster and Carlisle that was eventually filled by the route over Shap. I know that there was talk of bridging Morecambe Bay and going through the Lake District instead, but I don't think that would fit the name of the N&SCR.
 

DerekC

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Going by the fine map at the back of my copy of Jack Simmons' The Railway in England and Wales 1830-1914, the following trunk(ish) routes were opened before 1845:
Euston - Birmingham - Crewe - Warrington -Lancaster, and routes to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birkenhead
Paddington - Reading - Oxford/Swindon - Bristol - Exeter
Bristol - Birmingham
Rugby / Birmingham - Derby - Rotherham - Leeds - York - Stockton - Newcastle - Carlisle - Maryport
As well as radial routes from London to Southampton / Portsmouth, Dover, and Colchester.

Gauge differences aside, there was already a fairly good coverage of trunk routes. The only place I can see ~60 miles of railway making a significant change in north-south traffic would be a route from Rugby to Oxford and thence Reading to Basingstoke for a more direct route to the south coast.

Alternatively, there's a gap between Lancaster and Carlisle that was eventually filled by the route over Shap. I know that there was talk of bridging Morecambe Bay and going through the Lake District instead, but I don't think that would fit the name of the N&SCR.

Well, you have got the railways pretty much right although missing out the Eastern Counties (Shoreditch to Cambridge and Colchester) but not the right target area. It may help if I list the railways the N&SCR was to connect directly to:

Eastern Counties
Great Northern (which was not built but must have been in promotion as its Act was submitted the same year)
London & Birmingham
Great Western
London & Southampton
South Eastern
 

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