Railway General Knowledge.

[Peter Mugridge]

What was the identity of the Class 47 which was said to be cursed, after a clairvoyant predicted its demise in an accident?

47 219, which became 47 299 but still had two accidents after that.



( I deduce you've just read Rail 899...? )

 

[Titch]

47 219, which became 47 299 but still had two accidents after that.

Close enough, Peter - it was 47216 but I’ll assume that was a typo

Was actually an early-1990s issue of Rail that reminded me!

Over to you, Sir.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Oops... yes, it was a typo - particularly given that I quoted the current issue of Rail should tell you that I'd read it only hours earlier!


Next question:

The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway provided a connection with which two branch lines?

 

[Calthrop]

(1) Newbury to Lambourn

(2) ???

 

[DerekC]

Not sure about the Lambourn Branch - didn't that have its own independent track into Newbury station?

The only one I can think of is the Morn Hill/Avington military railway built in WWI, branching off just north of the tunnel in Winchester. Its course is still visible as a farm track from the road parallel to the M3 just north of the ex-Spitfire Bridge.

Did the camp at Worthy Down have one too? I don't think so.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Sorry skipped a question.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Lambourn is the first answer, and the tracks were connected at the west end of Newbury station - even if they weren't, you could have connected from a train on one line to the other.

Worthy Down did not have a branch and as far as I can ascertain the Avington branch was connected to the LSWR rather than the GWR line, although information appears difficult to find - it seems to have been a very obscure line.

The second branch is more obscure than Lambourn and was further north.

 

[DerekC]

The Morn Hill/Avington branch quite definitely connected to the DN&S, not the LSWR. Here's a link to an article about it:

http://www.alresford.org/displayed/displayed_21_1.php

I must confess that until recent years I did not know that a branch railway line had existed from the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton line at Winchester to Avington Park although, like many other people I suppose, I was familiar with the beehive-topped embankment near the Victoria Hospital just east of Winchester on the B.3404 road.
As editor of the newsletter for the Southampton University Industrial Archaeology Group, I asked Charles Lewis (director of the Mid-Hants Railway) to write an article on the Mid-Hants Railway for this publication and he accompanied it with a rough map of what I was to show in the area. "Abandoned line to Avington" labelled a slightly curved line branching off the D.N. and S.R. add, after enquiring, I found this was shown in a report published in Winchester on the M3 motorway. None of my maps had the line or any evidence of it. Luckily, working at the Ordnance Survey,' have access to a lot of material not available generally to the public and I was fortunate to dig up some field plots of the early 30s at 6" scale which marked most of the course of the line as "Tk of old Rly". Any missing bits were fairly easy to sketch in.

T.B. Sands (see sources) states, referring to the First World War, "....three large camps grew up at Avington Park, Winnall Down and Morn Hill in the angle formed by the D.N. and S.R. and the Alresford and Alton branch of the London and South Western Railway north east of Winchester". Robertson and Simmons (see sources) remark "more obscure is the rail link that was laid from the D.N. and S.R. north of the Winchester tunnel to serve the camps, the junction being brought into use on 20th October 1918". Both authorities state that the line was some three miles in length.
...……………..

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Darn... I didn't find that!

Let's see if anyone can find the one I did have in mind, given that at present both you and Calthrop have named one branch each. Ideally if one of you two gets the other one it'll save me a headache...

 

[DerekC]

A branch to East Ilsey was authorised, but as far as I know never built.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Oh was it not built? It appears on every single map I can find of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton.

Well... Looks like it's your floor either way...

 

[Calthrop]

Alluding to a literary work associated with the area -- DerekC-Rah is Chief Rabbit by me !

 

[DerekC]

Oh was it not built? It appears on every single map I can find of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton.

Well... Looks like it's your floor either way...

It is my local patch - but you made be doubt myself for a bit. It's not on the OS maps for 1899, 1912 or 1960 so I think that's definite. There was a branch/long siding to the Burghclere Lime Works as well, but I didn't think that would count.

I don't have a question ready so over to @Calthrop.

 

[Calthrop]

And I'm completely without ideas for a question: Open Floor, please.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Burghclere I treated as a long siding so didn't count it, yes.

 

[DerekC]

Ok - an easy one to keep things going. What (in a railway context) were "Cyprus" and "Khartoum" and what did they have to do with "Central"?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Were they railway junctions on the military lines laid down in France and / or Flanders during the First World War?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

deleted

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Sorry for the tardy response - house move and all that...

Okay: described by some as Immingham’s ‘demon’ loco, what was the identity of the Class 47 which was said to be cursed, after a clairvoyant predicted its demise in an accident?

47299 - FORMERLY 47216 - think it had a TOPS designation of rogue loco or something like that

 

[DerekC]

47299 - FORMERLY 47216 - think it had a TOPS designation of rogue loco or something like that

Already answered in posts 8701/9702

 

[DerekC]

Ok - an easy one to keep things going. What (in a railway context) were "Cyprus" and "Khartoum" and what did they have to do with "Central"?

Were they railway junctions on the military lines laid down in France and / or Flanders during the First World War?

Nothing to do with WWI. Maybe it's not as easy as I thought.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Telegraph codes perhaps?

 

[DerekC]

Not telegraph codes. Perhaps the way I asked the question is misleading. "Cyprus" and "Khartoum" were nicknames for parts of a large piece of railway infrastructure. "Central" was the proper name for the third part. The question is, what were they parts of?

 

[Ashley Hill]

Nicknames for the 3 spans of the Forth Bridge?

 

[AndrewE]

or maybe Waterloo station?

 

[DerekC]

Nicknames for the 3 spans of the Forth Bridge?

Ingenious but not correct

or maybe Waterloo station?

Spot on. Prior to the 1905-1910 reconstruction Waterloo was considered as three separate stations, North (Khartoum), Central and South (Cyprus). The nicknames were related to major events in the British Empire at the time of their construction. It seems that they were quite widely used, not just by staff.

Your concourse.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Which railway station was used for the location of the 1984 BBC comedy "Lame Ducks" which starred Lorraine Chase and John Duttine?

 

[AndrewE]

What UK steam loco had the wheel arrangement 4-6-2-2?

 

[martinsh]

What UK steam loco had the wheel arrangement 4-6-2-2?

That would be LNER 10000 / "Hush Hush"

 

[AndrewE]

That would be LNER 10000 / "Hush Hush"

Correct, http://www.loveless.co.uk/hushhush/ says

the two trailing axles were independent, rather than a four wheeled bogie as for those leading. The forward axle was similar to that of the pacifics, having outside frames and Cartazzi axleboxes. The rear axle was an inside-framed Bissel truck, pivoted ahead of the leading axle.

which is why it wasn't a 4-6-4.
Fire away...