Railway General Knowledge.

[D6975]

When I used to visit Ireland, I frequently traveled on a loco hauled service that changed direction 4 times during its journey, but the loco never ran round. Where were the origin and destination of that service?

 

[Gloster]

One of the Limerick-Waterford trains that used to use the South Bay at Limerick Junction?

 

[D6975]

Yes, I used to do the 1555 Limerick-Rosslare throughout.
The floor is yours.

 

[Gloster]

Why would Furness Railway 115, NSB El 4 2046, WD 370 and 371, and - possibly - Dusseldorfer-Elberfelder Eisenbahn ‘Die Rhein’ make interesting preservation projects?

 

[Spamcan81]

Why would Furness Railway 115, NSB El 4 2046, WD 370 and 371, and - possibly - Dusseldorfer-Elberfelder Eisenbahn ‘Die Rhein’ make interesting preservation projects?

Are these all locos that have either fallen down big holes or lost at sea? FR 115 and WD 370/371 would fit that bill.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

One engine is in the Rhein, I think attempts to recover it failed recently

 

[Gloster]

Correct. 115 fell down a shaft at Lindal, near Barrow, which was filled in soon after. 2046 went down the side of an embankment on the Narvik line and was covered over. 370 and 371 are at the bottom of the Red Sea, having been lost when the SS Thistlegorm was bombed. Die Rhein was lost from the boat that was carrying it from the builders in a storm on the River Rhine near Germersheim. All are still there, although there is an element of doubt with Die Rhein.

Your turn to do the digging.

 

[Spamcan81]

What connects Killingworth Colliery and the original Amsterdam tram network?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

An unusual gauge?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

What connects Killingworth Colliery and the original Amsterdam tram network?

George (or Robert) Stephenson?

 

[Spamcan81]

An unusual gauge?

Yes but what gauge?

 

[EbbwJunction1]

Three Foot?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Five feet? 150 cm?

 

[Calthrop]

Maybe totally off-beam here; but -- 4 feet 8 in. only -- the extra half-inch "another story" ??

 

[Spamcan81]

Maybe totally off-beam here; but -- 4 feet 8 in. only -- the extra half-inch "another story" ??

Correct. Originally laid to 4’ 8” gauge or 1422mm in the case of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam network was eventually relaid to standard gauge. The plate layers’ trolley is yours.

 

[Calthrop]

Thanks. Another "island railway" one, I'm afraid...

There's a European island which is part of a nation which is not -- from the map -- quite one that you'd expect. Said island was once served by a small rail system whose gauge, over some decades of the latter parts of its history, was not found at all on public lines in the rest of the country: whose railways were basically, homogeneously of one "wide" gauge. The island's system began to lose sections in the early 1950s: its last line, after spending a number of years under threat, closed in 1968.

Please name the island, and the country of which it is a part; and give the gauges concerned.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Just guessing, might it be in the Baltic Sea?

 

[DerekC]

I think it's Bornholm, which is part of Denmark (although Bornholm is much closer to Sweden). I think the island did have railways - I recall talking about it to a DSB guy once, long ago. Denmark's railways are standard gauge, which suggests that Bornholm's were narrow. I will guess 3ft 6in.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

I guess a metric gauge, 750 mm?

 

[Calthrop]

The Baltic, and Bornholm, indeed correct -- as stated, the island much nearer to Sweden (and closer to Poland and to Germany, than to the nearest point in the rest of Denmark). Gauge, indeed a metric one -- viz. 1 metre. Unlike the other Scandinavian nations, Denmark was never a big-time narrow-gauge country: such n/g as it had, was nearly all metre-gauge; including Bornholm, whose system lingered on for several decades longer than any metre-gauge elsewhere in Denmark. Bornholm's system had at maximum, three lines: two closed in the early '50s -- the final one (Ronne to Nekso, western end of the island, to eastern) lasted till 1968.

Thus, no-one's suggestion re the gauge, got the fully right one; @DerekC , you were on the money with all else: so, your floor.

 

[DerekC]

The first transcontinental railroad across the United States was completed when the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific met in 1869 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. But which railroads met to create the second and when? And for a bonus point, where?

 

[Spamcan81]

The first transcontinental railroad across the United States was completed when the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific met in 1869 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. But which railroads met to create the second and when? And for a bonus point, where?

I'm guessing one company would have been the Southern Pacific.

 

[DerekC]

Southern Pacific is one. Now for the other.

 

[Spamcan81]

Southern Railway?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Northern Pacific?

 

[Calthrop]

Very much guessing here: a bit of a "cheat" situation? -- where the Gulf of Mexico counts as the US's eastern shore -- thus, the more easterly company: the Texas & Pacific (not itself -- like many US railroads with "Pacific" in their title -- reaching that ocean)? Meeting point (again, a pure guess): El Paso? (Don't know when -- "screamingly obvious" I suppose, some time in the 1870s...)

 

[DerekC]

Southern Railway?

Northern Pacific?

Very much guessing here: a bit of a "cheat" situation? -- where the Gulf of Mexico counts as the US's eastern shore -- thus, the more easterly company: the Texas & Pacific (not itself -- like many US railroads with "Pacific" in their title -- reaching that ocean)? Meeting point (again, a pure guess): El Paso? (Don't know when -- "screamingly obvious" I suppose, some time in the 1870s...)

None of the above, I am afraid. The railroad in question didn't have "Pacific" in its title and kept its name until the mergers of the 1990s.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Just guessing, Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad?
Did it have Southern or Western in the title, or Eastern?

 

[DerekC]

Atchinson Topeka & Santa Fe is the one which met Southern Pacific. So it's level pegging between @Spamcan81 and @LSWR Cavalier. Which of you can get nearest to the date?

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

1877?