Railway General Knowledge.

[AlterEgo]

Penzance, Lenzie to name two.

Leighton Buzzard.

 

[Ivo]

30 is also the answer I came up with.

24 letters are used at the start of station names; of the two that aren't, X is quite common in Devon (duh) and Z appears twice in Leighton Buzzard. To give an example of the others, Abbey Wood has a space (again, duh), Ince & Elton has an ampersand, Clacton-on-Sea has hyphens and Hall i' th' Wood has apostrophes.

If there are any others I would be interested to find out, but to my knowledge there aren't. So, who is next? That was more of a team effort so I guess I will have to declare an open floor as the poser of the question...

All of them? : - |

Come again? What station has ° or ♥ or ♀ or # in its name?

 

[dzug2]

How about the non-roman characters on station nameboards at eg Southall?

 

[Nym]

That isn't a station name though, it's something put up to appease the locals...

Although there are some special characters in Scottish or Welsh stations? áéíóú etc...

(HA! Makes me capitalise Scottish, but not Welsh. the SNP wrote my spell checker...)

 

[dzug2]

Not a station name?? But it's the name of the station surely? Either transliterated or phonetically rendered.

An interesting semantic distinction, and ultimately probably a fruitless debate.

Let's hope someone takes up the open floor to distract us from that.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
OK - a hopefully easy one.


Where in mainland Britain is there a length of broad gauge track in operational (OK loosely speaking) use?

 

[Ivo]

I don't know

But I do want to clarify this...

Although there are some special characters in Scottish or Welsh stations? áéíóú etc...

There are, yes - in their non-English names. But the same argument could be used for Southall (above); it is effectively something the localss will associate with, but not the entire country. As such, only English names should count.

 

[clagmonster]

The demonstration line used by Fire Fly at Didcot?

 

[dzug2]

The demonstration line used by Fire Fly at Didcot?

Correct - knew it would be too easy

 

[clagmonster]

Open floor, if the floor isn't taken I may post one later.

 

[Zoe]

Where there are two stop signals in rear of a box, when would the first be named Home rather than Outer Home if the second is named Inner Home?

 

[clagmonster]

I presume that both signals are controlled by the box in question and that the signals are both on the same line. In which case, is it something to do with the distance between the (outer) home and the inner home?

 

[Zoe]

I presume that both signals are controlled by the box in question and that the signals are both on the same line.

Yes. It's possible that what you said about distance could be used as a reason but it's not the one I was looking for which is much more general.

 

[deltic1989]

Is the signal in rear of the first stop signal a distant?

 

[Zoe]

Is the signal in rear of the first stop signal a distant?

Yes it is.

 

[dzug2]

There's already an outer home on the approach to the box?

 

[Zoe]

There's already an outer home on the approach to the box?

Not in this case. There are only two stop signals in rear of this box.

 

[deltic1989]

The first stop signal is paired with a signal controlling a diverging route and could be classed as an outer home for the first box along the route?

(as you may be able to see I'm guessing, but in searching for the answer I'm learning a lot more about signaling)

 

[Zoe]

The first stop signal is paired with a signal controlling a diverging route and could be classed as an outer home for the first box along the route?

Not what I'm looking for.

 

[dzug2]

Two wild guesses as this thread has gone quiet:

there's a platform between the two signals

the signals control access to a terminus.

 

[Zoe]

Still not what I'm looking for.

 

[Schnellzug]

That isn't a station name though, it's something put up to appease the locals...

Although there are some special characters in Scottish or Welsh stations? áéíóú etc...

(HA! Makes me capitalise Scottish, but not Welsh. the SNP wrote my spell checker...)

perhaps because welsh is a verb, meaning to do a runner without paying if e.g. one loses a bet.

Sorry, Welsh people, I didn't decide on etymology.)

 

[Tomnick]

Where there are two stop signals in rear of a box, when would the first be named Home rather than Outer Home if the second is named Inner Home?

When it's in the former Western Region???

 

[Zoe]

When it's in the former Western Region???

Correct, I knew you'd get it but didn't think you were reading this thread.

 

[Tomnick]

I was resisting the temptation to put everyone out of their misery . Next question then:

If a semaphore stop signal (let's say it's the home signal at an anonymous signal box) is maintained at Danger until an approaching train is quite or nearly at a stand at it, what two things must the Driver of that train be prepared to find in advance of that signal?

 

[Nym]

The signalman tied to the track while all the signalling cables and chains are being stolen to be weighed in?

 

[Mvann]

A speed restriction or work going on near the line. Also didn't they have to proceed with caution if there was blasting at a nearby quarry e.g meldon?

 

[Tomnick]

No and no! Just to clarify, I'm looking at the general (and current) situation, not any local instructions at a specific location.

In Nym's case, I'd expect the signal would be maintained at Danger for quite some time!

 

[Welshman]

I was resisting the temptation to put everyone out of their misery . Next question then:

If a semaphore stop signal (let's say it's the home signal at an anonymous signal box) is maintained at Danger until an approaching train is quite or nearly at a stand at it, what two things must the Driver of that train be prepared to find in advance of that signal?

i] The signaller hanging out of the box with a red flag to give the driver important information regarding the line ahead, or informing him that the line may not be clear to the next signal.

ii] That a train has only just cleared the section ahead, so he may have to be prepared to stop again at the next signal as he's closely following the train in advance.

 

[Tomnick]

Correct on both! Second one is just 'be prepared to find the next stop signal at Danger though' - may be because the train in front is still in section, but could be because the train's not booked to go into the forward section!

 

[Welshman]

OK.

Why did drivers of dmus and diesel engines instinctively duck when passing a steam engine travelling in the opposite direction on water-troughs?