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Railway trivia

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MidnightFlyer

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I'm not sure how well this will work, but I want to see if I can get a thread together of any (decent) random railway facts members can come up with, from any branch of railway interest. I'll go first:

- (I can't verify if this is true) but I believe the platform for Lympstone Commando on the Exmouth line used to be the Down platform at Weston Milton, on the Weston Loop, removed when the line was singled in 1972, and reassembled at Commando in 1976.
- Chelmsford is the busiest (by passenger number) non-London station to see no terminating services.
- There's believed to be a horse and cart entombed in Glenfinnan Viaduct, left there by Victorian builders when it fell.

Anyone else?

Cheers
 
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Zoe

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As posted in another thread, I believe Livingston is the largest settlement on the network without a staffed station.
 

SprinterMan

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I'm not sure how well this will work, but I want to see if I can get a thread together of any (decent) random railway facts members can come up with, from any branch of railway interest. I'll go first:

- (I can't verify if this is true) but I believe the platform for Lympstone Commando on the Exmouth line used to be the Down platform at Weston Milton, on the Weston Loop, removed when the line was singled in 1972, and reassembled at Commando in 1976.
- Chelmsford is the busiest (by passenger number) non-London station to see no terminating services.
- There's believed to be a horse and cart entombed in Glenfinnan Viaduct, left there by Victorian builders when it fell.

Anyone else?

Cheers

http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/G20576/2012/7/12
http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/G20588/2012/7/12
http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/L02535/2012/7/12

Do these not disqualify Chelmsford?
And WOW! I did not know Chelmsford was that busy, it's almost the same as Milton Keynes and Watford Junction combined!
Adam :D
 

deltic1989

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The same class 91 (91132 iirc) was invloved in the Hatfield and Selby rail crashes.

This one may have been disproved, but if you stand at the Eastern portal of Box Tunnel on Ismbard Kingom Brunel's birthday you will see the setting sun shine directly through the tunnel.

One of the Tunnel Boreing Machines (TBMs) used to dig the channel tunnel was driven downwards and left where it lay, and as far as I can discover is still there.

Thats all I've got for now but I will return I love things like this.
 

Ivo

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London Charing Cross has the highest ratio of usage per annum in relation to its number of platforms (37.2M/6), closely followed by Liverpool Central (17.9M/3).
 

pendolino

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One of the Tunnel Boreing Machines (TBMs) used to dig the channel tunnel was driven downwards and left where it lay, and as far as I can discover is still there.

Isn't that usual practice where 2 TBMs are used, meeting in the middle? One is diverted down/to the side and left in situ? It's still an interesting fact, but I'm not sure the Chunnel is the only example.
 

LE Greys

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This one may have been disproved, but if you stand at the Eastern portal of Box Tunnel on Ismbard Kingom Brunel's birthday you will see the setting sun shine directly through the tunnel.

That's almost accurate. It happens, but not quite on his birthday, a few days out - although I'd like a GW driver to confirm it ideally. It may be that it used to happen on his birthday, but the peturbations of the Earth's orbit have changed the date slightly (which is unlikely given the short timescale) or that it is a pure coincidence.

One of the Tunnel Boreing Machines (TBMs) used to dig the channel tunnel was driven downwards and left where it lay, and as far as I can discover is still there.

It is, and is currently used as a way to earth the power supply should things go wrong, although I believe that the 'tail' was removed and scrapped.
 

johnnychips

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Bob Holness played the saxophone on Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'. Gerry got the idea of using him when he heard him busking on the said tube station. :D
 

LE Greys

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The Royal Scot class never really matched its tenders in parallel-boiler form, because they originally had tiny Fowler tenders or incongorous Stanier tenders. All except one, The King's Dragoon Guardsman (permanently disguised as Royal Scot) which had a big version of the Fowler tender built for her trip to America. This subsequently ended up behind The Princess Royal, but I have so far been unable to trace what happened to it afterwards. However, it has been 'preserved' in model form, because it was the basis for Gordon's tender (as in Gordon the Big Blue Engine), and so Hornby sold loads of them.
 

pendolino

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In 2004-5 Gainsborough Central had lower recorded passenger numbers than Watford West even though the latter last saw a train in 1996.
 

317666

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C69 Stock unit 5555 is the only one to have been painted both in Yellow Pages and Back The Bid advertising liveries. It is also permanently relegated to the middle of trains due to a problem with its cab.
 

DaveNewcastle

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The only County not to have a station (but which has a main line passing through it) is Borders, and the mainline passing through is the ECML.

[actually, some of us might still consider Rutland to be a County, which also has the ECML passing through two miles of it at Essendine. But at least it has a station! At Oakham, not on the ECML.]
 

ChiefPlanner

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C69 Stock unit 5555 is the only one to have been painted both in Yellow Pages and Back The Bid advertising liveries. It is also permanently relegated to the middle of trains due to a problem with its cab.

C stock 5585 was the first one in a new "corporate livery" in the 1980's - and as also relegated to the middle of a 6 car train ......

The new corporate livery was not adopted.
 

sprinterguy

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The same class 91 (91132 iirc) was invloved in the Hatfield and Selby rail crashes.
In its’ previous guise as 91023, of course. It was renumbered as 91132 to either avoid any sort of superstition being attached to the loco, or to throw off the press. It’s also quite a convenient coincidence that the juxtaposition of the two final digits in the loco number correlated perfectly with the existing number series of 31 locos.
 

Tiny Tim

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It's a little-known fact that during WWII rail travel (other than for official purposes) was strictly rationed. Only those whose surname began with the letters A to M could travel on even dates whilst the P to Zs were restricted to odd dates. The latter group were at an advantage as they could travel on two consecutive days at the end of every month except April, June, September and November. February 1940 and 1944 also gave the P to Zs a bonus travel day.
 
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ChiefPlanner

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An empty berth was always held on each BR sleeping car train for urgent last minute journeys by Government or the MOD etc

The berth was reserved for a "Mr Hicks"

(also could be used for last moment discretionary travel by the public) - those in the know could always ask for it if train was fully reserved. Inside information.
 

Rugd1022

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In it's heyday, you could depart from Rugby by train in nine different directions.... now it's only four.

The fair county of Northamptonshire once had ninety two stations, now there are only five.
 

Ivo

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It's a little-known fact that during WWII rail travel (other than for official purposes) was strictly rationed. Only those whose surname began with the letters A to M could travel on even dates whilst the P to Zs were restricted to odd dates. The latter group were at an advantage as they could travel on two consecutive days at the end of every month except April, June, September and November. February 1940 and 1944 also gave the P to Zs a bonus travel day.

And the Ns and Os?
 
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