Nice-looking station! Where is it?

[RobbieM]

Looking forward to my Brownie points! Will submit answer after I finish this post.

I hope to answer Station S on Saturday, and if time permits, set Station U...

[trains 500]

I was hoping I would catch you out on this one. the answer submitted was correct.

All my other images are nowhere near as challenging as this one so my hopes of catching you out are gone. I'll have to get some more challenging ones.

[RobbieM]

I was hoping I would catch you out on this one. the answer submitted was correct.

All my other images are nowhere near as challenging as this one so my hopes of catching you out are gone. I'll have to get some more challenging ones.

They might be challenging if they catch me off guard! So feel free to set them sometime (I may be good, but not infallible... )

Station S about to be answered...

[RobbieM]

Here we go then. Well done to everyone who correctly guessed that ‘Station S’ is Ryde Pier Head. Of course, it wasn’t really about roof of the station, but the roof of the train – i.e. 1938 Ex-Bakerloo Line stock. The easiest one so far, surely?

But as for the bonus, why was it even easier? “Just widen your vision slightly and you’ll hopefully see the bigger picture.” It’s a smaller version of the bigger picture, but well done to everyone who spotted that this is the same photo that I used for my avatar! That shows much more of the train and station. (And an old photo of my bonce pasted into the corner, of course.) You see, whilst some people like to have football-related profile pics, or ones of them drinking beer or wearing pants on their head, I thought it may make sense for me to do a profile photo which is roughly connected with the Tube in some way. Radical, I know, but hey – I’m full of new ideas…

Well done to: trains500, Michael Churchill, David C and RJSRdg, all correctly guessing the station. And bonus points to David C and RJSRdg, who also got the bonus right. (Though maybe the others just didn’t want to state the obvious?)

What’s that I hear? ‘Station U’ coming in the next day or two? And did I hear on the grapevine that the bonus will be a multiple-choice question? My favourite type of school exam! Can’t wait! In the meantime, ‘Station T’ is still active (with answers to trains500). And don’t forget the other wonderful quizzes that are running in this forum.

[jamesthegill]

whilst some people like to have football-related profile pics

Pfft, what sort of weirdos would have sports related profile pics?

[trains 500]

I think he means the image of the station for the where am I challenge??, where he is referring to my station T not a profile pic.

[RobbieM]

I think he means the image of the station for the where am I challenge??, where he is referring to my station T not a profile pic.

I think he may be referring to his own profile pic...

[RobbieM]

Ok. Back to something a little more challenging. My recent trip around the country saw me increase my own ‘All the Stations’ count to over the 99% mark. (Mine’s actually ‘All the Routes’, but stations are a pretty good way to measure progress.) Station U is one I visited for the first time on this trip.

• Name Station U.

Now, for the bonus, you’re getting a special ‘multiple-choice’ question! I’m sure it’ll provide an interesting challenge to those who love to compare passenger timetables to actual working ones. Here we go:

From “Station U”, it’s not too far to the next-nearest station, which I’ll call “Station U-minus-one”, just to offer some originality. (I’d originally expected this to be “Station T-minus-one”, which sounds like the end of a countdown, but I was pipped to the post with setting “Station T”. I can cope with the modifications I’ve had to make… .)

Anyway, back to the bonus. Suppose you’re making a train journey from “Station U-minus-one” to “Station U”. Assuming the network is running to time, and there are no delays/unexpected occurrences, how long should it actually take to make the above journey? Choose the answer (A/B/C/D/E) which is nearest to the correct time (from ‘doors locked’ at “Station U-minus-one” to ‘doors unlocked’ at “Station U”):

... A: ... 2 min 50 sec
... B: ... 4 min 23 sec
... C: ... 5 min 38 sec
... D: ... 7 min 21 sec
... E: ... 9 min 57 sec

I do so look forward to your PM-ed responses. Enjoy!

[trains 500]

So here is Station T https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAIS-FG0mSQ[/b]

STATION T IS STILL OPEN. PM ME FOR A PRIVATE HINT!! (if you're struggling)

[RobbieM]

And whilst you're thinking about Station T, I haven't forgotten about Station U. Just been a bit pre-occupied with other things, like work. But hey, it's August, everything slows down.

I'll probably give a hint to Station U in a few days, but feel free to enter your guesses beforehand for 'full marks'...

[RobbieM]

• “I do wish when train companies borrow other operators’ stock, they’d repaint the livery!”

• There’s no ambiguity in the bonus; the correct answer is the only one possible.

I may think about answering this one soon...

[RobbieM]

Okay, it's finally time to put this one to bed. Well done to everyone who worked out that Station U is Barton-upon-Humber. Slightly confusing perhaps, due to it being a Northern service running with a hired-in East Midlands Class 153!

Into the hall of fame for those getting it right are: Steevoooo, GreatKingRat and Trains500. Well done. But you know me by now; it’s all about the bonus questions. Which I think you enjoyed! How long does it take to make a journey to Barton-upon-Humber from the next-nearest station?

Well, it’s only 2 miles or so along the line to Barrow Haven. The passenger timetable generally puts the journey from Barrow to Barton at 7 minutes; however, we all know that we need to knock off a couple of minutes or so when it’s the end of the line. I think it took me about 5 minutes when I made the journey in June. (This is also the scheduled time if you do the journey in reverse.)

You may have been trying to work out whether B (4:23) or C (5:38) would be the nearest? I’m sure you had a lot of fun trying to guess. However, there’s a problem! And Crow has generously offered to help us solve the problem.

“Caw! Caw! C—C-Caw!”

Er, sorry. Um, … Crow has offered to help us solve the problem if we pay him at least the minimum wage for his time. Erm, okay, … I suppose he needs to fund his German holiday somehow. I’ll see what I can…

“Caaaaw! Caaaawww!!!”

Er, … the minimum wage for his time plus travel expenses. Um, okay, let me try to do a deal, and I’ll be back to answer the bonus shortly… [Crafty little bird… ]

[RobbieM]

Righto, deal done, and Crow has finally obliged. From the east end of Barton’s platform, I set him off to fly to Barrow, to check the distance. (He always flies in straight lines, so we can rely on his measurements.) When he returned, he said: “It’s 2.1 miles to the east end of the platform at Barrow Haven!”. This was through an interpreter, you understand, (a parrot, I think...). I then sent him off in a different direction to see what he could find. And when he returned, the message was: “It’s 1.94 miles to the south platform of Hessle station!”

Yes, my ‘sleight-of write’ was designed to throw people off course once again (sorry…). “Station U-minus-one” is not Barrow Haven; it’s Hessle! Less than two miles away, but many centuries ago, someone once knocked over a big jug of water and formed the Humber estuary which now separates Hessle from Barton.

So back to my question about making a train journey from Hessle to Barton? Well, no trains cross the Humber Bridge, or tunnel under the water. No bus substitutes are permitted. The train journey involves a long trip with two or three changes, taking considerably more than 5 minutes. The quickest time I can find is 2 hours 58 minutes!

So which of the multiple choice answers is nearest to the actual time? It’s E – 9min 57sec. Even though it’s nearly 3 hours out, 9:57 is the nearest!

Well done GreatKingRat, who wasn’t at all blindsided, correctly identifying (E) on the first guess, and Steevooo, who needed two guesses, but got there once he’d checked the map.

Well, if time permits, maybe I’ll get Station V ready to go in the next few days…

...or weeks...

[RobbieM]

Oh, all right then, you’ve waited long enough; here you go. Station V for you. Not a great photo, but that makes it more fun!

• Name Station V.
• Bonus: What interesting railway feature can be found 14¾ miles from here?

Sorry for the delay; I ran out of fuel, and it took me weeks to top up. PM answers as usual!

[RJSRdg]

And as an addition (I hope Robbie doesn't mind) - where is station W?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/53027759@ ... ed-public/