Great Western Coffee Shop

Bearing in mind that I was travelling in the regular passenger accommodation of an HST when I took this picture, what can you tell me about where I was and the service I was on?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/wwwhere2015.jpg)

Well, it looks to me like you lost the other half of the train somewhere!!

That the train was formed of 7 coaches?  ;D

It's a "rail level crossing" the only one I know of is Newark I think, but there are others... and I think this must be one of them.

That was my thought but the focus tends to be shaper that I would have expected for a train moving at any sort of reasonable speed -

Where's the river if it's Newark? I've walked to the crossing from the West on the towpath and you end up right by it. Unless it's looking East but i didn't think there were any houses between the Lincoln line and the river.

Graham, you've got us thinking. Looking at the elevation of the picture I don't think it was taken from a rail over rail crossing but may be wrong.

So unless  you had your own personal observation car attached to the back of a standard HST set I can only think this is a flat crossing :)

And there is only one of those in the UK and HSTs do go over it.

I think it was taken from a rail over rail overbridge, where your train had fortuitously stopped, using a good camera and long lens to give the impression you^re closer to the tracks than you really were. Reason? On the RH track there is a check rail, indicating that there is may be a facing turnout, possibly protected by the signal in the distance. You wouldn^t have a turnout so close to a flat crossing.

And it^s not Retford Newark.

I^d thought maybe through the small window in the gangway door at the end of an HST minus its rear power car, but it^s too clean!

Or it could be from a coach on a low loader on a level crossing to/from Laira during the Dawlish blockade, but I don^t think you would have been allowed on that!

But I^m probably completely wrong.

GTBE I had the same idea about the disconnected power car and the small window which would never have been that clean!

GRAHAM...put us out of our misery!

No-one's even warm ... sorry  :-\

Clutching at straws now, turntable?

You say "the service I was on" - so am I getting even a little bit warm by saying that's a clue to it being a specific service at the extremity of HST working eg Newquay, Pembroke Dock, Inverness etc?

This has really got me thinking and I should be concentrating on something useful. It's a very clever picture quiz and I'll be VERY cross when you have to give us the answer!!

I believe that there is also a rail crossing at Porthmadog where the Welsh Highland crosses the Cambrian Coast line, although of course there are no HST's just Garratts and class 158's.

Was the HST on a charter, rather than on a timetabled service perchance?

Lost?

Obviously we all are...and I should be doing documentation !

There's some telephoto going on or foreground cropped out, and I'd guess you were in the Westbury area. With the Denton's building top left I'd say you were going around the East Loop toward Trowbridge. Looking down the line toward Westbury station. On the 1707 from Paddington.

Possibly. ;)

LOL - can you not be more specific?!

Is the Denton building the one with the 4 chimneys ?

 No. Top left. Windows along the grey roof line.

(http://dentons.net/localinfo/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Westbury3-300x225.jpg)

BNM, I never cease to be amazed by your geographic knowledge of the FGW patch.  Looking at Google Earth I think you're right - the new houses on the left are the new Lakeside View development which is just a waste area on GE next to the lake - which is green.  The developer's site plan matches the picture.

I was a little bit warm with the long lens guess!!

Why did we all (except BNM) assume that Grahame's picture was taken at right angles to the direction of travel?

You are spot on.  Not all that much "telephoto" - taken with an iPhone with the HST window dropped to avoid reflections (but not doing anything dangerous in terms of hanging out).  Sure, cropped a little.   There's a 15 m.p.h. limit around that curve to it's very tight and I was surprised at the angle / shot I got.

Last night, by the way.   Not a wildly crowded train once it left Bedwyn (non stop to Trowbridge!); changed there onto the 19:38 via Melksham which was MUCH busier with 39 passengers out of Trowbridge, of whom 12 got off at Melksham.

The picture I took a couple of minutes earlier might have been a bit easier (location) but harder (which train!)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/whitehorse2015.jpg)

I do love Wiltshire

Assuming that is the white horse at uffington we walked up there a couple of months ago and loved it. It was a lovely day and we had a picnic and could see this line in the distance. Lovely part of the world

Lots of white horses ...

(http://www.wellho.net/slideshow/cherhillhorse.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/hackpen.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/j10_alton.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/dwhorse.jpg)

The one from yesterday is actually the Westbury one ... Uffington is, I think, the oldest and more stylised

No the White Horse at Uffington (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/white-horse-hill/)is very different.

It is also not in Wiltshire - it is in Berkshire (even if they call it Oxfordshire these days).

Back to the original post. It was the Denton's building that gave me the answer. It's fairly unique, architecturally, with that roof line, and it looms large over Westbury station.

Then it was just a case of orientation to match that building's location with the various lines around Westbury. Google Earth on my phone was used for confirmation. ;)