Great Western Coffee Shop

3 Random Pictures, 2 of which taken by me, one of them is a Google Maps Image of a railway station from above. Guess where they are :) (These are all pretty easy to be honest)

1. What station is my car parked at?
(http://www.iworkforfgw.com/images/n566580458_5644118_7045.jpg)

2. What station is this an entrance to? *Answered Correctly as Taunton by: inspector_blakey*
(http://www.iworkforfgw.com/images/random.JPG)

3. What station are we looking at from above?
(http://www.iworkforfgw.com/images/fromabove1.JPG)

Sorry if pics are a bit big.

2 - Maidenhead?  Back entrance I went in through today not the side where the taxi rank is?  Maybe

I reckon 2 might be Taunton...

2 is indeed Taunton

... don't go there ...  :-[ :P :-X

Took that picture after you all got on your train

Wild guess ... is picture no. 1 Paddington?

Hmm ... that rather distinctive red/brown brickwork makes me think Thames Valley:  1. Reading?  :-\

I agree with Grahame. I thought Picture 1. was maybe Paddington...

Well, yes, I can see that those white buildings in the background could be Paddington - and Ollie had clearly polished his car, so it wouldn't look out of place in space number 2 there!  ;)

Don't be so sure.   The question asked "What station is my car parked at" and shows a picture of a car at a station; there is nothing to confirm that the car in the picture is Ollie's car, or indeed that the picture is taken at the station that Ollie's car is parked at - we have just made that assumption.

The answer could be "Ollie's car is parked at Melksham station, as he caught the 06:40 to Paddington, where he later took this picture of someone else's car.   His car is STILL at Melksham station because he missed today's 17:45 back, and now has to wait for tomorrow's 17:45 as it is the ONLY train each day with a connection to Melksham, and he wouldn't risk being seen on a b-u-s".

Yes, that's also possible -although Ollie did risk being seen on a Voyager, last Saturday, remember!  ;) :D ;D

The white building cant be reading - the only white building near the station is the malmaison (my home away from home) and it has not parking near it!

Thanks, FallenAngel, for that local knowledge!  ;)

I'll go with 1. Paddington, then!  ;D

I can confirm that Picture 1 is Paddington Station in Car Park 2 :)

Just 3 to get then.

Clue being it's a station served by Turbos

Which means its on:

PAD - OXF
PAD-RDG
RDG-Basingstoke
RDG-Newbury (?)
Maidenhead-Marlow
Slough-Windsor
Twyford-Henley

I personally can rule out
Slough-Windsor
PAD-RDG

It looks vaguely like it COULD be between reading and oxford - possibly somewhere I normally speed through BUT it could also be one of the cotswolds halts which I dont fully recognize yet (and hope never to!)

Well, it's only double track which rules out anywhere between PAD/DID, and it's definitely not Appleford, Culham or Radley either. So I think we can eliminate PAD-OXF. It's definitely not Heyford or KIngs Sutton, don't think it's Tackley...

It is not on any of the routes you have mentioned

Thinking laterally, might those Turbos be operated by The Sainted Chiltern...?

Nope, FGW :)

Possibly North Downs line, and with the picture showing North at the top, It'll be between Guildford and Wokingham (exclusive)

Thanks for that tip Grahame. Made trawling Google Earth easier (is that cheating?)

No 3 is indeed on the North Downs Line and is Crowthorne.

It is cheating, but yeah, obviously due to that cheating you are right.

:-(

And that is the station I use twice a day every day and will do for the next year

:-(

But then i've only been on it a week!

In fairness to you, there are now homes near the station which the picture doesn't show. Which is what can easily lead to confuse you.

Random Fact: Crowthorne is the station that is closest to my home.

And its the closest station to my client and not even that close at that!  (J&J pinewood campus)  Arse end of no where.  But hey ho, helps the diet, no shops near by and an some bizarre desk rules means you dont feel like eating at all during the day

My apologies if my 'cheating' caused offence :o Prior to Grahame's tip I had looked at stations on Google Earth all over the areas served by Turbos. Unfortunately I had neglected the North Downs Line (as had FallenAngel in her summary of possible lines!)

I could've just posted 'Crowthorne' with no explanation as to how I got the answer. However, I now subscribe to the tenet that 'honesty is the best policy'.

A magistrate once commended me on my admirable honesty when I was in the dock. Didn't stop her sending me down for six weeks!!! :(

Aha no it's fine, in fairness with one like that I would expect people to have looked, part of the reason I mentioned I grabbed it from Google Maps.

Which is WHAT embarasses FallenAngel so much!

I can accept not getting the Crowthorne - I dash in and our of there once a day (sometimes twice) so I ca accept not getting the station!

BUT

To forget the line existed at all - that is just not on!

Have to admit before now I only ever went to Waterloo or Egham on that line - going to Gatwick would never occur to me by train and I've never worked i Guildford - so I associate THAT part of Reading station with SWT!

You're not alone! I also only associate THAT part of Reading station with SWT. As my only regular journey from platforms 4a and 4b is to Bracknell and occasionally onwards to Waterloo.

Yeah nothing overly special about Crowthorne except that it covers a fairly big residential area.

So why does it have such a piss poor stopping pattern

Look at my morning commute in from worcester (yeah I know I'm insane) - its quicker to get off at wokingham than wait for the next train that stops at crowthorne.  If its such a big residential area.......... why not more stoppers. 

And dont tell me driving is quicker - we moved from wokingham to shropshire in 2002 because of the traffic - the taxis I've had in the last week (due to the stourport bridge being closed and clogging up the worcester road meaning I've been late almost every day with no time to get the bike out of the truck) means I've seen the traffic in wokingham, bracknell and the A329/M - its no better than in 2002!

Getting to wokingham for a waterloo connection or farnborough for a reading connection (the only one I think gets every train stopping) would e a nightmare in rush hour!

Because the area it covers has the options of using Wokingham, Crowthorne or Sandhurst or maybe even Martins Heron by driving down the Nine Mile Ride. And although a big area have the option of Crowthorne, they would still have to drive to it due to no buses serving the station.
Then the issue is that the car park at Crowthorne is small which makes Wokingham the better option both in terms of parking and frequency of service.

 But wokingham traffic is awful with the level crossing jamming up the roads every five minutes!  Thats one of the reasons we decided to leave. Bracknell is equally awful and farborough is a nightmare.

Hate to say this BUT - Wokingham is i a town, you cant expand it much unless you put up a multi story - doubt that would go down well but somewhere that side of reading needs a park way!  Winnersh triangle?   but you'd have to stop the gatwicks - Crowthore being so close to the line split and being not a major destination screams use me!  Albeit waterloo users would have to change.

The worst thing they did was build the sainsbury at winnersh - that is what screwed up the traffic!  I get hives thinking about when I lived there - ok I have to get up in five hours to get a train to work but at the moment I see, sheep cows, and pheasants under a clear half moon night and no noise other than nature!  And I dont need much sleep!

Yeah Wokingham traffic is bad. As stated my closest station is Crowthorne, but I actually drive to Reading it's much easier for me.

Winnersh Triangle is getting a lot of business development at the moment, also a lot of work going on the roads around it. But at the station itself there is some parking, but I don't know whether there is room to expand on it.

Also behind Showcase Cinemas is the Park and Ride taking you by bus to Reading.