Great Western Coffee Shop

OK - I admit it; my brain was feeling really frazzled this evening after a long day, so I thought it was time to do something that didn't require too much thought ... and, thinking that the pictures at the top right have been around for a while, I've put a fresh set in.   All taken in the last month, all taken by me, all with rail and / or South Westish themes.   If you click on an image, you'll enlarge it ... which can you place (some are bloomin obvious, I know!).   There's a lot of them - shall we say a couple each?

73 is the monstrosity that is Newport

Yes ... and I'm so glad I'm not the only one who was underwhelmed.

I think 4 is Newport as well.

There's something horribly familiar about picture 40 ...

CfN.  :o ::)

Yes - 4 is Newport, but not sure what you mean about 40;  it should be familiar, but not "horribly" so, I hope!

The character in the middle of that picture looks horribly familiar to me ...  ;D

Is 47 Ealing Broadway?  ;D

and 26 Reading?

OK that's my two guesses..

Jo - yes, and yes ... (Eal|Read)ing

16 COULD be reading

77 could be chester

64 looks like Filton?
24 Ealing Broadway?

20 & 21 are Acton Main Line

Got a feeling 51 is Melksham and so is 52

I got the easy one, it was the one that was there at the top for me :)

16, Reading, yes
77, chester, yes
51, yes, is Melksham (as you say, one of the easier ones
52 also Melksham
21 is Acton Main Line << What does that code on the sign mean (P13634) http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb21.jpg
22 also Acton Main Line (how on earth can you tell?)
24 is Ealing Broadway
64 is Filton Abbey Wood

And previously guessed ...

04 is Newport
73 in Newport
26 is Reading
47 is Ealing Broadway

38 is Bristol! Tough one that!  ;) ;D

5 = Severn Tunnel Junction

29 = Chippenham

I know quite a few of them, But I won't spoil the fun for others!! grahame, is there a way you can have all the images show on 1 web page?? having to change the number to look at different pictures is quite frustrating!! ;)

First time I've ever got them right!

Here's the first ten to get you started:

• 01(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb01.jpg)
• 02(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb02.jpg)
• 03(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb03.jpg)
• 04(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb04.jpg)
• 05(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb05.jpg)
• 06(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb06.jpg)
• 07(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb07.jpg)
• 08(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb08.jpg)
• 09(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb09.jpg)
• 10(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb10.jpg)

It's probably not a bad idea to do 10 at a time ... not that the intent was such a competition (it was more just to get some variety and updates at the page top!)

So of those 10 ... 4 is Newport, 5 is Severn Tunnel Junction ... and the rest have yet to be stated (but you'll note that I have gone for variety in things shown rather than wide variety of places in these pictures)

Oh - 29 (Chippenham) is correct and 38 is indeed one of the Bristol stations.

I'll have another go since there are 70.....  I think three is Newport since the next train is to cardiff calling at cardiff only

Indeed it is .... my hands were getting cold in Newport, so I switched the camera on and took a lot of pictures in an attempt [failed] to generate heat and keep warm. Perhaps it was just the time of day I was travelling ... but the connections off the line from Shrewsbury on to Westbury were really awful. Pity that all the through Shrewsbury - Bristols have gone.

32 - Bath - Avon Street Car Park ;)

Hi All

Is 01, 02 03 also Newport and 05 Severn Tunnel junction ( Sorry this already been identified)

Basset

As I actually make a guest appearance in both of them, I'll suggest pictures 40 and 42 were taken at Yeovil Pen Mill.  ;)

Yes ... 1 - 4 are all Newport and 5 is STJ ... that leaves six through ten of this first series ... oh - and number 0 too:

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb00.jpg)

40 and 42 are indeed Yeovil Pen Mill ... and 32 is the car park in Bath (well - there weren't any trains that day from where I live until after the shops had closed - t'was a Sunday)

I think #50 might be Trowbridge

Used to just sit in upper crust

is 19 Reading too?

It is, Jo ... there are quite a lot of repeated locations around seeings I haven't been to 70 different stations in the last month  ;)

Last guess for today (promise). is 23 Bristol Temple Meads? I only went there for work for three days in the summer so I could be totally wrong.. ;D

6 is Bradford on Avon.

Indeed - 6 is Bradford-on-Avon (the disabled access to the Bathward platform being built last week) and 23 is Temple Meads ...

18 - another Ealing Broadway
But I was thinking 19 looked like Ealing as well!

0 - the 175 and a Platform 3b suggest it could be a station that has a Platform 0.

I'm intrigued by 14 - I didn't realise there was a station with an overbridge to Bath and Bristol!  ;)

27 could be Temple Meads.  There are "purple zone" boards there, but they are probably present at other stations.

Out of interest, what are/were these indicators for?  I was asked this by another passenger on P11 of Temple Meads once - couldn't answer him but we concluded it was something to do with the sleeper (e.g. seated in purple, twin in gold, etc.)  Is this correct?

They can be used with HSTs as well, but I don't remember hearing announcements referring to them recently. E.g. Coach A/B in the xxx Zone, through to G/H in the Gold Zone. So they used to announce first class in the Gold Zone, and standard in blue/purple/orange, or the opposite when in reverse formation; easier than assuming passengers know which end is front/rear, as long as they've picked up on the signs. Also useful for saying where short trains would stop - e.g. at Reading when a Turbo stopped in Platform 4 they used to announce that it would stop in the Blue Zone.

Heres my guesses:


21:AML
22:AML
23:BRI
24:EAL
25:RDG
26:RDG (and get off that bike on the platform!!!)
27:???
28:RDG
29:???
30:CPM


Back in the days of intercity, they were used to tell people where their coach would be. Gold was first class.
There were also posters showing the zones and coaches.

Heres on from a station in hertfordshire (based on the interlink sign)
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nitRGuNJ7oM/RtRlZdENxtI/AAAAAAAABPU/DDkztOaMMl0/s512/IMG_2834.jpg)

19 is Ealing Broadway I am 100% it is not Reading.

18 & 19 is indeed Ealing Broadway
20 AML

Those all look pretty well right (although I don't think there's a "0" where there's a "3b" ... I'll take a further look and correlate in the morning)

• 31(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb31.jpg)
• 32(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb32.jpg)
• 33(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb33.jpg)
• 34(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb34.jpg)
• 35(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb35.jpg)
• 36(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb36.jpg)
• 37(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb37.jpg)
• 38(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb38.jpg)
• 39(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb39.jpg)
• 40(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb40.jpg)

Supplimentary question - what does that P13634 mean on the sign at AML?

Platform number :P

Looking a bit closer I'm not convinced it is there. (I've now cheated and checked the National Rail diagrams for other 175-served places that are big enough to have a/b platforms and there is another more likely option  ;) ) I suddenly wish I'd paid more attention to the fine detail when I was a daily user of the place with a platform zero  ;)

Let's replace it with 33 - BRI - can't be many stations with a sign to "1-8 & 13-15"!

That P13634 thing has always been displayed on the Thames Trains indicators when a through train is approaching. Not 100% certain ^ I haven't been a regular at a Thames station since Thames Trains reigned ^ but I have a hunch that it's always the same code. displayed regardless of location or service

35 is probably new port as well since it has a very grotty under pass and if you had that much luggage you would have needed to use it

38 I guess is Temple Meads since it looks to old to be parkway

Correct answers so far:

00
01 Newport
02 Newport
03 Newport
04 Newport
05 Severn Tunnel Juncion
06 Bradford-on-Avon
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16 Reading
17
18 Ealing Broadway
19 Ealing Broadway
20 Acton Main Line
21 Acton Main Line
22 Acton Main Line
23 Bristol Temple Meads
24 Ealing Broadway
25 Reading
26 Reading
27
28 Reading
29 Chippenham
30 Chippenham
31
32 Bath (Avon Street Car Park!)
33 Bristol Temple Meads
34
35
36
37
38 Bristol Temple Meads
39
40 Yeovil Pen Mill
41
42 Yeovil Pen Mill
43
44
45
46
47 Ealing Broadway
48
49
50 Trowbridge
51 Melksham
52 Melksham
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64 Filton Abbey Wood
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73 Newport
74
75
76
77 Chester
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89

My early error to say 19 was Reading - it wasn't it's Ealing Broadway - Sorry about that.  35 is not Newport, 00 is not Cardiff Central (correctly stated, leaving a choice of the other 2503 out of 2504 stations  ;) )

I won't add the next batch of 10 just yet - there are plenty of early ones to work out ... 7 through 15, anyone?  34 through 37?

11: Interior of FGW Class 158. Looks like it's at Bath Spa as well.

31 looks like the new housing estate near Swindon that can be seen from the M4 (don't know the area so can't be any more specific)

11 is indeed the interior of a 158 at Bath Spa ... the Bristol Parkway service at 14:08 which misses out Temple Meads.

31 is new housing at Melksham, where there are around 1,600 new homes being built or scheduled at present (someone misquoted that as 16,000 at a meeting the other day, causing a welcome relief from some very serious subjects relating to the growth along the Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge axis)

Explains why it's empty!

Hi All,

Is 00 Chester Station by any chance?

Basset

Hey all

For some reason, 72 reminds me of Newport, Or is it of one of the new FGW screens, if it is i'd say somewhere between Reading and London, because of the way it says DS(Plat4) - DS meaning Down Slow.

Yes, 00 is Chester and 72 is (another !) Newport picture.    Horrid-long connection wait => lotta snaps!

What is that stuff on the information board at Newport telling me?  ( http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb72.jpg ) It was alterating between that screen and an instruction to call the 08457 48 49 50 number for further information while I was there.   The information booth on platform 4 was firmly unmanned, there was an icy wind

How I guessed that I have no idea!  :o

I'd imagine it would be information to tell anyone fixing it what is wrong with it, or it could be that the board was had been disconnected or something, seeing as it says "IP: Disabled"

A few from me:

07 Patchway
08 Filton Abbey Wood
09 The SVB Line as it diverges from the main line - taken just before/after Stapleton Road station

Filling in a few more gaps ... I think 14, 15 and 39 are Trowbridge.

I think 12 is Bath Spa.
10 - bit of a long shot but I have a feeling it could be somewhere near Lawrence Hill.

62 & 63 strike me as Bristol Temple Meads

44: BRI
53: BRI
54: BRI
56: BRI (with the unique st andrews cross as a signal)
57: BRI
58: Spa Road melksham, B3112
60: MKM
61: PWY???
62: BRI
63: BRI
65: Looks like its on the stapleton road line.
68: AML
74: NWP
75: NWP
79: NWP
82: Kew??
83: High Street Melksham.

Well, if we're now allowed 'scattergun' responses: 41 and 43 are Yeovil Pen Mill.  ;)

With so many answers piling in, I haven't had time to check 'em all this a.m. - most are right; a handful are not.  And I'll be online again this evening

12 - Bath Spa
13 - Bath - Outside Bus Station
14 - Trowbridge - Platform 2
15 - Also Trowbridge - Platform 1

59 and 61 are Melksham at night

(as is 60 but SDS Pad got there first I think )

... and I believe 84, 85, 86 and 87 are all Melksham as well

Not gonna ask how I got 58 and 83 grahame??? :-)

Same way I did perhaps? Google Street View?

I think 82 is in Acorn Close, Frome.



(Acorn close! Geddit?! Ah, no matter.......)

So far ... newly confirmed entries in Italics

00 Chester
01 Newport
02 Newport
03 Newport
04 Newport
05 Severn Tunnel Juncion
06 Bradford-on-Avon
07 Patchway
08 Filton Abbey Wood
09 North of Stapleton Road, SVB line
10 Lawrence Hill
11 Bath Spa
12 Bath Spa
13 Bath Spa - outside bus station
14 Trowbridge
15 Trowbridge
16 Reading
17
18 Ealing Broadway
19 Ealing Broadway
20 Acton Main Line
21 Acton Main Line
22 Acton Main Line
23 Bristol Temple Meads
24 Ealing Broadway
25 Reading
26 Reading
27
28 Reading
29 Chippenham
30 Chippenham
31 East Melksham
32 Bath (Avon Street Car Park!)
33 Bristol Temple Meads
34
35
36 Bristol Temple Meads
37
38 Bristol Temple Meads
39 Trowbridge
40 Yeovil Pen Mill
41 Yeovil Pen Mill
42 Yeovil Pen Mill
43 Yeovil Pen Mill
44 Bristol Temple Meads
45 Yeovil Pen Mill
46 Trowbridge
47 Ealing Broadway
48
49
50 Trowbridge
51 Melksham
52 Melksham
53 Brtistol Temple Meads Please - can I have that 153 for a new home?
54 Bristol Temple Meads
55 Melksham
56 Bristol Temple Meads
57 Bristol Temple Meads
58 Spa Road, Melksham
59 Melksham
60 Melksham
61 Melksham
62 Bristol Temple Meads
63 Bristol Temple Meads
64 Filton Abbey Wood
65 Filton (former station)
66
67
68 Acton Main Line
69
70
71 Chester
72 Newport
73 Newport
74 Newport
75 Newport
76
77 Chester
78
79 Newport
80
81
82
83 High Street Melksham
84 Melksham
85 Melksham
86 Melksham
87
88
89

Guesses that were wrong in the last batch:

61 ... Not Parkway
65 ... Far too vague
82 ... tough one - like the Kew idea - And Acorn close. It is a sort of arboterum, but much closer to my home
87 ... is NOT Melksham (our track is in boootiful order!)

I'm not asking any "how"s ... at least until we've completed all the answers.  I can think of several ideas - these aren't the world's hardest places to find out about in many cases.

Edit - Purple answers - added in later

A few more:

39 is a rather wet Trowbridge
55 Melksham
71 Chester?  If only Melksham had a service like that to boast about...

Yes, I remain convinced that my earlier suggestion that 39 is Trowbridge is right - and 46 is also Trowbridge, I think.

And 36 is Bristol Temple Meads.

45. Yeovil Pen Mill
65. Filton (former station site)

...possibly.  :-\

Yes - those are all correct.   Sorry I missed your earlier '39' in the review, Chris.

Brucey ... Much as I would love a service like the Chester to Liverpool line has on the TransWilts, I think it would be hard to justify until around 2019  ;D ... and then only if the current growth continues and / or we seriously grasp an integrated public transport system.  If - across the region - people could walk out of their homes and within 300 yards jump on public transport that was so frequent that they didn't have to bother to check the timetable, with good interchanges so that they could reach within 300 yards of any other home / business / school / cinema / white horse, stone circle / school, then you would find it used, I think!  But that's radical - as a first step, I would settle for just a tenth of the Chester service - 6 round trips, at good times, over a 15 hour period.

Hi,

Could 70 be the station that gets a regular service Pilning?

Basset

17 = Reading

I was there on Friday and underwhelmed is the right word.  The new stuff is fine as far as it goes and in terms of lifts and bridges it is an improvement, but as a whole station it is lacking.  It was cold miles away from the platform buildings and cramped (only space for three ticket windows, two ticket machines and 3 automatic gates (1 or 2 of which will be set to no entry) hardly shows ambition for a growing railway. 

17 - Not sure, but I have a feeling it could be Bristol Temple Meads?
48 - Trowbridge
49 - Trowbridge
69 - 158?

70 is reading platform 4 - stood there so often it is unmistakeable

Don't think so ...

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb70.jpg

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb70.jpg)


Yes - all correct; and you'll not guess that the 158 was taken in the Severn Tunnel, I don't suppose ;)

I was wondering which really observant member would get No. 17 .... special congratulations on that one

I think number 70 has a few thousand less trains per week than Reading. Is it Pilning?

Yes ... 70 is Pilning; thought I had confirmed that a couple of days back, but looking back I didn't.

Also 17 - Not Reading, but BTM; 48 and 49, Trowbridge, 69 is in a 158

Which - I think (E&OE) leaves ...

27 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb27.jpg)
34 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb34.jpg)
35 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb35.jpg)
37 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb37.jpg)
66 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb66.jpg)
67 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb67.jpg)
76 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb76.jpg)
78 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb78.jpg)
80 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb80.jpg)
81 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb81.jpg)
82 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb82.jpg)
87 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb87.jpg)
88 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb88.jpg)
89 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/timb89.jpg)

Is 80 between Salisbury station and Salisbury tunnel?

76 is an arriva train so I'll guess Chester

78 is a misery rail station and since I know where you were going, I'm going to guess Liverpool central, moorstreet, lime street under ground or james street

I thought it was between Cardiff and Newport

82 is a leaf from something old and common.

Is 67 the stub of the old Midland route into Bristol, near Yate / Westerleigh Junction?

We're down to the really tough ones ... I'm going to tell you the "impossible" ones (this was set up, you may recall, to change the gallery at the page top with "lighter side competition" as only a secondary aim, so I didn't consider "how easy is this"?)

34, 35, 87 and 88 are all at the same place (taken within a mile), and as far as I can see it's a place that hasn't come up as a mention in this thread.

76 ... I'll couldn't have denied "Arriva train from Chester" if you had suggested that ... but it's actually towards the end of the long southbound run from there.  It's somewhere around Cwmbran - and if there *had* been anything through the windows. Mookiemoo would have been the one to spot it as it used to be one of here "stomping grounds".

78 is not Liverpool, thought not far off.  And those were wild guesses ... Liverpool Central Low Level, at least, looks nothing like this and that's from me just having a quick wikipedia look.

80 - the specific South Wales suggestion is wrong - but only a short distance out.  Salisbury is wildly out.

82 - It's Giles's Wood, Melksham ... very hard to find good online references. 18 years ago Freddie Giles, who's a remarkable local person, started planting a mixed wood on his land, and opened it to the public.  I don't think he's trying to keep himself secret - he's written and published a book, darn it, but he's hard to find on line.   I have parked a little at http://www.wellho.net/share/gileswood.html

66, 67, 81 and 89 - of the remaining pictures - are the ones that I might have expected to have gone much earlier.  27 we had a bit of a discussion already but no-one made any definite enough suggestion as I recall;   these signs are all over the place if you look; I pictured some more at Chippenham the other night (so it's certainly not sleeper boarding!).  And 37 is so cropped that you might only get it by finding the same people in other nearby pictures.

Late addition:


Sorry - no  :-\

in that case 78 - Birkenhead?  Snce that is where you would have got the ferry from

I admit I have not been on misery rail since I left for uni in 1993

67. The Henbury Loop line looking toward the A38 Gloucester Road near Patchway.

81.  Kennet & Avon Canal.

89.  Melksham - roundabout in town centre.  ;)

I just assumed it was Trowbridge. Except the house on the right doesn't look sufficiently vandalised....

80 looks to me like it might be some of the houses backing onto the railway line just west of Cardiff Central, around the Canton/Ninian Park sort of area...

Birkehead has ...

Birkenhead Central
Hamilton Square
Conway Park
Birkenhead Park
Birkenhead North

Yeah ... you're still thowing out lots of possible answers for No. 87 ... and it IS one of those.  ;)

80 is NOT Trowbridge ... I appreciate the reputation Phil, but it's not a total wreck.   But neither is the picture Cariff in any shape or form.

Correctly guessed ones:

Yes - 67 IS the Henbury line, looking towards Avonmouth from a passing Patchway to Filton service.
81 is indeed the K&A Canal - taken near to "Freddies Wood" which I mentioned earlier.  And 89 is Melksham Market Place.

Erm ... Radstock.  ::) :P :-[

80 reminds me of the Exeter area?

What a depressing world we live in where everyone says "that reminds me of X area" or words like, and X seems to be a different place for everyone.  I'm sorry it reminds you of Exeter ... it isn't;   I've hinted quite a bit and I'm now going to "reveal" ... it's Newport, on the way towards Severn Tunnel Junction (that's why I said "very close" to "between Newport and Cardiff ...")

The "batch" of four is indeed Radstock - a meeting of the Radstock Action group, the public foottunnel under the old station site, and a couple of places on the track that's still there, but with trees growing up through it, to the outskirts of the town.

14 Trowbridge, heading towards Westbury.

17 is indeed Trowbridge.

To complete the set ...

27 Bristol Temple Meads (lots of discussion, no actual suggestion of the location in question for this picture)

37 Trowbridge

66 Just north of the old station at Filton, on the curve to connect to the Henfield loop (I hope I have the names right)

78 Birkenhead - we knew that, but no-one came through to specify "Hamilton Square"

27, I'll guess along platforms 9 or 11 from the BR days of Intercity shuttle. Gold zone was 1st class and 2 zones for different parts of standard.
66 Not Henfield, Henbury I think?

70 Pilning down loop and platform.

87 The former Pilning bound platform at Severn Beach
10 Just north of Lawerence Hill, where the rubbish goes ;D

Yes - Henbury - my bad.

87 is Radstock ... identified by Chris from Nailsea after my hint that grouped it with three other pictures (it would have been pretty tough otherwise!)

And I think that completes all the answers.    I'll have to see if I can find a couple of bonuses  ;D

Six of the best bonuses!

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra1.jpg)

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra2.jpg)

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra3.jpg)

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra4.jpg)

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra5.jpg)

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/seventy/extra6.jpg)

Let's do this a bit differently - is anyone brave enough to try all six?   For the first 24 hours, I'll just say "no" or "yes" ... if it's still running thereafter, I'll tell you how many you have right ... but you must still try all six  ;)

1. Taunton
2. Melksham
3. Taunton
4. Taunton
5. Taunton
6. Taunton

Well, it's worth a try!  ::)

Deleted, because my guess for number 3 is wrong!

Apart from the obligatory Melksham one, Number 3 is the only one I'm certain of!!

Well, I was with Graham the day he took it.  ;D

Hmm.  ::)  I think grahame's quiz, this time, is rather stretching - so I'm prepared to offer a couple of clues (with absolutely no 'inside information' on my part, honest!):

2. is clearly Melksham - looking north;

Bear in mind the terms of reference, as set out in grahame's OP - these are all places he's been to in the past month or so - so not Falmouth, then!  ;D

1 is Kingswear

Some of these are a bit longer than "latest month" ... but all are within the last four months.  It widens the scope a bit.  Good to see you working as a team to put together some answers;  I'm not saying much, except that although there is indeed the obligatory Melksham (my journeys start and end there whenever there's a train at an appropriate time) there isn't any big weight - if any - Tauntons  ;)

was  gonna say 2 is melksham just cos I have a good memory of pics - I may check tomorrow

I'm only up now cos my mother is here and nights is the only time I get peace from nagging  - we won't go there but you would think I was 4 not 34

Roll on the 19th