Advent Quiz 2015

[whole diary]

[Oxonhutch]

Before Graham posts number 6, just a quick roll back to number 3.................. For those of you with Ruritanian blood, the place featured in number 3 probably sold more platform tickets at the time the picture was taken than it did travel tickets 

With that clue it was now just a Wiki away.  3=Llanfair P.G.  Feels like cheating

PS. Indeed I have one which reads LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH and is about 5 inches long. Meaning, in the local M^nian dialect {future imperative} 'Welcome to Anglesey and we hope you have a great time on our beautiful island'. This of course applies to the down platform. The sign on the up platform - pictured - translates as '... we hope you have had ...' {past imperfect}. The subtlety in spelling is usually lost on English speakers.

[ellendune]

Before Graham posts number 6, just a quick roll back to number 3.................. For those of you with Ruritanian blood, the place featured in number 3 probably sold more platform tickets at the time the picture was taken than it did travel tickets 

Ah yes! - well it might have done if there was anywhere to buy one. I was there in the summer.

It is Llanfairpwll Station aka Llanfairpwllgwyngyll-gogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysilio-gogogoch.

Oxenhutch just pipped me to it while I was typing. I didn't need wiki as I had my own photo

[grahame]

With that clue it was now just a Wiki away.  3=Llanfair P.G.  Feels like cheating

Hopefully you'll feel much more satisfied if yu can get this one just from the image and perhaps a few discussions ...

6th December 2015

[eightf48544]

The 6th  of December I've got the tea shirt.

It's a Taieri Gorge Mitsubishi DJ class Bo-Bo-Bo 672kW ex NZR in probably in Dunedin station.

Note like most NZ stations Dunedin has one long platform only.

[eightf48544]

5th December

How about Sheffield Victoria after rationalisation after closure of the through route.

[Thatcham Crossing]

probably in Dunedin station.

I concur, but it would be much easier to tell (if you know it or have been there) if the frontage of the Station was shown - it's very impressive.

[ellendune]

5th December

How about Sheffield Victoria after rationalisation after closure of the through route.

I thought Sheffield Victoria was on to of an embankment and had stone walls.  The brick wall in the picture looks like a retaining wall. 

[grahame]

Image no. 7 will be posted this evening ... technical issure here, not forgotten.

[grahame]

7th December 2015

[Chris from Nailsea]

As that one is very clearly not Taunton ( ), I did a bit of digging on t'internet. 

I now know where it is, for certain, but will let others have a go first. 

[SandTEngineer]

No.7: Wootton Ground Frame, Isle of Wight Steam Railway

There is a very similar one at Kingscote on the Bluebell Railway:

[PhilWakely]

Just a brief reminder of the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter)...

Each day in December, I'll be posting a picture of a rail subject for members to identify by location, talk about when they thought it was taken, and discuss related subjects.

[Tim]

No.7: Wootton Ground Frame, Isle of Wight Steam Railway

There is a very similar one at Kingscote on the Bluebell Railway:

The fact that the ground frame has a substantial wooden shelter over it prompts me to asks, what makes a ground frame different to a signal box?

My assumption was that one of the criteria was that the ground frame was not permanently staffed and was operated by train crew.  If that is the case, then why are these ground frames built with a substantial "shed" over them?  Is this simply because they are on a preserved railway where posting a signaller at every ground frame allows more volunteers to participate in playing trains? 

The other noticeable feature of course is that these buildings are at ground level which means that they don't have interlocking underneath them.  Presumably they are operated under the supervision of a "proper" 'box which will give a "release" to the ground frame to allow the points to be operated.   

[grahame]

The other noticeable feature of course is that these buildings are at ground level which means that they don't have interlocking underneath them. 

And presumably that's the origin of the name.  If a modern signalling centre was built at ground level (i.e. was a bungallow) with all the electronics in a room alongside rather than below, it could (presumably) be called a ground frame too.

[Red Squirrel]

Presumably they are operated under the supervision of a "proper" 'box which will give a "release" to the ground frame to allow the points to be operated.   

That appears to be the case:

Ground frame

A small lever frame, either in the open or in an unmanned hut, which controls points or signals remote from the main signalbox.

Source: https://www.safety.networkrail.co.uk/Services/Jargon-Buster/G/GP-GT/Ground-frame

...playing trains 

How unkind!

There's a reasonable explanation of how signalling has developed at Kingscote at http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/signalboxes.html ; in essence the little cabin is temporary and is in the process of being replaced by the proper box at the north end of the loop platform.