Placing pictures in the order take - slightly different quiz

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

I did post that query somewhat quizzically - bearing in mind how Stephen Fry very nearly lost it over a similar discussion on QI.  Enjoy. 

[grahame]

Is i before b ? 

Yes but only after C.

And this is an exception.

Right, let's have a go at the order then, although I suspect this will need some tweaking!
5, j, 1, 2, k, e, g, c, 6, h, 3, d, 9, 8, 7, a, f, b, i, 4

A more specific comment from me ... if you move just three of the pictures (in each case by quite a distance - no local swaps) you'll have it 100% correct.  I'm dreadful at predicting, but one of the changes should be easy to spot, a second one you probably need to know, and the third you're likely to accuse me of being somewhat devious.

[brooklea]

Ok. Well I can confidently move picture 1 (the London Midland 170) to between d and 9 (Preston and Birmingham New Street respectively), being the train I think you must have changed onto at Wolverhampton on your way back, which helps to explain how you had time to take so many snaps as you passed through New Street!

Guesswork now, but picture 4 looks as if it was taken in the dark, but perhaps in the morning rather than the evening? Is it at Chippenham? In which case it would belong between 5 and j.

As for a third one, I can only think it's picture k, but where it is taken I have no idea?

So between us we have;
5 Melksham
4 Chippenham?
j Ashchurch (presumably checked by a late running freight train)
2 Curzon Street (leaving Birmingham New Street)
k ?
e Brightside Station, Sheffield
g Newcastle upon Tyne
c Berwick upon Tweed
6 Berwick upon Tweed
h Motherwell
3 Preston
d Preston
1 Between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street
9 New Street (going up to the concourse)
8 New Street (on the concourse)
7 Gloucester
a Bristol Temple Meads (on arrival at platform 3)
f Bristol Temple Meads (in the subway heading for the 2320 to Frome)
b Between Bristol and Bradford on Avon
i Bradford on Avon

Are we getting closer grahame?

[grahame]

Are we getting closer grahame?

Yes.   You have the correct three identified for out of order, and only one remains incorrectly ordered in the latest list. Impressive.

Two pictures are in the right order but locations taken are "miles out".

A slightly wider view of k might help

[froome]

My guess for k, based on it being a grain-growing area but fairly hilly, and the train looks like it was moving at some speed, is...

Somewhere in North Yorkshire, probably in the valley north of Northallerton. If the red sign is a level crossing sign, I think there are some along there.

[brooklea]

A slightly wider view of k might help


[/quote]

Call for aid leads me to think that's taken in the toilet on one of Mr Branson's trains, so that puts k between h and 1 on the return - couldn't say where precisely, but that's your devious photo

Guessing 4 isn't Chippenham, so working along that journey to Gloucester, maybe Kemble?

And the other wrong location....well, I wonder if the style of ironwork shown in 3 can also be seen at another station north of Preston?

[stuving]

Or, for an alternatively theory ... the sign is inside the train, next to the wheelchair space. It's in focus, which is why the world isn't. So it's a field - but outside all of the depth of field. The light says he sun was pretty low, so early or late going north - the return was all done after dark. The land form is more northern than southern, and so is the lack of anything built. Official sunset in Edinburgh was a few minutes after you went through, but the light looks earlier than that so let's say East Lothian.

[grahame]

Call for aid leads me to think that's taken in the toilet on one of Mr Branson's trains, so that puts k between h and 1 on the return - couldn't say where precisely, but that's your devious photo

Or, for an alternatively theory ... the sign is inside the train, next to the wheelchair space. It's in focus, which is why the world isn't. So it's a field - but outside all of the depth of field. The light says he sun was pretty low, so early or late going north - the return was all done after dark. The land form is more northern than southern, and so is the lack of anything built. Official sunset in Edinburgh was a few minutes after you went through, but the light looks earlier than that so let's say East Lothian.

It is indeed my devious photo - in the loo on Mr Branson's train from Motherwell.  

It could well be what you would see in many UK^▸ (United Kingdom) places (including Northern England / Southern Scotalnd) in the summer, but the seasonality's all wrong for it being an "out the window" in January.  "Winter Wheat"?

Guessing 4 isn't Chippenham, so working along that journey to Gloucester, maybe Kemble?

And the other wrong location....well, I wonder if the style of ironwork shown in 3 can also be seen at another station north of Preston?

All pictures are in the right order ... which in some ways is the completion of the challenge.  Two locations remain incorrect; two pictures taken within a couple of minutes of each other too!   You have identified one of the problems being no. 4.  

[froome]

Call for aid leads me to think that's taken in the toilet on one of Mr Branson's trains, so that puts k between h and 1 on the return - couldn't say where precisely, but that's your devious photo

Or, for an alternatively theory ... the sign is inside the train, next to the wheelchair space. It's in focus, which is why the world isn't. So it's a field - but outside all of the depth of field. The light says he sun was pretty low, so early or late going north - the return was all done after dark. The land form is more northern than southern, and so is the lack of anything built. Official sunset in Edinburgh was a few minutes after you went through, but the light looks earlier than that so let's say East Lothian.

It is indeed my devious photo - in the loo on Mr Branson's train from Motherwell.  

It could well be what you would see in many UK^▸ (United Kingdom) places (including Northern England / Southern Scotalnd) in the summer, but the seasonality's all wrong for it being an "out the window" in January.  "Winter Wheat"?

Guessing 4 isn't Chippenham, so working along that journey to Gloucester, maybe Kemble?

And the other wrong location....well, I wonder if the style of ironwork shown in 3 can also be seen at another station north of Preston?

All pictures are in the right order ... which in some ways is the completion of the challenge.  Two locations remain incorrect; two pictures taken within a couple of minutes of each other too!   You have identified one of the problems being no. 4.  

I was going to say that no 4 presumably cannot be Chippenham, as that now has a lift. It could be also at Ashchurch? (though I cannot work out why you would have been at Ashchurch at that time of the morning for j).

As regards the winter wheat - damn, of course it couldn't have been out of the window. So obvious now. (as they say, eliminate the impossible and whatever is left must be the case, however unlikely)

[stuving]

When I looked at k and asked "is that grass in that field, or what?", I just decided it was too fuzzy to tell. But the light does look rather summery, now. No, what I thought looked wrong then, and ought to have betrayed the deception, was that alarm point. It seems to be stuck onto a window - but you couldn't really do that, could you? I didn't think of a mirror, though - let alone a fuzzy mural.

[grahame]

I was going to say that no 4 presumably cannot be Chippenham, as that now has a lift. It could be also at Ashchurch? (though I cannot work out why you would have been at Ashchurch at that time of the morning for j).

As I recall, Ashchurch has darned long slopes up to the footbridge and no steps.   I can't work out why I would have been as Ashchurch at that time of the morning either - apart from passing for the second or two the voyager took to pass through.

[stuving]

I was going to say that no 4 presumably cannot be Chippenham, as that now has a lift. It could be also at Ashchurch? (though I cannot work out why you would have been at Ashchurch at that time of the morning for j).

As I recall, Ashchurch has darned long slopes up to the footbridge and no steps.   I can't work out why I would have been as Ashchurch at that time of the morning either - apart from passing for the second or two the voyager took to pass through.

I couldn't see how you would have had an opportunity to take j on Ashchurch station either, though the times shown are identifiably those for Ashchurch. So were they maybe displayed at Cheltenham as well?

I don't think CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains) has a lift, but it does have both ramps (rather steep ones) and stairs as a shorter route to the footbridge. So maybe 4 is there too; to be read as "There's an accessible toilet and it can be reached up the stairs and over the bridge. There's a longer way via the ramp if you need it (and can cope or have someone to push)".

[grahame]

Well done everyone - think you got there very well ... a bit of a change from individual pictures. 

Northbound
5. Melksham
j. Cheltenham Spa (picture of Ashchurch RUG^» (Rail User Group - about) board!)
4. Cheltenham Spa (j and 4 ok either way)
2. Curzon Street, Birmingham
e. Rotherham Masborough or Brightside (not sure which!)
g. Newcastle upon Tyne
c. just south of Berwick upon Tweed
6. Royal Border Bridge, Berwick upon Tweed

Southbound
h. Motherwell
k. Motherwell to Preston - wall picture in loo on Pedelino!
3. Preston
d. Preston (3 and d ok either way round)
1. Wolverhampton to Birmingham
9. Birmingham New Steet
8. Birmingham New Street
7. Gloucester
a. Bristol Temple Meads
f. Bristol Temple Meads
b. near Freshford
i. Bradford-on-Avon

5, j, 1, 2, k, e, g, c, 6, h, 3, d, 9, 8, 7, a, f, b, i, 4


Here are some pictures not cropped quite so hard.

[froome]

Very cunning! I've used Cheltenham Spa many times but never noticed the Ashchurch RUG^» (Rail User Group - about) board. Whereabouts on the station is it?

[stuving]

I'd actually almost unconvinced myself about 3. Having spotted the railings at Preston, but in different colours, all I could do to confirm the match was check the surroundings (no help) and the lighting. Knowing it had to be in darkness, was it in indoor light? Qualitywise the answer was yes, but on second thoughts why is it lit from a single source?

Looking at d, taken with those railings not so far behind, there are a lot of very bright looking overhead lights. That doesn't seem to fit. Maybe LED lamps, well placed, can produce even lighting with large areas seeing only a single source. Or something.