Advent Quiz - December 2022

[whole diary]

[grahame]

13th December 2022 ...

Still not identified - I have been able to check and I'm pretty sure it is NOT Liskeard, though that is a quite close. 

For today - any ideas on this one?

[plymothian]

It's not Liskeard due the railings outside the window; it's Menheniot.

[PrestburyRoad]

For today - any ideas on this one?

Somewhere in France - after downloading and enlarging the picture I can see the sign says ACCES PARK... and Carref... - which is a French supermarket chain.

I was wondering about the small grey boxes next to the rails just inside the four-foot: are they perhaps axle counters?

[grahame]

It's not Liskeard due the railings outside the window; it's Menheniot.

Yep, that's what I had it noted as as too.

[stuving]

I was wondering about the small grey boxes next to the rails just inside the four-foot: are they perhaps axle counters?

Yes, sort of - we'd probably call them treadles, especially as those are gong to be there to control the level crossing from which the picture was taken.

I happen to have a few pictures of them: one of the twin kind that I think were an early form of axle counter used for block signalling (and they still are), and one of a pair of the single ones used for level crossings, complete with a couple of contractors' men trying to work out which wire goes where.

[Clan Line]

For today - any ideas on this one?

Somewhere in France -

Quite likely, a lot of "ouids" by the track 

[stuving]

That's Carrefour Cherbourg. It's very close to the station, since land in the old port area isn't expensive.

That railway track is surprisingly well kept, given this is the land of decrepit goods lines that are unused but still part of the network. And it is unused: you can follow it past the ferry terminal, and on a loop round the wind turbine blade factory that goes down to the beach for a paddle, and there's no rolling stock parked anywhere.

[grahame]

That's Carrefour Cherbourg. It's very close to the station, since land in the old port area isn't expensive.

That railway track is surprisingly well kept, given this is the land of decrepit goods lines that are unused but still part of the network. And it is unused: you can follow it past the ferry terminal, and on a loop round the wind turbine blade factory that goes down to the beach for a paddle, and there's no rolling stock parked anywhere.

Yes, it IS Cherbourg - on the walk from the (current) railway station to the Portsmouth Ferry.  When I took the picture (October), the track was disconnected just past the station where it crossed the road so trains couldn't have got through even if they wanted to.  Unclear to me if the disconnection is permanent, or whether it was maintenance / renewal going on - that latter feels over-optimistic.   

As in so many other ports, the public transport / foot traffic to the ferry is not great, with the change being a bit of a pain - a half hour walk, then the world's most decrepit bus to transfer passengers on .... followed by the reverse at Portsmouth of having to wait for an old bus once all the VIPs (car passengers) have left, a ride across the yard to the immigration hall, a queue there with more passport checks and questions than there were in the past, and another half hour walk to Portmouth and Southsea ... over an hour from docking on time to being at the station.

[stuving]

I guess my "well kept track" probably just means it was last relaid within the last fifty years. But like most of the big passenger ports of the past it has lost its gare maritime, at least as a station. At Cherbourg its shell is still there, and a stonking great big thing it is too. The new one is of course there primarily to serve the town.

In St Malo (which I know better) the old (much older) station was demolished less than twenty years ago, after a new one was built just outside it. In its place is now a "Pôle culturel et Bâtiment éco-Responsable.".

As for Caen - the current ferry port has lost nothing, as Ouistreham never had a railway. While Wikipedia says there is a port for cruises up the Orne canal I wonder how big a ship could get there.

[grahame]

And for 15th December ...

[JayMac]

Holyhead.

[grahame]

Holyhead.

Yes, yesterday's picture was indeed Holyhead.  For today:

[rogerpatenall]

Going back to the Cherbourg picture - this is the line that will be used by the new daily Cherbourg - Bayonne 'motorway' service planned for unaccompanied trailers off the ferries. The latest snag is that intermediate sections of the route in the Le Mans area may not be robust enough for the planned train weights. Time - lots of it - will tell.

[grahame]

Going back to the Cherbourg picture - this is the line that will be used by the new daily Cherbourg - Bayonne 'motorway' service planned for unaccompanied trailers off the ferries. The latest snag is that intermediate sections of the route in the Le Mans area may not be robust enough for the planned train weights. Time - lots of it - will tell.

Good to hear of those plans - makes sense to do that

[Witham Bobby]

Today's picture: Athlone?