Tangy's rail brainbenders IV (terminated)

[tangy]

After a bit of break, they are back (with popular demand), that's right.... the next installment of Tangy's rail brainbenders.

So after some very careful thought I present to you the following:

1. How many platforms at London Paddington can electric trains NOT enter?

2. How many members of the Pacer fleet are named?

3. How many trains are permitted in the Severn Tunnel (in the same direction) at any one time?

4. The Oban line has a route availability of what?

5. "Hi cube" 9'6" freight containers can be conveyed on normal flatbed wagons however the routes that these are permitted to run on have what clearance guage?

6. Unlike most of the IC125 power cars, which have the MTU engine, what engine do the power cars operated by EMT have?

7. Shipley and which other station have platforms on ALL three sides of a triangular junction?

8. From London Waterloo at which point does the SW Mainline cease to have more than two tracks?

9. Except on Saturdays, which route operated by NT is physically isolated from the rest of the NT network?

0. How many "Pocket Timetables" do SWT produce for thier network of routes?

Deadline to enter is two weeks from today, so that would be Friday 25th June at 20:00 hours. Just to remind you, please submit answers to me via PM ONLY- (so that you don't spoil the quiz for others).

[tubeguru]

Once again, if I don't get #1 and #3 right I should hang my head in shame.

[tubeguru]

9. Except on Saturdays, which route operated by NT is physically isolated from the rest of the NT network?

NT?

[tangy]

NT- the two letter operator code for Northern Rail, as used in the NRT.

[tubeguru]

OK, I'm down to one question left and I'm buggered if I can find the information for it anywhere ...

Edit - Got it. I'm fairly certain on nine of these but a different one is now causing me trouble. But whatever.

[barrykas]

I reckon I've got 7 definitely correct, 1 I'm pretty confident of, the other 2 are guesses...Just have to wait and see.

[tubeguru]

Due to unforseen circumstances I was unable to post my answers to tangy yesterday as I had planned. And then I was at work from 15.50 so I've missed the deadline.

Any chance you'll accept my answers today? Ah go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, GO ON!

[Sam]

Are the answers to this quiz suffering from severe delays?

[tangy]

Being processed now, had to physically check the validity of one of the questions I set to ensure I give the correct answer (various sources I use to set these quizzes are giving me conflicting information)!

[Sam]

Oh so now you're giving us impossible answers!! That is just plain EVL

[tangy]

The following shows who has entered this quiz along with thier answers:

Tubeguru: I have allowed you to enter this one, although I have refused others in the past for being late in previous rounds, please ensure you keep to the deadline.
1. Five - platforms 1, 2, 12, 13 and 14.
2. I can finds the following named units:
--142073 "Myfanwy"
--142080 "Caerphilly RFC"
--143605 "Crimestoppers" (Scrapping the Pacers would put an end to the crime of them being built)
--143609 "Sir Tom Jones"
--144101 "Penistone Line Partnership"
I make that five.
3. One.
4. Crianlarich to Oban is RA 5.
5. If the wagons are standard flatbeds, then it's W10 loading gauge. If the conatiners are placed on Megafret wagons, then the train can run on W9 gauge.
6. Paxman VP185's.
7. Earlestown (Merseyside) is the other. Ambergate used to be triangluar but now has only one platform. Another triangluar station was Queensbury (West Yorkshire) but it closed to passengers in 1955. I also believe that the deceased Mangotsfield in Bristol was triangular but I don't know if it had platform faces on all sides.
8. Assuming you mean the route from Waterloo to Weymouth via Wimbledon, Woking and Basingstoke, the point where four lines becomes two is at Worting Junction, where two lines diverge to Exeter via Andover with the main
line continuing to Winchester.
9. I imagine this to be the Sheffield to Lincoln and Cleethorpes route.
0. Despite being numbered up to 28, I can only see that they have 24 "new" ones on their website. So without going to Waterloo and looking, I'll say 28.
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Scrxisi/Sam: Joint entry
1. 2
2. 5
3. 1
4. RA5
5. W10
6. Paxman
7. Earlestown station
8. Worting Junction
9. Barton on Humber to Cleethorpes
0. 24
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edgemaster
1. Physically, all of them, leaving under their own power is the issue!
2. 2 current, 1 ex, according to rough details scraped from wikipedia
3. Probably max 2, if one breaks down, it'd be pretty difficult to get others out if more than 2...
4. I've no idea what route availability is...
5. I did read an accident report into a hi-cube container fouling the guage of a tunnel and station canopy. Alas I cannot remember what guage it was.
6. A different one
7. It was somewhere in Bristol... Or not, maybe Earlestown (yes, google helped me, is that allowed?)
8. When the trains begin to crash into each other
9. Is this some sort of low tide trick question?
0. Too many - waste of paper!

Yes, I'm drunk. Yes, very little effort made.
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greatkingrat:
1. They can enter all of them with a long enough run up. (I guess the answer you are looking for is 5 - P1-2 and P12-14)
2. 5
3. 1
4. RA5
5. W10 gauge
6. Valenta
7. Earlestown
8. Worting Jn
9. Barton-on-Humber branch
0. 24
-------------------------------------------------------------------
starkey:
1. Ten
2. Ten
3. One
4. Refreshments for all passengers at all times
5. 9'6"
6. Valenta
7. Earlestown, up north somewhere
8. a bit west of Basingstoke, you know, where the ways to Micheldever and Andover split from each other
9. Barton-upon-Humber to Cleethorpes
0. Thirty-two
--------------------------------------------------------------
jamesthegill:
1. 7, unless they're properly dressed.
2. All of them have their own affectionate nicknames from various people.
3. 3, but only if there's not a south easterly breeze.
4. 3 cups of tea.
5. 27 mini cheddars.
6. A lawnmower engine.
7. Stone.
8. Yeovil.
9. Ellesmere Port to Helsby
0. 23. They're highly sought after and can reach prices involving many tens of pennies on ebay.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
barrykas:
1. Four. Specifically, platforms 1, 2, 13 and 14.
2. Five.
--142 073 Myfanwy
--142 080 Caerphilly RFC
--143 605 Crimestoppers
--143 609 Sir Tom Jones
--144 001 Penistone Line Partnership
3. One.
4. Five.
5. W10 or higher.
6. Paxman VP185.
7. Earlestown.
8. Worting Junction, on the country side of Basingstoke, where the SW Main Line and West of England Main Line diverge.
9. Barton-on-Humber - Cleethorpes, which only gets a through NT service from Sheffield via Barnetby on Saturdays.
0. 24.

The official answers from the quizmaster will follow.

[Sam]

Where are the answers dammit!!! I need to go to sleep

[tangy]

The official answers from the quizmaster are as follows:

1. How many platforms at London Paddington can electric trains NOT enter? Four
Platforms 1, 2, 13 and 14. Despite what the usually accurate Quail Map shows, platform 12 is electrified (having actaully physically checked it, as I already semi knew it was electfied myself).

2. How many members of the Pacer fleet are named? Three
--142073 Myfanwy
--143609 Sir Tome Jones
--144001 PENISTONE LINE PARTNERSHIP
I don't know where some you sourced the answer for this as some of the named units quoted lost thier names way back in 2006!

3. How many trains are permitted in the Severn Tunnel (in the same direction) at any one time? Just the one.
The Severn Tunnel is treated as one long block section (there are no intermediate signals within the tunnel) so once one train has entered, the signal at the entrance will remain at red until the train already in the tunnel has gone through the signal at the other end.

4. The Oban line has a route availability of what? RA5...and one of a small amount of lines where the pesky Class 66 is banned!

5. "Hi cube" 9'6" freight containers can be conveyed on normal flatbed wagons however the routes that these are permitted to run on have what clearance guage? W10 gauge.

Currently the route between NUN and SOU Docks is being upgraded to W10 guage to allow hi-cube containers to reach SOU without using the specially built "Megafret" wagons which are built with the wagon floor (in between the axles) lower to the track so that hi-cube containers sit at the same level as other smaller containers. When using these Megafret wagons, hi-cube containers can be moved along lines with the more resticted W8/9 gauge.

6. Unlike most of the IC125 power cars, which have the MTU engine, what engine do the power cars operated by EMT have? Paxman VP185
Unlike FGW and EC, who chose to upgrade to the MTU engine, EMT/MML remained with the VP185 engine, which most of thier fleet already had fitted converting those which had the Valenta unit to the VP185 for a unifrom fleet. The only IC125 power cars left with the original Paxman Valenta unit are those operated by GC (although not for much longer, they are going down the MTU route too...)

7. Shipley and which other station have platforms on ALL three sides of a triangular junction? Earlestown

8. From London Waterloo at which point does the SW Mainline cease to have more than two tracks? Worting Junction, a couple of mile west of BSK where the routes to SOU and SAL diverge (the flyover taking the Up Southampton line over the Up Exeter is known as Battledown Flyover).

9. Except on Saturdays, which route operated by NT is physically isolated from the rest of the NT network? Barton-on-Humber- Cleethorpes
On Mon-Fri this line is isolated from the rest of the NT network as the nearest other NT trains are at Scunthorpe. However on Saturdays, the parliamentary SHF- CLE via Brigg trains run, thus linking up the Barton branch to the rest of the NT network (though is still worked as a single entity). Ellesmere Port- Helsby is a close contender but the unit that works the branch starts and ends its day at LIV (working via Earlestown) thereby giving links to the rest of the NT network.

0. How many "Pocket Timetables" do SWT produce for thier network of routes? Twenty four
Despite being numbered up to 28, there is no pocket timetable 3, 13, 15 or 22. These being routes that SWT no longer operate or timetables that have merged with others into a more user freindly way.

Any comments or complaints? No? Good, go away!
If you want a round V however you may speak up...

[Starkey7]

Just a couple of comments:

It is easy to know that the line at platform 12 is electrified, when you know that that's where the Heathrow Connect trains go from.

What is RA5?!

[tangy]

Points gained from this round:

--tubeguru: six (Q1,2,9 and 0 incorrect)
--scrxisi/Sam: eight (Q1 and 2 incorrect)
--Edgemaster: one (all bar Q7 incorrect)
--greatkingrat: seven (Q1, 2 and 6 incorrect)
--starkey: four (Q1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 0 incorrect)
--jamesthegill: zero (all incorrect)
--barrykas: nine (just Q2 incorrect)

A pretty low scoring round this time, well they aren't called "brainbenders" for nothing!