tubechallenge.com

I stole this idea from another rail forum, so shoot me.

It's very simple - which UK mainline railway station is featured in the image below? The picture is a satellite image screen-grabbed from Google Earth, and I have expanded the zoom to put some more of the surrounding area in. The station itself is on the left of the shot, and I think this one is fairly easy to start off with. Note the compass in the top-right of screen shows North, which might help in some cases.

If people like this idea, I will do more. I may even do tube stations if you like. PLEASE PM YOUR ANSWERS TO ME - don't post them in the thread.

Is the picture large enough? Do people think I should post a larger image that takes up more of the screen so you can scroll around it? Let me know.

I'll give you a week or so, and I'll remind you when I'm going to end the quiz.

Is anyone else going to have a go at this opening effort?

I've had several answers so far. I'll let it run for another day or so in case anyone has forgotten or decides to have a go.

I like the idea of this but I have no clue

And that's a good idea. Maybe a clue should be provided with each quiz?

Without being glib, there's quite a big clue in the picture as it is...

OK, I think I'll call time on this one.

The station was quite clearly Bristol Temple Meads. The lines running east from the station split to form the lines London via Box (diverging to the right and running south east), and up to Filton (diverging left at the triangle and running north). The third side of the triangle (the right side) is the little-used Rhubarb Loop, so called because of the pub situated immediately next to it called the Rhubarb Tavern. On the right-hand side of the picture you can see the eastern entrance to St. Philip's Marsh depot branching away to the south. The depot itself is part-visible in the bottom-right. The line running south out of Temple Meads is, of course, the line to Exeter and beyond.

If you look closely, you can see Brunel's original train shed to the left of the current station. One wonders why he opted to terminate the line here, when the board of directors of the GWR were in talks with the Bristol and Exeter Railway for a merger to Exeter.

The following people submitted an answer:

Sam
scrxisi
moley
greatkingrat
mullardo
Starkey
jbom
Garion
Going Underground
uefacup81
tangy

All got it right, except for Going Underground who for some strange reason decided it was Paddington. I'd love to see his reasoning for that.

I'll post up another picture at some point later in the week if you want another go at this.

tubeguru wrote:All got it right, except for Going Underground who for some strange reason decided it was Paddington. I'd love to see his reasoning for that.

I'll post up another picture at some point later in the week if you want another go at this.

Just a wild guess

The lines running east AND south from the station didn't alert you to the possibility you might be wrong?

tubeguru wrote:The lines running east AND south from the station didn't alert you to the possibility you might be wrong?

That assumes that north is at the top. I almost convinced myself that it was Leeds, but only if it had been rotated through 90 degrees anticlockwise from a normal presentation and had north on the left.

Nigel, the original post contained a valuable bit of information pertaining to that:

Note the compass in the top-right of screen shows North, which might help in some cases.

In this case, the compass shows that north is up

Root wrote:Nigel, the original post contained a valuable bit of information pertaining to that:

Note the compass in the top-right of screen shows North, which might help in some cases.

In this case, the compass shows that north is up

As they say in exams, it does help if you read the question. A good job I didn't enter in the end.