A Story from DLR/Tramlink - discussion

[GuyBarry]

After a short consultation, it's been decided that the sequel to Hidden Underground, Over the Top and Off the Rails should be a joint DLR/Tramlink affair. This gives us 84 station/stop names to play with and hopefully the opportunity to develop a decent plot. This will be the first story where I'll attempt to use the newly updated Hidden Underground Wiki, which contains all the stories written so far as well as profiles of the main characters and other associated information. Please feel free to add to it as you wish - many of the profiles are still incomplete, and a lot of minor characters need to be added.

The list of unused stations/stops is here:

List of unused DLR stations/Tramlink stops

Please try to edit this list whenever a name is used in the story. (I'll check the list every day, so don't worry if you forget.) Also I'll attempt to keep track of the plot here:

Plot of DLR/Tramlink story

One problem we've had in the past is that there's a tendency to get near the end with lots of unresolved plot lines and all the hardest stations to fit in, so please feel free to suggest future plot developments to give an overall shape to the story, and if possible try to get some of the hard ones out of the way early. As with previous stories, we can use this thread for discussion, separate from the story thread.

One or two issues with station names: I've listed "Custom House" and "Cutty Sark" rather than "Custom House for ExCeL" and "Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich", as I don't think the "for" part is really part of the name (and it would make them almost impossible to fit in!). Is this OK with everyone?

Also, Wikipedia lists the high and low-level stations at both Canning Town and Stratford separately, but I presume each counts only once for our purposes. Is this right?

I'll start the story off in a moment.

[GuyBarry]

“Of course! Yes, let’s ask Henry! Good idea, Mrs WADDINGTON. VILLAGEs around here benefit from your good ideas!

Just a small point here: I think the convention is that, in the non-cryptic version, when a name starts with a capital letter and the second letter of the name is the start of a station, we put the first letter in lower-case, e.g. "Mrs wADDINGTON". I spent a couple of minutes wondering where "Waddington Village" was

[RobbieM]

Good point. (Stupid 'autocorrect' function!!! )

[GuyBarry]

“You say you met her in Ford. Isn’t that quite close to ELMER?”

Is there a place called Elmer on the south coast? I can't find one, though I've found The Elmer pub and hotel in Bognor Regis.

[DrainBrain]

“You say you met her in Ford. Isn’t that quite close to ELMER?”

Is there a place called Elmer on the south coast? I can't find one, though I've found The Elmer pub and hotel in Bognor Regis.

Elmer is a district of Bognor/Middleton-on-Sea, where that pub is.
https://goo.gl/maps/R7CRe

[GuyBarry]

Ah, thanks.

[RobbieM]

And I was in Elmer recently, visiting friends of friends. We passed through Ford on the journey there!

[GuyBarry]

And I was in Elmer recently, visiting friends of friends. We passed through Ford on the journey there!

Does it have a high street? (I admit I've never been there.)

[RobbieM]

Does it have a high street? (I admit I've never been there.)

Nope - it has 'Ford Road', 'Ford Lane' and 'Station Road'. Maybe the 'Ford High St' reference could be 'corrected' in further speech...? Just a thought.

[GuyBarry]

Does it have a high street? (I admit I've never been there.)

Nope - it has 'Ford Road', 'Ford Lane' and 'Station Road'. Maybe the 'Ford High St' reference could be 'corrected' in further speech...? Just a thought.

Oh that's all right, I'll plead dramatic licence. There's no Leyburn Avenue in South Kensington either (probably just as well, we might get complaints from the actual residents of number 23!).

Now, that’s John, ROY, AL, VICTOR, IAn, James Smith, James WOOD, SID, Eric, another ROY, AL – ‘ALBERT’ we actually called him to distinguish him from the other Al. Then Pete, LEWIS, HAMish WEST, HAMish Jones…”

That's fifteen people. Shouldn't it be a rugby team?

[RobbieM]

That's fifteen people. Shouldn't it be a rugby team?

Such a good point, I shall edit it to be so!!!

I've left the last entry 'hanging' a little, as I have to dash off now, but I'm sure you can pick it up from there!

[GuyBarry]

I've left an even bigger cliffhanger (and only 15 stations to wrap it all up!)

[RobbieM]

14 to go... need to work out a final wrap-up...

[GuyBarry]

Jane looked up at the stranger, recognising him suddenly.

"You're that guy with the silverware, aren't you?" she asked, and indeed it was Lloyd Parkins, better known to us as Don.

OK...

The stranger in the cemetery looked at them oddly, then towards the horizon where the fires from the wreck were still blazing.

"Who are you, anyway?" he asked, finally.
"aLAN S. DOWNE, ROAD traffic employee at Queenstown Road Haulage. Pleased to meet you."

So he's Don/Lloyd and Alan? Don't understand. Don't think I can wrap up this mystery in a mere two stations.

[The Orange One]

Jane has already met Don, in the guise of Lloyd Parkins. I'm going to edit that bit out, though, as then Lloyd Perkins only appears once. The stranger does not know Don's name, though. I was attempting to play yet another new name for laughs - Don is no relation to Alan Waddington! I was just stuck for a good first name. I'll change Alan to Dylan.