So, time to close Station L. (Well, not
close it; it’s a very useful station, but you know what I mean…)
Let’s look at the hint: “This comedian no pay tax? Many people cross over this!” Well, many people were indeed cross some years back, when they heard Jimmy
Carr had allegedly been part of a tax avoidance scheme. Now read the second part of the hint in a different way, what do “many people cross over”? All sorts of things, but the most obvious is a
bridge. Now put the two together, and you’ll get our mystery station, which is
Carrbridge.
And them bonus questions? You were looking for something that changed the view
dramatically, and I’m sure there was plenty of Googling going on. The hint for bonus 1 was “Whoops! I really don’t think the driver wanted to do that!” You saw how cold it was in my photo. This was cold enough to freeze the brakes of a freight train on its way from Inverness to Mossend yard. The train passed over Slochd summit; that’s when the driver realised he had a problem. The gentle descent towards Carrbridge wasn’t gentle enough for the runaway train, and it gathered speed over several miles. Finally it reached the points you see in my photo, and – well, you can see the result in
this picture, taken the following morning.
This 'day-after' photo was taken on 5th January 2010. The accident itself happened around 4pm on 4th January. So when was
my photo taken? In my write-up, I said that my photo was taken one
morning. And 24 hours later (the following morning) it looked similar. But the morning after that (another 24 hours), it was the mess you see in the second photo. So the accident happened between 24 and 48 hours after my visit, and it was the
afternoon of 4th January. This can only put the date of my photo as
3rd January 2010. (About 9:30am, if I remember correctly.)
My parents live in the Great Glen, and I’m almost always with them for Christmas and Hogmanay. There was an annual tradition for many years that we’d go to the Carrbridge Hotel’s final Ceilidh of the festive season. This was always on 2nd January, and we’d stay the night. My parents would then drop me at the station the next morning, say goodbye, and I’d begin my long journey southwards. This particular year, the train didn’t come (leaving me time to take photos of the station…). Not knowing what would happen with trains that day, we headed to Inverness station to enquire. Finally I managed to get a later train, (which passed through Carrbridge), and my journey continued. I’d got as far as Horwich (near Bolton) a couple of days later, when I heard of the accident.
Full well done to
TubeGuru,
Steevooo and
trains500 for working out the station before the hint.
Secondary well done to
RJSRdg for getting the station
after the hint was given.
For Bonus 1: Well done to
TubeGuru,
Steevooo and
RJSRdg.
For Bonus 2? Secondary well done to
TubeGuru and
Steevooo, who initially guessed 2nd January, then I invited them to recalculate, and both worked out the correct date. (RJSRdg initially guessed 4th January, then I invited a recalculation, but it never materialised.)
Right, that’s that ordeal finally over!
The next one is coming soon, hopefully by the end of the afternoon. It should be less complicated, but hopefully still a fun challenge…