Nice-looking station! Where is it?

[RobbieM]

Okay, it’s another ‘guess the station from the photo’ competition. My last one was pretty tricky, but I’m hoping that the ones I put in this thread will be slightly easier/more interesting, and perhaps educational.

I’ll generally try and include bonus questions, and even make the hints interesting. Can’t say fairer than that!

Anyway, on with the Motley…

[trains 500]

great apart from nothing exists

[RobbieM]

...sorry, they were delayed due to the wrong type of ice on the line...

There are two stations to guess here. So I think we'll call them Station A and Station B.

As they look very similar, I was tempted to play “Spot the Difference” rather than “Name the Station”, but I’ll stick with the original idea. So:

• Name both stations.
• Bonus question: On the first station, what is significant about the left-hand rail as it heads towards the buffer?

Please PM your answers to me. I’ll decide on hints etc. based on people’s interest and progress.

Have fun!

[tubeguru]

Ooh, one that I know

[RobbieM]

Ooh, one that I know

Thought you might! I guessed starting with an easy one (or two) might be wise…

[RJSRdg]

Yes, I think I've figured this one out as well.

[RobbieM]

Yes, I think I've figured this one out as well.

Fabulous, I expect a PM from you soon! I've had a lot of entries so far, all correct; so this particular competition may be over reasonably soon. (There is another in the pipeline, though.)

[RobbieM]

As we're going so well, I'll speed this up a bit, giving a hint now for any latecomers. (Then I'll probably reveal the answer at the weekend, meaning another challenge can be available.) Here goes:

A couple of weeks ago, we left RJSRdg's hypothetical pet family crow standing at Rhymney station. (You can read about this in another thread, if you've just joined us...)

From Rhymney, the crow decides to make a trip to the north pole, taking the most direct path. His planned route would pass between our two mystery stations, and be less than 10 miles from each of them.

(In the end, he realises that the North Pole is a bit dark in February, so files back to Saundersfoot until the weather warms up a bit. But that's not relevant to the hint...)

[trains 500]

youre clearly bored just like me so ill continue it on

The crow decides to travel south to the south pole instead however he becomes... to be continued

[RobbieM]

... to be continued

Careful! He may fly off into another topic...

[trains 500]

tbf i couldnt think of anything so thats why i put to be continued

[RobbieM]

No worries. There'll be a new station to guess very soon, I wonder if the crow will pop along to it?

(It will be probably be harder to guess than these two, but easier than Rhymney.)

[RobbieM]

The answers and a new challenge are coming in the next few hours... . . . [Oh, the tension is unbearable... ]

[RobbieM]

Well, thank you for your entries, everyone. And I can now reveal the answers:

Station A is Thurso.
Station B is Wick.

And the bonus? Due to the orientation of Thurso station, the left-hand rail as it heads towards the buffers is
the furthest north running rail on the network! (Every entrant got this eventually; one or two needed
an extra prod, but got there in the end.)

So, congratulations to those who got them all right:

• Tubeguru
• DavidC
• michael_churchill
• trains 500

New challenge coming shortly! ...

[RobbieM]

...and here it is:

So, we’ve done Station A and Station B. Let’s call this one Station C, just to be different.

(1) Name Station C.
(2) Bonus question: If you travel almost four miles along the line from this station, you encounter a feature which is unique on the National Rail network. What is it?

(I’m 99.9% sure the feature in the bonus is unique, anyway, but happy to be proved otherwise.)

Have fun, and PM your answers!