Nice-looking station! Where is it?

[tubeguru]

Indeed, they do. But the 777s also use a bit of battery, of course. And that means that when Merseyrail extended their network last year, they could run to one more terminus station and back on battery power, with no need of third rail.

You may be interested to read in the Class 777 Wikipedia entry that:

"Because current regulatory policy makes it unlikely that future extensions of Merseyrail's unshielded third rail traction power supply will be approved, Class 777 units will be delivered with provision for the future installation of 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line traction equipment". Another article I found elsewhere states that Class 777s will be "prepared for later retrofit of ETCS and 25 kV power supply equipment".

There is a clue to the overhead wires coming at some point in the photo, although I wouldn't expect anyone to know that's what it is. The two square signs in the distance, one of which is above the orange-clad P-way man on the right, are "advance traction changeover" signs, warning the driver that a change of traction is coming up. Beyond the square sign on the left, one can see the larger "pan down" sign (it looks like a white rectangle on a black background from this distance). These signs would not be here if there weren't any overhead wires, or if none were planned to be installed.

[RobbieM]

You may be interested to read in the Class 777 Wikipedia entry that:

"Because current regulatory policy makes it unlikely that future extensions of Merseyrail's unshielded third rail traction power supply will be approved, Class 777 units will be delivered with provision for the future installation of 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line traction equipment". Another article I found elsewhere states that Class 777s will be "prepared for later retrofit of ETCS and 25 kV power supply equipment".

There is a clue to the overhead wires coming at some point in the photo, although I wouldn't expect anyone to know that's what it is. The two square signs in the distance, one of which is above the orange-clad P-way man on the right, are "advance traction changeover" signs, warning the driver that a change of traction is coming up. Beyond the square sign on the left, one can see the larger "pan down" sign (it looks like a white rectangle on a black background from this distance). These signs would not be here if there weren't any overhead wires, or if none were planned to be installed.

Well, interesting! You learn something new every day. I'll keep an eye on this, and may need to take a third photo some years in the future once the catenary is in place. I guess the 777s will keep their Duracells anyhow? Otherwise it's back to the Bunny shop!

[RobbieM]

Well, going back to my 1980s days of watching Catchphrase, Roy Walker would always tell us it was “Fast and Furious in the ‘Ready Money’ Round!” And one of the reasons was they were “Taking Out the Bell”!

So, I have plenty of nice-looking station photos in my collection still to be played. But if folk want them to change quicker, then something has to give. So, in order to be “Fast and Furious”, I’ll try “Taking out the Bonus.” It’s often tricky to set a bonus without it becoming a hint in its own right, so it slows me down.

Your challenge is to guess the stations as quickly as possible (without using AI to cheat, of course; I’m sure no-one on this forum would do that…). And my answers may be a bit more succinct going forwards. We’ll see how it goes.

Just Yankee and Zulu to play in the phonetic alphabet series, then I’m moving on to an alphabet of musical instruments. Some of which may be unusual ones….

Yankee coming in a day or two.

[tubeguru]

You may be interested to read in the Class 777 Wikipedia entry that:

"Because current regulatory policy makes it unlikely that future extensions of Merseyrail's unshielded third rail traction power supply will be approved, Class 777 units will be delivered with provision for the future installation of 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line traction equipment". Another article I found elsewhere states that Class 777s will be "prepared for later retrofit of ETCS and 25 kV power supply equipment".

There is a clue to the overhead wires coming at some point in the photo, although I wouldn't expect anyone to know that's what it is. The two square signs in the distance, one of which is above the orange-clad P-way man on the right, are "advance traction changeover" signs, warning the driver that a change of traction is coming up. Beyond the square sign on the left, one can see the larger "pan down" sign (it looks like a white rectangle on a black background from this distance). These signs would not be here if there weren't any overhead wires, or if none were planned to be installed.

Well, interesting! You learn something new every day. I'll keep an eye on this, and may need to take a third photo some years in the future once the catenary is in place. I guess the 777s will keep their Duracells anyhow? Otherwise it's back to the Bunny shop!

The only thing about what I said is that the signs are for pan DOWN. And a train approaching those signs has only just literally left Headbolt Lane. So why would you only use the wires from the station to the sign? But that's what the signs mean

[RobbieM]

Catenary for just 3/4 of a mile? Interesting…

Right, back on topic tonight with Yankee, hopefully…

[RobbieM]

Fast and furious - no frills, no bonus - just PM me the location of Station Yankee!

[tubeguru]

So you decided to make the quick ones more of less impossible?

[RobbieM]

So you decided to make the quick ones more of less impossible?

I cropped this photo considerably to fool the AI, but hopefully leave some clues for the intrepid rail traveller.

I might enlarge it later if necessary.

[tubeguru]

So you decided to make the quick ones more of less impossible?

I cropped this photo considerably to fool the AI, but hopefully leave some clues for the intrepid rail traveller.

I might enlarge it later if necessary.

It reminds me of somewhere, but nothing's coming to mind, so I have no leads to search on. Hmmmm ....

[RobbieM]

It reminds me of somewhere, but nothing's coming to mind, so I have no leads to search on. Hmmmm ....

I’m going to take the unusual step of describing what I had to crop for AI purposes, which is the main clue I initially intended to show.

The ‘bridge’ which appears to be going over the tracks isn’t a standard bridge. And the tiny bit of stonework I left in the top left corner is part of the same structure. Which I was hoping the angles would hint that this isn’t a normal bridge arch.

In fact, the structure above the tracks is a very distinct, gothic-style, pointed arch. And quite odd to be above rail tracks in this fashion. So what is its purpose? And where is it? Hope it helps!

[tubeguru]

It reminds me of somewhere, but nothing's coming to mind, so I have no leads to search on. Hmmmm ....

I’m going to take the unusual step of describing what I had to crop for AI purposes, which is the main clue I initially intended to show.

The ‘bridge’ which appears to be going over the tracks isn’t a standard bridge. And the tiny bit of stonework I left in the top left corner is part of the same structure. Which I was hoping the angles would hint that this isn’t a normal bridge arch.

In fact, the structure above the tracks is a very distinct, gothic-style, pointed arch. And quite odd to be above rail tracks in this fashion. So what is its purpose? And where is it? Hope it helps!

So we're now at the point where you're cropping out helpful clues because you're worried that the three people who actually do these things are going to bother to use AI to get the answer?

I hate AI, so I won't be doing it. If the others want to do it, that's up to them. But they'd have to live with the knowledge that they cheated for the rest of their lives. And so what if they do use AI? The whole point of these things is for the enjoyment of getting the right answer. If we can only see a piece of track and some fencing, then there really isn't much enjoyment to be had.

I think you're overdoing it with worrying about AI ...

[RobbieM]

Yes, I was coming to that conclusion too…

I’ll try and get the full photo back this evening. (It was months back that I cropped it in preparation.)

[RobbieM]

Righto, folks. Here's the full picture of Station Yankee I'd initially intended to show before people started talking about Google Lens on the thread.

Hope that makes it a bit easier now. And as our tubeguru says, if you cheat, you'll have to live with the shame of that decision for the rest of your life.
You may get a criminal record, and it could even affect your credit rating.

PMs please!

[greatkingrat]

Is it cheating if you just read the unblanked station name sign?

[RobbieM]

Is it cheating if you just read the unblanked station name sign?

I guess not. You can use any clues in the picture you find useful.

(Oh, the pitfalls of having to rush a simple task in a small space of time… )

You still have to PM me your answer, though!