Firstly, thanks to everyone who entered this year. Again, as always, we were amazed at how many people managed to get a good number of the questions right. We’ll reveal the final prize list and winners next week, but in the meantime here are the answers.
Q1: The easy warm up question – where are we? Or rather where were we and what happens next?
We are at Silvertown – the NLL extension to North Woolwich soon to be Crossrail’s south eastern branch (So Crossrail is what happens next). Our thanks and copyright acknowledgements to Roger Marks for the use of his picture.
Q2: Which Railway Junction is featured in this 1919 painting? Who painted it?
Kentish Town Junction by Edward Montgomery O’Rorke Dickey (1894-1977)
Q3: Mark Wheeler was the last man standing – why and when?
He was the last guard on the last-guard-worked service on the last train composed of 1959 Tube Stock that ran on the Northern Line on 27th of July 2000.
Q4: Where are we? And who owned this station when it was suddenly closed in 1940.
Gallions, owned by The Port of London Authority. The station closed never to be reopened after bombing in 1940.
Q5: There is a station on the Underground with a rather unique claim to fame – it is named after a Street that doesn’t actually exist. What is the station?
Bond Street station is what we were looking for. There is no Bond Street. There is, however, an Old Bond Street and a New Bond Street.
Q6: Where are we? What is the moving tale behind this picture?
Hounslow West. This is the former staircase leading from the back of station designed by Holden built in to the former District and later Piccadilly line. The moving tale is that the line was realigned with a new island through platform being built just to the north of the existing station as part of the Piccadilly Line extension to Hatton Cross and Heathrow
Q7: 2013 saw the death of Margaret Thatcher, a Prime Minister rather keen on privatisation. So what was the only nationalisation to take place during her time at Downing Street?
The creation of London Regional Transport in 1984 after the disbanding of the GLC. We’re actually going to be rather strict on this one as yes, it does appear there are others – but as I pointed out in the comments, the one we were after should have been relatively clear!
Q8: Where in London will you find these four Olympic “survivors”? And why is one of them not really a survivor at all?
These are: Wembley Park, Kings Cross St Pancras, Piccadilly Circus and Tower Hill. It is Tower Hill that was not truly the survivor. As can perhaps be guessed from the photos, it has been repainted after the Olympics – earlier this year in fact.
Q9: What former Metropolitan Line station can now in some sense be said to be under itself? It was a station then, and it still is now…
There is always at least one question where we end up deciding to take multiple answers. That’s the case here. We will accept Swiss Cottage, where the old Metropolitan Line station is effectively underneath the Jubilee. What we were after, however, was Marlborough Road, where the old Metropolitan Line station building is now being reused as an electrical substation. You’ll get a bonus point if you got that.
Q10: Where are we? And what would be perhaps the easiest way to get to Oxford from here today?
This is the old Hillingdon Station. Anything involving the A40, which runs through the site now, or the Oxford Tube is going to get you the points for the easiest way to Oxford from there now.
Q11: What thread links Holdsworth, Black, Straub, Groag, Sewell and Wallace Jones?
Moquette. Halifax based John Holdsworth and Company have produced seating Moquette for London buses, trams, trolleybuses and trains based on designs created by Misha Black, Marianne Straub, Jacqueline Groag, Harriet Wallace Jones and Emma Sewell.
Q12: What station is pictured below?
Wittenbergplatz on the Berlin U-Bahn. The Roundel was a gift from London Transport in 1952 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U-Bahn itself. We’re shocked and disappointed with those of you who answered “Wood Lane.”
Q13: Twitter was full of birthday wishes for the Underground in January. But the one below was rather special. Who tweeted?
This was tweeted by the official account for the New York Subway (or more properly the Metropolitan Transport Authority), and was possibly my favourite tweet of last year. Those readers who follow me or the official LR account will probably remember this from the time.
Q14: What do a portrait of John Hough, Annie Mole’s blog and a Brazilian oil company, have in common? Clue: A glass of a singularly popular German Beer might inspire you.
The common link is original art work covers used on the TfL’s pocket tube map derived from Harry Beck’s design (the singular German beer). In full: Portrait of John Hough – November 2007- by Jeremy Deller and Paul Ryan, Going Underground – March 2008 – by Mark Wallenger and Petrobras (Rio) – December 2012 – by Sarah Morris. Bonus points for each one you got.
Q15: Which station approach is this?
Paddington Station. Yes, it is snapped from Royal Oak, but it is the Paddington approach (For the record I was particularly proud of the filename on this one).
Q16: What links a Pacific monarch, an angry bird, war surplus generators, Cornish holiday makers, a not so southern port and a not so northern railway line?
Battersea Park. We were genuinely impressed with how many of you got the correct answer to this one. Points for each link. Neptune (a monarch) and Wild Goose (angry bird) were 15” gauge 4-6-2 (pacific) locomotives, based on the cartoons of Rowland Emett, built for the 1951 Festival of Britain miniature railway in Battersea Park. Over two million visitors travelled on the line during the Festival. (Emmet is Cornish for ant and used to describe tourists.) The locomotive were diesel electric (and utilised war-surplus searchlight components). They were built by Harry Barlow, the owner of Southport’s Lakeside Miniature Railway. The Northern Line’s Battersea Extenions south of the Thames extension from Nine Elms completes the puzzle.
Q17: Next year will mark 100 years since the beginning of the Great War. Where in London will you find this most recent addition to the memorials to fallen railwaymen?
This is now in place at Kings Cross. Bonus point for the person who correctly pointed out its actually a resetting of the original 1920 memorial, purely because I’m a bit of a war memorial geek and I hadn’t spotted that myself.
Q18: Who is supposed to have admonished staff at a London terminal with the words, “Not so fast next time, Mr Conductor” following a seventeen mile journey that took twenty two minutes.
Prince Albert. It was at Paddington following Queen Victoria’s first trip by rail from Slough to Paddington in 1842.
Q19: Historically speaking, Kings Cross and St Pancras are two of only three London terminals that truly make the grade. What is the third?
Paddington Station. They are the three Grade 1 listed terminals in London. A bonus prize to the first person in the comments on this post to name all the Grade 1 listed terminals outside the Capital.
Q20: And finally it is time for “Tingey’s curse” – the dreaded “guess the line” question. So which of London’s iron roads is this? What was the power output of the traction units used (you will probably find it easier to give the output in imperial units)?
The Surrey Iron Railway. As long as you picked up that the power output was therefore in actual horses you’re good for the other point.
Thanks to all of you who entered!
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