We haven't examined the answers sent in yet. We will do so shortly. Meanwhile, here are the answers as we currently believe them to be. Of course, it is always possible with some questions that someone will show us that we are wrong in which case we will have to revise our answer list.
Question 1
We asked you to identify a London station (past or present) with a Christmas theme. As we had given Turkey Street as an example that was not a permitted answer. We were thinking of Noel Park & Wood Green. However we overlooked the far more obvious Angel or Angel Road. Any of those three would get you the point.
Question 2
The potential structural failure that wrought havoc in 2019 was Hammersmith Bridge which was closed due to the fear of the wrought iron structure catastrophically failing.
Question 3
The questions start to get harder. We wanted the location of the unusual traffic lights shown. There was a bit of a clue because we stated it was vaguely related to the previous question. The answer is Hammersmith Bus station where the arrangement of the bus bays in a central island and the location of the entrance and exit for buses necessitate these lights.
Question 4
The platform that became visible once more in 2019 was platform 5 at Acton Town which was the platform for the former Acton Town – South Acton shuttle (a favourite quiz theme of ours). It is believed that the advertising hoardings that hid it were taken down due to the wood becoming rotten. The is a nice picture on this thread on District Dave's Forum.
Question 5
We asked for a list of five Underground stations such that they fitted the pattern
AAAAA BBBBB
BBBBB CCCCC
CCCCC DDDDD
DDDDD EEEEE
EEEEE AAAAA
We allowed single-word stations with two syllables or two-word stations with any number of syllables.
As far as we are aware, the only stations that are consistent with the conditions are:
Royal Oak
Oakwood
Wood Green
Green Park
Park Royal
You could solve this by a brute force method having filtered out all stations that are not two words and are also not a single word of two syllables. However, the smart way is to realise that that Park Royal is a really good candidate since it, unusually, has the first word as one which normally appears last and a last word that normally appears first. Once Park Royal has been identified, the sequence pretty much falls into place. Using the index on the Tube Map may be helpful.
Question 6
Question 6 was similar in style to Question 5 but asked for two stations (both of two words) in the form
AAAAA BBBBB
AAAAA BBBBB CCCCC
The restriction makes Upminster/Upminster Bridge and Barking/Barkingside invalid so the only valid answer is West Ham and West Hampstead.
Question 7
We were looking for the next item in the sequence 1, 2a, 5a. It is fairly easy for followers our website and/or the Crossrail saga to realise that these are the revised opening phases that have taken place. 1 is Liverpool Street – Shenfield using (some) class 345 stock, 2a is Paddington – Heathrow using existing class 360 stock for all trains running between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow.
Somewhat more difficult is to identify what phase is expected to happen next. All the indications are that this will be phase 2b. Usual Hamlet-related jokes apply. With yet further delay to phase 3 (Abbey Wood – Paddington) meaning it won't open before 2021, it seems a near certainty that a full service between Paddington and Heathrow using Crossrail class 345 rolling stock (phase 2b) will happen before phase 3.
Question 8
We showed a large building with 'BOMBARDIER' on the side. We told you it was within Greater London. We then asked you to identify the nearest railway station. We have to admit to doing or best to mislead you. Bombardier is primarily an aerospace company that also makes trains and the building is located at the southern end of Biggin Hill Airport.
By our reckoning Hayes (Kent) railway station is closest. New Addington tram stop is surprisingly close but doesn't qualify. Not much further away than Hayes station is Knockholt station.
Question 9
We asked what Latimer Road tube station, Old Street Roundabout bus stop and the AC sidings at Selhurst depot had in common. We also asked you to explain what had changed on order for the items stated to qualify for this category.
We were looking for something along the lines that they are all misnomers but were not originally.
Latimer Road tube station was originally close to Latimer Road but the construction of a the Westway (A40) Flyover severed the road and the southern part was renamed Freston Road. Currently the station is around 500m from the nearest part of Latimer Road which is not much less than the distance between stations on the elevated part of the Hammersmith & City line.
Old Street Roundabout bus stop did originally serve Old Street roundabout but in 2019 the junction became a 'peninsula' as part of TfL's policy to eliminate roundabouts where practical as they are not cycle-friendly.
The 'AC' sidings at Selhurst were named as they were used to store the original electric stock on the Brighton Main Line (electrified as far as Coulsdon). This stock used overhead AC traction but was converted to or replaced by DC third rail stock almost a hundred years ago. Nevertheless, despite the sidings being DC sidings they are still officially known as and referred to as the AC sidings.
Question 10
We showed an extract of an advert put out by a transport organisation. We asked you to name the organisation. If you were observant you would have noticed that about 00:51 seconds in there is a caption, which is clearly in a modern Johnston font. So the answer is that the organisation is TfL.
More difficult, unless you manage to track down the original video, is to name the group of people this advert was aimed at. The advert was actually about the need to notice cyclists when you weren't expecting them and so the advert was aimed at motorists.
The original video is on YouTube and can be linked to here.
Question 11
This was a question about the station with the greatest number of electric traction systems past and present. We reckon the answer is Stratford.
The post-World-War-2 Shenfield electrification programme brought 630V fourth rail on the Central line and 1500V DC overhead on the Liverpool St – Shenfield service. The Shenfield service was then converted to a combination of 6.25kV and 25kV AC overhead with the lower voltage applying in the Stratford area. When it was realised that required clearances required for AC traction were less than originally mandated a decision was made to convert all 6.25kV systems to 25kV.
In addition Stratford used to have the North London line extended North Woolwich and that ran on 750V DC third rail. Finally, it is served by the DLR which is also 750V third rail but this is a 750V third rail bottom-contact system completely incompatible with the other 750V third rail system.
Question 12
We asked what something probably was if it was described as 'pre-Worboys'. The answer is a road sign.
For details of pre-Worboys traffic signs see this post by Diamond Geezer. We will come back to traffic signs in question 16.
Question 13
We asked what made the bus stop that we showed unique. The bus stop had a location name of St George's hospital.
We will be generous with the answers and accept anything reasonable. The sign in question is indoors and in use. It is located inside a hospital. It is approved by TfL although no buses stop at it. It is actually located in the dementia ward at St George's hospital and is intended to help dementia patients by being something familiar that they will recognise.
More details can be found on this tweet by TfL.
Question 14
We asked why TfL served station on the Great Western Main Line did not follow the usual convention of the first platform on the left being platform 1 as you look towards London.
The answer is a bit complicated but if you get the gist of it we will give you the point.
Strictly speaking, the convention is that the first platform on the left as you look towards the direction of the original railway company's headquarters is platform 1. Clearly the rule about looking towards London only works for railway companies that went to London.
The Great Western Railway, very unusually, didn't locate its headquarters in a major town but chose, diplomatically, to originally locate its headquarters midway between London and Bristol.
Stating that the Great Western Railway always had to be different to everyone else won't get you the point – even if it is largely true.
The Great Western is not unique in this respect and stations between Battersea Park and Selhurst (inclusive) generally have the platform numbers 'the wrong way round'. New Cross Gate on the Brighton Main Line is somewhat stranger as it is an isolated case.
For the second part of the question, we asked which at TfL stations on the Great Western Main Line could you catch a train originating from Heathrow from an odd numbered platform.
The 'obvious' (but wrong) answer is Hayes & Harlington as it has fairly recently had a new terminating platform added to the north side of the station as part of the Crossrail upgrade and some TfL start from there. However, this does not actually qualify as the service doesn't originate from Heathrow as required in the question. We will not penalise you for this answer but you won't get a point either.
The answer we were looking for is Hanwell. We believe that, rather strangely, there never was a platform at Hanwell on the down main line. This would normally be platform 1. Consequently the up main (no longer used) is platform 1, the down relief is platform 2 and the up relief is platform 3. You can see this on the National Rail station map for Hanwell which, somewhat confusingly, has south at the top.
It is important to note that the TfL service from Heathrow using class 360 stock does call at Hanwell. Class 345 'Crossrail' trains do not currently call at Hanwell.
Question 15
We asked in what way ATO (automatic train operation) on the Jubilee line assisted TfL's inclusivity and diversity objectives in 2019. The answer was it enabled people with colour-blindness to become train operators since they were not required to be able to differentiate between red and green signals. See this Evening Standard article for more details.
Question 16
We asked where a street sign displaying various restrictions relating to vehicles was located.
The fact that there was a height restriction suggested a very low overbridge or a tunnel. However, overbridges do not usually have width restrictions. The Rotherhithe Tunnel becomes an obvious possibility and the challenge then is to deduce which approach road the sign could be on. One way is to note the slightly unusual bridge in the background which in fact is at Limehouse station. Another way is to track down this diagram on the TfL website.
The answer is on the A13 westbound on the approach to the Rotherhithe tunnel. Any reasonably similar answer will be accepted.
We then asked what the bottom right prohibition sign was. This is actually a sign forbidding Hazchem (hazardous chemicals) plated vehicles from using the tunnel. A plated vehicle is one that, by law, must display an orange rectangle to indicate that hazardous chemicals are on board.
The strange thing is that this sign does not appear to be present in the Highway Code or in any other formal publication referenced in a road traffic law so one wonders how it can be enforced. It is even worse at the approach to the Blackwall tunnel which appears to have numerous invented traffic signs that may have no legal status.
More challenging still is the question about what the 'E' means on the sign. This actually specifically forbids a particular sub-category of hazardous chemicals which suggests that vehicles carrying other chemicals are permitted which seems rather confusing and contradictory. We did put a request in to TfL using their 'contact us' page to clarify what the sign meant but we got no reply.
Question 17
We asked about various things found under London terminus stations
a) St Pancras, famously, used to have beer barrels (from the brewing town of Burton-on-Trent) stored in the station undercroft.
b) Paddington used to have checkin desks for Heathrow. The luggage then went on a conveyor belt under the station prior to being loaded on the train. You can see one of Geoff Marshall's Londonist videos about it here.
c) In the Great Northern Hotel (now linked to King's Cross) there is a replica 1890 padded cell. The replica can been seen in this tweet.
d) The remains of Matthew Flinders was found buried in the vicinity of Euston station as part of the preparatory work for HS2. Flinders Street station in Melbourne is probably one of the busiest stations in the southern hemisphere.
e) Under Charing Cross station is, amongst other things, the Charing Cross Theatre.
f) London Bridge station hosted a replica Spitfire - as reported by the Evening Standard.
Question 18
We asked what special events or occasions had a custom design roundel temporarily adorning TfL stations in 2019:
- Pride 2019
- Poppy Day 2019
- World Children’s Day
- Larry Achiampong: Celebration of African Art (Westminster Station)
- The opening of the new Lion King film ("Lion Kings Cross" at Kings Cross)
England men's football team qualification ("Gareth Southgate")- England women's football team success (Lionesses)
- Westminster Jungle (Promotional event / tie-in with the The Times)
- Walthamstow, first London Borough of Culture
Question 19
We asked you to name a station had three direct trains a day from London but none to London. Either Rotterdam or Amsterdam are valid answers. It happens because of a passport control issue which means that passengers currently have to change at Brussels on the return journey to London. Sometime in 2020 when the necessary infrastructure is in service at Amsterdam and Rotterdam this restriction should be removed.
An out-of-date PDF file of the timetable can be found on the Eurostar website here. There is no up-to-date one online.
Question 20
The question showed a picture of a robin on what was clearly a rather decrepit Underground train and asked why the robin was in a sticky situation.
The answer is because the robin is on a Rail Adhesion Train (RAT). These are London Underground trains, generally converted from old rolling stock, that lay a sticky paste on the track to help with adhesion during autumn (or 'the leaf-fall season' as it is called on the railways).
