As we expected there were rather fewer answers send in this year. Most of these arrived on the last day so we haven’t had a chance to examine them in details and, maybe, permit alternative answers. Below are our intended answers.
Question 1
This was actually a question all about Box Hill and the local area. Box Hill is arguably the best known location on the North Downs Way.
a) We asked what station, potentially useful for walking the North Downs Way, was missing from the diagram displayed. The primary station at Dorking, also known as Dorking (Main), is shown on the diagram. Dorking station is normally a very convenient station when coming from central or south west London and visiting Box Hill. It has a good train service and from the station there is easy access to ‘the stepping stones’ which lead to a path to take you to the top of Box Hill.
Unaccountably omitted is Dorking Deepdene station which is only a couple of minutes walk from Dorking station and much more convenient if approaching from the east or west or from parts of south London (change at Redhill).
What appears to have happened is that Dorking Deepdene appears to be present and mislabelled as Dorking West. The real Dorking West station is located much further to the west (and in fact fairly close to Dorking Town centre) but not especially convenient for the North Downs Way.
We know that other stations aren’t shown but we would argue that Dorking Deepdene stands out as a station that should have been shown on the diagram
b) First an apology in that, in retrospect, the question could have been better worded. We asked what station was misleading in its proximity to the North Downs Way due to part of the station name being omitted.
The full title of the station marked as Box Hill is Box Hill & Westhumble and it is located in the village of Westhumble. It is not much closer to Box Hill than Dorking or Dorking Deepdene and involves an unpleasant crossing of the A24 or an alternative route using a subway which means an even longer walk. Also, to get to Box Hill from the station requires a climb of around 180 metres – as it does from all three local stations.
Having said that, it has been pointed out that there is a footpath meaning one can easily access the North Downs Way which is helpful if intending to walk west rather than visit Box Hill. But, in that case, it would be even more helpful if the full title of the station was given.
We know that Borough Green & Wrotham was shown just as Borough Green. However, given that the station is at Borough Green and not particularly near Wrotham (which is on the North Downs Way) we would argue the more accurate but technically incorrect name given is justified.
London Road (Guildford) is shown as just London Road which is understandable and Gomshalll station was called Gomshall & Shere until 1980 and is correctly shown as Gomshall.
c) As pointed out in an unexpectedly correct answer to a different quiz question a couple of years ago, there is a steam locomotive called Boxhill preserved at the National Railway Museum.
Question 2
The critical part of the article which is referring to face covering usage on the Underground is
[i]t is closely followed by … and Waterloo & City Line (43 per cent)
Given that the Waterloo & City line closed at the start of the Covid epidemic in the UK and this was long before face covering wearing came compulsory and the line is still closed, the statistic cannot possibly be correct. So the article must, at the very least, be dubious.
Question 3
The objective that Crossrail reached years ahead of any target date to do so was serving Terminal 5 at Heathrow. This objective was first mentioned by us in The Final Result: Crossrail Heads to Terminal 5 and was discussed further in the article Crossrail: Timetable for Success? and reaching Terminal 5 was confirmed in Crossrail (finally) reaches Stage 2 of opening and elsewhere.
The current relevant TfL Rail timetable shows TfL Rail serving Terminal 5.
Question 4
The day Donald Trump had clearly won the 2016 presidential election was the same day as the tram overturning on the Croydon Tram network. We will forgive you if you call it a tram crash but apparently overturning is technically the correct term.
The inquest has still not been held. It was put back again in 2020 due to Covid and is now due to take place in 2021. One can question what point there is in having an inquest so long after the incident and after an accident report and most of its recommendations have already been implemented but it probably is a legal necessity.
Question 5
New Cross station had no London Overground service for a number of months due to the New Cross – Dalston Junction service being withdrawn until passenger numbers and staff availability justified its reinstatement.
Question 6
In November 2013 at a press announcement at Piccadilly Circus station, Boris Johnson announced the closure of all TfL-run ticket offices on the Underground. At the same time he announced the planned introduction of the Night Tube and it was clear that the Mayor was keen to imply that operation of the Night Tube was dependent on the revenue saving from the ticket office closures. This is despite a 2008 manifesto commitment to defend ticket offices. Reductions in working hours and redundancies took place in 2010.
The event at Piccadilly Circus was covered by us in two parts:
Big Changes Gonna Come (Part 1): The Night Tube and Big Changes Gonna Come (Part 2): A New Approach to Ticket Sales.
Of course, Night Tube has not run since the start of travel restrictions due to Covid.
Question 7
The only service TfL is legally obliged to run is the Woolwich Ferry. This is down to an old Act of Parliament requiring the Metropolitan Board of Works to run the ferry as a free service. This obligation was inherited originally by the London County Council which superseded the Metropolitan Board of Works in a much expanded role and has remained a legal requirement with TfL currently obliged to run the service.
There are other requirements such as to provide a licensing service for taxis. Also a more general one to provide free school transport for certain qualifying schoolchildren but nothing is said about the manner in which providing school transport is done or the routes provided. It could be done, for example, contracting the necessary journeys to minicab firms.
Question 8
a) The obvious answer to the first part which asked what can you now do at stations that you couldn’t do before is that you can sanitise your hands. This applies to just about all stations.
b) Less obvious is the second part which concerns what you can’t now do on the Underground and the DLR except at a few stations. Paying for your ticket in cash is only now possible at 72 stations on London Underground or the DLR. A full list can be found here.
Not relevant to the answer but possibly of interest, TfL is now proposing to permanently eliminate cash completely from TfL run stations and the DLR. Opponents argue that this would make life difficult for those without a bank account. Others will argue that particular Rubicon has already been crossed with the withdrawal of cash from TfL buses.
Question 9
a) Resignalling the last remaining panel at London Bridge Signal box was delayed because of the requirement to socially distance on the project. Some work was carried out over Easter as planned but not all of it.
b) More specifically upgrading the signals themselves was normally upgraded or replaced by at least two people working close together and it was this that caused the delay.
The work was finally completed during a nine day closure from 25 July to 2 August 2020.
Question 10
Hornby Railways reported a bumper surge in sales in the six months to the end of September 2020 which they believe is due to Covid-19.
Question 11
We asked what went from 7 to 9 then to 7 again then to 9 again? Unknowingly we had rather jumped the gun when we set the question but it was prefixed with ‘[i]n 2020’ so we feel the question is still entirely valid. This is another Crossrail question and it was intended for refer to the Crossrail rolling stock running between Reading and London Paddington. This started off as 7-car because the software wasn’t ready on the 9-car trains. Then the service was run with 9-car trains but an interface problem between the signalling software on the 9-car trains and hardware on the track in the West Drayton area led to the 9-car trains being temporarily withdrawn. The 9-car trains were reinstated on the 22nd December.
Meanwhile, the same sequence of a changed number of carriages had happened on the service between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington terminating in the bay platform.
Note that 7-car trains have never run to Heathrow because the software only present on the 9-car trains is necessary for Class 345 trains to run to Heathrow.
Any answer referencing either service or a more general description such as ‘TfL Rail services in West London‘ would be acceptable.
This should have been a very easy question because the answer was practically given in a comment on a related article:
Full 9-car operation restored on the west side of London this morning with a similar swap of 7-car for 9-car units for Reading services last night to that which took place in the opposite direction on evening of 11 June.
Recent comment
This follows the introduction of new software on the 9-car units at the start of December, initially on Heathrow services and then on Hayes services from 8 December.
Question 12
a) You would probably pay more in fares to view the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 2021 because it is planned to take place on the River Ouse near Ely.
b) The non-Covid reason for this is because river traffic is not currently allowed under Hammersmith Bridge due to its poor structural condition.
Question 13
a) The picture shows the Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre at Gravesend. The title is deliberately vague. If you look carefully at the photo you can see the Thames Estuary in the background.
b) The centre is used for public order training (which includes dealing with riots) and is the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police and ultimately MOPAC (The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime).
The Specialist Training Centre used to be based near Heathrow but, reputedly, one of its reasons for moving was that it caused alarm to pilots landing at Heathrow when they saw on approach what appeared to be a full-scale riot taking place.
Question 14
a) The sign shown applies to Beech Street in the Barbican. This was mentioned in an article by Diamond Geezer in March 2020 and the full photo (above) subsequently appears in another article by Diamond Geezer. Thanks to Diamond Geezer for supplying the photo at full resolution so that it could be suitably cropped. Of course, in a normal year we would obtain our own photo.
b) The sign means No Motor Vehicles. So, yes, a coach and horses would be definitely allowed to go down the road as not only is it legally regarded as creating zero emissions (even though clearly horses can emit greenhouse gases), it is not a motor vehicle.
It has also been pointed out that since a coach and horses does not need a number plate there would be no way of enforcing transgressions if it were not legal.
Question 15
This is Queen’s Park platform 1 which is the London Overground southbound platform. The third (outer) rail is shiny because third-rail DC 750V traction is used. The fourth (centre) rail is present to enable Bakerloo line trains to continue out-of-service to Kilburn High Road and reverse there in the event of the Underground being blocked south of Queen’s Park. As this is rarely used the rail is rusty and indeed the occasional out-of-service ‘rusty rail’ move is timetabled to ensure the electrical connection is maintained and that drivers have route knowledge to make the move.
Question 16
This was the open-ended question about National Rail stations with platform 2 and no platform 1 in zones 1-6.
We thought the ‘obvious’ ones were Tottenham Hale, Northumberland Park and Meridian Water (anticipating a future platform 1) together with Battersea Park and Queenstown Road Battersea. The last two are covered in a recent Youtube video by Jago Hazzard.
Acton Main Line and West Ealing were suggested but these do not appear to have a platform 2 that is in use. Hanwell has platform 1 as the historic platform but appears not to be in use although nothing suggests it is unusable. As these three are arguable, we have decided to exclude them but wouldn’t penalise those who mentioned it.
Two that we completely overlooked are Caledonian Road & Barnsbury and, most surprising of all, Twickenham which appears to have four platforms numbered 2 to 5.
Let us know if you think there are any more.
Question 17
We try to get a question about toilets in whenever we can. We asked which TfL passenger rolling stock had toilets aboard. Note that we were careful to word the question not to imply that the toilets were in use.
The answer is the Class 360 Heathrow Connect stock which TfL Rail took over for its London Paddington – Heathrow Terminal 4 service when it was apparent the class 345 would not be ready for this. Having taken over the service, one of TfL Rail’s first actions was to lock the toilets out of use. This was mentioned in our article Crossrail (finally) reaches Stage 2 of opening. So yet another Crossrail question.
Question 18
This was a locomotive question. The unexciting answer is ex-London Transport pannier tank L92. A photo and brief description of her can be found here.
Question 19
a) At first this might appear difficult but for London Underground historians it could really only be the ill-fated original Hounslow Town station on the District Railway. This was briefly called just ‘Hounslow’ originally. The unusual arrangement is described in detail in many Underground books and also covered recently by Geoff Marshall in one of his excellent videos recently which, confusingly, is about the Piccadilly branch to Heathrow.
b) As stated in the video and numerous books on the subject, the site of the original Hounslow Town station became Hounslow Bus Garage – which it still is to this day.
Question 20
This question about a man with a singular claim to fame would have been an almost impossible were it not for the large cryptic clue about ‘our knowledgeable friends’. It was clearly something to do with taxis and an internet search should have revealed that it refers to Michael “Jimmy” Howe which gives the answer to the first part of the question. The second part could have had more than one answer, possibly, but the singular claim to fame refers to the fact that he had licence number 1.
As Q17 only said TfL-operated, not TfL Rail, there are other possible answers – notably Class 317 on the Enfield/Chingford Overground route and Class 1`50 on the Goblin
Thanks for an enjoyable quiz. I’m surprised it yielded fewer entries, as I found it slightly easier than usual and can claim half the answers right (if a’s, b’s and c’s are counted individually), which makes a change. I look forward to further pronouncements on unexpected suggestions that may also be valid.
q1A
I totally agree with the official answer, but would suggest Sandling is equally valid.
For someone walking the route using the official stages, the most convenient station for the Etchinham stopover point is Sandling, which is not shown on the maps
Q8b
I managed to guess the answer that was intended, but (being a complete pedant), there was an error in the original question.
It wasn’t possible to pay for tickets using cash at all tube stations at the start of 2020. Canary Wharf Jubilee station stopped accepting cash on 27 October 2019.
(On the DistrictDave forum, there’s an archived copy of the email from Stephanie Bare, Area Manager, Canary Wharf, which announced this change)
I wonder of Dorking West is used instead of Deepdene on Q1a as it has step free access, unlike Deepdene. However the services to West are much less frequent, unlike Deepdene, where all services are always scheduled to stop,
Of course this implies thought in this decision instead of a cock up so probably not.
Although the picture for question 19 shows the remains of the Hounslow Town branch, there is no sign of the western curve that Geoff Marshall talks about and Clive’s Underground line guides claims was built in 1905. The 1912 Ordnance Survey map doesn’t show it either.
Thanks again for a wonderful diversion from Covid-Land!
I did OK… There were lots of missing stations on those maps for question 1 – Westenhanger, Sandling, Folkestone West, West Malling, East Malling, Barming but I should have remember Box Hill as an answer to Question 1c as that was my submission!
There were two stations with short names on the map, Borough Green & Wrotham, and Box Hill & Westhumble… and Maidstone East, Maidstone West and Barracks as three blobs but not in the right order.
I must admit I was convinced that the picture for Q13 by the Thames was in the train lines at Aggregates Wharf – the skyline is similar – but I got the right answer when I worked my way out of Greater London.
Q3 I was looking for a harder answer.
8a I should have got but the hand sanitiser at Stratford station ran out months ago so I discounted it as an answer. The dispensers are there but there nothing in them.
Q9 … didn’t get and have no idea how anyone even knows this to be true!
So got most of the rest apart from “Hornby” “L92” and “Michael “Jimmy” Howe” which are outside my general knowledge.
I think in the end Question 19 brought me the most joy!
Thanks for another excellent quiz. Can’t say that I found it significantly easier than previous years but maybe that’s because I haven’t been paying as much attention as usual over the last year.
And Happy New Year to everyone involved at London Reconnections.
Thanks for the quiz, it’s good to have something nice to worry over.
Q 1a – I disregarded Dorking because it looked like a simplification similar to Maidstone, but there is a blob missing in Dorking. Ho hum.
Q 16 – I’ll try and find something formal, but I think Hanwell counts. There’s a big drop from the doors of a fast train onto that platform, and the gates in the platform are a different design to the ones at, for instance, Ealing Broadway. They looked like they were designed for staff to use, rather than passengers.
Q 17 – I thought of the Heathrow Connect trains for the reason given, then started to second guess myself, and a bit of digging turned up the 317 and 150 trains mentioned by Timbeau. I decided to go for class 150 as its probably harder to prove that they never ran with unlocked toilets 🙂
Speculation about Hornby is interesting given all home based hobbies have done well.
The direct effect I saw was the outsourced tube sanitising contractor ABM’s whose annual accounts show the company posted pre-tax profits of £4.5 million for 2019, almost double what it made in 2018 (£2.39 million).
Ah ha!
“Western and Wales Sectional Appendix December 2020” from https://www.networkrail.co.uk/industry-and-commercial/information-for-operators/national-electronic-sectional-appendix/ gives:
Action Mainline – p206
Up Main Platform [2] 153m 167yds – OOU
Down Relief Platform [3] – 219m 239yds
Up Relief Platform [4] – 250m 273yds
West Ealing – p208
Platform 3 – 205m (224yds)
Platform 4 – 216m (236yds)
Bay Platform 5 – 114m (124yds)
Hanwell -p209
Down Platform [2] – 144m (157yds)
Up Platform [3] – 144m (157yds)
All maps were Last Updated 14/09/2019
Which means that West Ealing definitely doesn’t qualify.
Acton Mainline doesn’t qualify if you need platform 2 to be open.
Hanwell does qualify though as the train operators don’t consider platform 1 to exist.
Are we quite sure that the special stock ( Old ex-BR Mk 2’s IIRC ) that was (is?) used for the old “Steam on the Underground” etc runs does not qualify?
Otherwise utterly awful by me – surprised I didn’t spot Meridian Water, having got Tottie Hale, though. Um
Hi PoP – thanks for a great quiz as always and Happy New Year to all!
Q1c asked for the “name of the former steam locomotive”. I thought that “former” was significant and therefore discounted ‘Boxhill’ as it very much still exists at the National Rail Museum!
I think there are (at least) two that fit the bill: ‘Ranmore’ and ‘Denbies’, both LBSCR D1 class locomotives, withdrawn in 1948 and 1936 respectively – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LB%26SCR_D1_class_locomotives
(Ranmore Common is west of Box Hill, on the opposite side of the River Mole. Denbies was the house and surrounding estate owned by the Cubitt family, part of which is now Denbies Wine Estate.)
Looking at the list, I see there was also a D1 named Deepdene!
TFBTFO
Joe Brown’s Atlas shows that a brief spur ( 1905 or 1906 until 1909 ) existed S-to-W, just avoiding Hounslow town – which is why it doesn’t appear on the OS 25″ maps – but that not even a trace in the 1912/15 edition seems strange. “Cobb” shows a v tight curve between the two Hounslow Town stations & is described as only lasting from 1906 to 1909. Note the discrepancy, & that the latter possibility of curve, as shown in Cobb would be virtually of “dockside” radius.
Has anyone got a copy of Mike Horne’s “District Railway” available for consultation?
@TIMBEAU
I’m afraid that Deepdene (like Leith Hill) is part of the Greensand Ridge and not the North Downs – so wouldn’t be a valid answer for question 1c! (The former is made of Lower Greensand and the latter from chalk.)
Would a valid answer to Q16 be Clapham Junction? There is a platform 1 but it is out of use.
@Greg T
On the aerial view in the question there is the suspicion of a curved feature across the open ground south of Hounslow East station, starting just by the rear (London end) carriage of the train. Could this be a vestige of the curve (long gone by the time Town station was converted to a bus station, as it clearly already has in the picture).
I think the history is well documented on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hounslow_East_tube_station.
Both curves got closed at the same time, so it is unlikely that the brick structure (viaduct?) in the photo has been patched to cover up any remains. I conclude that the curve must indeed have been narrow.
Interestingly it appears all traffic had to reverse in Hounslow Town from 1905 to 1909, meaning there has not been a full triangle in use at any point in time!
@1956
The platform that is out of use at Clapham Junction is platform 0, platform 1 is used by the clockwise London Overground service to Highbury & Islington.
Albert JP
That’s the point … the diagram in “wiki” shows the temporary curve passing to the west of the station, & joining at the road-bridge. “Cobb” shows a much tighter curve, further N & E.
My educated-guess would be that the former is correct, as the latter would mean a ridiculously tight, small-radius alignment.
Presumably, it was there to accommodate traffic whilst the station to the N was rebuilt & full double-tracking & signalling extended to Hounslow W?
I didn’t submit any answers this year but I still had fun thinking about the questions. In the end I had correct answers to questions 1, 3, 4a, 5, 6, 7, 9a, 11, 12, 13a, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19.
I have a couple of things to point out. Firstly, for Q17 I also had Classes 150 & 317 down as answers along with the Class 321 which was briefly used on Overground services in 2015. Second, I knew of all the answers you gave for Q16 (except for Twickenham) but I would like to draw attention to a non-NR example of a London station with a platform 2 but no platform 1: West India Quay. This can be confirmed by checking the live departures page on the TfL website which clearly states the platform numbers as 2, 3 and 4. The former platform 1 was demolished to make way for the new dive-under.
timbeau,
I suspect you are correct but I am really surprised that Silverlink had toilets on their Class 150 trains. Not all Class 150s were built with toilets as confirmed by Wikipedia. On a similar vein I am surprised that the trains serving Enfield and Chingford had toilets and can’t understand why there wasn’t a fuss (or I didn’t hear about it) when they were withdrawn.
Island Dweller,
I would have probably allowed Sandling as an alternative answer if anyone had given that.
I hadn’t really that not allowing payment by cash at Canary Wharf happened so long ago (in a pre-Covid era).
Brian Butterworth,
I recall that Network Rail gave social distancing as a reason for the change of plan. In reality it could only be social distancing or a shortage of staff due to sickness or the need to self-isolate. Yes the second part was hard but we need at least one very hard question because otherwise, in some years, too many people get full marks.
MDTV
I have some sympathy concerning Hanwell and was a bit reluctant not to allow it. On the other hand if I didn’t allow it but didn’t penalise for including it that seemed fairer. Otherwise people would have pointed out they would have added Hanwell but thought it was outside the criteria specified.
I took the attitude regarding platform 1 if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck …
John Smith,
I warn others of the need to be very careful with the wording when setting questions but have come a cropper myself. We could have a philosophical discussion about whether a locomotive that is static in a museum is still a locomotive. On the other hand, if one gets too precise, it sometimes gives too much away.
I would have allowed Ranmore and Denbies as alternative answers if anyone had suggested them even though they weren’t a valid answer to a former quiz question.
1956
As Brian Butterworth points out, Clapham Junction has a platform 1 in use. It is quite busy (was quite busy pre-Covid). The original platform 2 was staggered so that the new platform 2 serves the former centre road between platforms 2 and 3. The part of platform 2 that still does not jut out became the new platform 1.
The original platform 1 is very disused and I think it has paraphernalia in the trackbed. Nevertheless there is talk of reinstating it in the long term to provide an additional platform for London Overground. The biggest problem will be providing structural support to the arches which are currently unable to take sufficient load.
The 317s that were used on the West Anglia lines to supplement the 315s during the Overground era had the toilets permanently locked out of use, so there weren’t any complaints about them being “withdrawn”. I seem to remember 317s being occasionally used on the route under earlier franchisees, and can’t remember if the toilets were available then.
Re: PoP – “Not all Class 150s were built with toilets as confirmed by Wikipedia.”
Not sure what you’re citing there.
I’m pretty sure all Class 150 units* (both 2- and 3-car) were built with one toilet each, but that of course means one or two vehicles per unit did not (and do not) have toilets fitted. This is also my interpretation of the ‘British Rail Class 150’ Wiki page.
*There is an exception that has come about since build: two toilet fitted vehicles have been lost in accidents and so there are a pair of non-toilet fitted vehicles which I think currently form a 2-car unit in the Northern fleet (the same vehicles have been used in 3-car units by at least two other TOCs, it being possible to couple the cab and non-cab ends of Sprinter cars, although whether this flexibility is worth its downsides is debatable).
The two “left over” class 150s were 150/2s with end gangways and were never used on the Goblin, which was entirely 150/1.
Kicking myself that my son and I forgot to send in our answers this year. Living somewhere with a low level of Covid meant that we had a very busy Christmas period, and I forgot to do it in time.
We had a look through the questions and had a guess at some of the answers. I think we got 1a, 1b, 2, 7, 12b and 16 correct. Having passed through Twickenham station most weekdays for four years on his way to/from nursery, my son was certain that Twickenham didn’t have a Platform One.
I’m trying to find something London Transport related here – if I can get a photo, I’ll send it in for the next quiz.
re. POP 2/2/21 18:30 – unless my entry didn’t get through, I proposed Sandling with the specific comment that it’s very well placed for people who may be doing a circuit of the East Kent loop.
[ It got through and I made a mental note of that at the time. I am happy to allow Sandling. It is sometimes the case we have an intended answer and someone proposes a totally different valid answer. PoP]
Re: Q14 “It has also been pointed out that since a coach and horses does not need a number plate there would be no way of enforcing transgressions if it were not legal.” – This is true in terms of retrospective enforcement by camera, but the police could enforce by lying in wait in person a little beyond the sign. I remember a few years back the Met had a crackdown on cyclists ignoring red traffic lights, and simply had officers waiting discretely (at Oval station and other busy junctions), stopping and fining transgressors. You’d think everyone in the peleton would see a bunch of police standing on the kerb ahead, but a surprising number of cyclists got caught.