Great Western Coffee Shop

These are all personal pictures taken when travelling from home using the TransWilts services since they were improved in December.   One guess each, please, for the first 24 hours - can you tell me where I have been?

1. Melksham - Chris from Nailsea
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm01.jpg)


2. Manchester Piccadilly - Ellendune
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm02.jpg)


3. Stonehouse - quedgeley2002
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm03.jpg)


4. Ashby-de-la-Zouch - Red Squirrel
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm04.jpg)


5. Chippenham - Brooklea
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm05.jpg)


6. Derby - Oxman
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm06.jpg)


7. Weston-super-mare - devon_metro
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm07.jpg)


8.Paddington - Oxman
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm08.jpg)


9. Rotterdam Centraal - Trainer
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm09.jpg)


10.
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm10.jpg)

Well, I'll take the opportunity offered of naming the easiest one:

1. Melksham.  ;) :D ;D

And the next stop heading north, 5. Chippenham.

Aha! Number 4 is Ashby-de-la-Zouch by the Sea!

Ashby de la Zouch, Castle Abbey
That's the only place that I long to be,
Skies are full of blue, and the cows are full of moo
In Ashby de la Zouch by the sea

You were supposed to be confused by the crowd, Chris !


Yes, that's the next station stop in modern terms, allowing for waiting for the main line at Thingley!


Hmm .. I don't do poetry, but, yes, that is Ashby.   I was thinking that picture might have been a later one to be named too.   Now - I don't know what those tracks are - anyone?

You'd think - did Ashby have trams? Sort of - see the Burton and Ashby Light Railway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_and_Ashby_Light_Railway) in Wikipedia.

On the contrary, grahame ;) : what I find particularly encouraging is the ease with which it is now possible to take pictures at Melksham Station which include a passenger train stopping there ...  ;D

No.3 is Stonehouse. My local!!

A shining example of how a big, fast, long distance train can regularly call at a short platform.  That's another picture I thought might take a while!

7. Bath Spa

Sorry - it isn't.  Does look similar, though!

2. Manchester Picadilly

Correct

Exactly half way there ... 1 to 5 have all been identified, and 6 to 10 still to go!

I'm going to have a stab at 9. Rotterdam Centraal.

Yes, that's correct!

Pictures 6 7 8 and 10 still to identify

Is 7 Weston-super-Mare?

8 Paddington (H&C) platform?

It is


You are - very - close.  If you had said less, I would have replied "yes"!

Paddington, then!

Yes, indeed  ;D  ... Circle and District line (northeast bound platform).   The platform we all used to use in the good old days when "Circle" meant circle!

Just two to get

6.
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm06.jpg)

10.
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm10.jpg)

24 hours is up ... and I know that some of you who have already identified one place will be able to tell me where the remaining two photos were taken!

Looks like some clues may be needed ... photo 6 was taken on the same trip that included Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and photo 10 was taken on the same trip that included Rotterdam Centraal.  However, both photos 6 and 10 were taken at currently operational National Rail stations in GB, unlike Ashby-de-la-Zouch (not operational) and Rotterdam (not Great Britain)

6 Derby

Yes, correct ... not a station I can recall using for many years.   A Brush 47 (?) was parked up on a nice rake of pullmans just to the east of the station, and I took this quick pic in the minute of two I was to wait for the train that was heading to Reading

10. Grantham?

Yes?  ... Oh - I misread that - I though you wrote "Graham" ;-) ...

Sorry - it's not Grantham.  More in the area that I think of as East Troutshire, so perhaps our expert on journeys from Frome to the far east of England will be able to tell us. Remember too - on the same trip as Rotterdam.

Could it be the station formerly known as Harwich Parkeston Quay? Now Harwich International (HPQ).

You are very much on the right lines, and indeed I was at HPQ a while before I took the picture that I posted.

Interesting how the railways are embracing International when over the last few years airports have realised what a pointless word it is and dropped it (eg Bristol, Cardiff). Why not Fishguard International or Holyhead International?  And it's only the British section of Eurostar services that names its stations International. 

Is it perhaps logical to add "International" (or indeed "National") where there are multiple stations / terminals for within and without country.   So Harwich International v Harwich Town, and St Pancras International v St Pancras Domestic - sensible.  And now Fishguard Harbour perhaps should be renamed Fishguard International with the opening of a new station at Fishguard and Goodwick.

Cojoined countries in Europe tend to have a lot of traffic crossing borders and in places like Luxembourg, all stations would be "international" ... so little point and even in a big country like France, there's a multitude of International services from various Paris stations.

Airports?   In the UK, most have International flights so it's taken as read, perhaps.  You will find Washington National in the USA, and perhaps some others ...

Just musing .. no real answers.

There is no separation of St Pancras International and Domestic though, all parts of the station tend to be referred to as St Pancras International. But then it is really just one large station complex rather than the two separate stations at Harwich. Unfortunately though I don't think we'll be catching an East Midlands Trains HST through the Channel Tunnel.

Tidying up ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/qzm10.jpg)

That's Marks Tey, on the way back (from Thun, Switzerland) via Rotterdam Centraal.   Boat docked at Harwich on Sunday morning ... 8 car train waiting.   For Maningtree only; change for Ipswich.   Took a handful of passengers if that.   London passengers taken by coach to Mark's Tey ... so that crowd is on the outbound platform awaiting a train that reversed and then went in to London.    Information was disjointed to say the least, with assurances on the ship that trains were running from Harwich, forgetting to add that they weren't going anywhere useful for most people, and the bus provider hadn't been given numbers and there were fewer seats than passengers.