Great Western Coffee Shop

1. Taunton (past), Didcot (present), Teignmouth (future?)
2. Taunton, Preston and Froghall
3. Taunton, Wareham and Manuel
4. Taunton, Ilfracombe and Meeth
5. Taunton, Davenport and Hinkley
6. Taunton, Basingstoke and Woking
7. Taunton, St Austell, Barton-on-Humber
8. Taunton, Exmouth Junction, Melton Constable
9. Taunton, Lisieux, Konigslutter

6. All have flying junctions on their approaches. Although, for accuracy, Woking should be Brookwood.

9. Taunton is twinned with the other two.

1 avoiding line

Not the connection I had in mind - I have my fingers crossed that mine is more accurate


Yes - that was the connection I had!


Yep!

3. are all in some sense at the railhead end of preserved/resurrected lines. But there's a bit of a stretch involved - they are not a matched set of three - though better matched than I initially thought due to SRPS's own recent* stretching exercise.

* OK, only in the context of my leaving Bo'ness in 1992.

Explain the match and you probably have it.

I keep wanting this one to be stations served by Amtrak's late lamented Cape Codder. But I'm not aware of any station called Manuel.

2.  All are at the ends of a canal, or in the case of Preston: at the end of one half of a canal linked to the other half by a tramway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_Canal_Tramroad).

5 All had locomotive manufacturing works (Taunton was actually in USA!).

8 concrete production facility at all three

The most matching I can get them is that these were all junction stations for branches, which lines have closed and reopened as heritage lines but never operated into their old junction stations. But Manuel never was a junction station in that sense - it had two levels where two lines crossed - and when the Slamannan line closed after the war the junction station was Polmont.

4. At one time all terminuses of lines from Barnstaple.

A whole slew of good answers there ... please find below where we are to date - with highlights on those outstanding.

1. Taunton (past), Didcot (present), Teignmouth (future?)
- Rail bypasses

2. Taunton, Preston and Froghall
- Canal ends

3. Taunton, Wareham and Manuel
- Heritage lines joining main lines, but no practical regular services which could be useful to
Minehead (pop. 12,000), Swanage (pop 10,000), Bo'ness (pop 15,000)

4. Taunton, Ilfracombe and Meeth
At one time, terminuses of trains from Barnstaple (sneaked in while I was summarising  ;D )

5. Taunton, Davenport and Hinkley
Closed locomotive works

6. Taunton, Basingstoke and Woking
Stated as flying junctions but I think I have something else

7. Taunton, St Austell, Barton-on-Humber

8. Taunton, Exmouth Junction, Melton Constable
Railway Concrete Works

9. Taunton, Lisieux, Konigslutter
Towns twinned

Disappointed that 3 was nothing to do with sitcom characters.

Grasping at straws. Barton-on-Humber had a ferry before the Humber Bridge. I believe there was a ferry in the St Austell area. Taunton probably doesn't fit.

Far far more mundane, I'm afraid. Perhaps too much of a coding link, but then that's the sort of thing I deal with all day.

Of course - should have foreseen that station codes would appear somewhere: TAU SAU BAU