A place in the country - Advent quiz, 5th December 2020

[whole diary]

[grahame]

As we move forward post-covid, more people are going to be working from home and making visits to their office on perhaps just one or two days per week. Which means they can live further from the towns and cities, spread out more through the countryside.  Here are 10 stations in the countryside, where there is plenty of undeveloped land around the station and there are towns and / or cities within day return business work - some might be a long day, but that's fine for one or two days a week if not for five.

Can you place the stations?  If you need research help ...  http://new.passenger.chat/better/map.html?stn=CUM will take you to a new station page (with links to a station approach map, a wider area map and (if you scroll down) a region map or whole UK^▸ (United Kingdom) map to navigate wider.  Half of these maps are of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) locations

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[grahame]

Here are 10 stations in the countryside, where there is plenty of undeveloped land around the station and there are towns and / or cities within day return business work - some might be a long day, but that's fine for one or two days a week if not for five.

I should add (for any member / reader who just happens to live within the mapped area) that these ten have been chosen at random, and not evaluated.  There are probably darned good reasons why development would not work at many of them, and there is no need to start writing to your MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to object, nor to start planning how to spend a windfall if you own land in the area.

[eightonedee]

10 is Kintbury

[JontyMort]

Number 6 is Tackley - the Cherwell and the Oxford Canal very distinctive at this point.

[TonyN]

4 is Portsmouth Arms

[stuving]

No. 5 is Breich. I just thought I'd better check before posting "Wot no Breich?".

[grahame]

No. 5 is Breich. I just thought I'd better check before posting "Wot no Breich?".

I have had "what - no Pilning" on Facebook 

[froome]

I was hoping that at least one of the Dorset villages would be included, and lo and behold, no 2 is Chetnole.

[grahame]

So we have ...

1. C?xxxxxx
2. Chetnole
3. H?xxxxxx
4. Portsmouth Arms
5. Breich
6. Tackley
7. L?xxxxxxx
8. M?xxxxxxx
9. C?xxxxxxxx
10. Kintbury

[eightonedee]

8 I think is Mottisfont and Dunbridge

[ChrisB]

1. is Charlbury....

[grahame]

8 I think is Mottisfont and Dunbridge

Yes ... and

1. is Charlbury....

sorry, no.

The four remaining are all distinctly difficult. 
* One of them was the former (pre 1948) GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), but is not on the current GWR.
* Another was on a GWR joint line prior to 1923.
* A third may be thought of as being the exact opposite of Great Western.
* The fourth comes from the land of Fiona's parents.
(but those clues are not in the order or the missing identities).

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I have been up late watching the snooker and now need to snooze ... today's quiz in the morning.

[froome]

3 is Harling Road, on the line from Thetford to Norwich, and thus originally Great Eastern.

I must admit that until 5 minutes ago I had never heard of this station, but a trawl through some eastern maps located it. 

[grahame]

3 is Harling Road, on the line from Thetford to Norwich, and thus originally Great Eastern.

I must admit that until 5 minutes ago I had never heard of this station, but a trawl through some eastern maps located it. 

I'm not sure how well this link to Street View will come though, but it gives some idea of an old fashioned station with a signal box and level crossing, looking around at a cluster of houses. I think there's an hourly train service passing through each way, but at present just the occasional call.


From Wikipedia:

Harling Road railway station is on the Breckland line in the east of England, serving the villages of Larling, Roudham and East Harling, Norfolk

[East Harling] village is served by Harling Road railway station, which is situated 2 miles (3 km) to the north

[froome]

3 is Harling Road, on the line from Thetford to Norwich, and thus originally Great Eastern.

I must admit that until 5 minutes ago I had never heard of this station, but a trawl through some eastern maps located it. 

I'm not sure how well this link to Street View will come though, but it gives some idea of an old fashioned station with a signal box and level crossing, looking around at a cluster of houses. I think there's an hourly train service passing through each way, but at present just the occasional call.

I looked up Harling Road to Norwich at around 9.30am today, a direct service of about 20 miles at the most to the nearest city, and it showed me the first train was after 4pm today and was the one in the opposite direction to Thetford, where you had to change onto a train that went back through the station non-stop. The fare is nearly ?16 single (two tickets needed). So I suspect very little used.