Advent Quiz - December 2022

[whole diary]

[stuving]

One thing I found puzzling in that picture of Passau is the lack of stairs and escalators between the platforms and the upper "transfer deck". So that means the bridge thingy - whatever it is - isn't part of the station at all. But there's no footbridge, so is there a subway?

One of Google Earth's photos, while recent, shows a different platform set-up. Jumping into Google's time machine, I see they were digging holes for a subway only six years ago. So I guess, if you'd gone there even ten years ago, you'd have been ambling across the tracks to get your train. (No jaywalking!)

Or  maybe (more prosaically) they had a stairs-only subway, and built a new Zugang für alles one

[johnneyw]

Goodness.   This is one of those occasions I want to acknowledge that posting but I do not want to click on "Like".

Thankfully no casualties ....but enough of this topic drift I've started!   

[grahame]

One thing I found puzzling in that picture of Passau is the lack of stairs and escalators between the platforms and the upper "transfer deck". So that means the bridge thingy - whatever it is - isn't part of the station at all. But there's no footbridge, so is there a subway?

There *is* a subway - you can see it in the pictures;  I don't know its history. 

To get over the tracks, you come out of the station, walk along the street some yards east, and walk up a number of flights of straight around a lift to about 2nd floor level, then across a footbridge that's attached to what seems to be a postal depot / garage over the tracks.  I suspect that there ARE lifts for mail down to the platforms - but the route for passengers is horrendous.

[stuving]

From those pictures, the subway only has stairs. That seems surprising, for something built so recently. Having stomped all over Germany, up and down stairs, what is your impression of how many larger stations still don't have step-free access?

[grahame]

From those pictures, the subway only has stairs. That seems surprising, for something built so recently. Having stomped all over Germany, up and down stairs, what is your impression of how many larger stations still don't have step-free access?

I passed quite quickly through and don't recall lifts.  However, I would be pretty sure that there are lifts across the subway - so as you walk towards the platforms, it's left for the stairs and right for the lifts.

https://help.g2rail.com/stations/passau-hbf appears to confirm this.

In general there is excellent lift access and ramps at smaller stations.  However, my sample was not a huge one and biased towards bigger places.

[grahame]

And where is this? - 5th December 2022

[CyclingSid]

Well the livery might suggest Gatwick Express. But the way stock has been moved around to replace shortages it could be almost anywhere. I will have to leave it to the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") experts.

[eightonedee]

Newbury Station? Newbury trains were often run with ex Gatwick trains for a while.

[brooklea]

I will have to leave it to the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") experts.

I’m not an expert, but that OLE is certainly on the Western Route.

Taken sometime between July 20th and December 3rd 2021, when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had this unit on loan from GTR.

With the help of a mirror, I could possibly name the location too 

[Rob on the hill]

Didcot Parkway, platforms 3 & 4?

[grahame]

Didcot Parkway, platforms 3 & 4?

Yes.   Picture taken on 11th November 2021 at 10:57.   I was dropping back for Zoom meeting about buses which I took from the waiting shelter forward on platforms 2 and 3, starting at 11:05 after our pause for remembrance at 11:00.

We never seem to have all of our trains in the same livery, do we?  There were a number of Gatwick Express and C2C class 387 units around at the time, here in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) territory as a stop-gap to bolster that fleet as it took over some 80x duties  which could not be filled due to the cracking issue.

There are still at least two blue 16x units around in the Bristol area, but it feels a long time since I saw an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) blue 150 or 158, and I'm pretty sure all the castles are green.  I wonder when the next sprinking of colour will come through the fleet ...

Do we like uniformity, a bit of variety, or everyone different? Who else misses Casper, and would love to see him running an "off hours" extra service Swindon <-> Westbury to make the service up to hourly?

[stuving]

I was agreeing with Didcot for that picture, based on those OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") structures that don't seem to be used elsewhere. But one thing didn't match the other pictures I found - the platform lamps. Were they, by any chance, replaced in May-July 2017? 

[Bmblbzzz]

In  another country.

Yep - and it's really interesting to dig a little deeper, say "yes", and ask what gives that away.

Definitely the style of the housing on the left.

[grahame]

And for today ...

[PrestburyRoad]

I don't know where it is - maybe Bristol - but thank you Graham for the picture with a fascinating jumbled townscape of 19th and 20th century buildings all coexisting close together.  A surveyor would have fun drawing the plan of that area.