Not all my pictures are at or near railways - or even buses.   Here are some from various places within our main area - can you identify them?  Just one each at first, please, although past form suggests that this will be one of the harder quizzes as many off us don't stray too far from stations

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.


11.


12.


13.


14.


15.


16.

 
7. Gun emplacements Needles, Isle of White.



Edit.  I realise that I recognise 11 too but I've had my turn.

 
8. Temple Footbridge on the Thames between Henley and Marlow.
The Middle section has now been removed as the bridge is past its use by date.

 
Blimey, grahame - some of those are indeed rather obscure - but I've got a few of them.

However, I'll make it easy, just to get this particular one out of the way:

4.  Taunton - the new pedestrian and cycle route connecting Taunton station to the town centre and the nearby Somerset County Cricket Ground.  

 
9. Broad Street, Reading. Well, it did have my name on it.

 

Good shout on 7, johnneyw - I hadn't recognised that particular location.

I, too, know 11, but we've both had our first turn for the first 24 hours - house rules! 

 
I will wade in with No.16: Chepstow Bridge, seen from The Back. Much as I like Chepstow Station, from a Bristolian viewpoint this is much easier to get to on the T7 bus.

The seal is called Sammy, by the way.

 
Do squirrels wade in - anywhere? 

 
Well I can’t speak for all the others. You know what they say: When you know one squirrel, you know one squirrel.

 

With the ongoing political and financial shenanigans delaying redevelopment of the wider Firepool Lock area this "Welcome to Taunton" walking and cycling route isn't much of a advertisement for the town. Running by overgrown wasteland peppered with stalled construction. Lovely for a supposed "Garden Town". 

 
10. Bicester Village

 
16. Chepstow

 


Yes, I'd agree with both of you: 16 is on the River Wye at Chepstow. 

 
So far - these are identified, with the first responder credited in each case

4 Taunton - Chris from Nailsea
7 Needles (Isle of Wight) - johnneyw
8 Temple Footbridge (River Thames) - TonyN
9 Reading Town Centre - stuving
10 Bicester Village - chuffed
16 Chepstow - Red Squirrel

 

Looking down from the top of the steps, I felt it was far more potential than actually welcoming just yet.

 
5. Dartmouth

 
Where on earth is 11? Keeps making me think Evesham, which is plain wrong.

*Edit* I'm double wrong. It *is* Evesham. Hampton Ferry.

 

Very much what I thought, especially as I crossed it last year on a Pershore to Evesham walk.

 


6 Tavistock by the Canal

 

Oops!
Having lived there for perhaps 10 years, my first thought was Exeter!

 

Odd mechanism for a ferry. From a boat, the line being somewhat invisible. *Sits on hands to avoid retelling the 'Encounter with a flow measuring station, during a flood, on the Thames.*

 

I seem to recall the ferry chap using a winding mechanism to raise the line from the river bed before crossing over to pick me up.  I guess this avoids the line causing an obstruction to river traffic when not in use.  He was busy performing his other role of mowing the grass bank when I arrived but spotted me straight away.

 
15  High Street, Yetminster, just down from the White Hart. The home of the Yetties folk group in the 1960s!

 

Having looked up ORR requirements, rail replacement buses must be shown on station departure boards in real time, so even somewhere like Melksham would show them on departure displays (although appears the departure board is whatever is there, (even a manual chalked up one)

The buses must also show correct destination (or rail replacement), not blank destination.  Inside they have to have audio and visual announcements of the next stop, and if automatic announcements are not working then driver has to clearly use PA to announce approach to stops.   (This has only been a recent 100% requirement, as transition since 2023 Public Service Vehicles Assessable Information legislation has now ended)

Seems to be more of a grey area regarding real time (eg GPS based) location data and times displayed on arrival boards.  Currently appears to be more of an aspiration than an requirement.

 
Is 12 Woodhenge?

 
It is!

 
How frustrating, I have just dipped into the Coffee Shop while away on a trip to Norfolk, just to find a competition to which I could immediately give 2 answers,  both of which have been solved (9& 12)!

But I think I can also get 13. It's a duck decoy, and there's two left working in ,"our" area. It doesn't look like Slimbridge,  so I think it's the one at Abbotsbury Swannery.

 
Looking good

1
2
3
4 Taunton - Chris from Nailsea
5 Dartmouth - RobT
6 Tavistock - AMLAG
7 Needles (Isle of Wight) - johnneyw
8 Temple Footbridge (River Thames) - TonyN
9 Reading Town Centre - stuving
10 Bicester Village - chuffed
11 Evesham - Mark A
12 Woodhenge - eXPassenger
13 Abbotsbury - eightonedee
14
15 Yetminster - bradshaw
16 Chepstow - Red Squirrel, confirmed by JayMac

 

Potential indeed. Since January 2008! That's when the cattle market closed, with redevelopment promised within a few years.

Delayed by the 2008 global financial crisis, and the continuous political and financial crises since then. Two local government reorganisations during that period and also the Tories all but bankrupting the county (now unitary) council.