The Train at Pla orm 1 The Friends of Honiton Sta on Newsle er 9 - December 2020
Welcome to the December newsle er. This month, as well as all the latest rail news, we have pictures of the engineering work at Exmouth Junc on and news of the fi h birthday of Cranbrook Sta on. There are also seasonal contribu ons from some of our members and supporters, and details of the latest metable which is due to start this month, subject to final confirma on.
Remember that you can read the newsle er online or download a copy from our website.
The first train arrives at Cranbrook on December 13th 2015. Picture by Dave Tozer.
South Western Railway Introduces Latest Timetable
December 14th sees the introduc on of South Western Railway’s latest metable. They originally hoped to introduce a new metable, with a service pa ern closer to the pre-pandemic metable, which would run un l December 2021. However, SWR has just announced that they now intend to con nue to run the weekday metable that has operated since September un l March 26th 2021.
This means the much-an cipated reinstatement of the extra evening peak services from Exeter has been further postponed.
In a message to stakeholders, the Managing Director of SWR, Mark Hopwood, said:
“In October SWR informed our stakeholders about our plans to increase services from 13 December 2020. The decision to increase our services was made earlier this year, at a me when we were seeing a steady increase in passenger numbers. However, since I wrote to you, the na on has entered a second lockdown and from tomorrow we will again be entering a ered system of restric ons.
“As you will appreciate, these measures have had an impact on our passenger numbers both current and forecasted.
“In light of this, with the permission of the Department for Transport, we have taken the decision to rollover our weekday metable from 13 December 2020 to 26 March 2021. We believe this is the right decision for our business and the taxpayer, who through the Government have been suppor ng the rail industry throughout this pandemic.”
Network Rail Completes Major Projects in Exeter
The end of October saw Network Rail carrying out extensive work in the Exeter area, affec ng both GWR and SWR services. During the week-long line closure, work took place to extend the pla orms at St James’ Park, pla orm work at Lympstone Commando, as well as replacing track at Exmouth Junc on.
Mike Gallop, Network Rail’s Western route director, said:
“It’s great that we are able to undertake a number of projects at the same me during closures of the railway. We have been working with our train operator colleagues to plan a co-ordinated work package to reduce the impact on the travelling public. By undertaking as much work as possible during a closure, we are able to minimise the impact to travellers.
Mel Harvey, who is GWR’s Sta on Manager for the Mid-Devon area, said:
‘’This essen al work will see the pla orms at St James' Park and Lympstone Commando extended, allowing customers the opportunity to take be er advantage of the trains we are able to run; as well as vital track renewal work.”
Alan Penlington, South Western Railway’s customer experience director, added:
“Whilst there’s never a good me to close the railway, half term is historically a quieter me and the works taking place at Exmouth Junc on will improve reliability and performance along this important stretch of railway for years to come.
“I realise these works will mean disrup on for our customers. However, replacement buses will be in opera on and this longer closure will save months of weekend engineering works. I’d like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their pa ence.” Engineering train passes Pinhoe Sta on carrying replacement track bound for the work at Exmouth Junc on.
(Pictures by Dave Tozer)
Buses replaced trains between Exeter and Honiton and between Exeter and Exmouth throughout the line closure.
Services were ini ally disrupted by bad weather when the line was due to re- open. And when trains did begin to run, drivers had to take extra care due to poor rail condi ons.
A further day of disrup on took place on Sunday November 8th in order to complete the junc on replacement works. During this closure, buses replaced trains between Exeter and Axminster.
There will be further engineering work affec ng our line during December. This will mainly take place on Sundays:
Sunday 6th: Some services between London Waterloo and Exeter will start at Basingstoke.
Sunday 13th: The lines between Basingstoke and Salisbury will be closed all day for maintenance work. A revised service will run between London Waterloo and Basingstoke. Buses will run between Basingstoke and Salisbury. Trains will run between Salisbury and Exeter St. David’s.
Sunday 20th: The lines between Salisbury and Yeovil Junc on will be closed all day for maintenance work. A revised service will run between London Waterloo and Exeter St. David’s. Services will be diverted between Salisbury and Yeovil Junc on via Westbury.
Sunday 27th: The lines between Basingstoke and Salisbury will be closed from Sunday 27th December to Sunday 3rd January for maintenance work. A revised service will run between London Waterloo and Basingstoke. Buses will run between Basingstoke and Salisbury. A revised service will run between Salisbury and Exeter.
A reminder that there will be no trains on December 25th and 26th.
Advance No ce: There will be altera ons to the service on Sunday January 10th and 24th 2021.
An 125 ton Kirow Crane swings the penul mate piece of the new points into place during the engineering work at Exmouth Junc on in October. SWR Supports Sta on Adop on Groups During Second Lockdown
We were grateful to SWR for their announcement that during the second lockdown some sta on adop on ac vi es were allowed to con nue. In an updated set of rules sent to groups by Community Rail Manager Andy Harrowell, SWR said that gardening for flower displays outside of buildings could con nue during the lockdown. They made clear, however, that this would be limited to two volunteers once a week. SWR’s safety team also agreed to allow li er picking to be re-introduced, by any groups who had previously agreed this with the company.
At the end of the lockdown period, the rules were updated again. Up to four volunteers can now work at any one me, although social distancing must con nue to be observed, especially with SWR staff and passengers. Sta on adopters can now a end sta ons more than once each week.
In addi on to gardening and li er picking, sta on adopters can again work on established community no ceboards and art displays.
SWR Customers Offered Chance to Donate Payouts to Children’s Charity
To mark World Children’s Day in November, South Western Railway announced that it had joined forces with the charity Ac on for Children, to enable rail customers to donate their Delay Repay funds to the charity.
Delay Repay provides compensa on for customers who have been delayed by 15 minutes or more. The average pay-out per transac on last year was £6.98. This would usually be refunded back to the customer’s bank account following an applica on via the SWR website. From now on, however, customers can choose instead to divert the funds directly to Ac on for Children.
The charity, which is commi ed to helping vulnerable children, young people and their families, already works closely with SWR, which has provided over £20,000 of support through complimentary travel and staff fundraising, and is the UK Charity Partner to SWR’s parent company FirstGroup.
Chris an Neill, deputy customer experience director at South Western Railway, said:
“This year has been extremely challenging for so many people, in so many ways. We do hope, however, that our customers will be suppor ve of this new ini a ve and help support the vital work of Ac on for Children. Delay Repay compensa on is typically a small amount of money, but even the smallest dona ons can make the biggest difference when it comes to helping vulnerable children.”
Locks Farmer, director of fundraising and marke ng at Ac on for Children, added:
“The coronavirus crisis has exploded into the lives of many vulnerable families who are now hanging by a thread as they face one of the bleakest winters of their lives. Our key workers are at the front line of tackling child poverty and are working incredibly hard to deliver life-changing support to thousands of families desperate to keep their kids clothed and well-fed.
“This incredible new ini a ve will enable us to support even more of our most vulnerable children, through the generous dona ons of SWR’s customers.” Network Rail Adopts New Targets to Fight Global Warming
Network Rail (NR) has become the world's first railway company to set the most ambi ous science- based targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Andrew Haines, chief execu ve of Network Rail, said:
“Rail is already the cleanest and greenest mode of transpor ng large numbers of people and goods, but we’re commi ed to cu ng our carbon footprint even further.
“We’re on an important journey – to support the government’s target of being net-zero by 2050, to help the country build back be er as we recover from the pandemic and to help passengers and freight users make the greenest choices they can.
“We're already making progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. All of the energy we use to power sta ons, depots and offices comes from renewable sources. Meanwhile, a trial to move our road fleet – such as the vans needed in rail maintenance work – to electric vehicles is underway.
“We're also exploring how we can use our land to generate renewable electricity as well as support biodiversity, and we have an extensive community tree plan ng scheme. Suppliers generate about two-thirds of the railway's emissions so we're keen to work with our wider supply chain, such as manufacturing and construc on companies, to help them set their own targets, too.”
What are the sustainability targets?
• To reduce absolute scope one and two greenhouse gas emissions (those within NR’s control) by 46% by 2029.
• To reduce absolute scope three (indirect) emissions by 28% by 2029. • To ensure 75% of suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services and capital goods (those used in the produc on of other goods) have science-based targets by 2025.
The launch of these targets follow the launch of NR’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy. The company is commi ed to helping rail remain the greenest and most and reliable form of public transport in the Britain, so it can play a vital part in green economic recovery and growth.
Network Rail says: “We are determined to maximise the posi ve contribu on rail can make to the lives of our passengers, our society and our economy while minimising any nega ve impact on the environment.”
The new strategy focuses on four areas: a low-emission railway; a reliable railway resilient to climate change; improved biodiversity and minimal waste and sustainable use of materials. Honiton Sta on Remembered: The 1950s in Photographs
We were recently sent some fascina ng photographs taken at Honiton Sta on in the 1950s. They were contributed by David Badman, a former Science teacher, and son of a former head of Honiton County Secondary School, as it was then called. A selec on of the photos can be found in the Gallery on our website.
The first photo, from around 1955, shows the sta on seen from the corner of Church Hill.
The second photo shows a school party from HCSS to St Malo via Southampton. It is from the late 1950s. It also shows a local train in the down siding. David has sent us this seasonal memory:
One word to sum up winter journeys to school from Honiton in the 1950s is STEAM.
All of us who had passed the 11+ exam went to The King’s School at O ery St Mary by train. (Sidney Andrew, HM, was empha c about the The and the apostrophe - it stuck!) So around 8 a.m. we all gathered at the sta on breathing out clouds of steam into the freezing air. Then the train arrived - steam engine of course, usually a black S15.
On to Sidmouth Junc on (what is le is now Feniton) - change to the branch line train. Steam engine was a M7 or Iva 2-6-2. The most important ques on: “Was there steam showing all along the 2 coach train?” If so - good the steam hea ng was working, if not to school in a fridge. Packed 8 or 10 into a compartment - no corridor - the windows soon steamed up. Schoolboy fingers le messages and pictures for the good folk of Sidmouth to enjoy! Finally up the hill to school. The Sidmouth students had joined us so there was even more steam breathed out.
O ery St. Mary Sta on closed in 1967 when services to Sidmouth were withdrawn.
One memory is not so pleasant. Winter 1953 - some of the water columns at the sta ons on the branch line were frozen. I remember si ng in the Physics Lab. when a West Country Pacific went through O ery Sta on - an unusual loco for the Branch. More interested in that than the lesson I was told to “Pay a en on. Haven’t you seen a train before?”
Sadly my answer of “Not one of those there” was spoken rather than thought, which caused some entertainment for the rest of the class and a less enjoyable interview for me! Can’t have been too bad though as I became a Science Teacher in a comprehensive School. Cranbrook Sta on To Celebrate Its Fi h Birthday
This month it will be five years since Cranbrook Sta on opened, serving the ever-growing community there. December 13th 2015 saw the first train arrive, watched by enthusiasts and local dignitaries.
The leader of East Devon District Council at the me, Councillor Paul Diviani, said: “The train service is a game changer for Cranbrook. It will be massively exci ng to see the trains stopping at the new sta on and local people using the service for work, college and leisure too. There is now a wide range of sustainable travel op ons for Cranbrook residents and the opening of the train sta on means another very welcome green travel op on is available.”
Cranbrook town councillor Kevin Blakey said:
“We are absolutely delighted that the sta on is now open. Cranbrook being on the train travel map is an important occasion for the town.
“Not only is it now easier for people to travel to and from Exeter, but Cranbrook also has a direct link to London. This is a significant step towards the development of a vibrant commercial and cultural future for the town.”
Cranbrook Town Council celebrated the opening of the sta on with hot food and drink and a performance by Exeter’s Maynard School band. The sta on was also decorated with bun ng, and Santa was even spo ed boarding the train, which travelled on to Exeter St David’s.
The sta on was originally scheduled to open in 2013, with the 2014 metables including an addi onal me allowance of two minutes for trains stopping at the sta on. However, detailed design of the sta on only began in the summer of 2014, and construc on did not start un l that autumn, with the opening ini ally due to take place in the spring of 2015.
However, there were further delays caused by a sewer problem and signalling issues, which delayed the opening further, first un l August, then October, and finally to December.
The sta on cost £5m to build. It includes bus and taxi facili es, bicycle parking and a 135-space car park. Room has been le to site a second pla orm when the line is re-doubled, as we all hope it will be.
Councillor Andrew Leadbe er, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth at the me, said: “This marks a major milestone in the development of the new town and Cranbrook residents now have convenient and direct access to and from Exeter. “It is a fundamental part of our Devon Metro scheme. It is also a key element of the transport strategy for Cranbrook, alongside the half-hourly bus route and the network of walking and cycling routes, which provides a good choice of travel op ons.”
John Halsall, Network Rail route managing director in 2015, said: “We’d like to thank Devon County Council for funding a new sta on at Cranbrook, providing important new rail links into Exeter, Salisbury, Basingstoke and Waterloo for everyone who lives and works in the area. We were delighted to be asked to build the new sta on.
“Investment in rail is a vital ingredient in helping local people and economies thrive. Travelling by train has never been so popular and passenger numbers con nue to grow to record levels so this new sta on will help enormously. Our Railway Upgrade Plan for the area is to improve the railway for passengers and communi es connec ng people and crea ng economic benefits across the South West.”
In the first four months a er opening, 20,404 passengers used the sta on. In the three complete years for which the Office of Rail and Road have issued passenger figures, there were 90,458 passengers from April 2016 – March 2017, 104,602 in 2017-18 and 107,350 in 2018- 19. The 2019-2020 figures, which will be affected by the RMT guards strike, was 105 400. For comparison, in 2016-17 the number of passengers using Honiton Sta on was 390,050.
Sadly of course, like all sta ons, Cranbrook has seen the disappearance of so many of its passengers since March. We can only hope that over me, more and more people will return to travelling along the East Devon Line, including to and from Cranbrook, our newest sta on.
Next May, we celebrate fi y years since Sidmouth Junc on reopened as Feniton Sta on, one of the first Beeching closures to be reversed.
This sign originally stood at the western end of the pla orm at Cranbrook Sta on. The warning seems unnecessary, as the nearest live rail is on the Weymouth line in Dorset. Christmas At The North Pole by Dan Wright
There are two candidates for the Christmassiest (most Christmassy?) place on Britain’s railway network. The first is any sta on where a Community Rail Partnership or Sta on Friends group has gone all in for Christmas (some of them end up looking like Father Christmas gro os, I swear) and the second must surely be… North Pole depot in west London.
Much like Father Christmas’s home near the actual North Pole, this workshop is full of shiny gi s. But rather than Christmas presents, the gi s are flashy GWR Intercity trains, while the staff are Hitachi train maintenance engineers rather than elves.
North Pole Interna onal depot opened in 1994 to look a er the newly introduced Eurostar trains connec ng London to Brussels and Paris. Eurostar trains would trundle from London Waterloo to North Pole Interna onal depot via Clapham Junc on and the West London Line. When Eurostar moved its London terminus to St Pancras Interna onal in 2007, it also transferred train maintenance to a new depot at Temple Mills near Stra ord.
That le North Pole Interna onal depot empty and looking for a new use. As the site runs parallel and adjacent to the Great Western Main Line, it was ideally placed for reuse by GWR/Hitachi, renamed simply North Pole depot to reflect its domes c use. It now looks a er the fleet of Intercity Express trains introduced from 2014 to replace GWR’s High Speed Trains (or InterCity 125s for older readers like me).
North Pole depot gets its name from North Pole Junc on, a railway junc on off the West London Line built in the late 1800s, which served railway works that were the earliest ancestors of North Pole Interna onal depot.
North Pole Junc on, meanwhile, got its name from the nearby North Pole Road. And in turn, North Pole Road got its name from the North Pole public house, which stood on the road at the me.
The Victorians had a number of strange obsessions, to go alongside haphazardly developing the na onal railway network and expor ng it around the world. They were, for instance, obsessed with the picturesque, albeit to a style we might now consider twee and/or stuffy depending on applica on. Hence Victorian railway sta ons o en demonstrate their interest in over-detailed Gothic architecture (St Pancras or Middlesbrough), fantas cal takes on vernacular rural English houses (Co age Orne sta ons like Chilworth and the collec on on the Bedford-Bletchley line) or Italian architecture of the sort they might have seen on a Grand Tour of Europe (Gobowen and, well, hundreds of others).
Another of their strange obsessions was the North Pole. None of them had ever been there; it wasn’t reached un l the early 1900s in circumstances which remain disputed. Nevertheless, there had been plenty of expedi ons to the Arc c, including one in 1831 which was the first to reach the Magne c North Pole. This was a somewhat easier task than reaching the geographical North Pole given that the magne c pole’s wanderings had taken it over land at the me.
When it came to the geographical pole, the Victorians were fascinated by this unreachable place in the cold of the far north. As a result there were innumerable Victorian public houses called The North Pole. Despite recent trends for pub re-namings, there are s ll plenty of them out there.
The connec on between the North Pole and Father Christmas was also made by the Victorians. The character Father Christmas draws from the historical legacy of Saint Nicholas, a Turkish bishop of the Fourth Century, who I suspect might have gone his whole life without ever seeing any snow.
Victorian ar st Thomas Nast seems to be generally credited with cemen ng Father Christmas’s place at the North Pole, in an issue of Harper’s Weekly magazine, though Father Christmas had already been associated with snow and reindeer for some me. It perhaps made sense to suggest that Father Christmas lived in the highest of the high Arc c. Not only were the Victorians fascinated by it anyway, but that would explain why no-one had yet come across his home and workshop.
Other links between trains and Father Christmas have lingered in our cultural memory. The film The Polar Express (dir. Robert Zemeckis) remains perennially popular since its release in 2004, based on a 1980s book.
Santa Specials have been running on preserved railways for decades, and why not, given that railways and Father Christmas’s home at the North Pole were both very much Victorian interests? On the mainline railway network, many Community Rail Partnerships run Santa Specials, taking over en re carriages of scheduled services to run family ac vi es in the run-up to Christmas; or at least they do in ordinary years when there isn’t a pandemic.
To return to North Pole depot though, it has one more Christmassy claim to fame. Every year, the real metrains.co.uk website details the opera on of a special circular train service which apparently runs from North Pole depot to North Pole depot via nearly every railway sta on in the country, presumably allowing Father Christmas to make his deliveries in a sustainable manner while giving his hard-pressed reindeer some me off.
Yet no-one has ever quite managed to take a photograph of this train. Maybe this year…
Editor’s Note:
There is a further candidate for the Christmassiest place on the rail network. As Dan has pointed out, the nearest village to Wanborough Sta on in Surrey is the charmingly named Christmas Pie. New Book Celebrates The History of Honiton Street Names
December sees the publica on of a new book by local historian and writer Terry Darrant. In The Honiton A to Z: A Street by Street History, Terry provides the reader with a fascina ng guide to the reasons behind the names of Honiton’s roads, lanes, streets, and courts.
If you have ever wondered why Eureka Terrace is so called, or where Edward’s Passage used to be; if you have ever wondered who Haydons Park was named a er, then this is the book for you. As Terry says: “Everybody has an address which is almost part of their iden ty.”
It all began when someone asked how Cuckoo Down Lane got its name, and having never come across the answer before:
“Being up for a challenge, I started looking into it and eventually a er looking at some 18th century maps I managed to solve the mystery.”
Everything grew from there, and it soon became his lockdown project.
In recent mes, the local rules have been ghtened on how streets can be named. Terry points out that it is now against the rules to name a road a er anyone living or recently deceased. This would immediately have disqualified Banfield Way, which is named a er Harry Banfield who ran the Dolphin Hotel un l his re rement in 1921.
And you may be surprised to know that East Devon now advises that the names of trees should be avoided if possible. Hands up all those live in or near a street in Honiton named a er a tree.
Read this book to learn which street is built on land that was originally a field where a local company grazed their horses before the construc on of their feed store and showroom on the site. And discover the original meaning of the name of Shipley Road.
This book is a treasure trove of stories, li le known facts and neglected pieces of local history, wri en by a researcher with an eye for detail and an insa able curiosity.
Want to know more about the place you call home, and the street in which you and your friends live? With never before published photographs and newly uncovered informa on, find out about Honiton’s past and people by reading the defini ve guide to the origins of the town’s interes ng and unusual place names.
Due out in early December, The Honiton A to Z: A Street by Street History will be available from a number of local shops, and from Amazon, for £6.95. Railway Time Marks Its 180th Birthday
In November, we celebrated 180 years since the railways played a vital role in standardising Bri sh me. Before the introduc on of Railway Time in November 1840, Victorian train drivers had to constantly adjust to different me zones when they pulled into sta ons, and the modern idea of standardised metables was almost impossible.
This is because local me could differ by about 10 minutes from what eventually became Greenwich Mean Time. Local me was based on solar me, which varies significantly depending on a place’s la tude and the me of year.
In November 1840, The Great Western Railway, on Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s line from London to South West England, told all sta ons to use London me.
Bristol Temple Meads Sta on opened in August 1840
According to the Science Museum, an 1841 GWR metable stated: “LONDON TIME is kept at all the Sta ons on the Railway, which is about 4 minutes earlier than READING me; 5½ minutes before STEVENTON me; 7½ minutes before CIRENCESTER me; 8 minutes before CHIPPENHAM me; 11 minutes before BATH and BRISTOL me; and 14 minutes before BRIDGWATER me.”
The standardisa on made a huge impact on daily life. Almost all public authori es, including town halls and churches, used railway me by 1855. Sta on masters would adjust their clocks according to telegraph signals from Greenwich in London.
Although Railway Time was gradually adopted for a range of purposes, it was only following a legal case in 1858 that Greenwich was accepted by most people as our na onal me. And it was another 22 years a er that before Greenwich Mean Time was finally made our legal me, under the Statutes (Defini on of Time) Act 1880. The Beginning of Christmas by Andy Harrowell
Our friend and colleague Andy Harrowell, SWR’s Community Rail Manager, has sent us this seasonal reflec on.
Christmas Eve on the railway for me usually means a day in the office. I’ve spent most of my roles in the industry either in training rooms or out and about. However, by 24th December most of those ac vi es have wrapped up, so I always look forward to the chance to catch up, and put things in order before heading off for a few days off.
Whilst no one stands out more than any other, it’s always the journey that s cks in my mind. Christmas Eve is my Grandma’s birthday and we always spend it with her. So as soon as the working day is done, I’m not doing my usual journey home. There’s no trains for me that evening. I’m focused on ge ng down to the Tube.
It’s the only day of the year that I relish heading into the bowels of London – many people have taken the day off, others are heading out for a couple of drinks and it’s the one me I feel like I can have a seat without having to give it up at the next sta on.
I watch as couples cuddle together, or last minute shoppers shi through their bags. More o en than not, the driver provides their announcement with a smile on their face, and a seasonal gree ng on their lips. Bauble earrings and Christmas jumpers brighten my trip.
It’s a silly thing, but I can only really relax into Christmas, once I’ve pinged through a gate line on the Metropolitan Line (not even caring at how much it cost me in comparison to travelling by train), and my Grandma’s house is in sight.
A Word from the Chairman
This has been a year that none of us are ever likely to forget. I am grateful to all our members, supporters, friends and colleagues across the railway industry, for their uns n ng support during these incredibly difficult mes. It is a testament to the enthusiasm, dedica on and kindness of everyone involved that, despite all that has happened this year, The Friends of Honiton Sta on has not only been able to con nue func oning, but has achieved an enormous amount in 2020.
We have successfully launched our website and established this newsle er, which has not only kept us all in touch, but has helped us to reach out to the railway community and to the wider community at large, growing our support. We managed to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the opening of the line, by holding a display of photographs and issuing the very successful commemora ve booklet, which is available from Allhallows Museum and Honiton Library.
And we have con nued to pursue the proposal for vital track improvements between Honiton and Exeter, which will allow the Devon Metro project to become a reality.
No-one knows what 2021 holds, but I feel certain that with the support of our wonderful members and supporters, The Friends of Honiton Sta on will con nue to move forward. And who knows, we may finally be able to re-launch the gardening project that I know is so close to many members’ hearts. Remember, we are s ll looking for a volunteer co-ordinator to put together a team of people to get this project under way again. Stop Press: Passenger Numbers Fall Again
The latest rail usage figures were published on December 1st. These cover the period from April 2019 un l the end of March 2020. This includes a number of strike days, and the first week of the lockdown. They show that passenger usage at Honiton fell by 7.9% to 330,582. Passenger numbers on the East Devon Line as a whole fell 3.7% to 1,047,204
Your End of Year Quiz (answers in the next issue)
Only Connect: Work out the sequence that connects these three rail-related clues, and decide what would come fourth in the sequence. The answers to all four ques ons have appeared somewhere in the newsle er this year, or in the Chairman’s ar cles in Honiton and Village News.
1. Mount Pleasant Halt Whipton Bridge Halt Broadclyst
2. 15 Cranbrook 16 Lea Bridge 17 Cambridge North
3. Totley, Derbyshire Severn Tunnel HS1, Stra ord east
4. Cheltenham Spa Express Torbay Express Cornish Riviera
Mouse of Games: If you change one le er from the name of a sta on you come to these cryp c defini ons for a new sta on. Can you work out both the new name, and the original sta on name?
Example: The Cornish home of Britain’s most famous pos e. Answer: Pat (Par)
1) A famous pond in Wales built by Ground Force’s Tommy.
2) The best town in Wales to buy a replacement item for your engine.
3) East Anglian home of these North American deer.
4) The only town in Norfolk that sells Bath buns good enough for royalty.
5) The ho est town in Lincolnshire. Name That Bridge
Can you name these railway viaducts or bridges, viewed from an unusual angle?
1 2 3
4
5
6