The Great Christmas Quiz 2007?

Great stuff! I look forward to it... although whether I'll be able to get anything, is another matter

Last year we suggested that we would bring you some Christmas decorations. This year they have arrived; And yes, they are genuine and they were not placed on the carriage at this location. The train actually operated in service like this although, as you can see, one side of the decorations on the front became detached at some point.

The picture is not the greatest in the world - in fact it is an extremely poor photograph - but it is interesting for a whole heap of reasons. There are plenty of clues as to where it is, when it is and more. Please work as a team and use your skills to tell us what you can about this image. The train number, destination, background and a small reflection in the front window have all been removed.

On this occasion, staff members will have no advantage so there are no restrictions to their participation.

The answer and relevant comments will be posted at 9pm on Boxing Day, together with an invitation to add to the thread in a similar way to last year.
Have fun.








^{Despite what the Proboards timestamp says, this image was posted at precisely 9am, as promised.}

Note A end; red? stabling light; tail lamp; painted-over destination lamps? Also, are the switchgear grilles plated-over?

The only things I can add at this point are that there appears to be a person behind the gril/window furthest from the platform.

Obviously the plain grey has been added to obsure something, but it doesn't line up perfectly and there appears to be a light coloured strip on the right of the train, round to the top of the roof. This starts slightly above track level. This to me suggests a tunnel station rather than an outdoor one. The light stripe along the platform edge looks like it is in the original rather than added on.

Chris

If you look in the windows on the side of the train, there is a reflected light-coloured line. This is not the platform edge line we can see as that is reflected much lower down the bodyside, but it looks rather similar. This could very easily be the platform edge marker for the opposite side of an island platform. If so it is not the widest island platform there is - possibly the size of those presently at Clapham North/Clapham Common.
The platform also gives the impression of being straight, rulling out Clapham North (as the regular quiz photo on the 16th of this month showed.

I'm inclined to agree (both with Metman's orignal statement and his guess). And there's only one location where it could have been, with strips like that and a platform on the other side.

I've also got my suspicions on what the decorations are as well, but I don't think they're related to the final run of Standard Stock on the line...

Post-Finsbury Park would there have been any need to have destination light codes? I never had the pleasure of travelling on the branch with Standard Stock, just the 1938 Stock.

Just a hunch, but does this question have any relation to last years Christmas Eve question?

I think it was ex-Picc stock! There was a post a while back with a standard stock train at Moorgate with Drayton Pk on the front it was a quiz question I thought!

From what I've read the standard stock on the Highbury branch ran DM-CT off peak and added CT-T-T-DM in peak hours. This could be one such move?

A train driving trough or pulling apart something sounds like the opening of a new line or station to me, like a dignatory cutting a tape to officially open a supermarket or something. Or possibly a grand re-opening?

(Almost) completely off topic, I was chatting with someone (possibly MRFS) before boarding the final trip on the 1938 stock tour on the Jubilee, about Ken Livingstone and speculating how many ribbons he'd cut to officially open things, and whether he'd be adding the third platform at Stanmore to this tally. I eventually got a reply from the Mayor's office saying that the official opening of Stanmore will not be his job, and that they haven't kept records regarding the number of ribbons he's cut.

I would question what its coupled to. By the looks of it, the next car along has an end door, however there doesnt seem to be any space in the roof for the door to slide open. So possibly a CT? But more likely a 'de-mobbed' one.

I'm not certain that train has broken that tape, as the tape clearly goes behind both handles beside the M door (if that's what the front door is known as on Standard Stock).

I'm also puzzled by the reflection/view in the lower part of the left hand front window. It looks like a train on its side in a field-edge ditch. If it is something like this, then it is most likely to be an inserted picture to cover the reflection the introduction mentions has been removed.