quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
But, you have to ask yourself, does that all apply within the scope of the Dronfield Variations?

Well, does it*?

Meanwhile I think we'll head off to

Epping


*I am thinking that this could go all the way to High Court.

---

I think, sir, that if you are going to try the Leamington Spa nonsense here, we'd be better off discussing it in the Hot Place.

Goodge Street

As you know, and choose to conveniently forget, the Dronfield Variations are completely independent of the Leamington Spa Schism, and occurred before that particular shameful incident burst onto our screens. As was pointed out at the time that the Leamington Spa Mafia started bleating their nonsense, the adoption of their ridiculous ideas would lead to reverse shunts losing their entire raison d'etre outside the very lowest levels of the game. We thought we meant "easiest", but it turns out that the change was supported by the "lowest" levels of the game in more ways than one.

This should be all ancient history by now, and would be, were it not for the wooden-brained bleating from some die-hard idiots who neither understood the implications of their proposed revisions, nor cared sufficiently for the game to understand their ramifications.

It's hardly surprising that some of us feel very strongly about this, especially those of us with ties to the Coal Aston Crescentites, as alluded to earlier.

Your move.

[ 08. November 2012, 13:17: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I thought the Coal Aston Crescentites lost all credibility after Boris became Mayor, but perhaps I am mistaken - that happened once before, I think it was 1973.

Chalfont & Latimer


 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I thought the Coal Aston Crescentites lost all credibility after Boris became Mayor, but perhaps I am mistaken - that happened once before, I think it was 1973.

Chalfont & Latimer

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
I see your Nidd and raise you a

Hainault

---

I think I can see what you're trying to do. That play's been popular the last few weeks; I suspect that the online availability of live feeds of the Rotherham Finals earlier in the Summer have something to do with it; as you will recall it was the strategy used by M. Indthegap to devestating effect.

I'm not sure that the defence to it presented by the MC Digest is that inpenetrable either; their recommendation would be to play something like Mudchute at this point, but I'm unconvinced, because it only takes someone to trigger a three-way split on the northbound suburban lines and we're in for a protracted period of play where it'll be more luck than good play that lets someone race towards the Northern Line.

Hence I'm going to cut through all that and play

Dollis Hill

Groan all you like!
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Well, that has ruined my rather clever diagonal through Caledonian Road and I'm not sure I'll ever get the chance to play it again, Dronfield or no Dronfield.



Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Morden

[Keeps quiet to see if anyone can work out how to break the DH loop; no, it's nothing to do with Peak Hours reverse shunts]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
You're both trying to be far too clever, and over-analyse and second-guess all this. I defy anyone to read my mind - heck, most of the time I don't even know what's in there.

And with that, I think we should make a move to

Goldhawk Rd
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dollis Hill

Good try though. I don't think any attempts at shunts, reverse or otherwise, can break it in this situstion.

Except... [checks Little Book of Mornington Crescent] - yes, might try that next go, what with a semi-Spoon over... yes... that might just work...


 

---

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
Oh Golly. I haven't played in a while. In fact I only got introduced to the game a couple of years back on the Ship.

I certainly haven't kept up with all these bloody factions you're all talking about. I don't know, why can't people just stick with the central Rules Committeee and not form splinter groups every time they happen to dislike a particular decision. I mean, was there really anything in that Leamington Spa business worth all the fuss?

As a rank amateur I shall probably stick to fairly traditional moves, but if I show any signs of innovative brilliance it will probably be that kind of 'beginner's luck' where you don't understand enough of what you're doing to REALISE that you're being unorthodox.

And with that I think my best bet is Hyde Park Corner
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Thank goodness for that. I think we should move swiftly onwards to Mudchute before Karl starts spooning again.

Sorry: semi-Spooning

[ 08. November 2012, 15:09: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Mornington Crescent!


 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
I remember the Leamington Spa business all too well and found myself siding with the more liberal adherents of the Warwick Parkway amendment. With that and the Whovian addition to the Dronfield Variation in mind:

Perivale
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Humph - ruling - does my winning move still stand if cross-posted with a blocking move?

The rules on internet play have never been properly sorted out out. That makes the whole Leamington Spa business and the Coal Aston Fallout look like a pleasant disagreement over a pint.
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Ah well you buzzed in first so to speak.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Let's take your Perivale as the start of the new round.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Official Ruling:
If we're on the first page, one can only move to MC if backed up with extreme cleverness. However, since it's morning and my standards are low, the ruling on the field stands. The blocking move was invalid, and, therefore, we will reset to the neutral site of Charing Cross

Well done!
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
If we're going with neutral then:

Swiss Cottage
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Very neutral. I like it. But we can't stay there, so I propose we aim for

South Harrow
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
As a complete newbie, who has only read the basic rules and not all this amendment nonsense, I'm going to plump for


Turnham Green

[ 08. November 2012, 19:08: Message edited by: Starbug ]
 

---

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
It's damn hard to stop someone from spooning if they've really got it into their heads that they want to.

Hackney Wick
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
That gets me between my old school and my old home

Canons Park
 

---

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
DOH! How did I NOT see that move coming?

I don't know, need my brain checked or something. Next thing you know I'll be bringing the Piccadilly Line into play without guarding against putting the entire eastern half in Nidd.

With that in mind, let's hope this isn't foolish...

Pudding Mill Lane
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Which leads me, very nicely I might add, to

Fenchurch Street
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
EEEEHHHHHH!!! No underground station of that name! Invalid move! Reset to Dollis Hill!
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Nononononono! Not D***** H***!

Anyway, is there really anything in The Rules that precludes the playing of a station whose whereabouts* are a bit dubious? Where's Baptist Trainfan when we need him?

Meanwhile, I propose a gentle stroll over to Hammersmith.

* Unless we're playing the Monopoly (Straying into the Wrong Game) Variant, of course.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Not good enough. Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Harrow and Wealdstone of course.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Nope. Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
Why the blazes are we spending so much time at Dollis Hill? I mean, I get that it prevents a reverse shunt on the Circle or District line, but is it really worth it? It leaves you open to all sorts of other troublesome moves.

For instance: Brent Cross
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Fenchurch Street is a mainline station and is thus allowable since, I think, the 1927 revision. The Blessed Humph, who wrote the yearbooks for several centuries, was also known to allow, on occasion, places only reachable by bus!

Seven Sisters
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Fenchurch Street is a mainline station and is thus allowable since, I think, the 1927 revision. The Blessed Humph, who wrote the yearbooks for several centuries, was also known to allow, on occasion, places only reachable by bus!

Seven Sisters

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
You've got an attack of the verbose again, haven't you Karl? I can't be doing with all this obsession with the Leamington Spa Mafia, so am going to play

Elephant & Castle

(yes, it's the one in the corner)

---

I wouldn't want any smart-arse rules lawyer to try to challenge a move taking place now in a couple of hours when I^hsomeone reaches Mornington Crescent. Some people, unfortunately, are rather into post-mortem pleading, and the confusion brought into the rules by certain people (and they know who they are*) only exacerbates this trend. Hence clarification as I go, where I think this scenario is likely.

I don't think that any of us want, by losing a little in game discussion and clarification, to see a repeat of the 2009 Ashover and Clay Cross regional finals, where George Two-Cylinders won after just three minutes with a blinding in-Nidd** diagonal ruff on Zone 1, but the arguments and attempts to have him stripped of his triumph went on for four hours, and even longer in some pubs. You do know that there are still three pubs in Alfreton where away MC supporters are still banned during competitions, as a result of one regular gnawing his own arm off in frustration. The Olde Oake's pub cat is still unwilling to come down from the pelmet in the snug, and has to be fed on the end of a long pole.

Moving on, with the Nomenclature Similitude rule still applicable, I think I can safely move to Gormenghast

[checks surrounding hexes before taking finger off counter]

Yes. Gormenghast it is.

*Except the Leamington Spa lot, who need it spelling out, it seems.

**It was his opponent's own fault. There are pub and club players up and down the land who couldn't believe he tried to set up a three way vortex with commuter lines wild and Picadilly trumps.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
As far as I can see from perusing SEVERAL editions of the rules, going back as far as The Jubilee Edition of 1897, is that the only incontrovertibly allowable play after Gormengast is

Kensington Olympia

Under those conditions I presume it allowable on a Friday.
 

---

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :
 
KLB, songs have been written about that game. I won't repeat them here because they involve some decidedly un-Circus-like words, but suffice it to say that day will live in infamy for a long time.

Wodders seems to have blocked any possible movement on the Northern Line (deliberate or not, I don't know) so I shall have to start out at

Heathrow Terminal 4
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
In honour of Melanie "Mad Mel" Philips' latest and finest manure-spraying effort on her blog (I do wonder when she's going to come out as an undercover Trotskyite) I'm going to plump for Barking

I'm not sure all movement on the Northern Line is blocked. I've had a quick dig around, even consulting the Jubilee Line Book of the Dead, or the timetable as it's also known, and I think it would be possible to sail between the Scylla of a Spooned Zone 1 and the Charybdis of a completely fouled Northern Line, but it would only take one person not on the ball to mess it up and start another D..... H... loop.

The problem here is of course that outstanding ruling regarding reverse shunts after fantasy stations have been called. Certainly Ankh Morpork Central and Lancre Parkway are in Nidd, but Minas Tirith High Level and Osgiliath Interchange would be possible plays, but I think the Reality Re-entry point might turn out to be somewhere on the Paris Metro. Do we want to go there? I believe the interim ruling on the above issue would point to the Mid-Wales line being safer if this happens. Of course, the interim ruling was made at the Llanuwchlyn and Bala convention, so make of that what you will.
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Having finally managed to purchase a copy of the 1923 Amendment to the Lesser Certified Rule Book (Birkenhead Edition) on a well-known retail website*, I propose a move to the definitely non-fictional station of


Ellesmere Port.


*other Jersey-based booksellers with dubious tax arrangements are available.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Well, if were playing by those rules (really, K:LB, don't you know that extensive verbosity only gives rules lawyers ideas?), then may I suggest Penge East? In fact, I suggest it so strongly, I think I'm going to move us all there!
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
When I asked Chorister if we could play The Great Game again, I did not know what I was letting us all in for. It seems the pent up frustration of the past months has led to something deeply strange in the Zeitgeist.
Lets all try to calm oursrlves, and take a safe move to

Baker Strret

And yes, it IS permitted!
 

---

Posted by Imaginary Friend (# 186) on :
 
In that case, I'll play a reverse shunt back to reality and

Baker Street.
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
I know I'm joining late but that's often an advantage...

I think I'll play Clapham Common


I know, I know, South of the River but I have a cunning plan...

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Thank you, Baldrick. You've just set me up to take the Thames Roundabout Tri-Forked Express to Kew Gardens.
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Thank you, Baldrick. You've just set me up to take the Thames Roundabout Tri-Forked Express to Kew Gardens.

---

Bollocks. Was hoping no one would see that. I was straight in otherwise.

Continuing my southern strategy;

Wimbledon Park

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
This reminds me of a funny story, if you'll indulge me for a moment. It was during the 2005 finals which were held, if you recall, in the grounds of Hardwick Hall. Well, there was a beer festival going on at the same time in Bolsover, so naturally the level of oiling was higher than even is normal in professional MC circles, and there'd been a bit of obvious joking regarding moves to Tacton Own and Krings Coss St Pancreas and questions about splitting moves for "comfort breaks" and so on. Now, Tina Icket-Spleez was really cracking on, with a double diagonal reverse shunt move that had put everyone else in the marquee in Nidd, and really everyone thought it was all over. At that point, however, a sheep which had got out of a nearby field wondered in just as she was making a move to the aforementioned Kings Cross St Pancras. It bleated just as she started, the judge heard "Baa - King", and before poor Tina could do anything about it, the next player saw his chance and ran straight for Dollis Hill. Naturally enough the obvious scenario played out and he won, effectively denying Tina her well deserved win, because as you can imagine had she been given her move as she intended, her move to MC and mate in three moves was inevitable.

Which is a long way of saying Kings Cross St Pancras

The one in the Philip Pullman His Dark Materials universe, that is.


 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Nice move Karl.

As everyone knows, KKStP is always a strong move. However since 2005, Prof M. Halbmond in his seminal work published in 2008 demonstrated that there are actually two escapes from was this trap. (Which is of course properly called the Atlee trap as he used it in the one and only competitive match he played but since 2005 has been commonly called the Shepherd's Crook in reference to the story that Matt so wonderfully recalled for us).

The first escape is easy if we're playing DLR stations. I have to confess that I missed the pre-match briefing so I'm not sure if Dockland's stations are allowed. So, playing safe I will take

Hatch End

(Easy to remember as the hatch allows you to escape the Atlee trap... )

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I hoped that would happen. Since we've not apparently returned to this world, I can play

Svalbard

Polar Bears are wild, but balloons in Nidd. Of course any cross-world travel depends on Dust conditions but of course all regular zeppelin routes are Flush.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Which must, I think, bring us all [and our daemons] to

Cambridge
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Um, that was Oxford, you filthy Tab. For violating that, we've reset once again to a neutral site which . . . great. Just Great. We're still on a Pullman in Pullman. This is a spectre I wasn't counting on. Way to twist the knife, man.
Cittàgazze
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 


Gare du Nord
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Hmmm . . . well, if we've escaped that little predicament, how about Abbesses? Anyone know where I can find a good Mâcon around there?
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
There's a very good wine shop in Colchester.

Just trying to be helpful.
 

---

Posted by Elemental (# 17407) on :
 
Colchester You're playing Colchester????

Gods, you've got some chutzpah. You know that that opens up the Gidson variant. That moves all the goalposts.

With that in mind, I'll take the slide rule, and my move (challenge if you dare) is definitely Morden . Note the Gidson variant junction puts the rest of the South in Nidd.

Follow that, Mr Colchester.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Leyton Midland Road


 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
(Of course, the moment has passed, but why no one played Hilversum Noord while they were on their cross-Channel excursion, I will never know. It's as if the Vlissingen Concordat never happened.)
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Well, to compensate and in honour of the political events in the Lost Colonies this last week and in line with the Yalta Accord [MC] of 1945 I suggest we go to

Maryland
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Hmmm. This is a little left-field, but after some consideration, I'm going to try the old 'Dave Lister' ploy from Red Dwarf. By my calculations (which are admittedly a little rusty as it's some time since I was last in hyperspace), this should land us somewhere around


Ganymede Central
 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
Well as we're heading in that direction and i'm feeling a little peckish, I think we should pop into a favourite restaurant of mine. I'm sure you'ld all be welcome as they serve a wide range of varying cliental.

Milliways Halt

[ 10. November 2012, 10:45: Message edited by: claret10 ]
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Coombe Junction Halt - helpful if you need the Looe.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
That's a serious five-dimensional bounce Chorister. It of course opens up all stations previously in Nidd and actually makes their mainline station termini score double under the line.

The game is now wide open isn't it? It's my fault for reminding everyone of the Hardwick Hall Baa-King incident, which of course turned on a similar fine point of the rules.

Remembering what my old Icelandic mentor, Thistreint Ermineitzír always told me:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Rivendell Interchange

(Bet you all thought I was going to play Akureyri, didn't you?)
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Haha, perfect. I trust you will concede graciously my superior strategic play this time Karl?

Mornington Crescent



Play again?
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Can I recommend to any novices wanting to play that they read this excellent work: The Little Book Of Mornington Crescent

I'm not saying that after reading it, you'll be able to compete with the likes of Karl, WW, Orfeo and me but it will definitely help.

Oh, and Convent Garden

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Aha, Ronnie Barker 1998 revisionist rules suggests a play to...

Ruislip
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
West Ruislip
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
I see your ploy and a trip to

Ruislip Manor

should put a pause in that!
 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
So cunning but not good enough to trap me, lets see if you can get out of this one.

Mansion House
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
I am still breathless from the last game. A real tour de force, and one that should appear in the next edition of the Little Book of Mornington Crescent.

However, trying to get back to sanity, I suggest


Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 
Sanity is overrated. After searching the Desert Fathers and the microfiche records in the British Library, I claim the Get-out-of-London Free card, and whisk us off to West Farthing. May the Force be with us all, shipmates.

[ 10. November 2012, 18:14: Message edited by: jacobsen ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Taking into account the fact that it's a weekend, there is an 'R' in the month and the mist is rising like a steaming kettle off the river Stour, I'm going to make a wild jump to


Southampton Parkway
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Which ought to give us enough inertia to escape the Hill and make it out to, oh, Heathrow Terminal 5
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
[tangent ON]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Elemental:
... Follow that, Mr Colchester.

---

Mrs. Colchester, if you don't mind.
[/tangent OFF]

Back to the game:

Aberdeen
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Ah, the old Ross and Cromarty Rebound! Haven't seen one of those in years. Reminds me of the good old days of the Wanlockhead marshalling yards and the c-beams glittering in the dark on the Paisley-Barrhead line.
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
New Cross Gate

 

---

Posted by Elemental (# 17407) on :
 
Point of order
When the Get out of London Free card has been played in a month with an R in it, would New Cross Gate not be under reverse shunt protection?

I contend that it is out of bounds and an illegal move.

On that basis, I take the move to Bond Street.

Tangential profound gender error apology. It was the tension of the game.
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
On to the nearest station to the Cenotaph for an act of remembrance.

Embankment

We will remember them.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
This has been an interesting series of moves - how about I add a little self-advertisement

Angel
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I'm sorry Wodders but it was irresistible:

Barking
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 


I think that forces me to take us to

Canada Water
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Since this would be the second stop past Barking, I think it's time for Dagenham.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Incidentally, did anyone watch last year's friendly between the Ossett Oysters and the Castleford Carriages? Always a grudge match, this one; the local press reports little else for days and BBC Radio Leeds has to stop its regular reports on who's got a glut of green tomatoes in Dewsbury and who won the "Guess the name of the teddy" competitions at church fetes at places like Morley.

Those who did watch (and I can't imagine many of the people posting here wouldn't have) will remember the blinding double-play by Theresa "Bethnal" Green against Albert "Shepherd's" Bush of Todmorden, which carved a direct line through three stations all in Spoon, ruffing the diagonals and taking MC with three overtricks, peak time only stops wild.

In a similar vein, I have no hesitation in heading straight for Revelstone. Sunbane rules apply, of course, and portals back to the real world are subject to standard Nidd rules.

[ 12. November 2012, 10:26: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Hmm. Yes, got it...

Ardrossan South Beach
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
Hmm. Yes, got it...

Ardrossan South Beach

---

I thought that was a church...

Meanwhile, back in the world of Serious Games, I returtn you to our regularly scheduled programme and to the tube map with:

Imperial Wharf

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ah. We have one of the Truro True Crescenters in our midst! They lost the battle long before Arthur Green Brick beat the great Rayner S Lane some fifteen years ago at the Nationals by subtly entrapping Rayner in a five-way diagonal upshift involving Quirm, Galifrey Interchange, Tharbad, Frogstar (Total Perspective Vortex) and, spectacularly, Watford Met.

So to Ken and I shall hie me to Utumno, as much to annoy him as it being a particularly good move. It does, of course, put all Years of Sun Middle Earth locations in a vortex.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
have to admit, I'm now in a bit of a muddle, but can I got to

Gallifrey?
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I rather think I can help by bringing us a bit closer to home

Beta Centauri
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
have to admit, I'm now in a bit of a muddle, but can I got to

Gallifrey?

---

You can; it's always a possible play because it links to everywhere.

Whether it's a good play is another matter. Our choice in these circumstances raises important questions.

1. Do we foresee Spooned stations being an issue on re-entry? If we do, then Galifrey can be a useful play to limit our opponents options.

2. Are commuter stations in Nidd? If they are, then perhaps Galifrey is a bad move as not only will it take some time to effect a re-entry (having to find an operation phone box, for example), which gives our opponent time to get the advantage on us, or just play for time if we currently hold the token, but on re-entry there's a considerable chance that it'll be in to D..... H... loop, which really benefits no-one unless they're playing Lewisham Hold 'em.

But to show that no set of guidelines can really cover all circumstances:

Hainault
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Ashford


 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
I'll admit I'm still trying to understand the rules, but are you certain that is a legal move?
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jonah the Whale:
I'll admit I'm still trying to understand the rules, but are you certain that is a legal move?

---

[tangent]
If you try a move that isn't legal, Chorister will probably remove/eviscerate your post.
[/tangent]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Legality?

Well, only for ONE Ashford.


 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Legality?

Well, only for ONE Ashford.

---

But the Rhyming Rule allows me to play Newcastle-upon-Tyne and that opens up the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Can I point out that since last Summer incorporation of joint preserved/mainline stations results in a redouble. I mention it because neither Keighley nor Grosmont are that far away. As a subsidiary challenge I think it'd be fun to go through both before heading back to That Station.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
That station?

Leamington Spa
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Casting my mind back to my time at Kelsey Grammar School, I'm sure dear old Miss Fridd of the Lower Fourth taught us gels something called the Lusitania Manouver. Can't remember all the details now, but it involves Threading the jolly old Isle of Wight Needle. Which should bring us out somewhere around


Smallbrook Junction

[ 12. November 2012, 16:57: Message edited by: Starbug ]
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Yeah [wistful smile] I remember the first time I played when I was just a lad... My Grandfather beat me in 3 moves...(sigh)

Anyways... um... Elephant and Castle

AFZ
 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
Wow that must have been a very long time ago!! However reminds me of a story my grandfather once told me about Nellie who escaped, however it's a long story and it's packed at the bottom of my trunk. However I do remember it led to the joke 'How do you get an elephant on top of an oak tree?' But i'm sure you all know that one...

So lets go to

Camden Town
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
I have watched with bated breath and the help of an oxygen tent, waiting for this series of moves, which allows be to double de-track over to

Kew Gardens
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Well played, Weeder! It occurs to me that you're almost the first person since my last move to be speaking a language other than Martian.

Sticking with a vaguely horticultural theme, I think Covent Garden for a spot of lunch* wouldn't be a bad idea.

* Porter's English Restaurant - v. good fisherman's pie.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Fish pie always wins, piglet—always. Which means, well, it's off to the docks to find some fish. Or the wharf. How about Canary Wharf?
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Which takes me to my Great Aunt's house at

Surrey Docks

[ 13. November 2012, 03:29: Message edited by: Latchkey Kid ]
 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
Hmmm a cunning move, however talking of aunt's bizarrely reminds of prisons. So that leads us nicely on to

Holloway Road
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Or it would, were it not for the Wormwood Scrubs Rider which was added to the rules in the wake of the regrettable events at the Wales and West Country quarter-finals back in 1996. Sparing the details, which are well known to all players at any level, and too embarrassing to rehearse amongst non-players, suffice it to say that there are several top level players who nevertheless can't show their face in the Yeovil branch of W H Smiths ever again. The worst thing really was the spilling over of the disagreement into the evening entertainments. Morris Dancing isn't everyone's cup of tea - indeed, it's not mine; the only value I see them having is as unfailing indicator of a good real ale pub - but the fact remains that surgeons took several hours getting that bladder out, and several members of the Minehead Morris Team still jingle whenever nature calls.

Therefore

Paddington
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Aha, the classic 'marmalade sandwich' move! I have heard mention of this in ancient manuscripts from Darkest Peru.

Notwithstanding, I think we'll take a little wander closer to the Thames. Putney Bridge sounds good.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
If I had a tail it would be wagging.

Subtle misdirection has always been key to the MC game, don't you think? How many times, especially early in our careers, do we find ourselves bearing down on an obvious diagonal only to find ourselves derailed and hurtling down the embankment, only to find our opponent grinning in the signal box?

Incidently, I recently came across a dusty box as I was clearing the attic for insulation to be installed. It was an 1850s edition of Camden Town Tollgate (also known as the Tollgates and Turnpikes Boxed Set, with full set of polyhedral dice and little ivory stagecoaches), which many will know as one of the many 19th century and earlier games which informed the Mornington Crescent Ruleset as it grew up from its humble beginnings in the trenches of the First World War, frequently mistaken by Hun Morse-Tappers for a secret British Army code.

There are some fascinating bits in there about putting Turnpikes in Nidd and spooning horses (ooer! Don't tell the vicar!) that still form part of the modern game.

For example, in this situation, playing Marble Arch
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
And thence, obviously,

Mornington Crescent


And thus we start afresh with

Moor Park

[ 13. November 2012, 13:25: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Rats. That'll teach me to ruff out the mainline interchanges during the school Autumn Term, won't it?

That makes it the third game in the series, doesn't it? Hence:

Mudchute
 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
That was really careless letting Kingsfold in like that - I expected better of you Karl.

Anyway, I think I can play Bank at this point. I'm not aware of the third match in the series making any difference in this respect.

[Edited to embolden Bank]

[ 13. November 2012, 13:38: Message edited by: Jonah the Whale ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
I don't often get an opportunity like that, so I'm not complaining.

Hmm, we were at Bank. I think we therefore need to head out to Turnham Green
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
I don't often get an opportunity like that, so I'm not complaining.

Hmm, we were at Bank. I think we therefore need to head out to Turnham Green

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
If we're playing like this then we can't avoid
Liverpool Lime Street

---

Well, that makes things interesting... It will have to be Oxford Circus seeing as we are playing the famous City Stratagem.*

AFZ

*As Everybody knows the City Stratagem involves skipping through London underground stations named for other places... Leicester Square, Oxford Circus etc. However Waterloo is NOT allowed as, whilst it is indeed a place, it was named for a battle and not for the place... Now, to escape the city stratagem and open up the 3 move win one of course needs to play.... Sorry nearly gave the whole thing away then, and I know experienced players would not forgive me for making it so easy for novices...
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
In the words of the late, great Eric Morecambe,


*cough* Arsenal! *cough*.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Are we playing MC or a game loosely based thereon?

Can anyone else recall all the "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" letters in the Torygraph a couple of years ago as a result of This Sort Of Thing in the 2006 "Battle of Hastings" finals down in East Sussex?

Come to think of it, creating a few red-faced Major Misunderstanding type characters exploding onto the pages of that blue-rinse rag is actually quite appealing, so perhaps we should try for an aneurysm.

Waunfawr

That'll annoy the hell out of them!
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Belmont

might calm us all down.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I observe that LK has introduced a little-known but nonetheless useful gambit - the Hymn Tune Option (1728)* - which obviously leads us to Kilmarnock.

* I know this puts Scottish players at an advantage, and frankly, I don't care.

Over to you, Kingsfold.
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Can Kingsfold find Mornington Crescent?
None of the moves I see get us any nearer than

Rugby
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
LK - you could have had a quick victory there; there were diagonal spokes radiating from Kings Cross, which as you know enables you to rumble through north London straight to destination.

But now the spokes are all bent, like my front bike wheel when I went too fast into that underpass in May. However, that does mean I can invoke the similes rule and play

Dronfield

which is interesting, considering we're playing Dronfield variations. At this point one should pause and reflect on the heavy price paid by the Coal Aston Crescentites of recent memory for the furtherance of our noble game. Never, in the field of human gameplay, etc. etc.

Was anyone else up late last night watching Tim Brooke-Taylor and Jack Dee's documentary on the game on one of the more obscure Freeview channels? I had never quite appreciated how important seperating Nidd and Spoon in the 1950s had been to the character of MC as it's played now. The explanation of why Graeme Garden never plays stations on the District Line was illuminating; I do hope his step-uncle twice removed is eventually able to bring himself to travel by trolley-bus again in due course.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 

quote:

---

posted by Latchkey Kid:
Can Kingsfold find Mornington Crescent?

---

Oh, I can most certainly find Mornington Crescent, the only problem is that I can't play it after Karl's move...

Which leaves me in a bit of a dilemma: do I follow up on the the Hymn Tune Option (1728), thus leaving myself opens to accusations of playing fast and loose, or do I try and throw the game into Nidd and discommode the other players. Or is there a more Anglican Via Media?

So, it's going to have to be Lambeth North

[ 14. November 2012, 08:48: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Don't we have enough religious wars of our own within MC without importing religious religious wars as well?

Of course you can't get to MC after my move; that's rather the point isn't it? I think I can see what you're doing though, and seeing as we're between the Dr Who season and the Christmas Special, it's an obvious time to play

Skaros

I saw this move played at the 70th anniversary of the Dronfield Variations symposium in Leeds some years ago. Everyone shouted "EXTERMINATE" at the tops of their voices as the Norwegian Ois Turgardt played this move.

You had to be there.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
KLB, I find that move a bit skary ...

To avoid immediate extermination, I think Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 and 3 might be the safest option, but as a non-Dr. Who aficionado, I might be as wrong as a big wrong thing.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
No, it's probably safe as a temporary measure.But I wouldn't hang about there, if I were you.

Hanger Lane on the other hand...
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
...would have been interesting last time we had a MC night down at my local pub. Actually, it was just at the point where someone made exactly this move when a Romanian chap called Pica Dilli nipped off for a call of nature. Suddenly there was a blood-curdling scream from the vicinity of the gents; investigation revealed the most bizarre freak accident involving the wind interfering with the venting in the pubs sewerage system, one of those huge round bog-roll dispensers where the end of the bog roll always disappears inside leaving you scrabbling at the razor-sharp entrance, and the contraceptive machine. Fortunately, Dilli did regain full use of all his body parts in due course. This is what happens when you're concentrating too much on the two-way diagonal reverse shunt and not enough on the task in hand. A warning to us all, but I digress.

Embankment
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Interesting events (and people) at your local, KLB, I wish mine had similar events rather than the interminable quizzes and morris dancing in the street outside.

You carefully don't let on that your Embankment move has left all stations south of the river in Spoon so any careless players could give you a free run, but we are used to such diversionary tactics by now. I was tempted by Osterley, but then remembered the Dronfield Variations could make that very tricky, so I think we have to go the other way.

Hmmm, Stepney Green, I think
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
See, I was wondering if Pica Dilli was related in any was to Pica Lilli, which would have taken the Spoon into entirely new territories. And I did therefore wonder about Baker Street or Pudding Lane (under the 1666 conflagration annotations).

But on the whole, I think Shepherd's Bush Market is probably the better play.

[ 15. November 2012, 11:15: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
No, nor was he related to the Monopoly Pro Coach at the University of Harouanwiil Stohn, Pica Willi.

This sort of high/low playoff strategy can always be interesting. I don't know if anyone's ever played the LARP version of MC, which involves actually travelling to the stations played and having a drink at the nearest real ale pub to each, but perhaps not, since that rather unfortunate incident involving the famous Finnish pro Uppes Kaletor, who got a little bit excited about playing Stratford low level immediately after Stratford high level and very nearly ended up fricasséed on the live rail. The ban on short cuts was mistakenly taken as applying to the table-top version as well, which has severely hampered attempts to force opponents to meld out around Bank because of the arguments over misunderstandings on this point, but there you go.

Ribblehead
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
The more I read this thread, the more I think that Karl does nothing ever in his life, other than play Mornington Crescent...

Which definitely gives him an unfair advantage. So, it's no more Mr Nice Alien; The yellow gloves are off... time for some really nasty moves.

Earls Court

Get out of that one, if you can!

AFZ
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Well of course we can get out of that. It also gives me the opportunity to play

Stoneleigh which I've never been able to do before.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Nah, I just dabble. You should see the real pros; they live and breathe it. I have a few anecdotes over decades; they'd be able to reel of as much from the last few months.

Oh, and Ambergate
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Now, Kingsfold, you know that Earls Court to Stoneleigh was ruled Illegal by the 1987 International Mornington Crescent Reality Argument Protocols (IMCRAP) but seeing as Karl has already played...BTW Karl, your 'gifted amateur' act fools no one... so

Kings Cross / St Pancreas

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Pawn to King's Bishop 4
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Pawn to King's Bishop 4

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Actually, yes. I think I can work with that, even if you can't—I'm thinking Boardwalk. AFZ—since you couldn't figure out the Multiform Ludorum Regulations, §§2718, you're going to Jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

---

 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
Just glancing through appendix 345z of the afore mentioned rules, (yawn) However I find at this point i am generously allowed to offer AFZ a get out of jail card and send us to

Coventry Street
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
BTW, Kingsfold, are you playing Mornington Crescent or The Weakest Link?

AFZ
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Hmmm, Coventry Street...

That is (perhaps unsurprisingly) the MC equivalent of being sent to Coventry. I'm sorry if that's too literal but it is a tight spot. A difficult place from which to move.



That is indeed a fiendishly clever move - particularly masking it as you do in the cloak of generosity of getting me out of jail. So, as I sat back with my pipe and single malt scotch to consider my next move I found myself remembering one of the darkest times of my life. It was indeed the long dark night of the soul for me.

This is probably not the forum to dwell on, or try to express the anguish and soul-searching that went on that particular night. (Least I think it was night… it was certainly dark.) I found myself stumbling around in the darkness, just longing for some faint glimmer of hope. Nothing more; just a glimmer of hope. As I sat there rocking gently many voices came to me. Most of them seemed to be distant and some way off. The voices said some strange things like “What the Hell are you doing?” or “Get up here now!” I do not know if it makes any sense to try and enquire into the voices that a fractured mind hears (as indeed my mind was fractured) but they did seem to be ridiculous to me. Surely it was obvious what I was doing… I was sitting. In the dark. Similarly was ‘up’ some kind of reference to an improved mood – to maybe even happiness? If so, I would be there in a second if I only knew how. So I eventually taught myself to ignore the voices.

It was then that I finally found some hope, when I had given up believing that hope was indeed possible. A light-at-the-end-of-tunnel if you will. Strangely, I realised said light was indeed a literal light, in a literal tunnel. Of course it took me slightly too long to realise that the old maxim was right… the light at the end of the tunnel is so often the train coming towards you!

In this case, in this literal tunnel, it was – perhaps unsurprisingly, although honesty compels me to admit I was surprised – a literal train. I was truly surprised. This particular literal train was the 0538 from Nottinghill Gate.

As I frantically climbed on to the platform, somehow missing the third rail I learned what I believe to be two very valuable life lessons. Firstly – and less importantly – I learnt that NO ADMITTANCE, DANGER OF DEATH signs do actually mean ‘No admittance’ and ‘Danger of Death.’ I’m not entirely sure how it is possible to know this in advance, but it is certainly clear to me now. Secondly, and a far greater life-lesson, I also acquired some deep wisdom. As I sat there on the platform watching the on-rushing training obscuring the station signs, I realised that when faced with adversity, Bayswater is, and probably always will be, an amazing move in that greatest of games, Mornington Crescent.

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Cast 5th Level Fireball at Troll
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Now look what you've done!

Burnt Oak
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Oh I've barely started. It's interesting though when someone opens an RPG vortex, especially when LARP is invoked. No-one who follows the professional game could possibly forget how Wim Beldon huffed his way to victory by claiming a King at Morden and roaring straight back through Zone 6.

I could play Four Clubs at this point, but instead I'll go for London Bridge

I'm sure you get the point.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 

quote:

---

posted by AFZ:
BTW, Kingsfold, are you playing Mornington Crescent or The Weakest Link?

---

Yes

Anyhow, back to the game (ah yes, but which one, I hear you cry)

Dalston & Kingsland
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'm sorry, but some things just need to be said.
Kew Gardens

I know, I know. The Kleinhalter Converse. But if it was good enough for the Prince Consort, who are we to argue?
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Bit unconventional to play that this late in the game, but I think it falls on the right side of the divide between merely unconventional and ungentleman/ladily play (isn't it strange how old fashioned the required terms can be in MC?).

Of course, it means a bit of thinking to work out how to get around it. The Ruschkov Turn is clearly out of order, which leaves me with, I think, the only option being a diagonal side-shunt into Dollis Hill

Don't blame me, Firenze forced it. Who can forget the eighteen hour DH loop forced in similar manner by the Gambian challenger Sow Th'Kenzi Ngton, which of course had nothing to do with him being held down and a gallon of Hobgoblin poured over him by masked men shortly afterwards.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
It's pay-day so the only logical move is Bank.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Look, I realize that winter is coming, that we're all depressed because it gets dark at 4:30, but do we have to keep going to the Palm House? Is Kew Gardens turning into the new DH loop? I think the KG Circuit overrides the previous DHL in this case—see the Regulationae Ludorum §§10.894 if you don't believe me!

[ 16. November 2012, 02:48: Message edited by: Ariston ]
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
If you are finding winter so depressing we can take our money from Bank to


Fish Market
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Well, there's always the Dulwich Drop, but do we really want to go there?

I'm aware it used to be really popular in the old days before the Earl's Court conference, but its somewhat lost its value now that commuter services running in reverse are wild on weekdays, so putting the whole of Zone 1 in Nidd if someone then goes and fills in a diagonal.

Mind you, there was that occasion branded I think on everyone's consciousness when Barry Took played it in the 2003 ISIHAC season. Stories of radios being thrown across kitchens are I think apocryphal, but certainly there were plenty of angry letters and Radio Times had to have a moratorium or there'd have been room for correspondence on little else. How things change; it's now commonplace in church halls and pub back rooms up and down the country and barely raises an eyebrow; at most you get a steely stare over a pint, although there was some ill feeling after one or two members of the Heeley and Meersbrook group felt they weren't being invited to game sessions and thought it was because of playing this move.

So it has to be:

Colonel Mustard in the Kitchen with the Lead Pipe
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
For some reason, my instinctive response to that is

Chalk Farm

I have no idea why, but I'll run with gut feel on this...

[ 16. November 2012, 13:57: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
MC is one of the most logical games in existence. It is unambiguous, and by a combination of looking ahead and application of simple principles, it's always possible to discern the best move.

Gut feeling really has little role to play, even less than say chess. Gut feeling is for fishing. Which is why I can now play Dollis Hill once more.

And bear in mind that logical as it is, appearances can be deceiving.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Sure, appearances can be deceiving. But we're not getting stuck in the bloody Dollis Hill loop again. Not if I can help it. So, taking a Caledonian slip we have:

Sanquhar
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Loop? What loop? I did say that appearances can be deceiving, did I not?

Mornington Crescent!
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
But you see, that gives us chance to start afresh, which is all good. Over to you...
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ah. You threw the game on purpose. Now where have I heard that one before? Other than in the pub last Tuesday evening?

In honour of London Pride, Turnham Green.

It's the closest tube to the brewery.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Now if everyone just keeps calm and remembers to breathe, we can grow through this whole experience.

As a way of centering, can I suggest we go with

Theydon Bois
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Remaining totally centered, I am proceeding in an orderly manner to

Bow Road
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
As I am currently residing in North Devon, I am going to shunt us all Westward Ho! to


Barnstaple
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Keeping west of the middle, how about:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

That should shut KLB up for a wee while ...

[ 17. November 2012, 01:25: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
Keeping west of the middle, how about:
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

That should shut KLB up for a wee while ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by alienfromzog:
... for some "Clan-fair...mumble...mumble...go-go-goff" is an adequate statement ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by alienfromzog:
... for some "Clan-fair...mumble...mumble...go-go-goff" is an adequate statement ...

---

"Hlan-fair...mumble...mumble...go-go-goch" is about my limit, I'm afraid.

As the Weeder has just played it must be my turn, and I think St. Paul's would be quite a good idea.

---

Fair point, Piglet. As I tried and failed to type the last time, I try to be as gracious as possible. Either way Karl demonstrated good adherence with 567sB, even though I believe we are not playing the 503-685sB subset (see above) he didn't really need to.

Either way, moving on; Waterloo

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Indeed; I'd play Llandudno if we were using that ruleset as it's amazing how many people pronounce it wrongly.

The game was played completely in Welsh in a number of Eisteddfodau, I remember particularly the one a few years ago (my Welsh isn't up to competing in MC in the language so I was watching the live feed in the Dysgwyr tent with subtitles) and saw a brilliant double-play which inspires me to now play Rhos Tryfan
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Duw, duw, but that brings back memories. Remember those wild nights in the speakeasies of Buarth Road, playing the version banned under the Geneva Convention? The time Jones the Psychopath double shunted to Penrhyndeudraeth? You can see the marks on the ceiling yet.

For old times sake, it has to be

Blaenau ffestiniog
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Oh dear. You know, this game would work a lot better if you could provide pronunciation keys for those of us who wish we had enough Welsh heritage to be able to pronounce any of it. Either that, or I could recruit my half-Welsh boss's boss to look at me funny and repronounce it all for me. At any rate, since I can write my answer on a little slip and hand it to someone else, how about Harlech? I know you can't get hardly anywhere from there!
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Mae Betws y Coed yn hawdd; mae hi'n Dydd Sul, 'te?

Betws y Coed is easy; it is Sunday, isn't it?

I played my first ever public match in Betws. Never mind the marks on the ceiling in Penrhyndeudraeth; my left calf will never be the same. It was a three-way, with two teams from Ystradfellte and Ty'n y Caeau; should have know that we were the sacrificial lamb. The whole incident is best left shrouded in obscurity, but I will say that Corgis have remarkably sharp teeth.
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
I know I'm a stick-in-the-mud but I do feel Mornington Crescent belongs in London. So invoking the Rugby rule... I can locate to the station nearest to London Welsh which is of course, Richmond

Ahhhh... that's better.

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Yes, but it's purely a stylistic preference; the rules are what they are.

Hence I can (and will) play Exeter St David's and there's not a lot you can do about it (besides the obvious, of course, but with your London-centric stylistic bias will you do it?)



 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Yes, but it's purely a stylistic preference; the rules are what they are.

Hence I can (and will) play Exeter St David's and there's not a lot you can do about it (besides the obvious, of course, but with your London-centric stylistic bias will you do it?)

---

I know, I know... but Kew Gardens

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

Betws y Coed is easy; it is Sunday, isn't it?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
Ongar


An it's not just London, but Middlesex and Surrey at least.

---

Don't open that can of worms! I narrowly escaped a three match ban on that occasion in Rutland - how the hell was I to know that the match organiser was a staunch member of the Real Counties Society or whatever they call themselves? I mean I'm all for pointing out that the West Riding traditionally ends at the Shirebrook and Meersbrook in Sheffield, but I don't, well, suffice it to say that I don't consider "Humberside" to be actual vulgarity as such.

Start as we mean to go on.

Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
I'm a defiant Bucker

Aylesbury

And I claim that it must be OK if it's on the Metropolitan Line, even though I remember the electric engines pulling non-motorised carriages for the through (not express) trains.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
[whistles]

Dollis Hill

[whistles]
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
OK. Out of Left Field I will put my engines in the

Neasden

roundhouse, even though the turntable does not have the third and fourth lines.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
A gift.

Looping back to Dollis Hill three times closely spaced allows my first

Mornington Crescent

You are all so very kind.

You can start again at

Oval
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Congratulations, LK - well played!

Noting the sporting nature of your opening move, may I suggest Upton Park?
 

---

Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
This is probably a bad move in terms of making any progress, but I can't resist:

Hammersmith
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Practically retrograde. I suppose that means

Hanger Lane

while we wait for the weather to clear.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
LK - how sporting is it to play a move that you know would have attracted some censure if most people had been awake?

Technically legal, but, really - I know places where you could expect a bit of a frosty response when you put your order in for the next round. To be fair, perhaps standards are a little different around your neck of the woods.

New game, however, so no point crying over, well if not spilt milk, at least a bottle made to wobble menacingly.

Northern Line vulnerable; two overtricks probably available on Circle; Mainline interchanges are wild...

Croxley Green
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Engineering works south of Carshalton again, I see.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
That means invoking the transport shuttlebeam via Carstairs. Or at least it does on a wet Monday in November.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Hmmm - current deep level stock is £6 rent and houses are £50 a time; cut and cover line stock is £12 and houses are £100 - so I'll roll the dice...

[roll] [roll]

8

That puts me on Jail - Just Visiting.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Ah, the old Wrong Game ploy. That used to result in instant disqualification (and in extreme cases, sectioning under the Mental Health Act), but in these liberal, hanky-squeezing days it's become politically incorrect even to draw attention to it ...

oops ...

Ah well, I suppose a trans-game move is called for:

Leicester Square

which, with judicious use of Triple Letter/Word Scores, would get about 250 points in Scrabble.

[ 20. November 2012, 02:51: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Elementary. Let's go Holme to

Baker Street
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
You realise the Game was originally a monastic practice dating from the early 13th century? In Mornyng tyme cross cant the object was to pray the Stations of the Cross in the order prescribed by St Pancras (of Basildon, not the more famous one) while at no time traversing an imaginary line between the Holy Sepulchure in Jerusalem and the used-oxcart depot in Skelmersdale.

Only then were you allowed to eat breakfast.

That being so, it's only right to go to
Mottisfont.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
St Albans Abbey
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
You realise the Game was originally a monastic practice dating from the early 13th century? In Mornyng tyme cross cant the object was to pray the Stations of the Cross in the order prescribed by St Pancras (of Basildon, not the more famous one) while at no time traversing an imaginary line between the Holy Sepulchure in Jerusalem and the used-oxcart depot in Skelmersdale.

Only then were you allowed to eat breakfast.

That being so, it's only right to go to
Mottisfont.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Whoopee, I haven't played this for ages!

---

Hello BT! I wondered where you'd got to. **waves**

Sticking with slightly obscure football teams:

Tamworth
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Tamworth what one would expect from a piglet.

Which brings us neatly to

Plumpton
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
This is getting pedestrian. I could play Gallifrey, but then I thought best not.

So, with still an intention to stir things up a bit, and with the film less than a month away, I'll go for Goblin Town Interchange
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Noting that Circle Line Gambits are risky from Goblin Town Interchange. (Though to be honest the more professional Crescenteers would know how to ride the mayhem that would arise from any such move.)

Using the Tolkeinian Fantasy Races double reverse shunt I'm sending us to

Elverson Road
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Ankh Morpork Central
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Oh, very good. I wonder if it'll set up a vortex if I play Moria Endless Stair Low Level?
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Be careful, that vortex has been known to swallow the House of Laity whole. (Actually, wait, that might not be such a bad idea....)

Cockfosters
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
That just has to be followed by Picad(w)illy
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I'm speechless!

Perhaps we ought to have to have a spell in quarantine at

Oldham (Mumps).

(Waves back at Piglet in a Friendly Way which will not attract the attention of heffalumps).

[ 21. November 2012, 15:34: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I don't know where to go from there, really. I once needed to help a young lady deliver parcels in Lancashire and North Wales, so I got her to Oldham, and then I went to Bangor as fast as I could.

Which takes us back to Llandudno Junction, wrth gwrs/of course.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
PS For railway nerds:

quote:

---

I wonder if it'll set up a vortex if I play Moria Endless Stair Low Level?

---

You may not know that there was truly once a Spiral Escalator at Holloway Road station. It didn't work, but bits of it still exist at the London Transport Museum Depot (I've seen them),
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
And thence to Machynlleth
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Ebbw Vale
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Crianlarich

You know why.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Jings, crivvens and help ma boab.

Waverley

Y'goat a problem wi' that Jimmy?
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Glasgow Central, Jimmy.*

* Everyone in Glasgow is called Jimmy, even the women.

[ 22. November 2012, 02:14: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Caol Loch Aillse (Rathad Iarainn Nan Eilean)*

--

*That's Kyle of Lochalsh (Iron road to the Isles) in Gaelic.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
I have no clue where we are. Reset to somewhere I do know: Brookland/CUA
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Kilmainham

Because I can. I have a red counter, and so the 1898 rules apply.

( I have had to edit this post- I typed 1998 by mistake! I know.....that way shunts disaster)

[ 22. November 2012, 09:57: Message edited by: The Weeder ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Ooh, that's where we've got to, is it? Mmm. So, what shall I play next....

March I think.
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Also known as Le Marche
which gets us to

Fiumicino
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You can't expect to get away with that without getting Heeley

It's been closed for 50 years, so appropriate rules apply.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
By "appropriate rules" do you mean that as I'm only 50 and can't possibly be expected to remember anything about that station, I can take us somewhere that actually means something to me?

Vienna Central*

* but obviously means nothing to this lot.
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
All Stretton Halt

No explanation necessary.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Balloch
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Now that does put me in a quandary ... does he mean Balloch Central (the only surviving station of that name) or the much more interesting but sadly defunct Balloch Pier (for the steamers, summer service only)?

Ho hum, I suppose it doesn't really matter if we put the Loch behind us and mooch up the line to Alexandria. Shall I take my Mummy?

[ 23. November 2012, 16:05: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Hah! I know its hardly an exciting move but its just too tempting to do the Highland Line Double Redoubled and back up to Yoker.
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Hmm, given the subject of this week's news, I suggest we visit the now (sadly) defunct


Bishopsgate Terminus
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Canterbury East
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Ha! Let the good Bishop try to catch a train at Southwell these days. Synod might allow it (in all three houses), but Dr. Beeching won't.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
PS I woz wrong - it didn't last long enough to be closed by Dr. B. However the "push and pull" nature of its latter-day service seems to match very well the vacillations of the CofE.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I hope no-one minds my observation that this is starting to get slightly dull and predictable. I seem to recall a very interesting double play at a point like this back in about 1995 in the Aston and Aughton finals that the German visiting champion Mudsch Utt beat out own Barbara ("Bar") King. I know that questions were asked in a House committee about it, but all the authorities agree it was valid.

Apart, of course, from the Leamington Spa MC Mafia, but who cares, eh?

Hence: Harrow and Wealdstone
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
And a slight move to the west takes us to


Hanger Lane
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Sounds as if you need to hang up your coat somewhere - would St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe do? If so, you'll probably find it best to get off at

Blackfriars.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:

Blackfriars.

---

I suppose you're one of those people who think that trains should only be driven by men? eh? eh? And celibate ones at that. But, I'll have you know, Mildred Carscobbler was the first woman train driver back in 1863 and the whole rules of this game were given a complete makeover after her skirts got snagged up in the wheel housing of the 0837 to Shoreditch.

Tooting Broadway
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Though interestingly, the infamous 'Mildred' riots of '06 were entirely unconnected. The role of MC in labour agitation in the early years of the last century is too well known to need repeating here, though I don't think the part played by the Kentish goose foglers has ever really been given the prominence it deserves. I'm afraid the Labour Party has strayed far from its roots (some of us chiefly remember Ramsay Macdonald for his skill at the gradient shunt). Really, I think he least we can do, in memory of those gallant pioneers, is go via

Dorchester

(nearest stop to Tolpuddle)

[ 24. November 2012, 22:35: Message edited by: Firenze ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Hmm. Heading back Smokewards, I suppose we'll arrive at Waterloo.

The French would like us to rename Waterloo Station - how about Agincourt?
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
I suggest heading to Oxford Street for a spot of Christmas shopping.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
That, I fear, would necessitate several return visits to Bank
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I hope you're proud of yourself, Chorister.

Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Bank
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dollis Hill

And with the Northern Line in Spoon as well. Why, I have to ask, did no-one see this coming?
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
I just love it. You didn't expect

Willesden Junction
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I did, assuming someone wouldn't notice the significance of the deep-level Nidd, and the fact that one cannot shunt into peak-time only stations.

Other than that, a fine play. As it is, however:

Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Deep-level knid (or nidd if you prefer) compels me to perform a flange to Stonebridge Park.

(I wonder how many of you have seen a flange before, or know the difference between a flange and a bracket)
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Dollis Hill

Your move, Karl
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Oh no it isn't.

Hammersmith

Do you think I came up the river in a bubble?
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ah. That changes things a bit.

Incidently, did anyone else listen to the action at the annual Swadlincote bash this weekend? Only part of it was broadcast, and only on local radio, although it was available to stream and may be on a podcast if you do a bit of googling.

Old Wortal Lieu did a fine job in a three man tussle against Ray Nurselane and Wat Fordmet. It wasn't exactly like the current situation, but I think the general principles are appropriate.

Attercliffe Road

I'm glad to notice it's been quiet in Swadlincote this morning so, unusually, it appears that the event has come and gone quietly. This is quite gratifying; hopefully Ashby de la Zouch will forgive the MC community in due course, although one will have to have some sympathy if they didn't; their fire service has quite enough to do as it is.
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
I have been watching with great interest, and some concern. I name no names, but wonder if some players have actually read the rules? The Updated, Revised and Authorised rules, with a brilliantly argued preface written by a Mrs. Trellis. I have never heard of her, but she has opened my eyes to the real game.

And so, on her advice

South Ruislip
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You've been had. Mrs Trellis is well known in some circles for her - erm - unorthodox views. You are aware that Mrs Trellis is rather like the ladies who send the Test Match Special commentators cakes, except with the sanity finally gone?

I didn't know she'd written a book, but I'd treat it with great caution if I were you.

Springfield
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Mrs Trellis is my guru. Which probably explains quite a lot. But there you have it.

Water Orton
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
I prefer to follow the way of Mrs Cosmopolite. Which leads us nicely to


Sto Plains South
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Mrs Humphrey Ward is the guiding light to those of us who play the game from the golden era of Steam. When one thinks of those wild evenings in Bradmore Road - Matthew Arnold in one corner with a lampshade on his head, pretending to be the Ribblehead Viaduct, Carlyle in the other, throwing dominos at the cat; George Eliot playing rude songs on her ukele while Meredith and Hardy played the strip version - ah, it brings tears to the eyes.

I never see

Upminster

But I think of those dear dead days.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Stoke Mandeville

(c0dE)

[ 26. November 2012, 17:45: Message edited by: Chorister ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Piccadilly Circus - for Savile Row?

Sorry - I'll get my coat ...
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Which neatly leads us to a Tuesday morning Cross-Border Leap (Rule 114(b) para.79x(4th recension) in the 1923 North British (lowland) edition).

Coatbridge (Sunnyside).

Well, it's been raining a lot up there, hasn't it? They need cheering up.
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
It is difficult when we are all playing by different rules, but it does make the Great Game even more interesting.

So, I am going to
Arsenal
which should scupper everyone except Piglet.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Ah but Piglet is not in possession of the Silver Chip allowing him* to play Gunnersbury.

Whereas I am. Snarf, snarf.


*or even her

[ 27. November 2012, 09:36: Message edited by: Chorister ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'll see your silver chip and raise you the Golden Splondul.

Newton Aycliffe

and damn the consequences.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Silver Chip really doesn't make that much difference in the modern game. It used to, but then, if you recall, old Quentin (Bond fan, always liked to be called 'Q') Gardens realised that holding the Silver Chip whilst Circle and District were pinned resulted in an unstoppable win, provided the holder was not on a peak hours only service. So they changed the rules - too much, in my opinion, and of course not enough as far as the Leamington Spa Mafia are concerned.

Consequently, it'll be safe to go for Euston Square
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Ah, but I've been dealt Professor Plum and the crowbar. Which combined with a blue token and the fact that Jupiter is approaching its closest point to Earth until 2021, means (according to my rather dog eared copy of Coventarian Cathedralis Crescenteers) we should shunt back to:

Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I think you're making some of that up, personally.

Magrathea
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Indeed, my copy of Coventarian Cathedralis Crescenteers is not dog eared as I previously stated. All pages are iron flat to keep that new book feel. Mea Culpa.

May I humbly suggest:

Betelgeuse 7 Interchange
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Hah! Frogstar World B

Get out of that!
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
According to the Marvinites a mere wait of five hundred and seventy-six thousand million years should bring us to:

Milliways
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand a quick side-shift to Vulcan
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Of all the places for the Doctor to end up after his regeneration. Still more Power to the Daleks I say.

Hopping into the TARDIS should give us a statistically higher chance of ending up back on Earth and indeed in London. So therefore:

Perivale
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Aylesbury Vale Parkway.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Tring
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Careful how you say that, Kingsfold. At a recent match in our local club, Ken Loder called "Tring" rather enthusatically and old Fred Snedlingcote (who is getting rather deaf) thought he said "Bling" and was thus being rude about Fred's latest (ahem) escort.

The pub landlord has promised not to press charges if the club pays for the damage.

Anyway, Epping looks like a careful move here (and careful how you say that too, in case Fred lurks in this game too).
 

---

Posted by alienfromzog (# 5327) on :
 
Storm in a Teacup

North Utsire

AFZ
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Llandudno Junction
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
No matter how many times I try to pronounce that town's name, I can never get it right. You'd think that, after having spent some good quality time waiting for a canceled train, I'd have learned at least that much. However, we can continue along the coast to other non-pronouncible Welsh towns—how about we see the Penmaenmawr* stone circles? I think there should be a train along shortly, just as soon as it starts turning dark, cold, and nasty.

*Wow, I actually spelled that correctly from memory! How 'bout that?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Clearly you ought to be at Elephant - as the destination boards on the front of the old Bakerloo line trains used to say, presumably much to the mystification of visitors.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
If it had just said "& Castle" they could have ended up anywhere.

AFZ's last move* has made me somewhat homesick, and I've now got Sailing By as an earworm; playing Fair Isle will make me feel better.

* I wish I'd thought of that ...
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Aye, aye, aye.

Jokkmokk
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Penmaenmawr is not hard to pronounce. The second syllable might depend a bit on where in Wales you come from, but anything from "Mine" to "Mane" should pass muster - "Mine" is closest to the "official" way. Mawr rhymes with Sour.

That aside.

Seeing as we are playing silly buggers, Talsarnau
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
The only way out of what is degenerating to a bit of a shambles is via

Severn Tunnel Junction
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Bristol Temple Meads

This, you reaise, puts all single-word station names under Spoon?

Peak lines are wild, travelcards invalid, Zone 1 Trumps. Dealer flush naturally.

Point of order though - should that be scored under the line?
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Gospel Oak
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Mmmm....
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aida Vale
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Stutton.
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
(To KLB - Made a veil for whom, might one ask? )

Ah BF, be careful playing all those defunct Yorkshire stations. You can allus tell a Yorkshireman, but you canna tell him much. You'll put the whole of the north of England under curfew if the tykes start arguing about the relative merits of the old lines, and it will not be nice or enlightening.

For a pretty station and a difficult MC play, the only move is Gunnislake.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Weymouth Quay

and I've been there. By rail.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
That's it, I'm lost. Again.

This is what happens when you play without a map, isn't it? I'm invoking the Octogon House Protocol, Ghent Additions, to force a reset to Charing Cross. The board has been cleared, all moral rights have been asserted, and the usual blocks around the terminal station have been restored.

As you were.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Thank God, at last.

Ealing Broadway
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Amen!
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Now we have a choice here, depending whether this is an Episcopal Amen or merely a Royal Peculiar (which, of course, some of us perform with some frequency in the Smallest Room).

But I think we'll plump for St. Paul's. The other place is so touristy. And St. Paul's is a direct run on the Central Line.

[ 28. November 2012, 16:23: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Good grief man! Can't you see where this is leading? Listen, there's only one thing for it - wear these inflatable pyjamas and the ocelot-fur bowler the better to blend in, take the down escalator and the second train to depart platform B.

If you just make it to Alexandra Palace -
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Ideas above your station, Firenze?

Swiss Cottage
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
What a cuckoo idea!


Penge West
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
You've been reading Rumpole of the Bailey again, haven't you? Oh well, keeping with the Law:

Chancery Lane

**hums**

quote:

---

The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Ha! A closet Savoyard, no less ...

---

Not at all. My Savoyardity has been out of the closet since 1968 when, aged six, I saw the school production of H.M.S. Pinafore and was instantly hooked ...

Fairlop
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Taking pinafores out of closets sounds a bit kinky to me - especially at such a tender age. It sounds as if your Domestic Cleanliness and Catering gene had to make itself known before it was fatally harmed by familial repression.

You clearly need to make a pilgrimage to the Hoover Building (nearest station Perivale) - a pity that it's no longer a factory but a T*sco supermarket.

[ 30. November 2012, 08:22: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Kentish Town
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Using the Welby invective (didn't know I was familiar with the Durham rules, did you?):

Canterbury East
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I dunno. I don't think Baptist Trainfan followed instructions. I think he was captured by the other side and turned. He is now a ticking bomb. We have little alternative but -

North Queensferry

and even then we may be too late.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
No, I do not tick (of course, the conspiracy theorists among you may see such stiff denial as further proof that I have been turned). Or do I detect a modicum of caring pastoral concern?

Perhaps a visit to Queen's Park will set things straight? Seeing it's St. Andrew's Day (just) you can go to the station of that name in the erstwhile Second City of the Empire, rather than down to the Big Smoke.

Unless you want to.
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Kingsbury
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Baptist Trainfan, Central Control are considering your case. In the event that you are issued with the Black Ticket, England expects that you will act in the best traditions of the Game.

Remember Didcot!
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
(Trembles ...)

[ 01. December 2012, 15:47: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
I dunno. I don't think Baptist Trainfan followed instructions. I think he was captured by the other side and turned. He is now a ticking bomb. We have little alternative but -

North Queensferry


and even then we may be too late.

---

I suspect the bloody Leamington Spa Mafia have got something to do with this.

Listen, Baptist Trainfan - you've got one chance to come clean - are you a member of the Leamington Spa crew? If you are, just be warned that no-one here takes your mates' shit seriously - as has been gone over ad nauseam up-thread.

If you're not, stop playing like you are. It's bad enough we have to put up with the bilge, lies, distortions and plain mis-statements from that bunch of hyena's breath mouth-breathers in the literature of late without having to put up with it on here.

It'll be the death of the game, I tell you.

Cockfosters
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Whoa, Lemington Spa Mafia? KLB, I think you have entirely the wrong game here. While I'm sure we could do some vote-counting, role-playing, and general debating of strategies before we lynched him, I feel obliged to remind you that THIS IS MORNINGTON CRESCENT!

HA!

Next game starts at Blackfriars.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Impressive win, Ariston, if a tad sneaky. For what it's worth, I reckon any connections our dear BT has to the LS mafia are in the interests of espionage and national security, so I suggest we let him get into his standard-issue Aston Martin DB5 (how on earth can one be incognito while driving about in a work of art?) and get on with it.

Meanwhile, back at the game, have your passports ready:

Pimlico
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
I reckon any connections our dear BT has to the LS mafia are in the interests of espionage and national security,

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
... my English teacher at school really did drive a DB5 ...

---

That must have been an expensive school if the teachers could afford DB5s. My old English teacher went around in a recycled, painted-over Post Office van.

But I digress. Is Canary Wharf acceptable when the correct liturgical colour is purple and I've got enough purple counters?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
... my English teacher at school really did drive a DB5 ...

---

That must have been an expensive school if the teachers could afford DB5s.

---

It was. But (a) said English teacher was the son of an Earl and had plenty of "old" money; and (b) I had a free place (the delights of the long-lost "Direct Grant" system).

Back to more serious business! You do realise that the height of the Cabot Tower at Canary Wharf has now been exceeded by the Shard at London Bridge?
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Which query will inexorably lead us to Cannon Street.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Oh dear. Do you realise what you have done? For there is only one place we can go from there on a Monday morning. Yes! Welcome to ...

Dollis Hill (shudders ...)

Or is there some arcane rule which will get us out of this mess?

[ 03. December 2012, 08:05: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Good Grief, pull yourself together! It was after noon/afternoon here when I posted that - it is logged as 13.51 on my machine so, I'd guess, about 8.21 on yours, but, as you well know, time zones have been taken into account ever since the Berne Convention of 1889!

Hyde Park Corner
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Bit of a wiggle there, BT - it is, unfortunately, all to easy to be completely "in" with the LS Mafia without having ever been near the place; I'm therefore not at all reassured by knowing that you've never been to Leamington Spa; that wasn't the question I asked and I wonder why you answered a different one.

Have you considered a career in politics?

Harrow and Wealdstone
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Well, I'm a Minister (Baptist not Wesminster) so you can draw your own conclusions about the veracity and trustworthiness of muy assertions.

However, I am seriously worried about the equivocation demonstrated by your last post - any stations with "and" in the middle betray a dangerous lack of topographical certainty (see this month's "Backtrack" magazine for further information).

We'll just have to be definite about things. High Street (Kensington).

[ 03. December 2012, 09:52: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I totally believe your assertion that you've never been to Leamington Spa.

And then you go winging off to Kensington and expect me to believe you've no connection with that bunch of dangerous nutters!

Dollis Hill - yes, again.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Maryland
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
That seems very appropriate for Advent.

In a way that West Ruislip isn't.

Why is an unmarked train with tinted windows slowly drawing up alongside me on the main line?

[ 03. December 2012, 12:10: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
*Hides Birth Certificate*

Leamington Spa? Nothing to see here folks.

Westbourne Park
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Aha!

Sloane Square so I can go shopping down the Koenigstrasse - Kings Road to those that want to know - and perhaps a drink at the Markham.
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Assuming parallel lines are blocked a diagonal shunt should put us on

Barbican
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Nooooo! Haven't you ever wandered round and round in multicoloured circles, trying to make sense of their ridiculous floor plan? Oh, the wasted hours! We had to break out the bottled water and stop for a rest break after the fourth time around. That's a day of my life I'll never get back.

Quick, lets escape while we can and make a run for


Piccadilly Circus
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
So WW wants to be a Sloane Ranger!

Well from any of the Circuses we can get to

Golders Green

[ 03. December 2012, 20:20: Message edited by: Latchkey Kid ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Turnham Green.

'Nuff said.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Green seems to be the colour (which is just as well, as I found some green counters down the back of the sofa):

Kensal Green
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
ITTWACW!

Parson's Green
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
REVOCATION NOTICE!

All green tokens are herby REVOKED until further notice, under General Norm 1752, §1453, §§410. Puce tokens may be exchanged at a rate of e to π, fuscha ones are now valid between zones 2 and 4, and indigo may be used in all unrestricted zones. Rikyu gray passes are now fully functional, presupposing their validation by an authorized official, are printed on paper with a kozo fiber content of not less than 50%, and still show proper impressions from the letterpress. Validating officials can be found at many major and minor station stops, including Ascot Road.

[ 04. December 2012, 05:39: Message edited by: Ariston ]
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
Green Park is excluded from the revocation because it is no longer green but has passed from autumnal colours into plain brown.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Blackfriars will probably do, assuming that - in this multifaith age - we don't necessarily have to use stations which carry the correct colours for Advent.

[ 04. December 2012, 06:54: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - we ARE in a muddle!

If you exclude all diagonals then I think we have to head to

Angel

Which is quite appropriate as it is my move.


 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
It's probably too early in Advent to go to Shepherd's Bush, sadly.

But if we go to Upminster we might be able to intercept those Magi on their way from somewhere in the East (Sarfend perhaps?)
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
It's probably too early in Advent to go to Shepherd's Bush, sadly.

But if we go to Upminster we might be able to intercept those Magi on their way from somewhere in the East (Sarfend perhaps?)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
RooK to Knightsbridge

---

I saw what you did there.

Barking, and down the snake you go!

You need a six to start again.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 

 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Six Mile bottom
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Sevenoaks.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Five Ways

You forgot it's a Tuesday! Nyer-nyer-a-nyer-yer.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Earl's Court
From where you can go three ways - up, down or sideways. (Remember to check the colour of the interior metalware before boarding.)
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Upton Park

because I'm feeling bloody grumpy.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I am sure you will agre that the next stop should logically be "Downton Abbey".

So off we go to Horsted Keynes which was used in the series.

** Nerd alert!!! **

Although I do not know how a Southern Railway (post-1923) locomotive hauling Metropolitan Railway carriages could possibly represent a country station in Yorkshire in 1916 (and yes, I am thinking of series 2)!

Anyway, the Cotswold stone was all wrong.

** Alert ends!!! **
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
... Hard to imagine Jesus being born in Essex - where'd you find three wise men? ...

---

Point of order:

Under amendments brought in under the Race Relations Act (Unkind Remarks Made About Minorities) 1984 KLB should miss a turn for disrepect to Essex Men. I married one, and (obviously) he's very Wise indeed. Anyway, they came from the East, and Essex is as far East as you can get without running into Baptist Trainfan.

Just to prove my point: Epping
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I, too, was born in Essex but I'm not sure which side of the arguments that supports.

Staying with God's Own County - Hainault
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
Essex is as far East as you can get without running into Baptist Trainfan.

---

Not true - there's always Lowestoft (change at Ipswich for the East Suffolk line, new hourly service starts on Monday now that they've completed the Beccles Loop!)
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dear me! Are we really going to re-enact the Daily Fail reader's wet dream that was the Aylesbury Extension Fracas of 1997? Isn't the canonical view still that although old William "Wimble" Don could have been more careful with his choice of jokes and anecdotes, he didn't really intend any offence towards the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, and no-one really thinks there's any actual truth in the old "daughter was his sister and his son was his brother" jokes about the good citizens of Shanklin.

Everyone knows that's Ventnor.

The fuss that was made is possibly the only real example of "Political Correctness Gone Mad" there's ever been. Common Sense does appear to have been restored however and the one about the Yorkshireman, the ewe and the hot water bottle told the following year by Lou Isham at Rochdale was both hilarious and received without incident. Well, if you don't count the Tetley's Enema, but that was just high spirits.

In honour of which:

Ryde Pier Head
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Wigan
If that's not too Orwellian for this stage of the game.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Very good. I see what you did there, as they say.

Am I correct that all lines are now out of Nidd. If so, doesn't the first person to say:

JINX!

get a free pass to Rayner's Lane, £200 for passing Go, and get a special +5 against attacks from the Elemental Plane of Earth for the next three segments?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
That sounds positively Meridianic, if not Elliptic, especially as we are so close to the Winter Solstice. Clearly a trip to the Royal Observatory is what is required - I think that Maze Hill might be a shorter walk than Greenwich itself, but you'll still need to climb the Hill.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
K:LB - I can't recall at the moment - was the Tetley's Enema beer or tea?

I think we are being called back to Essex and Rainham, which was always referred to in my childhood when travelling backwards and forwards to Fenchurch Street, as Rainham Marshes.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
It was beer, of course. I have never been able to decide which would be worse.


Goodge Street, btw.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
From Rainham?

Good grief!

Oh well, if you want to be like that then

Enfield Lock
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
It's at times like this that I recall the move made by the great George Stephenson, (who started life as an amateur trainspotter before moving to a more dignified hobby), when playing against Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (portrayed marvellously by Sidney James in the epic biographic film Carry On up the Severn).

A move that IMVHO should have been recorded among the greats of the time. In memory of these two determined players I give you

Monument
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Very definitely

Paddington
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
That leads me inexorably south of the river [sorry about that but then I believe some people actually have to live down there!] to

Surrey Quays
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I remember that film. With Barbara Windsor as Queen Victoria and Hattie Jacques as Disraeli.

But anyway -


Penge West
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Well, I suppose Harold Wood...

...he always struck me as that sort of chap.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
A bit like Stan More, then.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Are we playing word association or Mornington Crescent?

Mudchute will soon put a stop to that. Red chip, please.
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
A red chip you say Chorister? I believe that according to the Mrs Trellis amendment we should land on

Debden

putting zones 1, 3, 4 and 5 in nidd between 03.00 and 13.37, excluding bank holidays and major saints days.
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
East Molesey

Don't get your Hampton caught in the door on the way out!
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
East Acton
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I think this calls for something a little drastic

Roding Valley
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Ah, the infamous Fairlop Loop Night-time Reversal, designed to swap your "A" end with your "D" end and turn all your comings into goings.

You do realise that the Piccadilly Line folk have to copy, don't you? Heathrow Airport Terminal 4.

Assuming, of course, that there is no snow on the runways to add to the confusion.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Now I am in a quandary, partially caused by watching Portaloo wandering England [& the Continent] with an elderly Bradshaw and wearing MOST unsuitable clothing for someone who would purport to be a gentleman.

So, it has to be a diagonal from there, should I go up or down?

I know:

Knockholt
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
You could always see-saw, Wodders.

Anyhow, time to move north to Crianlarich
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Due to an unprecedented number of Golden Haggi on the Line, last-minute diversion to Gretna Green. Bonus points for elopement.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chorister:
Due to an unprecedented number of Golden Haggi on the Line, last-minute diversion to Gretna Green. Bonus points for elopement.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
Since when has Birmingham New Street been exciting?? I've spent far too many bored hours there waiting for a Norwich train.

Anyhow, I think we'd be much better heading for Rhyll

---

Are we getting crossover from the pedantry game here?

I'll see your Rhyl and raise you Penrhyndeudraeth
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
This is all going to end in tears and
Dovey Junction
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Llaniog Station , home of Ivor The Engine.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Llareggub

You know why.

[ 06. December 2012, 21:39: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Resorting to inverse vulgarity is really not tha answer, KLB, no matter how carefully you disguise it to look like a place in Wales. Back north, I think, to boldly go* even further than Kingsfold did:

Thurso

* I know, I know ...
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Showing my age, I suppose, but, considering the time of year and the possibility of inclement weather north of the border I think we need to head south again via Manchester London Road.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
Resorting to inverse vulgarity is really not tha answer, KLB, no matter how carefully you disguise it to look like a place in Wales. Back north, I think, to boldly go* even further than Kingsfold did:

Thurso

* I know, I know ...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Football, eh? Highbury & Islington.

---

No - Ipswich.

We won today! Mind you, it was at home to Millwall, so there may not be much of Ipswich left ...
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Oh, Piglet- I am sorry to do this to you, but you have obviously forgotten that today is Monday! So...

Mornington Crescent

and to start us anew

Ealing Common
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Congratulations to The Weeder, who doesn't seem all that sorry to me

But then neither would I be

Hainault

[ 10. December 2012, 08:04: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
You got a thing about Hainault, Wodders? You keep returning there..

Anyway, I think we should head off up the Met to Amersham
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by kingsfold:
You got a thing about Hainault, Wodders? You keep returning there..

Anyway, I think we should head off up the Met to Amersham

---

There's always one isn't there?

Heathrow Terminals 1-4

Go on, you know you want to...
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
You asked for it....

Dollis Hill
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You know you didn't have to do that. So many possibilities.

You do know that last year young Les Tersquair did that on telly during the MC Sub-Olympics?

And you do know that the authorities were, shall we say, somewhat casual about finding out who was responsible for him finding himself wearing just a collar, jockstrap and tie, sitting astride one of the lions at the base of Nelson's Column with a whip in one hand, held on by the sort of restraint generally only available via discreet mail order from the back pages of low-class jazz mags?

Just saying.

Covent Garden
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
It's so very tempting, but I shall resist.

Anderston
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
And so you should.

Two no trumps

Oh, and by the way, that now means that District stations in Zone 3 are effectively wild.

One has to assume that the peak services are evenly split across North and South's hands and can be ruffed, of course.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Sorry that forces me into

Mornington Crescent

Now try starting again at

Hayes & Harlington
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Harrumph.

Ongar
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
We'll have to balance that by going equally West ...

Brill.

P.S. To Piglet: Ipswich is fine. Or it was when I looked this afternoon. The match got mentioned in church yesterday (well, the theme was "Joyful Tidings"). And I had a visit today from an old Canadian friend (from Edmonton).

[ 10. December 2012, 21:28: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Joyful tidings indeed, BT.

As we're heading into pantomime season, I can feel a spot of rhyming coming on. Now, what, I hear you ask, rhymes with "Brill"?

NO! NO! RESIST!

Rhyl **phew!**

PS Well played, Weeder and Aber Vicar!
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Penrhyndeudraeth
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Oh not there again! You asked for this.

Caergybi

Don't blame me.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Returning to the realms of pronounceability (well, it is a lovely morning here), let's over-anticipate Epiphany in more ways than one and go to

Seven Kings.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dim ots imi / makes no difference to me.

Penzance
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Diss
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Winteringham
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Springburn.
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Turnham Green
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I can play a turn in the Correct Order (i.e. after The Weeder).

**waves**

Green Park
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I fear that we are going to get in a knot soon unless we take some drastic action - will Mill Hill East suffice?
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Eastcote
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Worcester Foregate Street
 

---

Posted by The Weeder (# 11321) on :
 
Kingsfold! There are rules to this game, you know, even though it is the Christmas season!

So, to get back on track (see what I did there)

Jerusalem Central
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh dear me, we seem to be heading into cider country and we all know that anything can happen then - I'll yank us back, I think, to

Buckhurst Hill
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 

quote:

---

Kingsfold! There are rules to this game, you know, even though it is the Christmas season!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
You've laid yourself open to the Hawkins Gambit I'm afraid, but I won't take advantage (just this once...) and move us instead to:

Theydon Bois

---

That went badly. I rather thought you would take advantage and thereby fall into my carefully laid trap.

Or is that what you have done anyway?

Time alone will tell. As indeed it will as to whether Wes Tampsted's scars will heal after that unfortunate accident at the trolley bus museum. Even if they do, I fear there are many onlookers whose mental scars may not.

Flitwick
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Well considering I could have gone straight to MC you might at least be grateful...
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Much more fun to prolong things though

Anyhow, we were at Flitwick, weren't we....

Gotta be Shoeburyness
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
Well considering I could have gone straight to MC you might at least be grateful...

---

Not on a Tuesday you couldn't have. On Winter timetables, anyway. You'd have ended up conceding a free pass to Goodge Street, where, coincidentally, we're going now.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Just as well today it's Dydd Mercher (Wednesday) in Wales today...


Pinner
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
It's also international Soundcheck Day ('one-two, one-two, one-two').


Rickmansworth
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
... it's Dydd Mercher (Wednesday) in Wales today...

---

Goodness, is it really? Oddly enough, it's Wednesday in Newfoundland too, and in Advent, which means that as I've got enough blue chips, I can play Elephant & Castle.

Let's see what the mighty KLB makes of that ...
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I can confuse him a bit more, piglet, by making the famous 1967 world finals move from there to

Hendon Central
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Back in 1967, the next station up the line was much happier than it is today: it was simply called Brent and wasn't Cross. Must be the effect of that shopping mall next door.

[ 13. December 2012, 08:34: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
Just as well today it's Dydd Mercher (Wednesday) in Wales today...


Pinner

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
Just as well today it's Dydd Mercher (Wednesday) in Wales today...


Pinner

---

Mae ddrwg gen i, dydw i ddim gwybod be digwyddodd 'na. Bydda i'n colli 'mhen yn nesa / Sorry, don't know what happened there. Forget my own head next.

Meadowhall - that'll teach me.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariston:
Cricket ... which, to my eyes, looks to be just like this one without the sensible rules ...

---

I'm told t's really quite simple. However, as I'm Scottish, I don't have the Cricket Gene*, so I suggest a change of sport:

St. Andrews

* Having said that, you have to admire a sport where they stop for tea.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Sticking with Golf I will take us to

Birkdale
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Saint John of the Cross... Second Friday of Advent...

Let's save ourselves from any more golf and facilitate a rapid exit:

Old Street
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Castle Bar Park
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Finsbury Park
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
A gift! A veritable gift!

Thank you, piglet.

Mornington Crescent

- - - -

Let's start again from

Oval
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Booo. That was too obvious. A true sportsman would have waited another turn . . . so that I could have won via the Ada Lovelace Slide.

*sigh*

Well, in thinking of dear Mrs. Lovelace, I think a proper analysis of this situation could resolve any differences we might have, so let's point our engines off to South Kensington.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Liverpool Street
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Erm, that's a bit unconventional on a saturday!

Hmmmm.

Pinner
 

---

Posted by claret10 (# 16341) on :
 
I was pondering the conundrum of the next move, when an alien being yelled out baker street. As i've learnt not to question such advice


Baker Street
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Let's go back to

Old Street
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Curiouser and curiouser

Bank
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Tower Gateway
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Park Royal
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Cyprus
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Island Gardens.

Mind you, they'll probably be rather muddy at this time of year.
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Today is the birthday of Michelle Dockery, who stars in Downton Abbey. In honour of the posh hairdos sported by the Lady Mary, I think we should go to


High Barnet
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Low Street. It closed in 1967, but of course that isn't a problem for 1920s Downtonians.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
A gift! A veritable gift!

Thank you, piglet.

---

You're welcome - Merry Christmas!

I've now begun my Christmas shopping but we haven't yet done the Wine Society order for Piglet's-friends-and-relations, so I'd better head to their headquarters which, unfortunately, are in

Stevenage.

Sorry about that.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
You're sorry? How do you think we feel stuck in the wilds of Hertfordhire?

Parsons Green may help get us out of this mess.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Let's take a day out to the people who deliver my gin: at

Hereford
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Tut, tut - surely you mean GIN!

Worcester Shrub Hill
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Very Saucy!

Westminster - for the Houses of Parliament. (Lie back and think of Harold Wilson).
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
The only good thing I know about Harold Wilson is that he and I shared the same birthday. (Trivial fact you don't need to know #34).

As we are deep in Advent now, and all reverse shunts will soon be closing for the holidays, I think the best move is to go shopping with the crowds around Oxford Circus
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Good Grief! I share a birthday with Harold Wilson as well - I think this may mean that Traveller and I also share a birthday!

As we are now agreed that Pisceans are the very best of people I think I'd better head us off to
Knightsbridge.

I think that is a called a non sequitur.
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Moving on to South Kensington for more shopping in the King's Road.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Depends if you like HP Sauce or not ...

The Coates Connection inevitably takes us to Covent Garden - but is it still Exit Only on Sundays?

[ 16. December 2012, 15:44: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Well it is a Sunday so that's alright.

Parson's Green (can usually only be played during Ordinary Time, but it's OK, I have a coveted and, until now, covert Gold Dubloon).
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Glasgow Queen Street
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Princetown.

Unusually, the return half of your ticket is valid for up to 10 years.

[ 16. December 2012, 21:50: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
If I'd been born when I was supposed to be, I too would have been a Pisces (and may even have shared a birthday with HW, WW and Traveller), but I was a bit previous, so I'm an Aquarius, and share a birthday with Olympic swimming legend Mark Spitz (I suppose that'll be Trivial Fact no. 35).

Anyway, hither and on to Belfast Central
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Let's leave the Hibernian wilds for

West Hampstead
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Quakers Yard (High Level).

That should satisfy him!
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Pontypool Clarence Street
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Largs for Millport
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Killin Junction, change for Loch Tay.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Before 4pm? Isn't that a little - erm - unorthodox. I'm trying to figure out whether that's a ?? or a !! in the records, and the fact that I can't quite see how it's a !!, but played by a skillful player, makes me worry that I've missed something.

Not the first time an unorthodox play has proven game changing, of course. Only within the last year I've seen a Black Belt beaten by a relative novice in the most bizarre manner. The 3rd Dan in question was the usually almost unbeatable Maude Den; she'd lined up the diagonals and restricted reverse shunts right up the Central Line; District, Northern and Picadilly lines were all in Nidd and she currently held three blue chips and two Wild Spoons in Trumps. It looked like a predictable slaughter, given Maude's status and experience in the game. But young Wat Fordmette just plonked his Joker down on Euston Square, and essentially it was mate in three from there with no real defence possible.

I should mention in passing that that's something that the Leamington Spa Loonies ought to stick in their pipes for smoking.

The incident wasn't without controversy, however. Whilst the move was completely legal, there are plenty who cannot believe that Wat could possibly have seen such an obscure chink in Maude's armour - certainly the commentators took several seconds to see the implications of it. No-one's quite sure what to make of the presence of the famous Ray Nurselane (hasn't he come up in conversation before on this thread?) in the onlookers, or the fact that while Wat claimed to need a hearing aid and was clearly wearing one during the game, he'd often been seen without one. Three things are, however, certain:

1. No-one knows where he is;
2. The same goes for the prize money;
3. He's got a great future as a medium.

Oh, and Oxford Street

[ 17. December 2012, 11:14: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
I don't know what KLB is on, but I'm fairly sure he didn't buy it in Oxford Street London (though what you can buy in Oxford Street Abertillery is a different matter...)

Perhaps he acquired it at

Elephant & Castle
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Double Onion
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Don't worry folks, it's probably just his anoraksia kicking in again.

Shall we put him out of his misery by revealing who "Maude" is? Well, here's a photo: only click if you are not faint-hearted.

Meanwhile I prescribe a trip to Edinburgh (Waverley).
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Is it an anagram? And what's with the constant shifting to Scotland??

Let's put some sense back into proceedings (and a bit of risk too) with

Morden

Now we'll see if he's pickled or not...
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
I suspect they were performing the Cheap University Place manoeuvre. A well-known ploy.

Harrow and Wealdstone
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Sticking with the Stones:

Totteridge & Whetstone
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Leytonsdtone.

But that puts the entire Central Line east of Notting Hill Gate into knid, which will prove somewhat inconvenient for Christmas shoppers.

(Oh ... what did you say? It wasn't me after all? Just a common-or-garden signal failure at Liverpool Street? Wipes brow. Well, that's all right then - I was beginning to feel a bit guilty).
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Anything that incoveniences Christmas shopping has to be a good move! Nice one, Baptist Trainfan.

Anyhow, I think we should bimble over to Ravenscourt Park
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
and back to

Elm Park
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I'm perfectly aware who Maude is, thank you very much. And, flibble, oh dearie me now my hatstand has become pope I can't ride in the St Leger any more - oh what will become of little Anastasia now? - casting nasturtiums on the stability of my mental state is quite unnecessary, Susan.

I'm a little teapot
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
In that case we have to use the Frears Tea Time Biscuit rules and move across the Atlantic either to

Short Street

or to

16th & Stout

(Google is your friend - if you're not boycotting it...)
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Stout = Guinness

and

Guinness = Park Royal (or it did until the brewery there closed).

Anastasia should be quite happy with that, unless she prefers vodka (as she well might, with her Russian background).

[ 18. December 2012, 13:17: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Cockfosters
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
I saw that.

Cyprus
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

It's..........................................


Fulchester

[Breaking the scroll lock makes everyone else cranky. Please don't. --Ariston, Circus host]

[ 18. December 2012, 15:26: Message edited by: Ariston ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Casterbridge (South).

[ 18. December 2012, 15:30: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You jest, surely?

I mean...

I didn't think anyone would be so - erm unsporting.

Dollis Hill

And may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
You'd better hope He's going to have mercy on your soul after playing that.

Bethlehem Down
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
An Overground swerve to:

Hampstead Heath. Well, I can still use my Oyster Card, even with carol singers standing outside the station.

Just be glad I didn't take you all to Erewhon (Central). Even ASLEF don't know about that one.

[ 18. December 2012, 15:46: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Dollis Hill

My soul? my soul? I wasn't really given much alternative, was I? I mean, any attempt at a flanking move and I'll have all my trumps ruffed in as many moves. I'm holding two blue chips and a Get Out of Jail Free card, but who's to say that the next shunt wouldn't see me straight through to Todmorden, and that'd really help, wouldn't it?

As Frs. Ted and Dougal would say, "Down with this sort of thing!" and "Careful now!"
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Well, if he's got that card, we'd better give him the opportunity to use it, hadn't we? That might keep him quiet(er), although he would be advised to spend a little time reflecting on the state of his soul before he is sprung back to life (such as it is) in the Outside World:

St. Quintin Park & Wormwood Scrubs - via North Pole Junction.

[ 18. December 2012, 16:39: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Mercifully

Mornington Crescent

Can we start again soberly at

London Bridge
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Ah, where they used to put the heads of executed traitors on spikes. Let's take a step back to the old gibbet at Tyburn, now renamed as Marble Arch
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Soberly? In this place? I should cocoa.

Bywater for Hobbiton
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
and from Marble Arch a decapitated hop, skip and jump to

Tower Hill
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
I think it is time for a cautious Edgware Road (Bakerloo line version, of course).
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Canons Park but only in the marked spsces, please.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Parsons Green, obviously.

[ 19. December 2012, 02:12: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Pudding Mill Lane
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
There is clearly some kind of mental association going on there between clergy and rotundity ...

Plaistow. Because it's there.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Quite correct

Hornchurch
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I wonder if the orbitals have reached escape velocity yet?

One way to find out (and it makes me wonder whether the Derby and District MC club have been allowed back into the Scouts' HQ at Matlock Bath yet)

Drayton Park

This does, of course, invoke a Closed Station Timeshift, since it's not been on the tube system for over a century. Green chip, please.

[ 19. December 2012, 08:45: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Oooh, that was sneaky. You got in there whilst I was making a cup of tea, so I'm going to have to rethink my move.

Closed Station Timeshift, green chip... yes, that means I can play St Helier
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Mortehoe
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Morden
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Down... - no, wait...

Amendment 4 Subsection 4 paragraph 6f does imply that after a green chip timeshift has been declared there is no real prospect of a high straight, as it doesn't list any below the line penalty for it.

Assuming this isn't a mere oversight, I could be selling myself short with that move.

On the other hand, forward maintenance shunts to closed platforms do have a distinguished pedigree; admittedly wartime rules were in place in 1944 when Baron Scourt played his famous duel against Colin Dale, but the winning moves do bear careful examination (after Lyttleton):

BS: Kings Cross St Pancras
CD: Euston !!
BS: Hyde Park Corner
CD: Dollis Hill (blue chip gained at risk of loop)
BS: Acton Town (RS-CP) !
CD: Dollis Hill (central line now in Nidd)
BS: MORNINGTON CRESCENT!

Now, and I think this is where some of the confusion that the Leamington Spa bunch suffer from comes from, Humph did not mark CD's first move in this extract as !! because of the spoon it avoided on Circle/District Westbound, but because it forced a ruff of all of BS' counters within the City Walls. Of course, it was to no avail because BS had three melds in hand and a skewer holding down CD's trumps, so even castling would not have saved him.

But I digress. Classic match; do look up the full transcript.

In honour, Colindale
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
For Elfin safety reasons - North Pole
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Ah, KLB, exchanges like that are rare in the modern game. It's all grudges and "what chips are you holding" and worrying about what the Leamington Spa group would do these days.

I'm looking forward to an old fashioned family game around the Xmas tree this year, with the children giving helpful observations, like: "I thought the Northern Line was in spoon, grandpa, you can't play Goodge St there!" and being rewarded with a clip around the ear (just like I remember in my younger days).

Mind you, with all that practice over the festive season, this thread could get more esoteric with some challenging plays devised over the mince pies and brandy butter.

St. James' Park, by the way, was I waffling too much? More mulled wine, I say.

Even so, deliberately soliciting assistance from the so-called experts is a bit of bad show, what?
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You realise that that implicitly means that Tooting Bec has been called?

I think we have two players in nip, so that really means that seasonal translations are in effect.

What a can of worms you've opened, Chorister!

I can't imagine that I can do much better than Cair Paravel at this point.

Edit - Traveller's cross play doesn't really change my move, but it does mean that lateral transfers are now wild.

[ 19. December 2012, 12:11: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Pooh Corner
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Trumpton
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
And I get accused of being surreal?

Let's get this half sensible, at least.

Gormenghast Mountain
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
In that case, I have to play Knapford
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
And via Barrow in Furness we are back in what passes for sanity.
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Tir na nÓg
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
That's got to be one of the worst mass derailments I've seen, and using the Celtic Connection in such a manner...

Just don't do it in Belfast, that's all I can say.

What a bizarre position we are now in. We've got everyone's counters in different realities, only one green chip in play...

Lateral re-entry called for I think, which can only mean Hyde Park Corner.

Travelcards are NOT valid, single fares only within Zone 1.

And Circle Line stations are trumps.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Lowestoft Central.

You can't get further east than that (well, obviously you can if you go to somewhere like Vladivostok - which then invites the question of when going east actually becomes west and you're coming back the other way. And there's not too many railways in Polynesia).

See what you've done now with your talk of the Circle Line!

[ 19. December 2012, 14:00: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
That's more like it!

X in top left space
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
moving the X along...
Laxå

[ 19. December 2012, 14:26: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
So that's everywhere except Zone 1 and Metrolink in Nidd, isn't it?

Altrincham
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
No alternative but to open the game up via MediaCityUK.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Meadowhall Interchange

That's very much broken up the pack of reds, hasn't it?
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Not really.

I call 2 No trumps
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Catford Bridge.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Can't handle this - I'm going voluntarily into Nidd until after Christmas...
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Would that be Knaresborough or Pateley Bridge? We need to know, so we can winkle you back home to your nearest and dearest again ...

Perhaps he's just suffering from Acute Carolitis, and needs to be treated with an Infusion of Silent Refection.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:

Perhaps he's just suffering from Acute Carolitis, and needs to be treated with an Infusion of Silent Refection.

---

 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I meant "Reflection" by the way - although "Refection" sounds a jolly good idea, especially around Lunchtime on Christmas Day.

However, we are still marooned in Yorkshire ...
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Under the circumstances, I think St Blazey may be a good move
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Mevagissey Model Railway
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Nice move—especially since it sets me up perfectly for taking the HO Line that runs in circles around the Christmas Tree.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Stuff this for a game of soldiers - Georgemas Junction.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I could take offence, given my name is Carolus in Latin.

Meanwhile

Dronfield - I hope that helps with the Yorkshire spoon.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
I thought we'd long since cleared the Yorkshire Spoon (sounds like it ought to be some kind of Morris Dance). But never mind. More importantly, what's still in Nidd? I think, however, that I ought to be relatively safe with

Tower Hill
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Only the entire District line. Never mind.

Incidentally I couldn't sleep last night and managed to catch a live feed (all right, all right, smutty person over there) of the Australian (no) Rules Mornington Crescent pre-Christmas bash. I think about four actual tube stations got mentioned all night, and amazingly it was all within what rules they have. You know you can still move directly from any dockside UK station to any dockside station in Oz, under the Convict Transportation Directive?

I'm invoking the National Ruleset Import regulations here, therefore, in order to play Hobart
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Aha! So you've gone "sarf of the river", I see. Not quite the worst crime in the Book, but it runs close.

We'll have to match that with the bucolic delights of Collier's Wood.

All Travelcard options are now open, providing that there has been no flooding at Embankment.

[ 20. December 2012, 13:28: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
On a worldwide scale, most plays are actually south of the river.

Horton in Ribblesdale, OTOH, is not.
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
North Berwick mind the snow...
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I suppose depending on what sort of snow it is, the entire network might be in knid, so I'm off to Groudle Glen, just in time to meet Father Christmas.

edited for coding bollocks

[ 21. December 2012, 03:16: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
You shoukd try Rovaniemi if you want to meet Father C. But he might be Very Busy or even Out.

You could catch the overnight sleeper from Helsinki.

[ 21. December 2012, 07:28: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Hmm - Svalbard was played a few games ago, and I think that as there's been no break that means it's still in spoon even now, so I shan't play it now and thereby create a Arctic roll*.

With the doubling cube currently showing a 16, it's probably risky to move any counters from inner to outer table, so at the risk of being huffed and leaving one or two people with a King, I'm going to have to see your Rovaniemi and raise you Embankment.

And Stick.

*Like a Dollis Hill loop, but with fewer burger bars and more polar bears.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
ah Arctic roll. Brings back no-so-fond memories of childhood. Ahem...

You need to be careful when you make moves like that that you're not leaving yourself open to the wrong sort of snow, and thus leaving the whole game stuck. At the moment however, that's not really a problem, although the wrong sort of leaves may present a hazard. And with that in mind,

Forest Green
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Excellent. I think that allows me to queen one of my pawns.

Doubling cube now at 32.

I have vague memories of a beer-drenched match back in my mis-spent youth where the local University Mathematics Club (yes, really) joined in. The pub had a laser display screen (very forward looking in those days) and someone had hooked up an old BBC Micro (that dates it!) to it which was able to actually track the game on a tube map.

Of course, players were not allowed to see the screen during play; otherwise you might as well give everyone a timetable and a map and be done with it. However, these guys were very good at holding images in their heads, and suddenly there was a nod from one of the mathematicians to another, a quick play of Watford Met, and then the sound of choking on beer from the chap manning the display, which now showed the word "arse" picked out in blue chips at carefully selected stations.

They lost, but got a special award for inventiveness.

Waterloo
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Ypres.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Short, and to the point. And presumably presaging the battlefield that this could become if the Leamington Spa mob get wind of it.

I think therefore we should head for Spooner Row to keep under their radar.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Hmmm, not sure - there are air bases in East Anglia (Lakenheath, Marham, Mildenhall) so there's quite a lot of radar around in the area.

I'll lie low for a bit (underneath the bench on the down platform) and see what transpires. Which means we are still at Spooner Row. Not much choice really, unless a Special comes along: I've just missed the last train and there isn't another one till Monday.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Poor you, BT. If you stay there too long you'll get arrested for loitering (or something like that), which would be very embarrassing with you being a Man Of The Cloth and all that. I can see the headline in the East Anglian Daily Times ...

To avert this unmitigated disaster, may I suggest Wick which, although it doesn't have any air-bases, does have a de-commissioned nuclear power station not far away.


 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Erm, Liverpool Street?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I'm not worried about the East Anglian Daily Times. But the Ipswich Star is another matter.

Come to think of it, much of the editorial content's the same, anyway.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Cheltenham Spa

That should cause some confusion.


 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Spa Road (Bermondsey). That really will put them off the scent, but may be seen as incriminating.

[ 22. December 2012, 10:34: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I've just discovered a stash of blue counters down the back of the sofa, probably enough to get me to Piccadilly Circus, which should take the heat off BT for a wee while ...
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh dear me, I'm going to get pilloried for this but I'm taking us all back to

Hainault

at least it is in the Sacred County.
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Oh dear me, I'm going to get pilloried for this but I'm taking us all back to

Hainault

at least it is in the Sacred County.

---

Do you know, I read that as the Scared County? I have cousins who live in Essex and "scared" is not the first adjective I would apply to them or the part of the country where they live. I don't think it is an adjective that I would ever apply to them.

Come to think of it, "sacred" isn't an adjective I would apply to them or the county either, but there again, I don't live there and never have.

Now then: Sunday evening, bank holiday approaching, the whole of Zone 2 in spoon, distinct lack of any chips of any colour that will do me any good and the prospect of rain. The Picadilly line still has a good service running, even on the Uxbridge branch, so Osterley it has to be.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Piglet's generous gift of chips bought me some valuable time, but now I shall confuse my pursuers homophonically:

Lymington (Pier).

If I say it quietly and with a strong Hampshire accent, they might go in the wrong direction.

[ 23. December 2012, 22:28: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
BT, how's the validity of your passport?

Pimlico is usually helpful in such situations.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Tahnk you, piglet!

Brixton
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Well that's you out of the way, anyway. I can't see you getting back from there before the tube system shuts down for Christmas Day.

Heh - you're in good company Wodders - I do wecall, I mean recall, the great Deb Den getting herself totally roasted in a three way all-nighter as a result of a similar play on Maunday Thursday. Very much all dressed up with no place to go.

Just to ensure the game continues, I'm going to drop an Oyster into the middle of the board for Free Parking and pick up a blue chip. Which means, of course, free passage to Liverpool Street
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
As it's Christmas Eve, I suggest we head off to the Swanage Railway Santa Special for a mince pie or two.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Hmm ... wasn't there a landslip nearby the other day? The principle is good but it sounds a bit risky IMO.

I'df thought about going to Brockford on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway instead, but they're closed.

So let's go to Holt on the North Norfolk instead. It's nearer the North Pole anyway.

[ 24. December 2012, 11:48: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Actually, reminiscing about the lovely Deb, whose MC career began in our neck of the woods in the Hillstown and Palterton Chapter of the N E Derbyshire MC Order, brings to mind another incident. We were on a Chapter outing to the Peak, and called in to this pleasant tea room situated in a working farm. We were quite a large party, so the proprietor extended the seating area into a working barn, from where we ordered some sandwiches.

I particularly enjoyed that roll in the hay with Deb, as did everyone else that day.

Simple pleasures in a more innocent time.

Mudchute. Has to be, really.

[ 24. December 2012, 12:00: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Rainhill.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
M...M...M...Mansion House
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Later, Deb's on-off boyfriend joined us. It was a bit of tricky afternoon after that point, but I understand that after we dropped them off she confided that she was disappointed that he'd not bought her the necklace she wanted for Christmas, he nipped to a little shop he knew and the next morning he knocked her up and gave her one.

Bas Pelargic
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
What can I say after that, except


Bangor


 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Did anyone watch the Annual Pre-Christmas get together at Broadcasting House last year? Al Perton was the referee for the formal matches, but it was amazing what was going on at the fringe. I've never seen chocolate éclairs used in that way before in the place of signalling placeholders, but it led to some amusement. I wouldn't like to have been in Al's shoes when he tried to explain the stains to Mrs Perton, but there you go.

The organisers had very sensibly avoided having the Leamington Spa crowd spoil the show by arranging the shindig at the same time as their annual visit to the White Scar Caves. There is, however, no truth in the rumours that a number of keen MCites were seen in the Ingleton area with a quantity of bricks, cement and sand, much as one might wish it to be so.

Truro
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
No clue where we are. No clue where we're going. So lost, even C.C. is out of bounds.

Um, could someone tell me where Porthmadog is?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
As Ivor the Engine would have said, it's in the Top Left-hand Corner of Wales.

Leamington Spa - did I really say that? Hey-ho, it's Christm .....aaargh!
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Quick, we need to rescue Baptist Trainfan! This requires a very special intellect. Off to Baker Street we go - the game's afoot!
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
And for further training we need to go to the Central Police College at

Hendon
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Arnos Grove
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Euston Square

So near and yet so far!
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Monument for Pudding Lane


Just in case anyone is still feeling peckish.
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Well, it's still morning over here. I'm feeling quite spry, actually.

Morning, hm? I'm invoking the Bah Humbug Protocol; Merry Christmas to me!

Mornington Crescent

Now then, where to find a Scrooge who'd contest this very legitimate "it's Christmas, so I can" move? How about Bank?
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Ooh I say - well done, Ariston! As I'm (a) very sleepy and (b) not as sober as I was this time yesterday, I can't think of anything more imaginative than Oxford Circus.

After all, we all want to go to the Boxing Day sales, don't we?
 

---

Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
See, the logical thing to have done there would have been to invoke the BHP yourself! I'm sure there are people in Alaska, Hawaii, or the South Pacific who still have time to use it . . .

But I can't. Phooey. Let's keep shopping, though, at Knightsbridge.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Shopping? No thanks!

Amersham
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Is it safe to come out now? If so, I might try that shopping lark. What about Brent Cross?
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
No - sod that for a lark!

Richmond
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Tricky to play today, what with half the drivers being on strike and loads of shoppers trying to get to the sales. "Special services" all over the place, according to TfL.

Harrrumph. How dare ASLEF let an industrial dispute get in the way of a good game of Mornington Crescent. Uncivilised, I call it.

Apparently, there is still a service to Hammersmith, although you might have wait a while before being able to get away.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Having lived at Hammersmith, I may have my doubts about the extent to which it is "civilised".


No such doubts about Southwold - who said Chiswick-on-Sea"?
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Sticking with Suffolk, there should be a jolly atmosphere in Ipswich today - we won!
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh dear, oh dear!

It is the Feast of St John today so I feel we really need to follow the Singe-on Convention and head for

Ruislip Manor
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by piglet:
Sticking with Suffolk, there should be a jolly atmosphere in Ipswich today - we won!

---

True, but it was an away match, so there were no crowds on the streets. We went shopping in Bury St. Edmunds, anyway.

I don't understand Singe-on Conventions, so (being a Nonconformist) I'll ignore them.

[ 27. December 2012, 07:51: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Leytonstone High Road
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Stratford High Street
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
King George V
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Queensway.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Perivale
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Let's get away from the boredom of the Central Line shall we?

A couple of stops on the bus to

Wembley Central

[ 27. December 2012, 09:00: Message edited by: AberVicar ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
This is almost getting like people are randomly posting the names of underground stations. There are rules, people - about a thousand pages of them if you include all the supplements, addenda and variations.

Or about half a page of scribbled A4 for the basic game.

Now timetables are getting back in order, and before committing to my move, I'm given to wonder if anyone found that Santa had kindly dropped them a copy of the Yearbook for 2012? Some fascinating stuff in there, not least a whole page given over to the Hearing back in February that finally came down on the side of common sense and clarified the matters that the Leamington Spa troublemakers had tried to muddy.

Incidently, I've recently heard that our local primary school will host the April Derbyshire Convention, drawing players from as far afield as North Wingfield and even Baslow, so excitement awaits! I do know that the council is concerned about likely traffic chaos, but at least MC conventions do have the advantage that (a) most people arrive by public transport, and (b) they tend to know when the trains and buses will be running. In case anyone's wondering, though, Dolly Sill won't be there; after that fracas at the bus depot where she gently remonstrated with the inspector regarding the timetables he was working to and those published on line, it's been decided that it's for the best if she and her carer, Mrs Trellis, watch online from Twilight Meadows Sheltered Housing, where a team are on hand to help her should she get a little too excited. It's sad in a way, she'll be quite isolated there as a remarkable number of the other residents have arranged to go and stay with relatives for a few days over Easter.

And with that, Horsforth
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I had a night out with Dolly, years ago now, and she was getting on a bit then, poor old dear. Still she enjoyed the sherry, Bristol Cream if I recall, but her rather unique way of chasing it with chilled Creme de Menthe caused some raised eyebrows at the time.

Kew Bridge
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Can't see where you're going for the smokescreen.

So let's get back to concentrating on the game.

Stonebridge Park
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
AV, MC is not chess, played in silence with only the moves. It always has been a social activity, with banter, thinking aloud about the rules, and even occasionally (when no-one from Leamington Spa or Abertillery is around) some humour. Perhaps the atmosphere of the valleys of Blaenau Gwent isn't conducive to playing the game in this manner, but that's no reason to cast a primitive chapelesque gloom over the game, as if it were a wet November morning in Tredegar. I know that for you it's a damp December morning near Tredegar, but for most of us it isn't.

I blame Methodism myself.

So it's not a smokescreen, just the spirit of the game as I've always known it played, especially on line where there are no options for knowing winks and facial expression. Dolly'd be hitting you with a handbag by now, but that's Dolly.

Ambergate

[ 27. December 2012, 09:15: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I think the smoke screen is possibly from the incense from the Solemn High Meeting for Worship help by the Quaker participants - it really didn't need the whole packet sprinkling over the coals, although it did cover up the smell of Dolly's cooking.

Cockfosters
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Not to mention her colostomy bag in recent years.

I don't know why AV's being so dour. After an evening session as guests of the Ebbw Vale Miners' Welfare MC Team, our local lads were really taken by how lively a bunch they were. As you probably know, there's an old tradition in that particular group of playing in the dark with miners' hats, partly to make the older players feel nostalgic, partly to emphasise the fact that most underground stations are, well, under the ground, and thirdly to remind everyone that a coal mine is probably one of the few places as thoroughly squalid as a London Underground station. Old Whit Land proved to be quite a character in particular, I particularly enjoyed his story about the Felin Foel version, which involves a pint of the above mentioned at every horizontal shunt.

Which reminds me - Treorci
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
As we are now approaching The Feast of the Epiphany I think we need

Seven Kings

or this that a bit too much?
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Perfectly good move, but it does put the London Overground in Nidd for three turns.

Right. I'm going to cash in my green chip now; since Dolly Sill has come up in conversation (bless), and it's pretty certain that when the Discworld invents an underground railway system there will be a station there, I'm able to play Dolly Sisters

And remember, trolls regenerate and have 6+6 hit dice.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Enough of this sororial mixture! To Sevenoaks we must go.

(Unless you live in Birmingham, in which case you must reduce the figure by three).

[ 27. December 2012, 18:12: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ooo! Ooo! Phonetic match rule!

Fourecks

Drop-bears at every third station. You have four lives and one can of malty vegetable glue.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Erewhon (Butler Street).
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Swiftly on to Glubbdubdrib, avoiding Laputa.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Given that the previous move landed on a Triple Parallel, and there is a full moon, I believe I can justifiably use Wild's Tessellation and play

Damems

although I appreciate this may result in the game becoming stuck in a Harrington Loop.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Sorry, cross-posted with Balaam there, but I don't think his move has invalidated mine.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Oh dear. I seem to have hit an Unpronounceable Loop (well, unpronounceable to a not-entirely-sober-after-attending-a-sixtieth-birthday-bash piglet anyway). So, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch it is.

Sorry about that.
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
As it is a birthday, the special outings rule applies, so on to Ib.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Aaaaaaand so on to Llanrwst.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
As it is both a Friday AND the Feast of the Holy Innocents I feel we have to move on to

Marylebone
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ah! The old Brum Jump! Years since I've seen that.

When I lived in Nottingham a bunch of us held our annual social at a Birmingham curry house. In honour of the venue, we used the International Variations rules to include all points between Islamabad and Dhaka into the after dinner friendly. We also renamed the Circle Line the Ring of Fire with a red chip at every station within 100 yards of an Indian restaurant.

Things got a bit silly afterwards, what with the chilli eating competition and so on; I was staying overnight with some friends from Kings Heath; they were very understanding and put some bogrolls in the fridge for the next morning.

Palasdari
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Okay then - Burhawal
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Assuming that the Linha do Oeste remains open in the New Year, you can't do better than Bifurcacao de Lares (change for Coimbra-B).

[ 28. December 2012, 09:56: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
This time of year brings happy memories of years ago when I was a nipper and we played family Mornington Crescent tournaments on Boxing Day afternoons. This was long ago before the days of fare zones and automated barriers; when Docklands still had docks rather than a semi-automated light railway; there was no such thing as a Jubilee line and steam still pulled from Epping to Ongar. Ah, happy days.

I well remember my maiden Aunt Maud challenging Uncle Jack's play of Roding Valley on the grounds that it was an illegal reverse shunt and the Fairlop loop was in nidd anyway. (I think a second thimblefull of sherry may have had something to do with the assertiveness.) I didn't learn anything about the rules of MC from Uncle Jack's reply, but I did learn a couple of words of Anglo-Saxon that I hadn't heard before. Uncle Jack was not invited the following year.

My cousin Martin was a wonderful player and his intimate knowledge of the post-war Beveridge amendments under which we played confused all the adults. He once made a move to Green Park which he claimed was allowed as a cross-line diagonal on a bank holiday that caused such discussion that the mince pies were overdone.

I can't quite make that move here, but in the same spirit (cheers, don't mind if I do), Victoria.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
We had special house rules for Christmas, to help the younger players. I forget how many times there were derailments at Knapford, but I've always said that the Fat Controller needs firing, the number of incidents, crashes and bizarre goings on on Sodor. The Thin Controller's narrow gauge railway isn't much better.

"Cinders and Ashes!"

Harrow and Wealdstone
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh, that one's easy peasy!

Old Street
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
If we were playing chess, and you were 8, this is the point that I'd say "Are you sure you want to move your Queen there? Absolutely sure?"

But we're not, and you're not, and MORNINGTON CRESCENT!!!



[ 28. December 2012, 11:15: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Might I gently remind you that, carried away as you are in the euphoria of your apparent triumph (mutters darkly into handkerchief) that you have omitted to cary out Rule 55 and so placed the entire Underground system in both spoon and nidd (admittedly ASLEF have been trying to do the same ths week, although your approach is clearly more effective).

So - descend from the heights and START US OFF AGAIN!
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Victory is victory.

In the same way as some pool players like to smash the pack as hard as possible on break, I think...

Heathrow Terminal 5


 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Queenstown Road Battersea
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Bethnal Green - she's got a lithp.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Brill
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
(Yawn) Not again! That's my speciality!

Oh well, if it's fish you want, then it must be Hull (Paragon).
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Well in that case:

Troutbeck (CK&P)
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Sandplace (Looe branch). And here's a lovely picture of a GWR Steam Railmotor near there just a few weeks ago.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Sir - you leave me no option but to use Lartigue's Folly:

Ballybunion

There!
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Ouch!

This could be very painful ...

I might even need to ask my "friends" from You-know-where to rescue me, such is my sense of desperation! And damn the conequences ...

[ 28. December 2012, 17:02: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Not - gasp! - the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society?
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus:
Not - gasp! - the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society?

---

No, no, no. That isn't a valid destination for the game of Mornington Crescent. BT means, well, you know who, you must do, don't you? You know, initials of "LS" and all that.

Anyway, assuming that BT and I understand each other, the next move had better be Kilburn.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Dour, Mr Backslider? No, just sober... and concerned for the serious reputation of a game the inception of which I was in a previous life involved with.

I do hope the alleged banter ceases to resemble this year's Christmas Round Robins (cf the wonderful ripostes broadcast by Lynn Truss on the Today programme.

BTW, you need to know that nothing culturally significant ever happens in Ebbw Vale: even the Eisteddfod there had to take place outside the town boundaries.

Since it is in the course of reconstruction, I'll throw in

Blaenavon High Level

before going to bed.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Traveller has indeed sussed me out. We're not talking Liverpool Street, by the way, although that might be a useful ruse.

A little lower than that last place in Wales, and fully reconstructed some years ago.
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Thanks for that, BT - I'm providing the cheeseboard for a dinner-party we're going to on Hogmanay, and there's a wonderful cheese shop on the concourse at Liverpool Street.

Kelvedon
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
There used to be a wonderful cheese shop in Usk, where once it was possible to get a train to

Monmouth (Troy)
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Ah, cheese shops - now you're talking! When I was on my way to Heathrow in November I bought a couple of wonderful cheese filled batons at the one at Victoria.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
I suppose the cheesily obvious place to go from here is

Cheddar
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I had thought of that, however it seemed a bit obvious.

Garsdale onthe Settle & Carlisle might be better - nearest station to Hawes these days.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
I expect I will get into trouble for mentioning Cheesewring Quarry (Liskeard and Caradon Railway).
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
In that case, we can dip down below the Alps and take the Milan Metro (M2) to

Gorgonzola
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Gouda (Goverwelle).

Not to be confused with Edam.
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Over to Monterey (Jack).
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Bishops Lydeard (for the Cheese and Cider Special )
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Cider, eh? Or even cyder?

Aspall & Thorndon (Mid-Suffolk Light Railway), then.

Isn't the name board pretty?

[ 29. December 2012, 22:58: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
The host of the dinner-party likes Stilton, so off to Melton Mowbray to pick it up.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Leominster
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Gloucester
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Gloucester
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
I assume you are moving to Gloucester Central and thence by foot to Eastgate (or at least where it was).

Let's open the game out at

Severn Tunnel Junction
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Box.
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AberVicar:
I assume you are moving to Gloucester Central and thence by foot to Eastgate (or at least where it was).

Let's open the game out at

Severn Tunnel Junction

---

quote:

---

Following the less than inspired quadrilateral to Box ...

---

Certain people might feel aggrieved by that comment!

Of course, cider is made elsewhere in the country: Colyford.
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Well, if we'm talking of zider, then we has to go to praper zider country, like Stogumber.

PS Karl LB's absence is worrying.
 

---

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Karl LB is probably cribbing, and that is not allowed. If there is nothing to that effect in his book, he should return it forthwith for Not Being In The Spirit Of The Game.

Back to this game: Attleborough.
 

---

Posted by Ceannaideach (# 12007) on :
 
Barkingside
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Vauxhall - for Battersea Dogs Home (which also takes in cats now, apparently).
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
In which case, Catford.

Miaow.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Hounslow Central
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Goldhawk Road
 

---

Posted by Traveller (# 1943) on :
 
Westminster to be close to Trafalgar Square to celebrate the new year.

(Yes, yes, I know that a certain station is closer, but that would be a shoe-in to get to MC, so I can't play that. The walk up Whitehall will do me good. )
 

---

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :
 
Trafalgar Square may be the traditional place, but the place to be is along the river for the fireworks. Plus 2013 is an odd numbered year, which brings rule 37b back into play. I could wait for midnight and win, but instead a short hop to Southwark to watch the fireworks.

No reversing south of the river under rule 37b, so that should be interesting
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Bank for The Shard, which is putting on a special light display tonight.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
South Kensington
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
For a Scottish piglet, the logical stop for Hogmanay revelling is Waverley.

Happy New Year ... **hic**

[ 01. January 2013, 04:34: Message edited by: piglet ]
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Which opens up a straight run to open 2013 with

Mornington Crescent

Now let's see who can make some progress with a start at

Turnpike Lane

bearing in mind that cross-diagonal working is only allowed in reverse during years that end in -13. (Lloyd George's Hawarden rule, since you ask...)
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Congratulations!

Tower Hill
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Temple
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Tottenham Court Road
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Barons Court
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Hampton Wick
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Down Street
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
Trafalgar Square's probably quieter than it was last night, so Charing Cross should be safe enough.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
So year yet so far!

Caledonian Road
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Feeling a bit catty so

Purfleet
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Obviously (since I'm not feeling very inspired)

Catford

is the best place for you!
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Petts Wood Junction
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Barking
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Hallo everyone, I'm back! Three days near Cardiff (Central) visiting son and new daughter-in-law.

Happy New Year.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Merely been away for a few days; nothing nefarious going on. TLBOMC isn't a cribbing masterclass anyway.

New year, new year... but same old reputation. Might as well ruff the diagonals; they'll claim you did anyway.

Rayner's Lane

[ 02. January 2013, 22:31: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
I'm glad you ruffed the diagonals because that allows me to do a cross-diagonal reverse with double cut-off and withdraw a token for

Trumper's Crossing Halt
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
That's a very bold move for this early in the year, POI. However, I'll put it down to post-Hogmanay exuberance and inject a spot of common sense:

Hainault

PS Hello BT! Happy new year! **waves in a vaguely easterly direction**
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I thought someone might go over there - how about

Holland Park
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
You can do much better than that, surely: Harwich (International) (for the Continent) ... Felixstowe or Bexhill for the others, if you know what I mean).
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
As my family hailed from Felixstowe [back on the cat kick from above, I think], or at least settled there after being chased out of France in the 17th and 18th centuries sometime - and I think there are still a few of them about. Anyway I think family history, as well as the Huguenot Amendment to the MC Rules of 1575, leads me to suggest we now cross the channel and head to

Gare du Nord
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Yeah, but that invokes two things - firstly, the Waterloo Shift, doubling points for everywhere French speaking but simultaneously putting the Nip on all ferry terminals, and secondly forcing the game to run in reverse from a reverse shunt into Arnos Grove. This means no-one can call MC until we get back to Turnpike Lane, unless of course someone can claim both utilities and all the pink and orange properties.
 

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Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Pinch, punch - the third of the month

Turnpike Lane

and no return!
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
So that's the Waterloo Shift cancelled then.

This of course makes it almost like a new game. Blue chips remain, but all other counters return to "home" stations.

Kings Cross St Pancras.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I'm really, really worried about the way we have got locked into the Piccadilly Line. It's almost enough to ask that nice Mr. Crow to call his buddies in the RMT out on strike and force us to Proceed At Street Level.

However that is probably pushing things a bit far, so probably the best thing is to park ourselves at Kensington (Olympia) and wait for one of its very occasional trains to return us to sanity.

P.S. Using the Overground or a Main Line service would be cheating (or at least Bad Form); under the LMS (Withdrawal of Outer Circle Service) Amendment (1940) you are only allowed to utilise the District Line bay platform.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
You sure you've not been taken in by some of the nonsense from Leamington Spa? That sounds very like some of the claptrap they come out with. You will be aware, of course, that the whole question of the LMS Amendment and its relationship to (a) nationalisation, and (b) privatisation under the Tories was one of the matters that resulted in those shameful scenes at Wolverhampton a few years ago. We'd hoped we could draw a veil over those events, but clearly some confusion still exists. It's a shame, and poor Arn Ossgrove's nerves will never be the same again - he still starts hyperventilating at the mention of Goodge Street, the poor love.

Kings Cross Thameslink and to the Leamington Spa idiots.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Are we playing to the 1911 rules?
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
That all depends who you ask. Anyway, do you mean the March Variation, the September Amendment or the October (Scotland) Authorisation (either version)? Imprecision of that kind will get you nowhere in this game.

Except, perhaps, to a certain station in the Kilburn area whose name we mention only with Bated Breath (think "Doris Mill" and you'll be in the right sort of area).

A glance at the food of your page, though, leads me irresistibly to Ingrow (West).

Or is that too great a disappointment?
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Yes, my page enjoys a good meal from time to time. Stops it withering away.

Disappointed? Au contraire, quite flattered, my dear fellow.

Obviously I can't play another Midland station in response, but perhaps one with a MR connexion would rise to the challenge, hence:

Corpusty and Saxthorpe (M & GN Jt)
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I was confused by the above and lost and didn't know where to go but then a light dawned:

'Ah," I thought, "I remember Adlestrop."
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
I don't know who gave KLB that bl**dy book for Christmas, but if I ever meet him I'm going to stand up to my full 5'1½" and punch him in the midriff. And I'm normally the most peaceable of piglets.

As it was pay-day today* I suppose Bank is safe enough.

* I love the Canadian habit of paying you fortnightly - it precludes that awful feeling of too much month left at the end of the money I used to get in January.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Starting from next March [i.e. 2014] I will be getting 25 pay days a year - 12 from my normal work pension and 13 from the UK Government, which is a rather nice thought.

I agree wholeheartedly about staying off the Piccadilly Line so how about

Harlesden
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
That's perilously close to Boris Kill (now there's an idea for disaffected Londoners, even though I'm a Pacifist) so I think we should head South of the river. I wonder if the Croydon Tramlink is in knid? If not, we might take an amble to Coombe Lane.

I like trams.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
That's an interesting move so much so that I think we had better remain below the line and head to

Sundridge Park

though why anyone would want to is another matter entirely.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Windsor & Eton Riverside
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Players might like to afford themselves a short distraction with this fascinating set of architectural pictures from the Daily Telegraph website.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
St Albans Abbey
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Durham (Elvet).
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Hold on to your hats!

Ilkley

for t'moor.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Duirinish
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Sydney Parade [Dublin]
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I don't know why anyone's blaming TLBOMC, but I can arrange a short boxing match between Piglet and my mother in law if that's what she wants*.

I know some people think I've got a bee in my bonnet about the Leamington Spa mob, but it's hardly out of proportion to the harm their constant bickering is doing to the game. I ask you:

1. Who is responsible for Arn Ossgrove's nerves, as previously mentioned?
2. What group is the reason that the Leeds Metropolitan University MC group is disbanded and under an active Students' Union resolution not to reform under any circumstances?
3. Why does Rayner Slane still [censored to protect the innocent; you all know what I'm talking about here] left nipple?
4. Who knows what happened to the Nettle Inn's landlady's lapdog, Cyril?

The answer to all these questions is a very simple one, and has nothing to do with TLBOMC.

Oh, and Mudchute


*Obviously actually I can't.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
That's an easy one, KLB

Birkbeck
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
I'm glad you think so.

Cheese

Seems safe; I don't think anyone's anywhere near the "Turn Crank" square.

I think that gets me two Chance cards, doesn't it?

[ 04. January 2013, 12:42: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Only if you have purple chips to play at the same time.

Peartree (not for Partridge Green).
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Let's take the purple chips north to

Morpeth

where you can eat them around the corner from the station at the Beetroot Restaurant

or do what you like with them...
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Sorry - it seems to have closed down. Can you suggest another suitable eaterie, as some of us are beginning to feel a bit peckish.
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Allow me to oblige...

Peckham Rye
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
All the best places..

I have taken you before to

Hatch End

for Sea Pebbles which is always reliable even if you have to queue.

Suitable for Friday or Sabbath Eve if your religious sensitivities require.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Chalk Farm, I think next.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Burnt Oak
 

---

Posted by kingsfold (# 1726) on :
 
Sounds somewhat like we all firstly over-indulged, and then we're getting remedies for it. The temptation to shift the game to somewhere with a well-known foodmarket is very great.

I shall however resist, and play Wapping

[ 04. January 2013, 15:28: Message edited by: kingsfold ]
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
That gives me the opportunity to play my City and South London Railway Bonus Card and I'm going to plump for ...

...

erm ...

...

Swiss Cottage
 

---

Posted by Starbug (# 15917) on :
 
Back to cheese with the Swiss connection?

I suggest we all head to Embankment for a nice stroll along the Thames, to walk off some of this indulgence.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Eel & pies anyone?

Dalston Kingsland
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
... a short boxing match between Piglet and my mother in law ...

---

No, really. I'm sorry - I have nothing whatsoever against your mother-in-law.

Meanwhile, back at the game ...

Surrey Quays
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Perhaps to commune with the soul of my political mentor:

Highgate
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Well, that doesn't sound like Sir John Betjeman, who went to Highgate School ... and Bernard Jenkin MP sn't old enough ...

What about Charles Clarke (former Home Secretary), who presumably leads us to Norwich (Thorpe)?

(I think we can include "Thorpe" as Mr. Clarke is a Labour politician - the mere mention of the word might still give Liberals apoplexy!)
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I think most true Liberals will be apoplectic enough with what has been done in their name over the last few years!

St James Street
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Your blue and red tokens are seriously tarnished and the yellow ones have fallen apart.

Only one place to go:

Custom House
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Chadwell Heath

And, as I pass GO I pick up 4 blue chips and a couple of purple ones!
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Just don't replace the rainbow on your shoulder with the chips.

Upney
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Abermule

Oh dear!
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Well let's go to Disneyland Railroad Main Street

where there's an organ you may press ineptly to you heart's content...
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Aldeburgh - home of Orlando the marmalade cat and also the excellent Cragg Sisters Tea Room where my wife and I partook but an hour ago.

Sadly the railway beyond Leiston was Beechinged.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
I hope you had a lovely time! I cleaned the house and nursed a streaming cold.

Let's go to Norwich - just because we can.
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Well, we'll soon squash that ploy!

Guide Bridge
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
As a schoolboy I used to go to Pontypool Road in the weeks before Christmas to spot very rare (in this part of the world) Class 40 'Whistlers' on a goods special from Guide Bridge.

Which takes us to Newport (High Street)
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
You raise me rare spotted Whistlers, and I raise you greater striped Insignias.

Llantwit Major
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
As it's not quite Twelfth Night yet (well, not here anyway), BT's Defunct Stations Permit (2012 Festive Season) is still in operation, and he very kindly e-mailed me some green chips:

Tolleshunt D'arcy
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Birkenhead Woodside
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Sheffield Wicker
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
I fear that any mention of "Wicker" draws us irresistibly to Southwest Scotland and, in particular, the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Railway. There is a choice of location so why not choose Gatehouse of Fleet? - that gives me a chance to use up those pesky tartan chips that have been cluttering up the drawer ever since Alex Salmond announced the Independence Referendum.
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Molesworth
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Yarck
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Oh, great!

That means I can play Newton-le-Willows!
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Lowton
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
St John's Chapel (NER)
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Hightown
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Lower Edmonton (Low Level).

[ 06. January 2013, 21:52: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Alaric the Goth (# 511) on :
 
Holbeck (High Level)
 

---

Posted by Pulsator Organorum Ineptus (# 2515) on :
 
Tyndrum (Lower)
 

---

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
All these ups and downs are making me feel dizzy.

Norwich should sort that out. Very flat, Norfolk.
 

---

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :
 
As are the fens.

Ely

(If it's a sunny day visit the cathedral)
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Elie - Scottish Region.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
Lye
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
This is clearly getting silly - but I am afraid I am inevitably tempted by Eye - change at Mellis for stations to Liverpool Street.

On the other hand, you can still catch a train at Lye - something you haven't been able to do at Eye since (I think) the 1930s!

[ 07. January 2013, 08:20: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Rye
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Which of course means I can fly to East Midlands Airport
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
On the 7th of the month? Very dubious...

We'll get back on the ground at

Rhoose Cardiff International Airport

which for better or worse is now the longest official station name in the UK!
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I'm not sure that was a good idea but if you insist then I shall have to take us to

Bache
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Ah. Now that's interesting. I, the blue chips having been cached in, in order to avoid putting the eastern half of the network in Nidd, Zone 1 being currently +5 THAC0, notwithstanding the Dronfield Convention rules about passing loops, Goodge Street, once again, as is my wont, will play.*


*Sorry, once they've taught you Latin you can never quite drop the habit.
 

---

Posted by AberVicar (# 16451) on :
 
That, I'm afraid, takes us on an excursus to

Albano Laziale
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Heol Llanfair-ym-Muallt, naturally.
 

---

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Well, at least no-one went to Wye!

The Italian connection was going to draw us to Clerkenwell - nearest station Farringdon.

However, the unpronounceable Welsh name has scuppered all that: the best we can do now is Roman Bridge on the Ffestiniog branch.

By the way, everything west of Holyhead is now in Spoon (not to mention submerged).

[ 07. January 2013, 12:05: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
 

---

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
Erm, Leamington Spa?
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
Booooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Perfectly legal play, of course. The Boo was for the LSM, not for the play or the player.

You do realise, of course, that I'm faced either with the loss of my Queen*, or...

Dollis Hill

*Victoria, natch.
 

---

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :