The Quizzyland Express - All Aboard!

Answer: South Africa

Renowned for its luxury and opulence, the 'Blue Train' is South Africa's flagship rail service which runs between Pretoria and Cape Town, two of the country's capital cities. The service first started in 1923 as a means of transporting people from the financial heartland of Johannesburg to Cape Town from where ships left for ports abroad.

In 1937, it acquired the 'Blue Train' nickname from the colour the carriages were painted. When the service resumed in 1946 after World War II, the name was formally adopted. Regarded as one of the world's most luxurious train journeys, two trains operate on the 1600km route, one running north to south and the other in the opposite direction.

The two day / one night itinerary allows passengers the opportunity for off-the-train excursions to places of interest along the route such as Kimberley, the site of the world's largest diamond rush.

Answer: J.M.W. Turner

"Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway" is an oil painting by the great British landscape artist Joseph Mallord William Turner. The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844 although it remains unclear when it was actually painted.

The painting shows an onrushing train coming through an early morning rainstorm. It is generally accepted that the locomotive is the Great Western Railway at the Maidenhead Railway Bridge, the iconic crossing designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The striking feature of this painting is the impression the artist creates of the speed of the train through the blurred landscape. It has been postulated that Turner used this painting to convey his concern with the speed at which the world was embracing new technology and the damage that would be done to the traditional ways.

The painting is considered to be one of Turner's greatest masterpieces and is part of the collection of the National Gallery in London where it now hangs.

Answer: Midnight

"Midnight Train to Georgia" became a number one hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 27 October 1973 and the song became Gladys Knight's signature tune. However, the song didn't start out life as a train going to Georgia at any time. It actually started out life as a midnight plane going to Houston! Its writer, Jim Wetherley, was inspired to write the song after a telephone call to his friend, Farrah Fawcett, who told him that she was catching a midnight plane to Houston to visit her parents. The title and lyrics were amended when the song was recorded by Cissy Houston, mother to the famous Whitney, as her producers didn't like the repetition of the word Houston. With Wetherley's permission, it was duly amended to "Midnight Train to Georgia" which was the version heard by Gladys Knight. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gladys Knight and the Pip's version of the song won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal by a Duo, Group or Chorus at the 1974 ceremony and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The song also features on the soundtrack of the 1978 film "The Deer Hunter".

Answer: Queen Victoria

On 13 June 1842, Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to travel by train when she undertook a journey from Slough to Paddington aboard the Great Western Railway. Apparently nervous about the trip as the safety record of the railways at that time left a lot to be desired, the Queen was reassured by her husband, Prince Albert, who had himself made the journey in 1839 and who had travelled regularly on the railways since then. The train was pulled by the locomotive 'Phlegethon' and consisted of seven carriages and trucks, the middle one of which was the 'royal carriage'. The train was driven by Daniel Gooch who was accompanied on this historic occasion by the great engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The entire journey took 25 minutes and afterwards the Queen pronounced herself "quite charmed by it".

On 13 June 2017, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh recreated this journey when they became the first royals to travel on a prototype intercity hybrid train between Slough and Paddington. This journey was a whole six minutes faster than the one undertaken by Queen Victoria 175 years earlier.

Answer: Cycling

In road race cycling, particularly in races over flat terrain that are likely to end in a group sprint, a lead-out train is the term given to a group of team mates whose job it is to make sure that the team's fastest and designated sprinter arrives at the finale of the race in an ideal position to launch his sprint and so take the win.

A lead-out train works on the principle that the less energy the designated sprinter uses before the final sprint, the more energy he will have to use in that effort. Thus he will use his team mates to do the work of keeping him in position in the pack of riders and in warding off attacks from other teams while he stays in their slipstream saving energy. Each rider in the train will do a turn of work before peeling off and letting the next rider take over until the designated sprinter is at the point where he launches his 'run for the line'.

This use of a lead-out train is a lot easier in theory than it is to put into practice as there will be multiple teams all trying to do the same thing in a finite amount of space on a road!

Answer: Thomas

"Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends" is the British television series for children which follows the goings-on of a group of locomotives who live on the fictional island of Sodor. Commonly just referred to as "Thomas & Friends" the television show is based on the series of books, "The Railway Series" which were written by Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher.

The show first debuted on Britain's ITV in 1984 when it was narrated by the former Beatles' drummer, Ringo Starr. Starr was the first of a series of high profile narrators who have included George Carlin and Alec Baldwin.

The eponymous hero of the series is Thomas, a blue steam locomotive who is always trying to be a "really useful engine" and who is assisted by his friends who include Percy and Gordon.

Answer: Camels

A train is one of the commonly used collective nouns for a group of camels. These large, long legged mammals, characterised by their distinctive humped backs, have been found in the service of mankind for thousand of years. Besides being an efficient beast of burden able to carry large loads in inhospitable terrain, camels also provide man with milk, meat and woollen and leather products. The distinctive humps which all camels have is a repository of stored fat which the animal is able to use as sustenance when there is a shortage of food and water.

Members of the Camelus genus, two main species of camels are found. The most numerous is the dromedary or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) which has one hump and which is found all over the Middle East and Northern Africa. Dromedaries make up over 90% of the world's camel population. The second main species is the bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) which has two humps and can be found mainly in central Asia. There is a third recognised species, the wild bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) which is critically endangered and which only exists in very limited populations in remote areas of Mongolia and China.

Answer: The Polar Express

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, "The Polar Express" is the 2004 film which was based on the children's book written by Chris Van Allsburg. The film is a holiday musical fantasy which uses 3D computer animation. Through a process called 'performance capture', the movements of real actors are transformed into animation. Oscar winner Tom Hanks heads up the cast tackling no less than six roles. The story revolves around a small boy who, on Christmas Eve, finds himself aboard a train called The Polar Express which is bound for the North Pole and the adventures that follow on his journey. The film was a success generating over $309 million at the box office and was, in 2008, nominated by the American Film Institute as part of its "Top 10 Animated Film List".

All three of the incorrect answers are films in which trains play a central role.

Answer: Wedding dress

In the world of fashion, a train is the term used to describe an extended piece of fabric at the back of a dress or skirt that trails behind the wearer. Besides the extravagant creations so beloved of designers dressing stars for red-carpet events, in the modern day, trains are most often to be found on wedding dresses.

In fact so popular are trains with stylish brides, there are no less than four recognized forms of it. The shortest and most 'informal' is the brush or sweep train which consists of a small sweep of fabric about six inches longer than the front of the dress that just sweeps or brushes the ground behind the wearer.

The watteau train is slightly different in that it attaches to the shoulders of the gown, not the waist, and is usually detachable from the dress. Next comes the chapel train which is the most popular of all the trains.

This usually measures about five feet in length and adds formality to a dress without being too ostentatious for the average bride. The final form, the cathedral train, is the most formal and the one so beloved of royalty.

The cathedral train on the wedding dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales at her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 measured a whopping twenty five feet in length. In contrast, the train on the beautiful Sarah Burton designed dress worn by her daughter-in-law, Catherine Middleton, on her wedding day was a modest nine feet.

Answer: I-Think-I-Can

Although the story of "The Little Engine That Could" with its famous mantra I-Think-I-Can, appeared in print as early as 1902, it was the Watty Piper version published by Platt and Munk in 1930 that brought this heart-warming tale to the attention of the wider public and which has become a perennial favourite. Watty Piper was the pen-name used by Arnold Munk, co-owner of the publishing house, for his children's stories.

The story, which is often used to teach children the value of hard work and persistence, tells of a small blue engine that overcomes seemingly impossible odds to achieve his goal of pulling a long train of goods over a high mountain when other larger and more powerful engines were not even prepared to try. Throughout his journey to the top of the mountain the little engine repeats his motto of I-Think-I-Can. The book has been named by the US National Education Association as on of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".