Britain's Railway Stations Trivia Quiz

Answer: St Davids

The charming city of Exeter has multiple railway stations such as Exeter Central, Exeter St Thomas and Exeter St Davids (the apostrophe not shown on official station signage). St Davids primarily offers travel across stations on the Great Western Railway network. One such service is the sleeper service that operates between Penzance and London Paddington, allowing passengers to start their journey in Devon and Cornwall in the evening and wake up in the British capital city the next morning. Exeter St Davids is also on the rather extensive Cross Country network which allows for travel to Bristol, Birmingham and beyond; there are also occasional services to London Waterloo via Basingstoke in the South Western region.

Answer: Queen Street

Cardiff Central, with its Art Deco lobby and Great Western facade, is the busiest station in Wales and one of the busiest in Great Britain outside of London. Services are available to Swansea, Bristol, Southampton, Paddington, Manchester, Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham amongst others, but also to local valley line stations.

The true hub of the valley lines network however is Cardiff Queen Street, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from Cardiff Central. The valley lines follow the tracks that previously facilitated the transportation of coal down from the valleys minefields to the docks in Cardiff. Trains from Queen Street carry passengers from the capital to terminus stations such as Treherbert, Aberdare, Rhymney and Merthyr Tydfil.

Answer: Waterloo

Waterloo, which shares its name with an ABBA song that the British love to sing badly, is the busiest station in the United Kingdom with the annual passenger usage pushing 100 million throughout the 2010s. Growing up in Wales I find myself loyal to the Great Western region (sad, I know) and personal taste, and perhaps a generous dose of bias, leads me to favour the look and feel of Paddington over Waterloo. That said, for quite some time Waterloo has been a much cleaner station than Paddington as until the electrification of the Great Western Main Line in the late 2010s, the majority of trains servicing Paddington spat out diesel fumes into the shed and lobby.

The majority of the South Western Main Line (Waterloo to Southampton and Bournemouth) was electrified in the 1960s and electrification extending to the end of the line at Weymouth by the late 1980s.

Answer: New Street

Birmingham New Street is at the heart of the British railway network. The station is located alongside the city's main shopping district (New Street) and is quite a dingy, unpleasant environment at platform level. As you ascend from the platforms and emerge into the station concourse, the experience is completely transformed.

After a great deal of investment and development in the early 2010s, the concourse is bright and spacious and is actually a place where people choose to spend a fair bit of time.

It is arguably one of the best stations (if you ignore the depressing platforms) in Great Britain.

Answer: Piccadilly

Manchester Piccadilly is one of the busiest stations in the UK, with over 30 million passengers using the station in 2018/19. The station is also a major interchange owing to its position on the network and regular services to other principal stations across the country. Manchester Piccadilly also affords travellers an access point to the city's metro service.

Answer: Lime Street

Liverpool Lime Street is known for its impressive station frontage which is tastefully illuminated at night. Lime Street is served by trains operated by a variety of operators taking passengers to cities such as Chester, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and London. London-bound services from Liverpool Lime Street terminate at Euston, a famous station that also hosts the Caledonian Sleeper trains after they complete their journeys down from Scotland.

Answer: Temple Meads

Bristol Temple Meads is the main station serving the western city of Bristol, though the station can hardly be considered to be centrally located. The station, with a beautiful "Brunellian" facade, provides the city with connections to most of the UKs major cities including London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Southampton, Manchester and Edinburgh. For those looking for a photo opportunity, make your way to platform three and spot the colourful houses on the hill perfectly framed by the opening of the historic train shed. Bus services to Bristol International Airport also depart from the front of the station.

Answer: Westgate

Westgate is the larger of the two main stations in Wakefield, the smaller of the two being Wakefield Kirkgate. Wakefield Westgate benefits from its position on the railway line between Leeds and London. Services to London are along the East Coast Main Line and terminate at King's Cross.

Answer: Pier

The charming coastal settlement of Lymington, Hampshire, has two stations - Lymington Town and Lymington Pier - that are frequented by a shuttle service that connects the town with nearby Brockenhurst. Lymington Town tends to see increased passenger footfall during periods of good weather as travellers make their way to the pretty harbour. Lymington Pier is mostly used by passengers making their way to the ferry terminal ahead of their crossing to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

Answer: Paddington

Paddington is the London terminus for services originating in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Devon, Cornwall and South Wales amongst others. A large number of such services pass through the railway town of Swindon, before heading on to a Reading and London Paddington. Swindon often makes the news at the start of each year when ticket prices are adjusted (almost always increased).

This is due to Swindon to Paddington tickets being some of the most expensive in Great Britain when considered in terms of per mile cost. If you have any cash left over after paying to get to Paddington from the west, then maybe spend the rest on purchasing a world-famous bear!