The End of the Line Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rome

During the time of the Roman Empire, the phrase "all roads lead to Rome" was well-fitting since Rome was the center of all things at the time; the Milliarium Aureum was kilometer zero and it was located directly in the center of the Roman Forum. Not only did all roads in Rome originate from this important marker, but all roads in the empire (including Caledonia, Hibernia, etc.) stretched out from it in some way.

Many countries have a kilometer zero (or mile zero) marker located in their capital or largest city to track the lengths of highways or main routes.

The modern Roman one is on Capitoline Hill.

Answer: Grand Central Terminal

Grand Central Terminal (often called Grand Central Station) in New York City is not only the largest railway station in the world, but one of the top-visited landmarks as well since it's such a major thoroughfare for international and domestic travelers whether for tourism, business, or pleasure. Grand Central Terminal serves both the city's subway system and out-of-city rail systems, the furthest of which goes all the way out to Waterbury, Connecticut, over two hours away by train.

While Metro-North only goes that far, other trains (Amtrak, for instance), head outward to Chicago, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Montreal.

Answer: Ushuaia

Excluding the Darién Gap for about one hundred miles in Panama/Colombia, the Pan-American Highway is almost fifty thousand kilometers long stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the tip of Tierra Del Fuego. While the exact route is often debated, the route leads through nearly twenty countries en route from start to finish and can take months and months to traverse (in a car, obviously). Ushuaia in the south of Argentina, is one of the southernmost cities in the entire world.

A port for passage to Antarctica, your journey could continue onward from there if you wanted it to...but you'd probably need to be a bit crazy after that road trip.

Answer: Gansu

The narrowest and westernmost point of the Great Wall of China, Jiayu Pass at Jiayuguan Fort is found in Gansu Province. At the time, the pass was considered to be at the western-most edge of China and did, in fact, complete the wall. In later dynasties, the borders of the country expanded westward. Of all of the passes and forts on the Great Wall, it is the best-preserved after nearly seven centuries of history.
On the other side, the easternmost point of the Great Wall of China is Shanhai Pass in Hubei. It meets the ocean over seven thousand miles away from Jiayu Pass.

Answer: Istanbul

While the early runs of the Orient Express commenced/ended in Paris, France (and, later, Calais and London), the eastern terminus of the trip has taken passengers as far as the European side of Istanbul, just before the Bosporus, specifically to Istanbul's Sirkeci Terminal.

The original route involved a ferry across the Black Sea, but once a railway was completed between Bucharest, Romania and Istanbul (well...Constantinople), the trip made the full circuit passing through Budapest, Vienna, Munich, and Strasbourg.

The Orient Express, which gained a great amount of fame from Agatha Christie's notable mystery novel "Murder on the Orient Express", ceased its travels in 2009 with a series of trips between Strasbourg and Vienna.

Answer: Cape Town

Although there are many questionable spots on Highway 4 due to the nature of the African wilds and the unpopulated regions throughout the savannah and deserts, the ten thousand kilometer trip can begin in Cairo and reach all the way down to Cape Town, South Africa passing through Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Lusaka, and Gaborone (eight countries, actually) on the way.

There are a number of trans-continental highways throughout Africa, some of which cross the Sahara and some of which cross the west side of Africa (north to south from Tripoli to Cape Town). Great distances of each are unpaved for obvious reasons.

Answer: Mississippi River

One of North America's longest rivers, the Mississippi River has its headwaters in Itasca State Park, Minnesota, hundreds of miles from Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, the Mississippi River weaves through ten different states over its 2,500+ mile route through North America.

The mouth of the river, where it meets the Gulf of Mexico, is actually found in Pilottown, Louisiana. It's a long way away from Itasca State Park, a National Historical Site commemorating both historical cemeteries in the area and the river's 'end of the line'.

Answer: Chesham

Off in the top left corner of your Tube map, Chesham Station is so far removed from the rest of the London Underground that to reach Charing Cross Station you would need to travel forty kilometers. Found in Buckinghamshire, the station is over one hundred years old but is still a popular commuter spot because it connects much of the northwest to the big city. Chesham Station is the terminus of the Metropolitan Line which cuts directly through London (including Wembley Park and Baker Street). The terminus on the opposite end is Aldgate. For comparison, Morden, the southernmost terminus in the London Underground, is still situated in London proper.

Answer: Vladivostok

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest single railway in the world stretching over nine thousand kilometers across not only the largest nation on the globe, but branching into tributaries leading into Mongolia (and subsequently China) and the edge of North Korea. Taking the line straight across, however, from Moscow's oldest terminal, Yaroslavsky, you'll pass through Perm, Omsk, Novosibirsk, the Baikal region, Irkutsk, and eventually Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast near the North Korean border.

Although work on this section of the track took over one hundred years, it has since been improved upon, allowing both passengers and freight to take the journey for over a week, sometimes going over a day between subsequent stops.

Answer: Eiger

Jungfraujoch is found at an elevation of three and a half kilometers above sea level, carved into the Swiss Alps. Part of a greater chain of railway lines tracking all through Europe, Jungfraujoch is a terminus station, mainly because once you're that high up, there's really nowhere else to go. Jungfraujoch services not only the Sphinx Observatory, a deck and scientific vantage point overlooking the Eiger, Jungfrau, and Mönch, but allows visitors to head to those mountains if they so choose-- caverns are carved throughout, and if you wanted to look out the side of the Eiger you could.

The train connects to several other lines in Kleine Scheidegg, allowing riders to head to Grindelwald and beyond.