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SideTracked - Park Street (Herts' Least Used) Multi-cache

Hidden : 6/13/2020
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


This is a multi-cache and, as such, the cache is not located at the posted coordinates.

Please visit the station, have a look around and gather a few numbers to calculate the actual location of the cache.

About SideTracked Caches

This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breath taking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveller, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website

About Park Street Station


Park Street currently holds the title of the least used station in Hertfordshire. With just 22,074 passengers ("Entries and Exits") in the 2018-2019 statistics from the Office of Road and Rail, it boasts an average of only 60 passengers per day to claim the accolade.

It sits on the Abbey Line, a single-track branch that has run between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey since 1858. Today the line is run as a Community Railway by the Abbey Flyer Users' Group and is therefore probably cared for better than many other lines around the country.

There is a ticket machine, but there is no ticket office at this station. It has a shelter with seats and a litter bin. A dot matrix indicator informs you of the current service status. When we visited the station to set the cache there was a fox wandering along the railway line. You may not see this when you visit!

To find the cache you will need to look around the station premises.
Find the big, blue and white, reflective Network Rail sign and count the number of letters in the word just below the red arrow pointing to the right. This is A.
Walk up the path towards the platform and find two notice boards just to the left of the waiting shelter. One has a green casing and the other is silver. The final digit of the silver casing's code number is B. (i.e. PKT0B)
Walk into the waiting shelter and count the number of green seats. This is C.
Finally, walk back down the slope to the Network Rail sign again and find the ELR designation. The number of letters in the designation is the value for D.

The location of the geocache is found by substituting ABC and D into the following:
N 51 43.3AB W 000 20.4CD

Just to check you have the answer correct before setting off you should find that A+B+C+D=28. The cache is a short walk away and, in accordance with SideTracked and geocaching placement instructions, is not on railway land, premises or boundary fences. You may encounter muggles at GZ, but not necessarily of the human kind.

Acknowledgements Geoff Marshall; diamond geezer; Office of Rail and Road

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Zntargvp. Bhg bs fvtug.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)