The cache is NOT at the published coordinates, do NOT go here, to find the cache you must solve the puzzle below.
SideTracked - Winchester
Please bring tweezers for the final.
The station was opened on 10 June 1839 by the London and Southampton Railway (later the London and South Western Railway). It became a temporary terminus for the Winchester to Southampton section. On the same day, another station was opened at Basingstoke, which was a temporary terminus of the London to Basingstoke section.
The following year, a line was built joining Winchester and Basingstoke and the line was complete. This line was the trickiest to construct and had four tunnels and a single station called Andover Road (now Micheldever), rather optimistically given that Andover lay 13 miles (21 km) west. Winchester became a through station on 30 March 1840.
As the line bypassed Kingston Upon Thames, Winchester was the only major settlement on the line between London and Southampton. Since the original Southampton line ran via the then small market town of Basingstoke (where lines to the west would be built), it was not very direct. Another line was constructed to run via Guildford, Farnham and Alton, which joined the main line north of Winchester. The present day line runs via Aldershot instead of Guildford, and the line finishes at Alton. A section from Alton to Alresford is preserved as the Watercress Line but the final gap from Alresford to Winchester closed in 1973 and is unlikely ever to be reinstated owing to housing having been built on the trackbed.
Later, the Great Western Railway built the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. This passed at a separate station on the eastern side of Winchester, when opened called Winchester Cheesehill, later Winchester (Chesil). In 1949, it was renamed Winchester Chesil, whilst Winchester's main station was renamed Winchester City. This did not last long: In 1966 Chesil closed and an alternative diversionary route to Oxford, Birmingham and beyond, bypassing Basingstoke and Reading, was consequently lost. The following year British Rail changed the station name from Winchester City to Winchester.
Renovations in summer 2004 gave the western side a refurbished entrance and second ticket office; albeit with shorter opening hours than that on the eastern side.
In summer 2009, both platforms received ticket barriers with CCTV, with the entrance to platform 2 from the forecourt reorganised as part of South West Trains' plan to fit or refit ticket barriers on the busiest stations on the network.
In July 2013, A brand new footbridge was constructed between the platforms and also features lifts.
The Cache
Below is a puzzle which you must solve in order to get some coordinates:
A - If I am travelling on a Class 221 "Super Voyager" through Winchester station, which TOC am I using? Number of letters in the name.
B - Off peak Monday-Friday (middle of the day), how many trains per hour are there from Winchester to the UK's busiest station in terms of passengers?
C - Off peak Monday-Friday (middle of the day), how many trains per hour from Winchester call at the UK's busiest station in terms of train movements?
D - South Western Railway operate two types of rolling stock through this station, largest number minus smallest number.
E - If I am catching a train on a Tuesday from platform 2 at 16:38 where is the final destination for this train? Number of letters in the place name.
F - There is a siding just to the North of the station which gets used by several trains per day which are terminating at or starting their journeys from Winchester, what is the Eastern European place name that this siding is also named after? Number of letters in the place name.
Now go to N 51 04.(E-F-5)(B-1)(D-B) W 001 19.(D-B-1)(B+C+1)(A-B)
Here you will find an easily missed plaque which you will need to collect the following information from:
G - The second digit of the year
H - Number of letters in the surname of the Councillor
J - Number of screws holding the plaque in place
K - Number of letters in the first word on the plaque
The final cache is locatated at:
N 51 03.G(G-K)C W 001 19.(H-J+C)(A-G-C)(K-F)