- This cache is NOT at the published coordinates! -
Davey, Paxman and Davey, Engineers was founded in 1865 by two brothers, Henry and Charles Davey and James Noah Paxman. Their initial workshop was in what is now the town centre, but they soon found themselves outgrowing that site and needing to expand. In 1876, they moved into their new Standard Ironworks on Hythe Hill, where they remained until the works were closed down by MAN Energy Solutions in 2021. At their peak, the site took up 23 acres and employed some 2,000 staff.
Initally the company started trading as a general engineering firm providing services to farmers, construction firms, millers and the like. They soon found themselves specialising in the maintenence and construction of steam engines, as Paxman did before he founded the company. As technology in general progressed, so too did the company, starting to build oil and gas powered engines in the 1900s and diesel engines in the 1930s.
Among the first of the diesel engines to come out of the Standard Ironworks was a six-cylinder VZS engine for a London Midland and Scottish railway shunter. This early pioneering diesel engine would lay the foundations for other larger locomotive diesel engines, such as the four RPH Series 1s that powered the Fell Experimental Locomotive (the first express diesel locomotive in the country), the Hi-Dynes, Venturas, and most importantly for this story, the Valenta.
A V12 Valenta engine, rated at 2,250bhp was put in each Class 43 locomotive or 'power car'; when combined with their passenger coaches they form a High Speed Train or InterCity 125 set. To this day, the HST still holds the official diesel rail speed record, set in 1987 at a speed of 148.5mph (239kmph). The class revolutionised and transfomed rail travel in the UK, massively decreasing journey times and increasing passenger comfort. Their time in service is limited in the UK; although some have been exported to Germany, Mexico and Nigeria, the last two operators of HSTs here in the UK intend to phase them out of use by the end of 2024.
Your puzzle is to calculate the distance between two pairs of stations that HSTs either call at today or once called at in the past. Assume the most direct and simplest route unless stated otherwise.
FTF: gillywig @ 12:30 30 Apr 2024
Puzzle amended 03/5/25 - if you solved the old version, DM me for the new location
SHF - BHM via TAM + 3 = 6214
PLN - INS - 13 = ABCD
BRI - DID via CPM + 2 = EFGH
N 51 5A. BCD
E000 5E. FGH
This is my first geocache, and any feedback will be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy!