Commute: A photo essay - The Answers

The Answers:
Last week, on day two of this serial photo essay, I posted a chronological account of my morning commute under the title, Platform 1. At the end of that post, the text of which I’ve included below, I challenged readers to identify four errors in the photos I posted, based on the information I provided. Quite a number of people tried to work it out, and one reader did identify one of the four. However, nobody was able to tell me all four. For those that have asked, I'm about to give you the answers.

Here is the text from my Platform 1 post:

”Every morning my journey begins at platform one at Sutherland Station and ends on platform twenty-four at Central.

The trip takes, on average, about 45 minutes, but this can vary depending upon the time I leave and the stopping patterns of the train I catch.

In today’s post my photos depict my journey from start to finish, however, based on the trip I outlined above, the photos as posted contain four significant errors. If you have a keen eye and you’ve spent some time on Sydney’s trains you may be able to tell me what they are. If you can, let me know in the comments. I’ll send a free Ebook version of my novella, Predator Strike to the first person who can correctly identify all four.”

The first error:

The first two images are chronologically out of order. These photos were posted in this order:

Shown in this order, the photos suggested that I walked down the stairs to platform one before I passed the digital platform indicator boards. This is incorrect. The indicator display boards are always found on the concourse, as they need to be, because it is these boards that tell passengers which platform to catch their train from.

The second error:

The fifth photo is a photo of the wrong platform.

In my text I said I caught the train from platform one, however, if you zoom in on the fifth photo you’ll see from the platform number that it is a photo of a train on platform three.

The third error:

The ninth photo is also a photo of the wrong platform.

In my text I said I caught the train to platform twenty-four, however, if you zoom in on the ninth photo you’ll see from the platform number that it is a photo of a train on platform twenty-five.

The fourth error:

The last photo is not of people leaving platform twenty-four at Central Station.

Platform twenty-four is located deep underground and is accessed by long, steep escalators. Now admittedly, you would need to know a bit about Sydney’s trains to know this, hence in my day three post, I posted a couple of clues.

Firstly, In that post I said, ”...everything about Central is big; from the platform signage to the long steep escalators from platforms 24 and 25 (the two underground platforms), to the banks of digital display boards on the concourse level and even the wide passenger walkways...”

Secondly, my day three post also included a photo (see below) of the actual escalators that lead from platforms twenty-four and twenty-five to the concourse level at Central station.

If you are one of those people who were stumped by this challenge, I trust that this post has helped.

About the project:
Living some 33km (21mi) from the Sydney CBD I spend quite a bit of time commuting back and forwards by train to the city. In fact, in an average week I spend about 7.5hrs on Sydney trains and probably a good 2hrs standing around waiting for them.
I usually use this time to read, write or listen to a podcast. For next week or two, however, I’m also going to spend some of that time capturing aspects of my journeys in black and white photos.
All of the photos will be captured, processed and posted from my mobile phone. I’m not quite sure how this will turn out, but hey, it will give me something new and interesting to do each day on my commute.