Articles by Colin Burges.
Part 2.

Article 32       
​Labels - Traffic no longer carried by rail.

The reason that these labels are covered in date stamps is because they were kept as specimens by the clerk responsible for submitting the stationery requisition. Note that nothing was ordered after 1966.

"Attested Livestock" had passed three consecutive T.B. tests (Tony Hill will correct me if I'm wrong). Who on the railway now could be trusted to do the milking?

The milk tank label was reversible for the return empty.

Cheers,  Colin.
Many thanks Colin for letting us see your prize labels - what a collection!

​

Article 31      Bude branch Bash
 The Bude Branch visited on Sunday 11th November 2019
              Colin Burges

With the need to collect two wheelbarrows from Mole Valley at Holsworthy, an excuse arose for a rare long distance diagram for the railway's utilicon. It must be getting on for 20 years since I last went that way on the X9 to Bude, which destination for some reason was then available on the Dartmoor Sunday Rover ticket.

On arrival at Mole Valley's depot on Underlane, just beneath the station site, I marched into the yard office and demanded a discount for two barrows I knew they'd had in stock for a long time. For my cheek, I won a member's discount, all of 4%.

The forecast was for grey all day, but the sun came out for my jaunt over Derriton Viaduct and down the line as far as the first overbridge, about three parts of a mile.

Derriton Viaduct, looking Up line towards Holsworthy. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges

Derriton viaduct - looking towards Bude. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Then I wandered around town, familiarizing myself with the place again and noting what had changed, before going along Station Road to see the transformation of the station since I last took photos there.

It's cast iron notice gone, a rail post with flecks of green is about all there is to memorialize the station..11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Holsworthy in August 1991. Copyright Colin Burges. Now occupied by West Devon & North Cornwall Farmers Ltd.

There was no point in positioning myself as before, so I climbed to the terrace above to capture the station site. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

The end of the building at right can be seen in the 1991 shot. Copyright Colin Burges.

The station end of Holsworthy Viaduct in 1991. An old pal used to spin a yarn about a train that stopped short of the station one night and an elderly gentleman who got out and stood on the parapet wall in the dark, thinking it was the platform, having to be hauled back in! I've no doubt that a passenger once went to open a door too soon, but with the retelling and plenty of beer the story grew. Copyright Colin Burges.

And what I was met with on Sunday. 11th November 2019. Colin Burges.

Holsworthy Viaduct 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Between the viaduct and the station there is a bridge over Chapel Street - the sign proclaims the Waitrose superstore. 11th November 2019.

This was the view the other way in 1991. Copyright Colin Burges.

Holsworthy - the platforms looking towards Halwill. 11th November 2019. Copyright Collin Burges.

Holsworthy viaduct - again, taken on the way home. Long shorn of its parapets. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Holsworthy viaduct again. 11th November 2019. Copyright Collin Burges.

A three minute stop at Dunsland Cross was enough to capture the station entrance. 11th November 2019. Copyright Collin Burges. The vehicle to the left carrying two wheelbarrows is the E,T,V,R, Utilicon.

A 12.47 arrival at Halwill Junction was just right for my lunch break - but the shop had closed!!

How many roads must have been named after Beeching or his handiwork? This is where Halwill Junction station stood. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Back in the '80s, when the station was still a ruin, I went in this pub and sat at the bay window just visible to the right of the lean-to. My old pal told me that when he was relief booking clerk, he would date the tickets he thought he would sell and call the regular passengers to the pub window, where he was taking refreshment. I wonder if the lean-to was there on the last occasion because I remember having a clear view of the platforms from the bay window. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

This memorial to the former railway system stands not far from the Junction Inn. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

An enlargement of the map off the above notice board. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

The concrete gradient post centre right has been relocated but its message if of the Bude Branch, 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

The site of eight 'D Day sidings at Halwill built on the level. The running line, rising sharply, was above the bank on the right. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Seven of the sidings reached this concrete buffer stop. Behind me is the former Winsford Cottage Hospital, a lovely Arts and Crafts building of 1898. The children's ward faced the railway as an aid to recovery. Decommissioned by the health authority in 1998, it has been tastefully converted into accommodation. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

At the other end of the station are the junctions, now in a Devon Wildlife Trust reserve. This is where the North Cornwall line diverges. From left to right, there would have been North Cornwall; Refuge; Bude Branch; and North Devon Light, whose divergence (not junction) from the Bude Branch was about a third of a mile further on. The light railway had its own loop just beyond here, so there would have been five tracks in view. Ahead was milepost 210, measured from Waterloo; or 20-something from Torrington in the other direction. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Barely discernible is the ramp of the light railway platform. Housing has spread into the cutting and a fellow in his garden was startled by my poking around in the jungle. He was quite open to the prospect of rail transport returning - unusually, he brought it up - and said he had had a leaflet through the door on the subject. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

On then to Ashbury.

The main entrance to Ashbury, once Ashbury and Northlew. The railway's utilicon is very small, but made to look more so by the very big barrows, which have a capacity of five cwt. or six cu. ft. each. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Ashbury station looking spick and span. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

The bridge reference number at Ashbury. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Ashbury, the steps leading down to the up platform. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

There was one morestop to Okehampton where I was hoping to have lunch.

Possibly now concentrating more on the tummy rumbles, I did not walk on far enough to see the remains of Maddaford Moor Halt - or Maddaford Moor Halt for Thorndon Cross, to give it the full name. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

A little further on is an accommodation bridge giving a view of the moor. In sight would have been the 3/4 milepost, from Meldon Junction. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

After pulling in to Okehampton at 14.28, I was pleased to find the buffet doing a good trade. While devouring some excellent pies, I read in Railnews that publishing of the two big reviews - Williams and Oakervee - were now to be delayed. It all seemed a world away from one of the lost strands of the network I'd just seen.

The 11-coach "Polar Express" set was being prepared for its Christmas fun in the Down platform, while some of the props for the lineside extravaganza were loaded on wagons in the Up. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

This is not a load the designers of the B.R.-built Sturgeon had in mind, even for this versatile wagon. The ends of this one, like most, have been cut off. The stanchions and dropsides are carried in cubby holes beneath the deck, but I've never seen them used. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

Okehampton. 11th November 2019. Copyright Colin Burges.

 The buffet experience would have been so much better if there'd been a flurry of activity outside, like a Bude or Padstow pulling in, followed by a Friary and a Waterloo crossing.

Cheers,  Colin 
As usual many thanks to you Colin for your article - you have visited places that I haven't been to for many a year.