3rd June 2020

Beautiful St Ives 
Roger Winnen

1st June 2020

200601a The 15.48 from St Erth arrives at Carbis Bay. Copyright Roger Winnen

200601b The return 16.05 St Ives to St Erth crosses Porthminster Viaduct. Copyright Roger Winnen

200601s The Platform at St Ives awaits the 16.48 service from St Erth. The car park has plenty of spare spaces available for 1st June 2020. The coronavirus has taken its toll. Copyright Roger Winnen

Class 70 at Powderham 
David Tozer

70815 Hauls the 6C35 05.46 Aberthaw- Moorswater cement seen at Powderham.
​Copyright David Tozer

Many Thanks David

Golden days  Part 1
Craig Munday

With a record period of sunshine and very little rain Craig looks back to May 2020.

​The last few weeks has seen May sun and temperatures we usually dream of! The clearest blue skies unaffected by pollution has brought near drought scenes across the fields of the Duchy, more usually seen in August. 

Here are some latest pictures. Thank goodness the lock down is being relaxed a little and folk can happily while away some time near the lineside once again (2m distance of course)!

​Enjoy,  Regards, Craig Munday

18th May The Newquay branch from Goonbarrow to Newquay was recently omitted from the weedsprayer programme. An extra run was made with the MPV sandwiched between 66017 (leading) and 66155, and is seen on Moorswater viaduct. Copyright Craig Munday

On 21st May the recent vegetation cutting near Menheniot is well illustrated by the empty cement working descending the bank to Menheniot with 70802 in charge. Copyright Craig Munday

In the afternoon of the 21st May, the JIAs are seen heading East at Bolitho near Liskeard with 66015.

24th May sees a Sunday evening Castle set running down the Glynn Valley at West Largin. The high strong evening sun lighting the "upside" of the train here. Copyright Craig Munday

Many thanks Craig - part two tomorrow.

Kingsbridge branch
Sorley Tunnel 
Bryan Gibson

4561 emerging from Sorley tunnel. Photographed in July 1961 Copyright Mike Roach

​One of Michael Roach’s photographs is particularly interesting.  His shot of the train leaving Sorley Tunnel in July 1961 shows it formed of auto coaches.  Apart from the Sunday train which was withdrawn in 1912 and was an auto (or a steam rail motor at different periods), these were not seen on the line.  If he can establish that it was a Saturday, it would have been after the regular service had been taken over by single car units based overnight at Kingsbridge (until September 1961), but with the second train steam hauled and provided by Newton Abbot which was only on Summer Saturdays just in 1961.  It was normally non-compartment stock except on the London through working.  Autos must still have been at Newton Abbot after replacement by diesel units earlier that year on the Brixham Branch.  It is a rare picture.  In 1962 and 1963, the Summer Saturday service was two single units in multiple, as one was not permitted to have a unpowered trailer if the gradient was steeper than I in 50, which was encountered between Newton and Brent at the start and end of the day.  The London carriages were down to three and hauled by a D63xx, whereas the 45s regularly took six out of Kingsbridge up to 1961.
 

Many thanks Bryan - to see our complete section on the Kingsbridge branch please click here.

Timetable Revelations
Bryan Gibson

Bryan Gibson writes on the 1st June 2020
 
I am one of (probably) many who is using the lockdown time to sort out or interpret my collections.  I am a time table nerd, and following a discussion with a Green Badger in Purley (a retired time table compiler at Waterloo), I realised that I had the public time tables for 19th July 1926 which is the date when the ACE started.  On Summer Saturdays, there were non-ACE Ilfracombe duplicates in both directions which ran non-stop between Waterloo and Barnstaple Junction.  The 1926 Working Time Tables show these with “Calls at Salisbury and Exeter for exchange of engines only”.  There was also an unadvertised stop at St. David’s which was presumably imposed by the GWR?
 
This wasn’t the only instance I have come across, as the 11. 0am from Waterloo to Plymouth was non-stop between Queen Street and Tavistock in 1912, and I’m sure that there were periods when the 1.10am (or thereabouts) was similar.  That was non-stop between Salisbury and Exeter in the public time table, but had intermediate calls to offload newspapers.  I travelled on it out of curiosity, and have never seen such speed and efficiency unloading into several lorries in a matter of minutes.  I recall that there were only about three passenger coaches, which were occupied mainly by servicemen traveling to Devonport.
 
A cautionary example of never assuming anything, has arisen from the surprising assertion of Keith Vyvyan on the Plym Valley Railway that Millbay should be spelt as two words.  I never heard of that before, but looking at old maps proves that he is right!  I then noticed that the River Tamar was spelt Tamer, which explains the “Tay-mer” pronunciation.  Tamerton Foliot has therefore retained its “e” and yet it is pronounced “Tam-mer-ton”, despite the absence of the necessary extra “m”.  Roger has trained me on some Cornwall pronunciations, such as Breage which does not reflect its spelling.  The Video 125 DVD on the Cornish Main Line is cringeworthy – The Lin-Here River, Dooble-Boyce, Treff-Ree, and so it goes on.
 
You are evidently distancing from the virus as best you can.  I am concerned that lockdown restrictions are being reduced when there are still multiple fatalities every day.  The fear is that anyone could be terminally coughed-at, as happened to the railway lady at Victoria Station.  Social Distancing might have a long-term effect on public transport.  How do you keep 6 feet 6¾ inches away from others with the almost universal central gangway on a bus or train, without reducing the seating capacity to the extent that operation would be unviable?
 
Keep safe and don’t take any chances.
 
Bryan

Many thanks Bryan.