Hi all,    Yesterday I finished scanning my collection of 6x6cm negs.
having bought the scanner  in mid-April,it has taken me ten weeks to
complete. A total of 3,355 negs were scanned, captioned and tidied up and all stored on my little Toshiba back up gadget,in case of a computer crash.
  Here's pics of the first and last ones scanned.

For several years the picture below, taken by Mike Roach, has appeared as 'an auto service returning from Menheniot'. Little else was known about it other than it was taken in June 1965. Sherlock Holmes (Roy Hart) pointed out the error and we referred it back to Mike Roach.
His reply is :- About the only thing that is correct is the date; it is June 1965 (12th to be precise). I was on a day trip from Plymouth to the S&D at Templecombe. Then going north to Bath and right through to Poole. So its Templecombe on my way south on the 16.20 from Bath behind 80146 of Bournemouth Shed. We came into Templecombe with 4C and went out with 7C. The pilot loco assisting my train out is pannier tank 4631 of Templecombe Shed. It was withdrawn the same month. The time is 17.47 and I had just 5 mins at Poole before coming back to Templecombe behind 76026. I eventually got back to Plymouth Station at 00.50 next morning. I had stamina in those days; couldn't do it now !
Best wishes,  Mike.
 This picture has now been transferred to the S & D section - many thanks Mike, a very good day out.

Dear Keith/Roger.
Karl's good deed for today.  This week sees the return of what would be Network Rail's NMT HST diagrammed cycle to the South West, but as this set is in for scheduled maintenance the test will be handled by a pair of T&T class 68's hauling the Plain Line Pattern Line Recognition Train 2 (PLPR2), instead.  The booked locos are 68004 'Rapid' and 68020 'Reliance'.

Thursday 30th June (to Devon):

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U35535/2016/06/30/advanced

Friday 1st July (to Cornwall):

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U35538/2016/07/01/advanced

Regards

Karl (Friends of Penmere).                                        Many thanks Karl

Hi Keith Please see the photos below of the buffer stops installed at Burnham-on-Sea to mark the end of the S&D branch, although the line did used to extend down onto the pier at one time. Cheers Rob Lindley
                                                                               Many thanks Rob

Good afternoon Keith,

Looking at Michael Forward's excellent pictures of semaphore signals at Westbury set me thinking 1) That I should have switched to colour photography earlier and 2) Somewhere in my catalogue there was a pic of a Western at Westbury - in colour!

Herewith attached the result of my search which was taken at Westbury on 27 April 1974.  The Class 52 appears to have lost its name plate but the steam loco is  "Clan Line" on her first official railtour returning to Basingstoke after a few hours being crawled over by all and sundry in Westbury Station.  The picture is not great by modern standards and if I recall correctly was taken on home processed "Barfen" colour transparency stock which could be stewed during development to boost the ASA rating to 400 - at the price of heavy grain.

Of particular interest, in the light of trespass problems with "Flying Scotsman", is the way in which enthusiasts and families camped out on the shed sidings with not an orange jacket to be seen.  This was not an altogether happy situation for BR and subsequently several railtours were cancelled because of fears about co-lateral damage to spectators.  At the time I was making sound recordings and recall having to edit out a long sequence of Ma, Pa, a toddler and baby in a push-chair clanking and cursing their way across the lines in order to have a good view.  In the end we had to move back to the position shown and in doing so made a better recording but a somewhat distant image.

With Kind Regards,

Brian                                         Many thanks Brian - the good old days!

The Royal Duchy Explorer ran down on Saturday 14 Oct 1995. The train powered by 70000 disguised as a regular Cornish engine 70019 was assisted by 7802 Bradley Manor. Unfortunately Bradley Manor developed a hot box and was removed at Plymouth. The Britannia carried on alone and was observed climbing past Carlyon Bay Golf Course at a good speed. However later in climb it stalled prior to St Austell on the 1 in 60 gradient. Rumour has it that the regulator was closed too soon.  

Many thanks to Audrey Mills for adding these two smashing shots for all to enjoy.

More memories of Water Columns
 
As a result of the recent piece about locomotive water at Praze and Gwinear Road I thought that it might be a good idea if I wrote down what I discovered as a nosey schoolboy when I lived in St Ives back in the days of steam.  I don’t think I have ever seen anything about it and I doubt there are many people who now know.
 
Penzance, obviously, had to be well supplied with good water and I believe had a proper treatment plant which pulled water from its own Artesian Well.
 
St Erth had no water column and I was told that it was because the GWR were unable to find any of acceptable quality under their land.  The adjacent dairy needed lots but they got their supply via a pipeline from an abandoned clay pit near Nancledra (I believe) which had previously been used to carry clay slurry to the old clay dries taken over by the dairy.  It seems the railway were loath to buy water when they could usually find it on their property for nothing.
 
Hayle did have a supply (I seem to remember it was a cylindrical tank similar to that at Praze) but the locomen were very reluctant to draw water from it because it was brackish and did the boiler no favours.  They would only use it if they had no choice.
 
St Ives, on the other hand, was blessed with a copious supply of excellent water; hence the large rectangular tank sitting on columns on top of the coaling stage.  This was fed straight from fissures in the blasted rock-face exposed when they excavated the area occupied by the Engine Shed via a wooden launder which bridged the gap.  If one looks carefully, this can be seen in some photos.  So the tank was always full of lovely clean soft water filtered through the granite and greenstone, even in the driest summer.  I assume that this was evident as a spring coming out of the cliffs before the railway was built and do wonder if this influenced the choice of site for the facilities.  It seems to me just too much of a coincidence that they happened to find a handy supply in exactly the right spot just as they were building the Engine Shed!
 
The overflow from the tank ran into an underground cistern on the opposite side of the Shed track, near the ash dump.  This constituted the No 1 reserve supply, which fed a pair of quite large 3 phase electric pumps which pumped the water back to the top of the main tank through a couple of iron pipes of about 2 ins up the outside rear corner nearest to the shed.  These pumps lived in their own brick house and replaced the previous steam pump some time either just before or just after the war and were turned on and off by a float switch which dangled into the tank.  The electric meter was fixed to the rear wall of the little office at the back of the Engine Shed but the electric supply was used for no other purpose - lighting of the shed, coaling stage and platelayers’ “office” being by gas.  Incidentally, mains electricity was not connected anywhere else on the branch except at St Erth.
 
More water oozed out of a number of fissures in the rocks and most of this was collected in a sort of drain near rail level.  This went to waste and I don’t believe that there was any provision to harvest this for loco use.  Well, actually, it wasn’t entirely wasted because it supported a small colony of watercress plants on the rock face, giving the locomen their own secret supply for livening up their sandwiches.
 
The heavy traffic on summer Saturdays usually meant that the pumps would be in action to top-up the tank quickly but they were otherwise rarely in action.
 
The No 2 reserve supply instead dated, as far as I know, to the original building of the line and was not immediately obvious; well, certainly not the source.  What was obvious looking down from the end of Draycott Terrace was the enormous ball-cock sitting in the middle of the main tank, with a long arm and a copper float bigger than a football.  The float made an excellent target for a catapult and was peppered with dents!  This was attached to a 3 or 4 ins pipe which emerged from the floor of the coaling stage and went up straight through the bottom of the tank.  This was controlled be a large wheel-valve, normally kept closed.
 
So where did this water come from?  As small boys we used to go out on the cliffs near Porthminster Point, climb through a rotten wire fence to collect frog-spawn, tadpoles, newts, etc. from an overgrown pond full of weeds a bit above the railway line.  This was fed by a trickle of water from another spring.  Around about 1954, when the viaduct was rebuilt, the pond was cleaned out and properly fenced.  When it was empty we could not believe how large and deep it was – it looked like a swimming pool and an adult could easily have drowned in it, hence the fencing.  As far as I know nobody ever fell in.  Things like that just made you careful.
 
At the bottom was a bed of gravel under which was a pipe which fed the ball-cock by gravity.  Living on Draycott Terrace I did see it in operation on numerous occasions but the engine men only used it if the electric pumps were out of action. They were not keen on the pond-life which ended up in their boilers.  Again, the fencing could be made out on some photos of the line above Porthminster Beach.  I think the pond must be still there but I should image it is really overgrown by now, or filled in for safety’s sake; maybe someone might like to go and have a look?
 
The inexhaustible supply of water at St Ives was taken full advantage of by the locomen.  The branch engine was always kept well topped up and visiting engines invariably visited the Engine Shed to fill up.  It was quite usual to find that the branch engine had been changed for no apparent reason and I believe this was because a swap had been done with another 45XX which was running dry after shunting St Erth or Hayle Wharves.  I have no idea if this was rostered or an informal arrangement – I’m afraid I was never at St Erth at the right time to see what went on.  It may sound odd now but Hayle Harbour was far more interesting.
 
Anyway, it’s all in the distant past now but at least the line itself is still alive and thriving, albeit without its fine granite buildings.
 
Laurence Hansford      
       Many thanks for that most interesting article Lawrence.

Hello Keith
Out on the patch today and caught 57605 involved in another HST drag. This time GWR HST set with 43143 Stroud 700 was in trouble at Camborne working 1A77 05.41 from Penzance. The train returned to Penzance and 57605 worked another rescue mission taking the set to Laira passing Par after 11.00. 
The loco is seen returning west at Liskeard some time later. 
Cheers  Craig                                                            Many thanks Craig

Dear Keith/Roger.
Below are the timings for the Mazey Day charter to Penzance on Saturday 25th June.  Only one charter booked this year for Mazey Day and the in-exotic traction of a single DB Cargo class 66.  Only a few years ago and we had class' 56, 37, 40 and Deltic on these charters. 

Out: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U69511/2016/06/25/advanced
Return: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U69514/2016/06/25/advanced
Regards  Karl Hewlett (Friends of Penmere).                  Many thanks