Totnes
Clive Smith
Bill Elston
Andrew Triggs
5 shots from yesterdays (8th November 2019) jolly around our fair county for CRS, even the sun came out at Saltash for the RHTT
All the Best, Andrew. Many thanks Andrew.
At and around Totnes Clive Smith Many thanks Clive (1) On the 5th November in fading light at 15.40 43005 awaits departure with the 14.55 Exeter St Davids - Plymouth. 43187 is on the rear. Meanwhile 43154 leads the 12.57 Penzance - Newton Abbot with 43155 on the rear. Great to see these superb trains operating secondary services in shortened form rather than languishing in scrap lines. A vast improvement on the younger 150 DMUs. Copyright Clive Smith. (2) On the 7th November 70808 approaches Three Arch Bridge near Follaton west of Totnes with the 06.25 Moorswater - Aberthaw cements running three hours late. Some heavy shower clouds had reduced the light for a good fifteen minutes before the train passed but thankfully the sun broke through just in time. Copyright Clive Smith. Oath Bill Elston Many thanks Bill. Cornish Ranger Andrew Triggs Morning Keith/Roger 5 shots from yesterdays (8th November 2019) jolly around our fair county for CRS, even the sun came out at Saltash for the RHTT All the Best, Andrew. Many thanks Andrew. Exeter St Davids Ron Kosys Tribute to Charles Fennamore Edward Hooper, Mike Roach & Trevor Tremethick An additional note from Mike Roach. You might mention in the tribute that Charles lived on the outskirts of St Agnes for many years while he worked at boxes like Roskear, Penzance and others in Cornwall. Charles sadly passed away a year ago on 09 Nov 2018, a day after his 78th birthday. Above is one of his photos of Longdown on the Teign valley Line. I would be grateful if you could share it on 9th November. Charles would have been the first to admit that it wouldn't win any prizes, but his memories of the line make for interesting reading: "A lovely line, and easy on our pockets, because you could get a day return Ply to Exeter, and they'd let you come back via the Teign Valley. I went on the last train, which was a very sad occasion......the 55XX labouring away up to Longdown with 5 or 6 coaches. On our first trip, it was a 14XX plus 2 car auto, with the loco in the rear, and the driver in the front vestibule left his door open so that we could see the line ahead. Longdown a very spooky place between the tunnels, and crowded in by the woods.....never any passengers, but staffed by a porter signalman. When I worked on the Relief at Newton Abbot, a colleague was Dave Bright, who had worked at Longdown occasionally. He used to travel on his motor-bike from Paignton, and often did a late followed by an early, and slept in the booking office. One night he was phoned by the Exeter supervisor who told him that an escapee was believed to be in the area, and could be walking the line. Dave said that was the end of his doss....he got on his motor bike and legged it off home." With best regards, Ed Hooper Nephew of CBF Thank you Edward for sharing these memories of Charles with us and also including his irreplaceable photographs. Unfortunately I never met Charles but did from time to time correspond with him, he was always most helpful and informative. I know that he was a keen cyclist and kept to his bike exploring long lost lines right up until recently. His knowledge of railways in general and signalling in particular was well known, he was and still is sadly missed. KJ
A Postscript received from Trevor Tremethick half an hour ago is well worth a mention. Many thanks Trevor. Good morning gentlemen I have just read the piece on Charles Fennamore and thought I would send my own few words. Charles visited me a couple of times for a get-together with one of my neighbours who had been a Princetown girl and knew the old line from Yelverton well. I had been in touch with a gentleman who had been a fireman on that branch and so we had plenty to talk about. Charles' knowledge was immense and, to top it all, he would bring a delicious cake that he had baked himself. So, his talents were not just confined to railway matters! Much missed. Best wishes to all Trevor Tremethick Don't forget this - TOMORROW EVENING - NOVEMBER 9th at 6.30PM * GWR Camping Coach Holidays * by Mike Fenton. Mike makes a welcome return with his detailed study of the very popular network of camping coaches which provided inexpensive holidays beside the railway for thousands of families. We are also promised another musical interlude provided by Mike and his wife, Rachel, playing the autoharp. For details of our venue please click here Brent & Kingsbridge branch Mike Roach WATER for SOUTH DEVON Michael L. Roach The 1930s saw the start of an era of providing mains water and mains electricity to villages and hamlets in the countryside. Interrupted by the Second World War the programme resumed in the late 1940s and continued through the 1950s and 1960s. The provision of water to towns also needed beefing up with additional sources of supply as the population started using more and more of it. For the town of Kingsbridge and the surrounding villages the source of additional water was obvious as Dartmoor was due north on higher ground. The new pipeline would be just over 10 miles long and would follow the River Avon and the Kingsbridge branch railway line to a new service reservoir on high ground to the north east of Kingsbridge. The pipe chosen for the new trunk main was spun iron which would be made at two factories in the East Midlands. The majority of the pipes were 15-inch (380mm) and 18-inch (457mm) internal diameter, and there were more than 3,500 pipes in total. The pipes were transported by rail to Brent Station on the mainline from where they were taken to various station goods yards on the Kingsbridge Branch, including Avonwick and Loddiswell, for unloading. Because of shortages and long delivery times the pipes were ordered well in advance of construction by the Consulting Engineers for the scheme on behalf of the client which was the Kingsbridge & Salcombe Water Board. When the pipes started to arrive in 1949 the contractor for the scheme had not been appointed so British Railways were contracted to transport them from the railway goods yards to various stock piles along the route of the water main. This would have been very labour intensive in view of the weight and number of pipes to be delivered, and went on for many months. It appears that most of the railway wagons used to transport the pipes contained just 4 pipes. Brent goods yard was so congested with wagons at times that some were sent two miles away to Wrangaton for stabling until needed. The pipes were eventually laid by Richard Costain whose history dates back to 1865 and are happily still with us and working on HS2. The first wagon label in my collection is dated 8 November 1949 and was retrieved from Avonwick Station. The pipes were made at the Staveley Works, Barrow Hill, Chesterfield while others were made at the Stanton Ironworks at Stanton Gate, Ilkeston. The two companies were merged in 1960 to become Stanton & Staveley. You can spot S&S manhole covers in the road surface in almost every town in Britain. Mike - Many thanks for your very extensive and detailed research a fascinating article Just in - ten minutes ago - a cracker from Craig Dobwalls coincidence Craig Munday The advent of four trains an hour on the Cornwall mainline has thrown up more opportunities like this! Whilst out sanding in East Cornwall I popped into the recent vegetation clearance near Dobwalls. In a complete fluke the slightly late running 1S49 booked for a HST on a Thursday was passed by a Castle set on the down. The timing was perfect. Cheers for now. Craig As you say perfect timing - good fortune - great photograph. Biding time
Taunton Ron Kosys A Poignant Moment at Temple Meads Bristol Paul Negus Bristol Temple Meads has been decorated with large poppies on seats, at the entrance to stairwells and sundry other places. There is quite a collection of these poppies around the two Rolls of Honour for GWR and Midland employees who fell in the Great War located on Platform 3. By a wonderful coincidence, Harry Patch pulled into Platform 3 on the front of the 08:24 to Cardiff on Monday morning (4th November 2019) - still fully decorated with poppies and inscriptions and sporting its nameplates. 43191 was on the rear and the whole ensemble is still in the blue dynamic lines livery. Best regards, Paul Negus. Thank you for sending in these pictures Paul, a reminder that we'll all be remembering those who gave their lives for the sake of the country on Sunday. Kingskerswell Ron Kosys Remembering Gunnislake Andrew Triggs Andrew takes a look around the old station site - many thanks Andrew. This concludes Andrews exploration of the old station site - for many thanks indeed.
Castles at Penzance Roger Winnen Newton Abbot Ron Kosys Western Venturer – D1005 – does a pretty good imitation of a steam loco as it departs Newton Abbot on a down working May Bank Holiday Monday 31st May 1976 Withdrawal came less than six months later, in November 1976, after a record 1,392,000 miles, the highest recorded mileage for a 'Western' in BR service. Many thanks Ron. Developments at Exeter David Tozer Three taken last Friday when heading to Reading. Of note that only the St Thomas end of platform six is now in use. From the footbridge served by and elevator, here the line has been covered with sleepers and is used by the contactors. Many thanks David
Don't forget this - NEXT SATURDAY NOVEMBER 9th at 6.30PM * GWR Camping Coach Holidays * by Mike Fenton. Mike makes a welcome return with his detailed study of the very popular network of camping coaches which provided inexpensive holidays beside the railway for thousands of families. We are also promised another musical interlude provided by Mike and his wife, Rachel, playing the autoharp. For details of our venue please click here -------------------------------------------------- STOP PRESS Prideaux Wall Collapse - Newquay branch closure Craig Munday Please find attached some pictures taken on site at St Blazey from the recent Newquay line wall collapse. Balfour Beatty have constructed a road across from the main A390 road to the affected area of the embankment where the river has washed away. Due to the strength of the river (evident in picture 4) engineers have not been able to examine the scale of the erosion under the trackbed. The river will be diverted to run down the opposite side of the embankment (picture 16) onto the flood relief area, and a dam built to stop the flow. The recent high volumes of rainfall has hindered the work starting. The massive pumps, cables and generators to run them can be seen in the selection, as well as trackbed which will need to be dug out. Kind regards Craig Munday -Many thanks for your report Craig. Reference to Google Earth Prideaux is the area to the north of St Blazey Level Crossing, the problem area is approximately 300 yards the Newquay side of the crossing. N.B. Permission has been granted to circulate these pictures Craig's own and local websites. :- From your pictures Craig it is obvious that the Newquay branch will be out of commission for some time. No serious problem to passengers who are provided with buses from St Austell but obviously a serious impediment to clay exports from Rocks Drier. --------------------------------------------------------------- Exeter Ron Kosys Cogload Bill Elston Many Thanks Bill. Bristol Parkway
Phil Smith Teignmouth Ron Kosys Peak 77 heads onto the sea wall at Teignmouth with 1E56, the 1315 Plymouth to Newcastle. I’m surmise that due to the amount of exhaust, it’s actually pulling away from a station stop. 22nd August 1971. Many thanks Ron, nicely framed by the bridge. Blacksmock overbridge Oath Bill Elston Hi Keith, A couple of shots today of Engineer's trains returning to Westbury from Crediton crossing the Somerset Levels. First, 66757 on 6G73 1104 Crediton to Westbury, running nearly an hour late, and, second, 66781 on 6G72, 1150 to Westbury, about 10 min late. Sadly, the sun didn't play ball until these trains had passed. Best regards, Bill Many thanks to you Bill N.B. Oath is about six miles east of Cogload Junction. Riverside Park Southampton Kevin Jenkin Riverside Park is about half a mile from St Denys station or a mile from Swaythling station. Here you will find, in a very pleasant location alongside the River Itchen the home of the Southampton Society of Model Engineers.
There are two circuits one of 7" gauge, the other of 10" gauge. On operating days trains are very frequent. For details and an aerial view of the railway please click here. Focus on Templecombe Chris Osment (Rail West) Chris takes his camera to Templecombe. Here we find the station in very good order with the new platform forming an excellent stance to photograph the former up platform which remains in splendid isolation. The footbridge is securely locked out of use. The flower beds are well kempt and the grass kept cut. A note on the statue The Tempus Fugit sculpture situated on the former up platform at Templecombe is both a sculpture and sundial. The bronze statue is of a railwayman consulting the British Rail timetable, some of the pages of which have blown away and landed on the grass. The statue forms the gnomon of the sundial; the pages on the ground mark the hours. One recalls the story of when the new platform had just been opened and the old platform put out of use - a train called and, mistakenly, the guard released the doors for the no longer used platform. Nobody got out so the train proceeded on its way with the Templecombe passengers still on board! Tavistock area Andrew Triggs Andrew takes a 'jolly' in the rain to look around the area - many thanks for your efforts Andrew. Dawlish Ron Kosys Ron comments on the remarkably clean exhaust! Many thanks for this picture Ron. Swindon Traffic Ken Mumford Ken took a trip to Swindon to photograph 4Q03 - a Swindon Yard to Cardiff Taff Vale grinder train. Many thanks Ken Severe Gale force winds in the West Country Roger Winnen Today was the final running day for the Class 26 26007 on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, the only Class 26 ever to come to Cornwall. With Gale force winds recorded early in the morning at Culdrose reaching 75 M.p.h. I made an effort to travel by train to Bodmin which took three hours. I planned to travel on the 08.28 Glasgow service which was cancelled, then waiting for the 08.59 London service which was delayed by fallen trees at St Erth eventually departed Penzance nearly an hour late getting me into Bodmin Parkway at 11.22 just in time to travel on the 11.25 to General. Previous trains were delayed by fallen trees at Bungullow. Many Cancellations took place being the 06.30 Penzance Glasgow 07.39 Penzance Plymouth 08.28 Penzance Glasgow 08.45 Penzance St Ives 09.43 Penzance Manchester 10.36 Penzance Plymouth 11.22 Penzance Plymouth Four inbound trains to Penzance were also cancelled ENGINEERING PLANT DIARY |
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