Can anyone help please!
The Northern Belle ran from Birmingham to Par and Penzance last Saturday 3rd September 2016. An enthusiasts from West Cornwall would appreciate the coach numbers of the vehicles used on that service to and from Penzance.
Many Thanks
The Northern Belle ran from Birmingham to Par and Penzance last Saturday 3rd September 2016. An enthusiasts from West Cornwall would appreciate the coach numbers of the vehicles used on that service to and from Penzance.
Many Thanks
Harry Patch at Penzance and crossing the Marsh at Marazion
Andrew Triggs & Roger Salter
Andrew Triggs & Roger Salter
160908h 43150 Leads on arrival at Penzance. Copyright Andrew Triggs
160908i 43172 Showing the GWR crew changeover at Penzance, being a ten minute stop over. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908j The train passes Marazion Station site with 303.25 miles to go. Copyright Andrew Triggs
160908g Harry Patch returns to Paddington on the 15.59 service running 4 minutes late after a swift turnround at Penzance. This train is seen crossing Marazion Marsh. The incoming service arrived 41 late. Copyright Roger Salter.
Thursday 8th September sees the launch of the 2016 Poppy Appeal
Roger Winnen
The Great Western Railway fully supports The Royal British Legion in all its activities and following a ceremony at Paddington Station dignitaries will board the 10.06 Cornish Riviera Express to Penzance due 15.11. On board the train will be Chelsea Pensioners, the train however will be manned by GWR Staff who were armed forces veterans. Throughout its journey various celebrations will take place, one being Plymouth Cathedral Choir performing on Plymouth Station. On arrival at Penzance, Standard Bearers of the Royal British Legion, A Bagpiper, and a detachment of members of the Air Training Corps Cadets unit will welcome the train headed by an unnamed power car with the power car Harry Patch the last surviving Tommy on the rear.
Roger Winnen
The Great Western Railway fully supports The Royal British Legion in all its activities and following a ceremony at Paddington Station dignitaries will board the 10.06 Cornish Riviera Express to Penzance due 15.11. On board the train will be Chelsea Pensioners, the train however will be manned by GWR Staff who were armed forces veterans. Throughout its journey various celebrations will take place, one being Plymouth Cathedral Choir performing on Plymouth Station. On arrival at Penzance, Standard Bearers of the Royal British Legion, A Bagpiper, and a detachment of members of the Air Training Corps Cadets unit will welcome the train headed by an unnamed power car with the power car Harry Patch the last surviving Tommy on the rear.
160908a Penzance Station on Thursday 8th September, 2016 suitably decorated for the launch of this years 2016 Poppy Appeal. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908b Great Western in conjunction with The Royal British have organised this event with many celebrations on route to Penzance. A group of Chelsea Pensioners and other civic dignitaries will travel on the Cornish Riviera to Penzance. The train seen in this photograph is the 10.00 Penzance to Paddington, The Cornishman Express. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908c Standard Bearers of the Penzance Royal British Legion form a guard of honour on arrival of the train at Penzance. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908d One of the Chelsea Pensioners alights from the train escorted by Air Training Corps Cadets. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908e Commemorating the fallen, The Power Car 'Harry Patch' on the front of the train heading back to London. Copyright Roger Winnen
160908f A guard of honour for 'Harry Patch' Copyright Roger Winnen
Recalling the Turnchapel Branch
Mike Roach
Mike Roach
TURNCHAPEL BRANCH Michael L. Roach
Turnchapel was once a small village in Devon just outside the City of Plymouth, but now its within the boundary of the City. The centre of Turnchapel retains a villagey feel because of its relative isolation and location on the edge of the sea. The shortest route to the City Centre is now by foot ferry to The Barbican. However Turnchapel used to be at the end of a branch line from Plymouth Friary Station. The last passenger trains ran 65 years ago today on Saturday 8 September 1951. Goods trains ceased 10 years later. I have been unable to discover which steam locomotive hauled the trains on the last day.
In the last timetable for summer 1951 there were 20 trains each way leaving Turnchapel from 5.55am to 10,45pm. Journey time to Friary was 10 minutes. There were 3 intermediate stations or halts in the 2 miles 45 chains length of the branch. By far the most important was Plymstock Station, which was the junction where the Great Western Branch went off to Yealmpton. This branch had originally closed to passengers in 1930 but reopened for the Second World War, finally closing to passengers on 7 October 1947. On 18 September 1947 the Western Morning News wrote a perceptive article under the heading Disappearing Branch Lines. It read as follows:
Closing of the Yealmpton branch railway line has resulted in speculation as to whether the Turnchapel branch of the sister Southern Company will not be the next to go. Passenger traffic on the Turnchapel branch has slumped during the past few years. Veteran season ticket-holders on the branch can remember when the 8.30am train was filled almost to capacity with professional and business men, but now they either motor in their cars or travel by 'bus, and the early-morning trains carry few passengers.
Those who use the line regularly can quote occasions on which the number of passengers was actually fewer than the number of railwaymen running the line, and it is only too obvious that the service, so far as passenger traffic is concerned, must be run at a loss. How long the company will continue to carry on under these conditions is doubtful, but it is certain that, if the public desires to retain what has been a boon on many an occasion, such as when the roads were impassible owing to snow or ice, or when the 'bus system was paralysed by a strike, they will have to show more practical support.
MLR/7 September 2016
Turnchapel was once a small village in Devon just outside the City of Plymouth, but now its within the boundary of the City. The centre of Turnchapel retains a villagey feel because of its relative isolation and location on the edge of the sea. The shortest route to the City Centre is now by foot ferry to The Barbican. However Turnchapel used to be at the end of a branch line from Plymouth Friary Station. The last passenger trains ran 65 years ago today on Saturday 8 September 1951. Goods trains ceased 10 years later. I have been unable to discover which steam locomotive hauled the trains on the last day.
In the last timetable for summer 1951 there were 20 trains each way leaving Turnchapel from 5.55am to 10,45pm. Journey time to Friary was 10 minutes. There were 3 intermediate stations or halts in the 2 miles 45 chains length of the branch. By far the most important was Plymstock Station, which was the junction where the Great Western Branch went off to Yealmpton. This branch had originally closed to passengers in 1930 but reopened for the Second World War, finally closing to passengers on 7 October 1947. On 18 September 1947 the Western Morning News wrote a perceptive article under the heading Disappearing Branch Lines. It read as follows:
Closing of the Yealmpton branch railway line has resulted in speculation as to whether the Turnchapel branch of the sister Southern Company will not be the next to go. Passenger traffic on the Turnchapel branch has slumped during the past few years. Veteran season ticket-holders on the branch can remember when the 8.30am train was filled almost to capacity with professional and business men, but now they either motor in their cars or travel by 'bus, and the early-morning trains carry few passengers.
Those who use the line regularly can quote occasions on which the number of passengers was actually fewer than the number of railwaymen running the line, and it is only too obvious that the service, so far as passenger traffic is concerned, must be run at a loss. How long the company will continue to carry on under these conditions is doubtful, but it is certain that, if the public desires to retain what has been a boon on many an occasion, such as when the roads were impassible owing to snow or ice, or when the 'bus system was paralysed by a strike, they will have to show more practical support.
MLR/7 September 2016
Many thanks Mike for a most interesting article, and thanks also for keeping an eye on 'anniversary dates'.
Oreston in May 1962. Copyright Mike Roach
Marshwood
John Cornelius
John Cornelius
Copyright John Cornelius
West Somerset Gala 96
Mike Morant
Mike Morant
The West Somerset Railway's S&D Gala weekend on Sunday, March 10th 1996 sees the preserved BR Standard, 5MT 4-6-0 no. 73052 (aka 73096) in charge of the pseudo Pines Express.
[Slide taken by Mike Morant]
[Slide taken by Mike Morant]