Michael L. Roach
The Nineteen Sixty Four Series
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART ONE
All Change on the Southern
Michael L. Roach
All Change on the Southern
Michael L. Roach
Sixty years ago in September 1964 it was all change on the railway lines around Exeter and on the Withered Arm to the west of Exeter with major changes to many aspects of railway operating. In no particular order: there would be almost no through trains beyond Exeter Central; all trains on the Withered Arm would be local trains; Waterloo to Exeter trains would be dieselised; final elimination of steam on the Exeter - Okehampton - Plymouth route; no steam west of Taunton on the Western Region (in theory); Callington Branch to be dieselised; Exmouth Junction's large fleet of N-class locos were mostly withdrawn with a few transferred elsewhere; and Plymouth's Laira Shed was to receive is last regular visiting steam engines.
That summer I spent more time than usual visiting and travelling on the ex-Southern lines west of Exeter, and the Taunton to Barnstaple line and recording the final weeks of steam on many lines. The resultant photographs will be shown in several parts in this new series mainly, but not exclusively, about the year 1964.
In this first Part I will start with a visit to Exeter Central Station around teatime on Saturday 22 August 1964, just two weeks before most of the changes kicked in.
That summer I spent more time than usual visiting and travelling on the ex-Southern lines west of Exeter, and the Taunton to Barnstaple line and recording the final weeks of steam on many lines. The resultant photographs will be shown in several parts in this new series mainly, but not exclusively, about the year 1964.
In this first Part I will start with a visit to Exeter Central Station around teatime on Saturday 22 August 1964, just two weeks before most of the changes kicked in.
Merchant Navy 35008 Orient Line stands at Central with 12 coaches on the 4.30pm to Waterloo. Copyright Michael L. Roach
34056 Croydon waits with the Okehampton to Surbiton car carrier train. Copyright Michael L. Roach
34056 departs four minutes later. Copyright Michael L. Roach
34032 Camelford runs light through the station heading for Exmouth Junction shed. Copyright Michael L. Roach
Pannier 4694 is seen during shunting operations. Copyright Michael L. Roach
There were two panniers on pilot duty that day – here is the second one 4610. Both panniers were shedded at Exmouth Junction, 4610 from August 1963 to October 1964; and 4694 from January 1963 to June 1965. The engine had previously been at Wadebridge for three years. Copyright Michael L. Roach
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART TWO
Exeter Central on 22.08.1964
Michael L. Roach
In Part 1 of this new series, I showed some photos taken at Exeter Central on Saturday 22 August 1964 just before a large number of changes were initiated at Exeter and on The Withered Arm. The remainder of the photos taken that day are attached to this article.
I travelled from Plymouth to Exeter at 2.45pm and returned from St. Davids at 7.39pm which gave me 2 hours and 20 minutes at Exeter Central to watch the comings and goings. All four legs of the rail trip were diesel-hauled by consecutively a Western, D63xx, Hymek and Western. A total of ten steam engines were seen at Exeter Central of five different classes: one Ivatt 2-6-2 tank; one BR Standard Class 3 tank; two ex-GWR pannier tanks; two Merchant Navy Pacific’s and four Bulleid Light Pacific’s. All ten engines were withdrawn and scrapped within three years.
I saw two ex-GWR pannier tanks at Central that day and described them as pilot engines, but they were much more than that. When necessary one or both would go down to St. Davids Station to assist a heavy train up the steep incline to Central usually by banking at the rear of the train. The very heaviest of the ballast trains from Meldon Quarry would have two engines at the rear and a pilot engine in front of the train engine, making four steam engines in all.
The first panniers to arrive at Exmouth Junction Shed were in late 1959, when the then Southern Region acquired a number of 57XX locomotives from South Wales sheds. Some did not last long, some moved on to other sheds and the last examples at Exmouth Junction were withdrawn in June 1965 with the closure of the shed to steam. They were 4655, 4666 and 4694. The website shedbashuk.blogspot.com provides an insight into what was on shed on various dates. For example, on Sunday 2 August 1964 there were five panniers on shed.
I travelled from Plymouth to Exeter at 2.45pm and returned from St. Davids at 7.39pm which gave me 2 hours and 20 minutes at Exeter Central to watch the comings and goings. All four legs of the rail trip were diesel-hauled by consecutively a Western, D63xx, Hymek and Western. A total of ten steam engines were seen at Exeter Central of five different classes: one Ivatt 2-6-2 tank; one BR Standard Class 3 tank; two ex-GWR pannier tanks; two Merchant Navy Pacific’s and four Bulleid Light Pacific’s. All ten engines were withdrawn and scrapped within three years.
I saw two ex-GWR pannier tanks at Central that day and described them as pilot engines, but they were much more than that. When necessary one or both would go down to St. Davids Station to assist a heavy train up the steep incline to Central usually by banking at the rear of the train. The very heaviest of the ballast trains from Meldon Quarry would have two engines at the rear and a pilot engine in front of the train engine, making four steam engines in all.
The first panniers to arrive at Exmouth Junction Shed were in late 1959, when the then Southern Region acquired a number of 57XX locomotives from South Wales sheds. Some did not last long, some moved on to other sheds and the last examples at Exmouth Junction were withdrawn in June 1965 with the closure of the shed to steam. They were 4655, 4666 and 4694. The website shedbashuk.blogspot.com provides an insight into what was on shed on various dates. For example, on Sunday 2 August 1964 there were five panniers on shed.
34089 602 Squadron is on the 5.54pm to Waterloo with 7C. Note the 70E shedplate. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The fireman of 34089 watches out for the signal to depart at 5.57pm a couple of minutes late. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
BR Standard Class 3MT 2-6-2 no. 82042 runs though the station LE. 82042 had ranged all over the
Western Region since construction in 1955. It had previously been at Taunton for three years and would end its days
at Gloucester one year later in August 1965. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
34107 Blandford Forum enters Central with a down stopping train past Ivatt 2-6-2T 41284. 34107 was
withdrawn the following month. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
35013 Blue Funnel Line enters Central under the footbridge with 8C on the 3.00pm from Waterloo. The
time is 6.31pm. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Five minutes later 35013 runs back to Exmouth Junction shed. The engine moved to Bournemouth Shed
the same month. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
4694 is ready to remove the middle three coaches of the 3.00pm from Waterloo including the RC. The
Plymouth portion has already departed, while the Ilfracombe portion was at the rear. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 3
Laira's Last Weekend
Michael L. Roach
In Part 1 of this new series one of the turning points mentioned was the end of steam engines reaching Plymouth via Okehampton and travelling out to a deserted Laira steam shed for turning and servicing before taking up it's return working to Exeter, via Okehampton again. This occurred twice a day and brought rebuilt Bulleid Light Pacifics and BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0s to Laira. These regular visits ended on the weekend of 5/6 September 1964, or that that is what I thought for 60 years. But in 2024 I read, in two different places, that the very occasional large passenger steam engine still arrived at Plymouth Station, and Laira, via Okehampton usually on a special train into the Autumn of 1964. The source of that information was Arthur Westington who was a driver at Friary and Laira. He recorded the last week of steam as 21 to 26 of September 1964 with at least seven 4-6-0s or 4-6-2s that week. Even after that he recorded BR Standard 5 no. 73118 King Leodegrance of Eastleigh Shed on Tuesday 29 September 1964
Here it must be said that steam engines, in the shape of BR Standard 2-6-4 tanks continued to reach Plymouth Station for another four months on commuter trains from Okehampton to Plymouth Station. The engines did not need servicing and stayed at Plymouth Station for a short time until it was time to return to Okehampton. The first one of the day was at 9.50am and the second was at teatime. I only travelled on that train just once, and it was notable for reasons which I will describe in a forthcoming instalment. Steam haulage of these commuter trains ceased on the first weekend of January 1965.
On the afternoon of Saturday 29 August 1964 I visited Laira steam shed for the last time before I thought it closed for good the following weekend when I would be away chasing steam to be seen in the later part. There was just one steam engine standing beside the pumping station after taking water. It was one of Mr. Bulleid's magnificent light pacifics which had been rebuilt into fine looking engines. It was 34096 Trevone of Exmouth Junction Shed. The engine had been transferred to Exmouth Junction in December 1957 from its previous shed of Ramsgate as a result of the Kent Coast Electrification, and only had two sheds in whole of its 15-year working life. The engine was condemned the following month in September 1964 and scrapped. I moved on across Plymouth to St. Budeaux to the last overbridge before St. Budeaux Victoria Road Station alongside Carlton Terrace where there was a good view of the former Southern Railway route to Okehampton and Exeter Central. The train worked by 34096 was the 4.52pm from Plymouth to Eastleigh and eventually Waterloo arriving at the ungodly hour of 3.48am. The train would cease to run a week later and the line would close with trains diverted to the former Great Western route to St. Budeaux. The engine and its six coaches and two vans was perfectly lit by the lowering sun.
I am indebted to Richard Hoskin for making a colourised version of the photograph which I think is very realistic.
Here it must be said that steam engines, in the shape of BR Standard 2-6-4 tanks continued to reach Plymouth Station for another four months on commuter trains from Okehampton to Plymouth Station. The engines did not need servicing and stayed at Plymouth Station for a short time until it was time to return to Okehampton. The first one of the day was at 9.50am and the second was at teatime. I only travelled on that train just once, and it was notable for reasons which I will describe in a forthcoming instalment. Steam haulage of these commuter trains ceased on the first weekend of January 1965.
On the afternoon of Saturday 29 August 1964 I visited Laira steam shed for the last time before I thought it closed for good the following weekend when I would be away chasing steam to be seen in the later part. There was just one steam engine standing beside the pumping station after taking water. It was one of Mr. Bulleid's magnificent light pacifics which had been rebuilt into fine looking engines. It was 34096 Trevone of Exmouth Junction Shed. The engine had been transferred to Exmouth Junction in December 1957 from its previous shed of Ramsgate as a result of the Kent Coast Electrification, and only had two sheds in whole of its 15-year working life. The engine was condemned the following month in September 1964 and scrapped. I moved on across Plymouth to St. Budeaux to the last overbridge before St. Budeaux Victoria Road Station alongside Carlton Terrace where there was a good view of the former Southern Railway route to Okehampton and Exeter Central. The train worked by 34096 was the 4.52pm from Plymouth to Eastleigh and eventually Waterloo arriving at the ungodly hour of 3.48am. The train would cease to run a week later and the line would close with trains diverted to the former Great Western route to St. Budeaux. The engine and its six coaches and two vans was perfectly lit by the lowering sun.
I am indebted to Richard Hoskin for making a colourised version of the photograph which I think is very realistic.
Rebuilt Bulleid pacific 34096 Trevone is seen on Laira steam shed at 3.40pm on the fine afternoon of Saturday 29 August 1964. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Another view of 34096. The fence surrounds a pumping station which was at the bottom of a hole in the ground. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
34096 is viewed across the pumping station. The brick wall on the right held up the embankment which supported the track through the coaling stage. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
34096 heads out of Plymouth past Carlton Terrace on the Southern route one week before the line closed. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The same view of 34096 colourised by Richard Hoskin taken from a fuller (less cropped) version of the whole negative. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The going away shot of 34096. I am standing on a road bridge of which the parapet walls still survive. Note the rear of the signal box which is on the Western main line. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART FOUR
Ross-on-Wye - 05.09.1964 - Part 1
Michael L. Roach
The morning of Saturday 5 September 1964 found me at Ross-on-Wye for some two and a half hours between trains, both in the same direction. Not only did I want to photograph the station which had many similarities to Truro in architectural style, number of platforms, size of goods yard etc but also the trains passing through. The main difference was in the size of the engine shed with Ross's engine shed holding just two engines. Both were junction stations, and in terms of population Ross is half the size of Truro. However, while Truro Station is very much alive and well with over one million passenger uses per annum, Ross was demolished after the line closed. I also wanted to walk down to the River Wye to view a road bridge that had been completed a couple of years earlier. The M50 or Ross Spur motorway runs for 22 miles from Junction 8 of the M5 to a point just north of Ross. It was a very early motorway with most of its length being open for traffic in 1960. At its western end the road continues south westwards as a dual carriageway and a mile and a half from the end of the motorway the dual carriageway passes over the River Wye on a handsome bridge called Bridstow Bridge. The bridge has a 60-metre (203-feet) centre span and was opened in September 1960. The bridge was the recipient of design awards for its simple elegant design.
I arrived at Ross at 10.28am on the 9.48am from Gloucester Central consisting of 73025 with three coaches. I stayed at the station to watch a Manor go through in the opposite direction some 20 minutes later before walking the mile or so to Bridstow Bridge and back. My next train was the 12.56pm off Ross which arrived behind 4107 again with 3C, and this would take me on to Hereford, and later Worcester and other places to be described later. A total of 17 photos were taken at Ross Station and Bridstow Bridge because the line was due to close at the end of October 1964, and I could not be sure that I would return for the “last day.” In fact, I was able to attend, and it was a beautiful autumn day that has stuck in the memory bank ever since. The Gloucester to Hereford line remained steam-hauled until closure and was never dieselised.
Ross-on-Wye was a junction station just like Truro. Branch trains started from a bay at the eastern (Gloucester) end and immediately swung around in a long curve to head south-west towards the valley of the River Wye through the beauty spot that was, and is, Symonds Yat. It was here along the valley of the River Wye that British tourism commenced more than 200 years ago. The branch to Monmouth had closed more than five years earlier on the first weekend of 1959, as had the two other rail routes to Monmouth from Chepstow and Pontypool Road. This was a great pity as two of the routes traversed beautiful countryside and followed the Wye Valley or was close to the River Wye for 20 miles. The people of Ross have not forgotten their railway as there is a permanent reminder. On the way out of town to the north-east the B4234 passed beneath the railway and some bridge abutments have survived beside a small well-kept triangular public open space with a number of display boards giving the history of the lines and photographs of the station.
During the 1950s and early 1960s particularly the line through Ross came into its own. Although there was no Sunday service the line was opened specially on Sundays when the Severn Tunnel was closed for annual maintenance. The north to west expresses were diverted from Hereford via Ross and Gloucester bringing the site and sound of bigger engines and longer trains to the line. Few photographers were out to capture the diverted trains and photographs seem to be quite rare.
I arrived at Ross at 10.28am on the 9.48am from Gloucester Central consisting of 73025 with three coaches. I stayed at the station to watch a Manor go through in the opposite direction some 20 minutes later before walking the mile or so to Bridstow Bridge and back. My next train was the 12.56pm off Ross which arrived behind 4107 again with 3C, and this would take me on to Hereford, and later Worcester and other places to be described later. A total of 17 photos were taken at Ross Station and Bridstow Bridge because the line was due to close at the end of October 1964, and I could not be sure that I would return for the “last day.” In fact, I was able to attend, and it was a beautiful autumn day that has stuck in the memory bank ever since. The Gloucester to Hereford line remained steam-hauled until closure and was never dieselised.
Ross-on-Wye was a junction station just like Truro. Branch trains started from a bay at the eastern (Gloucester) end and immediately swung around in a long curve to head south-west towards the valley of the River Wye through the beauty spot that was, and is, Symonds Yat. It was here along the valley of the River Wye that British tourism commenced more than 200 years ago. The branch to Monmouth had closed more than five years earlier on the first weekend of 1959, as had the two other rail routes to Monmouth from Chepstow and Pontypool Road. This was a great pity as two of the routes traversed beautiful countryside and followed the Wye Valley or was close to the River Wye for 20 miles. The people of Ross have not forgotten their railway as there is a permanent reminder. On the way out of town to the north-east the B4234 passed beneath the railway and some bridge abutments have survived beside a small well-kept triangular public open space with a number of display boards giving the history of the lines and photographs of the station.
During the 1950s and early 1960s particularly the line through Ross came into its own. Although there was no Sunday service the line was opened specially on Sundays when the Severn Tunnel was closed for annual maintenance. The north to west expresses were diverted from Hereford via Ross and Gloucester bringing the site and sound of bigger engines and longer trains to the line. Few photographers were out to capture the diverted trains and photographs seem to be quite rare.
BR Standard Class 5 no. 73025 stands at Ross with the 9.48am Gloucester to Hereford. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
73025 leaves Ross for Hereford some 12 miles and 34 minutes away. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7815 Fritwell Manor runs into Ross with the 10.25am Hereford to Gloucester consisting of three coaches, three vans and one truck under a covered footbridge, like Truro. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7815 receives some checks while stopped at Ross before setting out for Gloucester Central 18 miles and 40 minutes away. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7815 sets out past the signal box. 7815 was withdrawn the following month. The engine had spent much of the mid-1950s at Laira and Newton Abbot Sheds piloting expresses over the South Devon banks. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The Gloucester line can be seen curving to the left in the distance, while the line to Monmouth curved sharply to the right. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A view looking towards Hereford showing the former Monmouth Bay platform on the left and the two main through platforms on the right. The signal box dated from 1938 and replaced two earlier signal boxes. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART FIVE
Ross-on-Wye 05.09.1964 – Part 2
Michael L. Roach
This instalment carries on with the remaining photographs taken at Ross-on-Wye between trains on the morning of Saturday 5 September 1964.
Ross-on-Wye looking west from behind the signal box towards Hereford on 5 September 1964 showing the Monmouth Bay and the through platforms. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A similar view from in front of the signal box looking west. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Bridstow Bridge looking upriver. Note the amount of traffic coming off the M50 on a September morning in 1964. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A view looking west showing the elegant design of the bridge. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The underside of the bridge showing the individual prestressed beams supporting the bridge deck. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The forecourt of Ross Station with a BR delivery lorry parked up for the weekend. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
4107 arrives at Ross with the train that would carry me on to Hereford. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART SIX
Kitty C and the Port of Fowey
Michael L. Roach
The Kitty C is a cargo ship flying under the flag of Portugal and registered in Madeira. The ship is a general cargo ship 106 metres long and 15.5 metres wide. Stanlow is a port on the Manchester Ship Canal a short distance east of where the Canal commences on the bank of the River Mersey. The port deals mainly with oil products as it is located on the opposite bank of the Canal to the Stanlow Oil Refinery. The Kitty C sailed from Stanlow to Fowey arriving about 14.30 hours on Saturday 7 September 2024. Ships the length of the Kitty C are required to swing in the lower harbour at Fowey, take on a compulsory pilot, and are then towed astern by a harbour tug to the loading berths a mile and a half up the River Fowey. Historically most of the harbour pilots come from Polruan on the opposite bank of the river to Fowey. My 4x great grandfather Philip Salt (1749 - 1814) was a master mariner who sailed around the world and survived – a feat in itself in those days. He was born and lived in Polruan and finished his working days as a Fowey Harbour pilot. He must have been well-known in Polruan because he is buried inside the Parish Church under the floor of the north aisle under an engraved slate slab. The Parish Church is Lanteglos-by-Fowey situated in a remote valley two kilometres east of the village of Polruan.
The Kitty C had come to Fowey to load china clay and would have been meticulously cleaned before loading could commence to prevent any contamination of the clay to be loaded. It appears that all of the clay loaded into the Kitty C on Monday 9 September came from the store or was brought in by lorries along the private road from Par which was constructed on the route of the St. Blazey to Fowey railway line in 1968; but where did the clay originate from and why was it not brought by rail – perhaps there is a good reason. No clay trains ran to Carne Point on Monday 9 September but there was one on the 10th and another on the 11th September, both from Goonbarrow.
The ship only took on a part load before sailing very late, about 23.00 hours, on the day it was loaded. This was an hour or two after high water. The Kitty C's journey was short, only lasting a couple of hours before arriving at the Port of Plymouth, and mooring up at Victoria Wharves (about 02.30) which lies between Sutton Harbour and The Cattewater on the east side of the City. Victoria Wharves handle a greater variety of commodities than Fowey but one of the principal ones is china clay. As an aside I was there on the quayside many years ago when china clay in bags was being unloaded from a 12-ton railway box van. The wagon had travelled the enormous distance of just two miles from Marsh Mills dries on the east side of Plymouth. The one great advantage of the railway wagon in such circumstances is that there is no driver agitating to be unloaded asap. What is interesting about the china clay arriving at Victoria Wharves is that it comes from a completely different source, on Dartmoor, and possibly from a different company to that at Fowey The pattern of a ship being loaded with clay partly at Fowey and partly at Plymouth is a regular occurrence. The Kitty C sailed from Plymouth about 21.00 on 10 September for a destination in Spain - not mainland Spain but the port of Ceuta which lies on the south side of the Strait of Gibralter in a small Spanish enclave on mainland Africa. Another ship had sailed from Victoria Wharves to Ceuta some two months earlier – a journey of some six days. You can find the current position of the Kitty C by searching marinetraffic.com
I have been watching the ships coming and going at Fowey and Plymouth for a couple of months now to try to learn the patterns. Presuming I did not miss any ships, and I was looking twice a day, a total of seven ships arrived at Fowey in July 2024 which was not great, but August was even worse with just two ships arriving. The destinations of the ships leaving Fowey were ports around the Mediterranean or Plymouth and then on to the same ports around the Med. I think that in the past the principal destinations for Cornish clay were the ports in the Baltic, and particularly on the north side of the Baltic where there are vast forests and much paper is made. One wonders how those paper mills are now supplied with china clay ? Is Cornish clay production in a permanent state of decline ?
The Kitty C had come to Fowey to load china clay and would have been meticulously cleaned before loading could commence to prevent any contamination of the clay to be loaded. It appears that all of the clay loaded into the Kitty C on Monday 9 September came from the store or was brought in by lorries along the private road from Par which was constructed on the route of the St. Blazey to Fowey railway line in 1968; but where did the clay originate from and why was it not brought by rail – perhaps there is a good reason. No clay trains ran to Carne Point on Monday 9 September but there was one on the 10th and another on the 11th September, both from Goonbarrow.
The ship only took on a part load before sailing very late, about 23.00 hours, on the day it was loaded. This was an hour or two after high water. The Kitty C's journey was short, only lasting a couple of hours before arriving at the Port of Plymouth, and mooring up at Victoria Wharves (about 02.30) which lies between Sutton Harbour and The Cattewater on the east side of the City. Victoria Wharves handle a greater variety of commodities than Fowey but one of the principal ones is china clay. As an aside I was there on the quayside many years ago when china clay in bags was being unloaded from a 12-ton railway box van. The wagon had travelled the enormous distance of just two miles from Marsh Mills dries on the east side of Plymouth. The one great advantage of the railway wagon in such circumstances is that there is no driver agitating to be unloaded asap. What is interesting about the china clay arriving at Victoria Wharves is that it comes from a completely different source, on Dartmoor, and possibly from a different company to that at Fowey The pattern of a ship being loaded with clay partly at Fowey and partly at Plymouth is a regular occurrence. The Kitty C sailed from Plymouth about 21.00 on 10 September for a destination in Spain - not mainland Spain but the port of Ceuta which lies on the south side of the Strait of Gibralter in a small Spanish enclave on mainland Africa. Another ship had sailed from Victoria Wharves to Ceuta some two months earlier – a journey of some six days. You can find the current position of the Kitty C by searching marinetraffic.com
I have been watching the ships coming and going at Fowey and Plymouth for a couple of months now to try to learn the patterns. Presuming I did not miss any ships, and I was looking twice a day, a total of seven ships arrived at Fowey in July 2024 which was not great, but August was even worse with just two ships arriving. The destinations of the ships leaving Fowey were ports around the Mediterranean or Plymouth and then on to the same ports around the Med. I think that in the past the principal destinations for Cornish clay were the ports in the Baltic, and particularly on the north side of the Baltic where there are vast forests and much paper is made. One wonders how those paper mills are now supplied with china clay ? Is Cornish clay production in a permanent state of decline ?
The Kitty C is being loaded with clay from the articulated lorry (centre). Note the building centre right where rail wagons are unloaded. Behind this building is the transverser, which was used to move empty CDA wagons sideways onto the adjacent siding - now out of use as the JIA wagons are too long to fit on it. Copyright Jon Hird.
A view of the Port of Fowey looking south showing Fowey and Polruan (top right); the huge china clay store (middle left); and all the conveyors needed to move the clay around. Copyright Jon Hird.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 6A
Update to Part 6
Michael L. Roach
In Part 6 (above) I recorded the number of cargo ships arriving at Fowey in July and August 2024 to collect china clay for export, some of which had arrived at Carne Point by rail. The numbers were not good. As Part 6 was being published things took an unexpected and welcome turn for the better with three ship arriving at the port in just 24
hours. They were the following:
The destination of the clay was Antwerp in the case of Runner; Abu Qir, Egypt for Trio Firat; and Izmir, Turkey for Eems Rover. It was great to see Eems Rover at the quayside in Jon Hird's drone shot posted on 18.09.2024 The hatches are closed, the loading gantry is raised out of the way, and the ship is about to cast off. The official recorded time for leaving Fowey was 19.02 hours but it is believed that that is when the Fowey pilot leaves the vessel at the mouth of the river with the open sea ahead.
Whereas most of the ships arriving at Fowey are general cargo ships, one of the three (Runner) is also capable of carrying containers and is now on its way to Hamburg where it is due to arrive on 19 September 2024.
Watching Michael Portillo travel through Cornwall recently (but recorded many years ago), he met the late Ivor Bowditch of Imerys in a claypit. Ivor quoted the following figures as the end uses of the clay produced: coating paper 50%; ceramics 30%; the rest 20%; and that 85% of the clay produced in Cornwall was then exported.
hours. They were the following:
- Eems Rover from Ringaskiddy in Ireland near Cork
- Runner from Poole
- Trio Firat from Plymouth
The destination of the clay was Antwerp in the case of Runner; Abu Qir, Egypt for Trio Firat; and Izmir, Turkey for Eems Rover. It was great to see Eems Rover at the quayside in Jon Hird's drone shot posted on 18.09.2024 The hatches are closed, the loading gantry is raised out of the way, and the ship is about to cast off. The official recorded time for leaving Fowey was 19.02 hours but it is believed that that is when the Fowey pilot leaves the vessel at the mouth of the river with the open sea ahead.
Whereas most of the ships arriving at Fowey are general cargo ships, one of the three (Runner) is also capable of carrying containers and is now on its way to Hamburg where it is due to arrive on 19 September 2024.
Watching Michael Portillo travel through Cornwall recently (but recorded many years ago), he met the late Ivor Bowditch of Imerys in a claypit. Ivor quoted the following figures as the end uses of the clay produced: coating paper 50%; ceramics 30%; the rest 20%; and that 85% of the clay produced in Cornwall was then exported.
The EEMS Rover waiting departure from Fowey Docks on 17.09.2024. Copyright Jon Hird.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 7
The Bromyard Branch
Michael L. Roach
Sixty years ago, I travelled overnight from my home in Plymouth to Herefordshire and Worcestershire in search of steam, and at the end of the day I would again travel home overnight. The first steam of the day was Standard Class 5 no. 73025 from Gloucester Central to Ross-on-Wye, followed two hours later by large prairie 4107 from Ross to Hereford. At the end of the day, I caught the last train of the day from Hereford to Gloucester behind 7814 Fringford Manor of Gloucester Shed and formerly of Laira Shed in the Nineteen Fifties. The date of the trip was Saturday 5 September 1964 and the principal reason for the trip was to attend the last day of passenger services on the Bromyard Branch. Bromyard was previously a through station on a line heading west to Leominster on the Welsh Marches line but the Bromyard to Leominster section had closed some 12 years earlier. Having left Plymouth at midnight I finally reached Worcester Shrub Hill at 3.00pm having travelled the 29-miles from Hereford behind a Hymek hauling 4C. As an aside I believe that this was the last weekend that the Western Region used the 12-hour clock before going over to the 24-hour clock.
I caught the 4.10pm out from Shrub Hill to Bromyard. The branch had a really strange timetable; had this been a weekday the 4.10pm would have been the first train of the day in this direction, and the first of only two. On Saturdays there were five trains with six in the other direction. The train was a well-loaded bubble car no. W55018 which gave enough time at Bromyard to take some photos before returning at 5.15pm. I alighted at Henwick Station on the main line where I had just eight minutes before the 5.45pm from Shrub Hill to Bromyard arrived. BR and the Worcester shed master had turned up trumps by putting on a pannier tank with six well-loaded coaches. This was the penultimate train, as there was one last train on Saturdays at 10.15pm off Shrub Hill but I would not be there to see it. Leaving Henwick on time pannier 8793 did well with the six coaches but arrived Bromyard 7L. This gave the photographers fourteen minutes to take photos as the engine took water and ran around its train. 8793 did even better on the return trip leaving 2L and arriving Shrub Hill 4L a really good achievement considering that there was a lengthy 15mph permanent way restriction between Bromyard and Suckley, and this was a loaded train on the last evening of passenger services. 8793 was withdrawn at Worcester Shed just three months later.
I arrived back in Plymouth at 5.26am the next morning. Including an early morning side trip from Bristol Temple Meads out to Portishead in a DMU (also on the last day of passenger services) I had travelled a total of 526 miles in a little under 30 hours of which just 88 miles were steam hauled. This was typical of the time, but definitely worth it.
I caught the 4.10pm out from Shrub Hill to Bromyard. The branch had a really strange timetable; had this been a weekday the 4.10pm would have been the first train of the day in this direction, and the first of only two. On Saturdays there were five trains with six in the other direction. The train was a well-loaded bubble car no. W55018 which gave enough time at Bromyard to take some photos before returning at 5.15pm. I alighted at Henwick Station on the main line where I had just eight minutes before the 5.45pm from Shrub Hill to Bromyard arrived. BR and the Worcester shed master had turned up trumps by putting on a pannier tank with six well-loaded coaches. This was the penultimate train, as there was one last train on Saturdays at 10.15pm off Shrub Hill but I would not be there to see it. Leaving Henwick on time pannier 8793 did well with the six coaches but arrived Bromyard 7L. This gave the photographers fourteen minutes to take photos as the engine took water and ran around its train. 8793 did even better on the return trip leaving 2L and arriving Shrub Hill 4L a really good achievement considering that there was a lengthy 15mph permanent way restriction between Bromyard and Suckley, and this was a loaded train on the last evening of passenger services. 8793 was withdrawn at Worcester Shed just three months later.
I arrived back in Plymouth at 5.26am the next morning. Including an early morning side trip from Bristol Temple Meads out to Portishead in a DMU (also on the last day of passenger services) I had travelled a total of 526 miles in a little under 30 hours of which just 88 miles were steam hauled. This was typical of the time, but definitely worth it.
Bromyard looking towards the buffer stop with passengers waiting to board W55018 forming the 5.15pm to Worcester. The station area retained a good number of Great Western fir trees in 1964. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Bromyard Station from the road bridge carrying the B4203. The area is now an industrial estate and retains a couple of Great Western fir trees. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
8793 has arrived at Bromyard with the six coaches of the 5.45pm from Shrub Hill. The time is 6.36pm. Part of the platform edging has been removed and is growing a good crop of weeds. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Another view of 8793 before it came off the train to take water and run round. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
8793 takes water. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
8793 is ready to take out the 6.50pm to Worcester Shrub Hill, the penultimate train to leave Bromyard. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A last view of 8793. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A wet evening at Hereford Station on 5 September 1964 sees 7814 Fringford Manor on the 9.42pm to Gloucester. The camera was held on top of a post with the shutter held open for five seconds at f4. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 8
Moving the Goods in the 1930s
Michael L. Roach
The Rail and Canal Traffic Act of 1854 obliged the railways (and canals at the time) to carry any and all of the goods offered to them, with a few exceptions. This was a complicated law with unforeseen consequences, especially when government control of the rates the railways could charge was introduced. Looking through a newly acquired batch of 1937 GWR Magazines a couple of items attracted my attention. The GWR undertook household, farm and factory removals and were prepared to quote for doing every aspect leaving the householder or factory owner to do very little. In the first photo are examples of GWR lorries carrying cattle, household furniture and items needing to be kept cold.
In the second example the GWR moved the complete contents of two factories from London to Cheltenham. The first factory was owned by Walker, Crosweller and the second by one of the firm's subsidiaries. That firm was called Spirax – a firm that still exists, now with a turnover in excess of £1.6 billion. The firm was called Spirax Sarco for many years but reverted to the simpler Spirax in 2024. One of Spirax's subsidiaries is called Watson-Marlow with a large factory in Falmouth, Cornwall. All the firms are involved in fluid management over a wide range of industries. The GWR also moved the furniture and household effects of some fifty employees of the two companies from London to Cheltenham. In total the GWR used 135 containers for the move. With the war starting two years later I expect the managers and staff were relieved to have moved out of London. The second image describes the factory move in more detail.
When I read the short piece in the third image for the first time I found it almost unbelievable. It described a pair of suitcases handed in at Dulverton Station at 10.00am on Thursday 2 September 1937 destined for Wendover near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. I tracked their journey using my GWR timetable via Taunton, Paddington and Princes Risborough. The earliest the cases could have arrived at Aylesbury Joint Station was at 6.50pm that evening and that was with some tight connections; but the article says the cases were actually delivered at Wendover at 6.30pm although the recipient may have had to collect them from Wendover Station which was not even on the Great Western. I went back to my timetable and looked at what trains would have been used if the cases left Dulverton slightly earlier. Leaving at 9.39am the cases would have reached Aylesbury Joint Station at 4.13pm which I think is much more likely, giving more time for them to be delivered to Wendover.
The two cases were sent by “Blue Arrow” which I had never heard of although I was familiar with the Red Arrow parcels service which I used, for my employer, in the nineteen sixties between Plymouth and Bristol. This was great service on the part of the Great Western Railway in 1937; but even more amazing the recipient of the suitcases then sat down and wrote a quick note to the stationmaster at Dulverton, and posted it in time to have the letter collected that evening. The letter was delivered to Dulverton Station the very next morning 3 September. There was no first or second class in those days, just the one standard service costing 1½ old pence at the time for a letter. Great service by the then state-owned Royal Mail as well.
In the second example the GWR moved the complete contents of two factories from London to Cheltenham. The first factory was owned by Walker, Crosweller and the second by one of the firm's subsidiaries. That firm was called Spirax – a firm that still exists, now with a turnover in excess of £1.6 billion. The firm was called Spirax Sarco for many years but reverted to the simpler Spirax in 2024. One of Spirax's subsidiaries is called Watson-Marlow with a large factory in Falmouth, Cornwall. All the firms are involved in fluid management over a wide range of industries. The GWR also moved the furniture and household effects of some fifty employees of the two companies from London to Cheltenham. In total the GWR used 135 containers for the move. With the war starting two years later I expect the managers and staff were relieved to have moved out of London. The second image describes the factory move in more detail.
When I read the short piece in the third image for the first time I found it almost unbelievable. It described a pair of suitcases handed in at Dulverton Station at 10.00am on Thursday 2 September 1937 destined for Wendover near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. I tracked their journey using my GWR timetable via Taunton, Paddington and Princes Risborough. The earliest the cases could have arrived at Aylesbury Joint Station was at 6.50pm that evening and that was with some tight connections; but the article says the cases were actually delivered at Wendover at 6.30pm although the recipient may have had to collect them from Wendover Station which was not even on the Great Western. I went back to my timetable and looked at what trains would have been used if the cases left Dulverton slightly earlier. Leaving at 9.39am the cases would have reached Aylesbury Joint Station at 4.13pm which I think is much more likely, giving more time for them to be delivered to Wendover.
The two cases were sent by “Blue Arrow” which I had never heard of although I was familiar with the Red Arrow parcels service which I used, for my employer, in the nineteen sixties between Plymouth and Bristol. This was great service on the part of the Great Western Railway in 1937; but even more amazing the recipient of the suitcases then sat down and wrote a quick note to the stationmaster at Dulverton, and posted it in time to have the letter collected that evening. The letter was delivered to Dulverton Station the very next morning 3 September. There was no first or second class in those days, just the one standard service costing 1½ old pence at the time for a letter. Great service by the then state-owned Royal Mail as well.
Photos of three different lorries and containers from the January 1937 Magazine. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The factory move described in the November 1937 Magazine. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The speedy transit of two suitcases described in the October 1937 Magazine. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 9
Milk Trains (2)
Michael L. Roach
In 1962 – Part 70 titled Milk Trains (1) posted on Monday 19 February 2024 (click here), I described my fascination with milk trains. They were quite unlike any other trains on British Railways with their 6-wheel wagons and were never seen on many lines. Even through Plymouth where I lived, right in the middle of two dairying counties, there were just two loaded and two empty trains of milk wagons daily of which there was only one (loaded) train at a time when it was likely to be seen and photographed. That train was the Penzance to Kensington milk train 3A31 which in September 1962 left Penzance at 12.20pm and stopped for traffic purposes at St. Erth, Dolcoath Siding, Lostwithiel, Saltash, Totnes and perhaps other places further east. I saw it many times, but looking back not enough. It was scheduled to pass Hemerdon Summit at 4.30pm where I spent many happy hours on Sparkwell Bridge in the late nineteen fifties watching trains after cycling there from my home in Plymouth, about 7 miles and 35 minutes away.
The first three images were taken in different places in Devon and Cornwall and the last image sets a conundrum for the reader. Where was the photograph taken and what type of train is in the photograph – milk, passenger or mixed ? The answer will be revealed in the next instalment about milk trains due to be posted on 10 October 2024.
The first three images were taken in different places in Devon and Cornwall and the last image sets a conundrum for the reader. Where was the photograph taken and what type of train is in the photograph – milk, passenger or mixed ? The answer will be revealed in the next instalment about milk trains due to be posted on 10 October 2024.
0-4-2T 1442 shunts milk tanks at Hemyock in deep snow on the afternoon of 5 January 1963 between passenger turns. We had travelled to Hemyock via Okehampton where the line had only just been cleared of snow drifts (at Sourton) and was soon blocked again by heavy drifting snow a few days later. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Brush Type 4 1643 roars through Totnes with 30 loaded milk tanks ready to attack Rattery Bank at 6.50pm on 17 May 1969 The reason for milk to head west, possibly to be made into milk powder, was a strike of dairy workers at Torrington. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
D834 passes St. Germans with the up milk of 7 loaded tanks at 4.27pm on 7 June 1969. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
More about this train in Part 10 of the series. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 10
Milk Trains (3)
Michael L. Roach
In Part 9 (above), I posed a question as to the location of the last photograph in that part and the answer was Carmarthen Station looking north in October 1964. A similar view is included with this part. Carmarthen was the hub of railways serving the two great dairying counties of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, where at that time there were several dairies and milk depots served by rail sending liquid milk to London daily. There was always great excitement at Plymouth Station on Summer Saturdays in the 1950s when a Carmarthen engine turned up occasionally; but things might not bes quite what they seemed, as if it had come all the way from Carmarthen or Swansea on a Summer Saturday it might well have run out of coal after all the traffic delays en-route so could have been serviced at Bristol and sent further west due to a shortage of tender engines at Bristol.
The line that headed north from Carmarthen in West Wales went through very pleasant, but sparely populated, countryside with distant views of the Cambrian Mountains before turning and heading down to the coast at Aberystwyth on the coast of Cardigan Bay. This is a land of small towns, villages and dairy farms. Passenger trains took two and a half hours to cover the 56 miles from Carmarthen to Aber. Because the line served no large towns there were never more than 5 trains each way even on a summer Saturday in the 1930s when the line was at its peak of popularity after the GWR publicity machine had been busy promoting the line. In the last few years there were just 3 passenger trains each way Monday to Friday with more on Summer Saturdays. However there was a substantial freight traffic originating on the line with hundreds of live cattle and thousands of gallons of liquid milk making their way eastwards towards London every day until the 1950s. My first trip over the line was on the 6.10am off Carmarthen on 22 July 1963 after travelling overnight from Plymouth diesel-hauled all the way. It was great to see 7810 Draycott Manor of Oswestry Shed at the head of four coaches and one truck – a true mixed train. The return from Aber at 11.55am was behind 7826 Longworth Manor of Carmarthen Shed with three coaches. During a five minute stop at Pont Llanio Station one loaded milk truck was attached to the rear of the train from the milk depot alongside the station.
My second trip over the line was 15 months later on 10 October 1964. I was staying at Gloucester for the weekend and left there very early to motor to Cardiff to meet a friend and catch the 7.35am dmu to Carmarthen. We arrived to find two coaches up against the buffers in the north-facing bay platform with 7826 Longworth Manor doing some shunting of empty milk tanks. 7826 was now based at Llanelly Shed, involving a 20-mile light engine movement at the beginning and end of the working day, because Carmarthen Shed had closed between my two visits. 7826 proceeded to add no less than eight empty milk tanks in front of the passenger coaches in the bay platform to form the 10.35am Carmarthen to Aberystwyth the second train of the day. The engine was way off the end of the bay platform and the train consisted of 7826 plus 8 milk tanks and 2 coaches – quite a load but no problem for the Manor. Four tanks were detached at Lampeter Station and would later be tripped down to Green Grove Siding and milk depot on the Aberayron Branch. The remaining four tanks were dropped off at Pont Llanio where there was a Creamery and milk depot alongside the station set in a tiny hamlet beside the River Teifi. More about Lampeter and Pont Llanio in a later part of the series.
In September 2024 I purchased the latest book about the line by Geraint Roberts (Lightmoor Press ISBN 9781 915069 405) and it's very good – it brought back a lot of memories. The book has 300 pages and perhaps 400-500 photographs but there are only a handful of photos showing milk tanks attached to a passenger train. Of those handful the largest number of milk tanks in a passenger train is four and there is not a single photo showing a passenger train with eight milk tanks, so I was very lucky that day to have such a number. I thought it was a regular occurrence that would have been captured by other photographers, but obviously that was not the case. My friend and travelling companion in October 1964 worked for BR in the Divisional Office at Cardiff at the time and perhaps used his position to ensure we had a worthwhile load. No matter how it came about it made a most memorable trip, complete with steam haulage, at a time when the diesels were taking over all trains in West Wales. Within a few months of my trip on 10.10.1964 the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line would close to passengers and dieselisation be completed west of Swansea.
Finally, in Part 9 I ended by posing the question was our train a passenger or a mixed train. The answer is that it was a passenger train also conveying milk tanks, and not a mixed train of passenger coaches and freight wagons. The reason is that milk and milk tanks are passenger-rated traffic. A wholly milk train, like the 12.20pm Penzance to Kensington, appeared in the Plymouth District Working Time Table of Passenger Trains but not in the Plymouth District WTT of Freight Trains.
The line that headed north from Carmarthen in West Wales went through very pleasant, but sparely populated, countryside with distant views of the Cambrian Mountains before turning and heading down to the coast at Aberystwyth on the coast of Cardigan Bay. This is a land of small towns, villages and dairy farms. Passenger trains took two and a half hours to cover the 56 miles from Carmarthen to Aber. Because the line served no large towns there were never more than 5 trains each way even on a summer Saturday in the 1930s when the line was at its peak of popularity after the GWR publicity machine had been busy promoting the line. In the last few years there were just 3 passenger trains each way Monday to Friday with more on Summer Saturdays. However there was a substantial freight traffic originating on the line with hundreds of live cattle and thousands of gallons of liquid milk making their way eastwards towards London every day until the 1950s. My first trip over the line was on the 6.10am off Carmarthen on 22 July 1963 after travelling overnight from Plymouth diesel-hauled all the way. It was great to see 7810 Draycott Manor of Oswestry Shed at the head of four coaches and one truck – a true mixed train. The return from Aber at 11.55am was behind 7826 Longworth Manor of Carmarthen Shed with three coaches. During a five minute stop at Pont Llanio Station one loaded milk truck was attached to the rear of the train from the milk depot alongside the station.
My second trip over the line was 15 months later on 10 October 1964. I was staying at Gloucester for the weekend and left there very early to motor to Cardiff to meet a friend and catch the 7.35am dmu to Carmarthen. We arrived to find two coaches up against the buffers in the north-facing bay platform with 7826 Longworth Manor doing some shunting of empty milk tanks. 7826 was now based at Llanelly Shed, involving a 20-mile light engine movement at the beginning and end of the working day, because Carmarthen Shed had closed between my two visits. 7826 proceeded to add no less than eight empty milk tanks in front of the passenger coaches in the bay platform to form the 10.35am Carmarthen to Aberystwyth the second train of the day. The engine was way off the end of the bay platform and the train consisted of 7826 plus 8 milk tanks and 2 coaches – quite a load but no problem for the Manor. Four tanks were detached at Lampeter Station and would later be tripped down to Green Grove Siding and milk depot on the Aberayron Branch. The remaining four tanks were dropped off at Pont Llanio where there was a Creamery and milk depot alongside the station set in a tiny hamlet beside the River Teifi. More about Lampeter and Pont Llanio in a later part of the series.
In September 2024 I purchased the latest book about the line by Geraint Roberts (Lightmoor Press ISBN 9781 915069 405) and it's very good – it brought back a lot of memories. The book has 300 pages and perhaps 400-500 photographs but there are only a handful of photos showing milk tanks attached to a passenger train. Of those handful the largest number of milk tanks in a passenger train is four and there is not a single photo showing a passenger train with eight milk tanks, so I was very lucky that day to have such a number. I thought it was a regular occurrence that would have been captured by other photographers, but obviously that was not the case. My friend and travelling companion in October 1964 worked for BR in the Divisional Office at Cardiff at the time and perhaps used his position to ensure we had a worthwhile load. No matter how it came about it made a most memorable trip, complete with steam haulage, at a time when the diesels were taking over all trains in West Wales. Within a few months of my trip on 10.10.1964 the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line would close to passengers and dieselisation be completed west of Swansea.
Finally, in Part 9 I ended by posing the question was our train a passenger or a mixed train. The answer is that it was a passenger train also conveying milk tanks, and not a mixed train of passenger coaches and freight wagons. The reason is that milk and milk tanks are passenger-rated traffic. A wholly milk train, like the 12.20pm Penzance to Kensington, appeared in the Plymouth District Working Time Table of Passenger Trains but not in the Plymouth District WTT of Freight Trains.
The 10.35am Carmarthen to Aberystwyth on 10 October 1964 looking north from the end of the platform. On the left, out of picture, are three further milk tanks and two passenger coaches up against the buffers. Time did not permit me to walk up on to the road bridge. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
My first view out the window from the front of the first coach. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
We are now 9 miles into the journey and half a mile south of the station at Llanpumpsaint. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
I have now moved to the rear of the last coach for this view out of the window. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7826 heads the train out of Llanybyther 22½ miles into the 56 mile journey at 11.47 (8L) one hour after leaving Carmarthen 11 late. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Also leaving Llanybyther which had one of several crossing loops on the route. Llanybyther is a small town with a major livestock market which survives to this day and which is famous for its monthly horse sales attracting buyers from all over Britain and Ireland. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 11
Cornish Mainline Stations Closed in October 1964 (1)
Michael L. Roach
There are currently 14 railway stations in the 75 miles between Saltash and Penzance; an average of 5¾ miles between each pair. The longest gap is St. Austell to Truro 14 miles; and the shortest Hayle to St. Erth just 1½ miles. None of the 14 stations deals with anything other than passengers (unless you know differently); no freight, mail, milk, newspapers or parcels traffic as there once was.
There were once many more stations on the mainline and in this article I will be looking at the last ones to close to passengers which is an amazing 60 years ago this month. So, no change in 60 years, and the possible re-opening of Carn Brea in the 1990s never happened. On and from 5 October 1964 the following stations closed to passengers:- Doublebois, Grampound Road, Chacewater, Scorrier, Gwinear Road and Marazion.
Looking a bit wider which were the last passenger stations to close, anywhere in Cornwall – I think it was the stations between Bodmin Road (now Bodmin Parkway) and Padstow, including Bodmin General and Bodmin North on and from 30 January 1967. Which were the first ones to close – Penponds (in 1852) and Angarrack second station (in 1853) both on the Hayle Railway. Further east the temporary station at Respryn closed in 1859 just 8 weeks after opening while the building of Bodmin Road Station was being completed. The last station to open (excluding heritage railways) was I think Boscarne Junction in 1964. But what was the last station to open anywhere in Cornwall that is still open to passengers ? I think it was Quintrell Downs Platform opened by the Great Western Railway on 2 October 1911 and now serving 3,000 passengers per annum.
There are at least two villages in Cornwall that have a railway adjacent or a short distance away that have never had a railway station provided; but they still could. They are Ponsanooth close to the Falmouth Branch and Coombe-by-St. Stephens beside the mainline between St. Austell and Truro. Ponsanooth in particular is a sizeable village surely deserving of an unstaffed halt, although I can see the difficulty of providing access to one as the single line comes off Ponsanooth Viaduct, crossing a minor road, and entering quite a deep cutting. However if the access was off the A393 Reduth to Falmouth road with a large car park it could become a park-and-ride station for both Truro and Falmouth. With two trains per hour in each direction for most of the day the Falmouth Branch has an excellent train service.
In addition to the current 14 stations and the 6 closed in October 1964 there were a further 9 which closed earlier. So with 6 plus 9 adding to 15 there are more closed stations on the main line in Cornwall than stations still open. With closure of the six stations imminent I decided to visit most of the doomed stations on Tuesday 8 September 1964 a month before closure. I had a West of England Rail-Rover so it was easy to hop between stations and backtrack as necessary; including walking from Marazion to Penzance and from Chacewater to Scorrier. Even so I did not manage to visit Doublebois that day. I left Plymouth at 09.15 and got back to Plymouth about 22.40 My last train was the 19.55 off Penzance, from St. Erth after visiting St. Ives. The 12.45 off Penzance was an 800-class Warship, but apart from that one trip to Gwinear Road every one of the other 8 trains was a 3-car dmu. Dieselisation of the main line had been completed a year or two earlier. In this first part I visit Marazion and Gwinear Road.
There were once many more stations on the mainline and in this article I will be looking at the last ones to close to passengers which is an amazing 60 years ago this month. So, no change in 60 years, and the possible re-opening of Carn Brea in the 1990s never happened. On and from 5 October 1964 the following stations closed to passengers:- Doublebois, Grampound Road, Chacewater, Scorrier, Gwinear Road and Marazion.
Looking a bit wider which were the last passenger stations to close, anywhere in Cornwall – I think it was the stations between Bodmin Road (now Bodmin Parkway) and Padstow, including Bodmin General and Bodmin North on and from 30 January 1967. Which were the first ones to close – Penponds (in 1852) and Angarrack second station (in 1853) both on the Hayle Railway. Further east the temporary station at Respryn closed in 1859 just 8 weeks after opening while the building of Bodmin Road Station was being completed. The last station to open (excluding heritage railways) was I think Boscarne Junction in 1964. But what was the last station to open anywhere in Cornwall that is still open to passengers ? I think it was Quintrell Downs Platform opened by the Great Western Railway on 2 October 1911 and now serving 3,000 passengers per annum.
There are at least two villages in Cornwall that have a railway adjacent or a short distance away that have never had a railway station provided; but they still could. They are Ponsanooth close to the Falmouth Branch and Coombe-by-St. Stephens beside the mainline between St. Austell and Truro. Ponsanooth in particular is a sizeable village surely deserving of an unstaffed halt, although I can see the difficulty of providing access to one as the single line comes off Ponsanooth Viaduct, crossing a minor road, and entering quite a deep cutting. However if the access was off the A393 Reduth to Falmouth road with a large car park it could become a park-and-ride station for both Truro and Falmouth. With two trains per hour in each direction for most of the day the Falmouth Branch has an excellent train service.
In addition to the current 14 stations and the 6 closed in October 1964 there were a further 9 which closed earlier. So with 6 plus 9 adding to 15 there are more closed stations on the main line in Cornwall than stations still open. With closure of the six stations imminent I decided to visit most of the doomed stations on Tuesday 8 September 1964 a month before closure. I had a West of England Rail-Rover so it was easy to hop between stations and backtrack as necessary; including walking from Marazion to Penzance and from Chacewater to Scorrier. Even so I did not manage to visit Doublebois that day. I left Plymouth at 09.15 and got back to Plymouth about 22.40 My last train was the 19.55 off Penzance, from St. Erth after visiting St. Ives. The 12.45 off Penzance was an 800-class Warship, but apart from that one trip to Gwinear Road every one of the other 8 trains was a 3-car dmu. Dieselisation of the main line had been completed a year or two earlier. In this first part I visit Marazion and Gwinear Road.
Marazion looking east on 8 September 1964. Note the camping coaches. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Marazion looking west. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Marazion looking west from the road bridge. I have no idea what the parcels train is doing. The time is 11.50. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The Helston branch platform at Gwinear Road. The branch had closed to passengers two years earlier. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Gwinear Road looking east. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The business end of a level crossing gate which was very long. Note the extra height of the gate post and the extra supports to the gate. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Gwinear Road looking west. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Gwinear Road looking east again. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 12
Cornish Mainline Stations Closed 1964 (2)
Michael L. Roach
In the last part (above), I visited Marazion and Gwinear Road Stations a month before closure to passengers in October 1964. After Gwinear Road, I spent an hour at Truro Station but took no photos, before moving on to Grampound Road arriving there at 3.47pm before doubling back to Chacewater arriving at 4.43pm.
The village of Chacewater was a good mile away from the station along a narrow country lane. Chacewater was the junction station for the other line to Newquay with trains running from Truro to Newquay via St. Agnes and Perranporth via a dedicated branch platform at Chacewater, but no longer as the line had closed completely 18 months before my visit.
Having taken my record photos, I then walked the 1¾ miles from Chacewater Station westwards to the next station – Scorrier, which was in the middle of a small dispersed settlement but there were many mines in close proximity. The Poldice Tramway formerly passed below the main line on the diagonal right beneath the extended platforms.
One strange anomaly of the up (eastbound) platform was a depression, with normal end-of-platform slopes each side, which effectively cut the platform into two parts. Regular passengers would have known of the dangers, but I just hope that there was normally a staff member on the platform to warn occasional passengers as an up train slowed to a stop. The depression can be seen in the first three photographs.
In this second part the photos record the scene at Chacewater and Scorrier on Tuesday 8 September 1964.
The village of Chacewater was a good mile away from the station along a narrow country lane. Chacewater was the junction station for the other line to Newquay with trains running from Truro to Newquay via St. Agnes and Perranporth via a dedicated branch platform at Chacewater, but no longer as the line had closed completely 18 months before my visit.
Having taken my record photos, I then walked the 1¾ miles from Chacewater Station westwards to the next station – Scorrier, which was in the middle of a small dispersed settlement but there were many mines in close proximity. The Poldice Tramway formerly passed below the main line on the diagonal right beneath the extended platforms.
One strange anomaly of the up (eastbound) platform was a depression, with normal end-of-platform slopes each side, which effectively cut the platform into two parts. Regular passengers would have known of the dangers, but I just hope that there was normally a staff member on the platform to warn occasional passengers as an up train slowed to a stop. The depression can be seen in the first three photographs.
In this second part the photos record the scene at Chacewater and Scorrier on Tuesday 8 September 1964.
Scorrier looking east from the up platform, 8 September 1964. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking west at Scorrier showing the main station building on the down platform. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Scorrier looking east from the down platform. The Methodist Chapel is a prominent feature of the hamlet and is still in use as a place of worship. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
These large and heavy cast iron signs were once a common feature of many Great Western stations in order to deter passengers from using the board crossing. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Chacewater looking east from the down platform with the signal box and the modern station building beyond. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The island platform looking east. The line can be seen continuing to the left of the building. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking west from the island platform showing the cement silo which was there for many years holding “Blue Circle” cement in bulk. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Chacewater Station looking east from the road bridge, also showing Blackwater Viaduct extreme left. Chacewater Viaduct is a quarter mile further east. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 13
Cornish Mainline Stations Closed 1964 (3)
Michael L. Roach
In the last Part I visited Grampound Road but I saved the photos for this part. The last of the six stations to be covered is Doublebois 3¼ miles west of Liskeard. The station was located right beside the Liskeard to Bodmin main road at a crossroads, but there were less than a dozen domestic properties in the immediate vicinity. The station was located at the top of the 7-mile bank from Respryn; but one kilometre east of Doublebois Station was the larger village of Dobwalls. Why was the station not located at Dobwalls ? I thought that the answer lied a quarter mile north of the station in the shape of a big country mansion. The owners of such properties had money, influence and perhaps had invested in the company building the railway. Such factors may also have influenced the choice of location for Scorrier Station visited in the last part where there was also a big house a short distance from the station. However in the case of Doublebois the imposing manor house was not built until 1883 long after the railway and the station opened, so there must be another reason for the choice of location for the station.
I am quite sure that I visited Doublebois Station on another occasion and parked the car in the station forecourt but the negatives have not come to light or been scanned yet. The population of the Parish of Dobwalls is more than 2,000 and with the boundary of the main part of the village coming right up to the railway there may be a case for opening a station to serve Dobwalls one day, as with Ponsanooth and Coombe-by-St. Stephens mentioned in Part 11. It would not be right to leave this area without mentioning the much-missed Dobwalls Adventure Park. The chief attraction for railway enthusiasts was the extensive 7.25 inch gauge miniature railway based on American outlines which sadly closed down in 2006.
I am quite sure that I visited Doublebois Station on another occasion and parked the car in the station forecourt but the negatives have not come to light or been scanned yet. The population of the Parish of Dobwalls is more than 2,000 and with the boundary of the main part of the village coming right up to the railway there may be a case for opening a station to serve Dobwalls one day, as with Ponsanooth and Coombe-by-St. Stephens mentioned in Part 11. It would not be right to leave this area without mentioning the much-missed Dobwalls Adventure Park. The chief attraction for railway enthusiasts was the extensive 7.25 inch gauge miniature railway based on American outlines which sadly closed down in 2006.
Grampound Road looking east from the up platform just before 4.00pm on 8 September 1964. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking west at Grampound Road. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking east from down platform at Grampound Road. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Doublebois Station looking east from the road bridge at 7.30pm on the evening of 28 April 1962, after a day photographing a railtour in Mid-Cornwall. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 14
Charlestown Harbour
Michael L. Roach
The harbour at Charlestown was constructed over a period of ten years from 1791 to export copper from local mines and must have been a major exercise in excavation for the time. The properties around the harbour were built at the same time and the whole harbour area remains little-altered. The harbour is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and part of the Cornwall & West Devon Mining Landscape WHS. The harbour area is very atmospheric which is why it is often used for filming historical dramas.
As copper mining, and later tin mining, declined in Victorian times something arose to take its place and that was the rapid expansion of the mining and export of kaolin or china clay from the huge deposits to the north of St. Austell. As china clay mining declines a new mineral is in demand to takes its place and that is lithium, which is needed for car batteries, and which occurs in the same areas as china clay. The production of lithium took a big leap forward with the opening of a 10,000 tonne per annum demonstration plant to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide in October 2024. The plant is owned by Cornish Lithium and located at Trelavour.
One of the smaller china clay mining companies was owned by the Tregothnan Estates – Tregothnan House is the home of Lord Falmouth. The Company was known as the Goonvean and Rostowrack China Clay Company, later changing the name to just Goonvean; and one of their main sites was at Trelavour mentioned above. Goonvean sold out to Imerys in 2014. It is believed that latterly Goonvean were the only company to use Charlestown Harbour for dispatching china clay but that ceased many years ago (20 to 30 ?). Since then Charlestown has been used as a base for sailing ships. I would call into Charlestown harbour occasionally when passing particularly in the 1970s and 1980s to see what coasters were present and take photographs.
Monday 7 May 1979 was a Bank Holiday. The following day I took a day off work and spent several hours at Charlestown in and around the harbour photographing the comings and goings. I was very lucky and had picked a good day. There were three coasters in port when I arrived at 12.30pm and three when I left five hours later. However I watched one leave and another arrive to take its place. Ships arriving have to be turned through ninety degrees which is done by warping. This was then done by dock workers with a rope attached to the each end of the ship.
There has never been a standard gauge railway line bringing china clay to the harbour because it wasn't originally necessary. The china clay arrived at the harbour by pipeline in slurry form and was dried in “dries” adjacent to the harbour from where it could be taken under the road in tunnels on a narrow gauge railway and dumped straight into the holds of the waiting ships down a sloping chute. The chutes were in use until the end of clay exports through the port of Charlestown and were doomed because of the clouds of fine dust released into the air, which was not at all environmentally friendly ! Charlestown is a “floating harbour” which means that water is normally retained in the harbour by a single lock gate. The gate can be lowered into the horizontal position when the water levels each side of the gate have been equalised which in practice (from observation) is about two hours before high water to two hours after high water, allowing boats to sail in and out. The china clay dries closed many decades ago after which all the clay arrived by road. Part of the site of the dries was later used as the Charlestown Shipwreck and Heritage Centre. In 2024 it was announced that the museum was for sale but there may have been no takers as museums are having a tough time at present. Later it was announced that the museum was to close with contents sold by Lay's Auctioneers of Penzance. The auction details say that there are some 8000 artifacts, from 150 shipwrecks, to be auctioned on 6/7/8 November 2024 at Lay's Saleroom in Penzance, with viewing of the artifacts on the four days before the first auction day on site at Charlestown.
The next port to the west was Pentewan which once also exported large volumes of china clay, but suffered continual problems with silting up. The last ship left Pentewan in 1940. Three miles to the east of Charlestown was the Port of Par, which had far more berths than Charlestown. The main commodity dealt with at Par was again china clay but it also imported materials like timber. There was a good view of Par Docks from main line trains and it was possible at times to see more than half a dozen coasters moored up. Par gradually lost out to Fowey as a result of the BR Docks at Fowey being leased to ECLP; the direct railway from Par to Fowey being converted to a haul road for china clay lorries; and the gradual shift to larger cargo ships. The last coaster left Par in 2007, leaving just the Port of Fowey to export china clay to other countries – a job that the port has been doing since 1869, although the history of the harbour goes back at least 400 years before that date.
Charlestown is well worth visiting if you have never been, and for readers living further away who would like a day out by train the village is located just one and a half miles from St. Austell railway station. Read more at the website - http://www.charlestownharbour.com
As copper mining, and later tin mining, declined in Victorian times something arose to take its place and that was the rapid expansion of the mining and export of kaolin or china clay from the huge deposits to the north of St. Austell. As china clay mining declines a new mineral is in demand to takes its place and that is lithium, which is needed for car batteries, and which occurs in the same areas as china clay. The production of lithium took a big leap forward with the opening of a 10,000 tonne per annum demonstration plant to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide in October 2024. The plant is owned by Cornish Lithium and located at Trelavour.
One of the smaller china clay mining companies was owned by the Tregothnan Estates – Tregothnan House is the home of Lord Falmouth. The Company was known as the Goonvean and Rostowrack China Clay Company, later changing the name to just Goonvean; and one of their main sites was at Trelavour mentioned above. Goonvean sold out to Imerys in 2014. It is believed that latterly Goonvean were the only company to use Charlestown Harbour for dispatching china clay but that ceased many years ago (20 to 30 ?). Since then Charlestown has been used as a base for sailing ships. I would call into Charlestown harbour occasionally when passing particularly in the 1970s and 1980s to see what coasters were present and take photographs.
Monday 7 May 1979 was a Bank Holiday. The following day I took a day off work and spent several hours at Charlestown in and around the harbour photographing the comings and goings. I was very lucky and had picked a good day. There were three coasters in port when I arrived at 12.30pm and three when I left five hours later. However I watched one leave and another arrive to take its place. Ships arriving have to be turned through ninety degrees which is done by warping. This was then done by dock workers with a rope attached to the each end of the ship.
There has never been a standard gauge railway line bringing china clay to the harbour because it wasn't originally necessary. The china clay arrived at the harbour by pipeline in slurry form and was dried in “dries” adjacent to the harbour from where it could be taken under the road in tunnels on a narrow gauge railway and dumped straight into the holds of the waiting ships down a sloping chute. The chutes were in use until the end of clay exports through the port of Charlestown and were doomed because of the clouds of fine dust released into the air, which was not at all environmentally friendly ! Charlestown is a “floating harbour” which means that water is normally retained in the harbour by a single lock gate. The gate can be lowered into the horizontal position when the water levels each side of the gate have been equalised which in practice (from observation) is about two hours before high water to two hours after high water, allowing boats to sail in and out. The china clay dries closed many decades ago after which all the clay arrived by road. Part of the site of the dries was later used as the Charlestown Shipwreck and Heritage Centre. In 2024 it was announced that the museum was for sale but there may have been no takers as museums are having a tough time at present. Later it was announced that the museum was to close with contents sold by Lay's Auctioneers of Penzance. The auction details say that there are some 8000 artifacts, from 150 shipwrecks, to be auctioned on 6/7/8 November 2024 at Lay's Saleroom in Penzance, with viewing of the artifacts on the four days before the first auction day on site at Charlestown.
The next port to the west was Pentewan which once also exported large volumes of china clay, but suffered continual problems with silting up. The last ship left Pentewan in 1940. Three miles to the east of Charlestown was the Port of Par, which had far more berths than Charlestown. The main commodity dealt with at Par was again china clay but it also imported materials like timber. There was a good view of Par Docks from main line trains and it was possible at times to see more than half a dozen coasters moored up. Par gradually lost out to Fowey as a result of the BR Docks at Fowey being leased to ECLP; the direct railway from Par to Fowey being converted to a haul road for china clay lorries; and the gradual shift to larger cargo ships. The last coaster left Par in 2007, leaving just the Port of Fowey to export china clay to other countries – a job that the port has been doing since 1869, although the history of the harbour goes back at least 400 years before that date.
Charlestown is well worth visiting if you have never been, and for readers living further away who would like a day out by train the village is located just one and a half miles from St. Austell railway station. Read more at the website - http://www.charlestownharbour.com
My first view of the harbour at 12.30pm on Tuesday 8 May 1979 showing Birte of Plymouth on the left; Anna V on the right and Espero at the far end still being loaded. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A typical lorry of the period dating from 1975/76. This one belonged to Western Express Haulage which was owned by ECLP. Note the chimney of the former china clay dries. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Anna V has moved to the left of the dock to allow Espero to leave. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Espero is warped out of Charlestown. Note the waiting ships in the distance. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Eilean Glas sails into Charlestown. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Eilean Glas sails over the dock gate to enter the inner basin. Note the chimney again. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
A last view looking south-east along the inner basin at 5.20pm on 8 May 1979. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Here is a view of real congestion at Charlestown, some 65 years earlier than when I was there in 1979. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
This diagram explains how the clay moved from the inlet pipe bringing the clay in slurry form through the drying process to the hold of the ship via a narrow gauge railway. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 15
The 10.35am Carmarthen to Aberystwyth
Michael L. Roach
A weekend in October 1964 found me staying just outside Gloucester where I had taken my parents to stay with my Mother's brother and his wife, so I felt free to go off in search of steam in West Wales. Because there was no convenient connecting train, and knowing I would be back very late I opted to drive to Cardiff and park the car at Cardiff General Station rather than Gloucester Station. The cost of parking on the south side of Cardiff General was two shillings (10p). To put that amount into context, I was probably earning around 20 to 22 p an hour at the time. I would have left Twigworth around 05.00 to 05.15 to be sure of getting to Cardiff in time to catch the 07.35 dmu to Carmarthen. In fact, the train departed 11 late and reached Carmarthen 34 late after, doubling its length at Swansea High Street from 3-car to 6-car. Upon arrival at Carmarthen our train mto Aberystwyth was being put together in the bay at the north end of the station used by some trains to Llandeilo as well.
The engine ended up by adding eight empty milk tanks to two passenger coaches with the engine, 7826 Longworth Manor, of Llanelli Shed was way off the end of the platform. There was only nine minutes between our arrival and scheduled departure time at 10.35am so I had no time to go anywhere else on the station to get a view other than that shown in Part 9 image 7720 from the end of the platform. In fact because of all the shunting our train again departed 11 late.
The Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line was single track, 56 miles long, and had just three passenger trains each way Monday to Saturday by this date, 10 October 1964. Passengers trains left Carmarthen at 06.10, 10.35 and 17.50 and Aber at 07.00, 11.55 and 17.40. These trains would normally cross in the passing loops at Tregaron, Strata Florida and Lampeter respectively, although they could cross almost anywhere if running late, as most of the stations had a passing loop and a signal box. Points to note en-route were the freight-only Newcastle Emlyn branch going off at Pencader Junction just north of Pencader Station (14½ miles); the freight-only Aberayron branch going off at Aberayron Junction just north of Lampeter Station (27½ miles); the milk depot and factory alongside Pont Llanio Station (34¾ miles); and the line turning through 90 degrees to the west at Strata Florida Station (42¼ miles) for reasons which will be explained.
The Carmarthen – Pencader – Newcastle Emlyn line was built by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway which never reached Cardigan. The Pencader – Strata Florida – Aberystwyth line was built by the Manchester and Milford Railway. At Strata Florida the line was due to head straight on to Manchester but the line was never built and this was the nearest the line got to Manchester some 140 miles away; it never reached Milford Haven either. Strata Florida to Aber was to be a branch line but became the main line. Both railways were taken over by the Great Western Railway. The M&M opened in sections in 1866 and 1867 (more on Wikipedia). Never having the finance to do what it wanted to do, the company decided that most of its station buildings would be made of prefabricated elements which were then very popular and available from a number of manufacturers. These were the first prefabs and consisted of a timber framework covered on one side with corrugated iron sheets of a panel size that could be transported and handled easily by two or three men. The buildings were particularly popular during the second half of the nineteenth century for village halls and chapels. Many survive and in the most unlikely places; a few years ago I spotted one in a residential road in Harrow, London, but generally they were used in rural areas. The M&M prefab buildings date from about 1866 and there is one to be seen in image 8268 at Pont Llanio. All the M&M examples were demolished when the line closed but just one example survived. Ten years ago, I wrote an article drawing attention to the one derelict example of an M&M corrugated iron station building then just about hanging on waiting for someone to take it on and rejuvenate it. I am happy to report that it has been completely renovated and now looks as good as new and better than it has looked in its 158 year history. More on this station building and Pont Llanio Station in a later instalment.
Our train left Carmarthen at 10.46 (11L) because of all the shunting, and the engine 7826 Longworth Manor coped well with the extra load. The first 14 miles of line to Pencader were particularly curvaceous as the track wound its way along river valleys, so I took several photos out of the drop-down window. Even after that there were still other curves to be used. At Pencader we crossed pannier tank 9677 with six wagons on a southbound freight. At Lampeter Station 4 milk tanks were detached from the train and left in the siding beside the goods shed; this took 3½ minutes. The wagons would be picked up later by a different engine and tripped down to Green Grove Siding, some 7 miles down the 12 mile freight-only branch to Aberayron. The siding had been constructed in 1951 specifically to serve a new milk factory. Our train left Lampeter 12L and carried on to Pont Llanio where the passenger coaches were left in the single platform while the engine detached the remaining four milk tanks; ran into the goods loop in front of the signal box to the north of the platform and left the wagons there. They would later be pulled back into the milk siding using a winch and winch wire. 7826 came back onto its train of two coaches and departed 15½ late, having taken 7 mins to detach the wagons. Later the loaded tanks would be left in the same position in the loop and picked up by a south-bound passenger train by reversing the whole train into the goods loop.
We would later have to wait 9 mins in the loop at Tregaron waiting for the 11.55am from Aber which we should have passed 5 miles further north at Strata Florida had we been on time. The train departed Tregaron 23½ mins late but by dint of slick train working reached Aber just 13½ mins late, after leaving Carmarthen 11½ late. A very creditable performance by the train crew. This was almost certainly one of the most interesting rail trips I ever made. Agricultural produce was the life-blood of the line as some of the other stations dispatched live cattle and sheep by the thousand. This rail traffic continued for a few years after the line closed to passengers in February 1965. I returned a few weeks later to try to repeat the trip but was disappointed to find that the line had been dieselised during those few weeks.
Most of the photos attached to this article show the station at Pont Llanio (Llanio Bridge in English). As old maps show there was very little at Pont Llanio between the arrival of the railway and the first milk depot thirty years later. A bridge over the river, a railwayman's cottage, a post office, one large house and a public house. The station was built principally to serve the village of Llandewi Brefi more than a mile to the south east. The village became famous some twenty years ago as the setting for the BBC comedy series “Little Britain.” Pont Llanio station opened to passengers on 1 September 1866 with the length from Lampeter to Strata Florida and closed to passengers on and from Monday 22 February 1965
The engine ended up by adding eight empty milk tanks to two passenger coaches with the engine, 7826 Longworth Manor, of Llanelli Shed was way off the end of the platform. There was only nine minutes between our arrival and scheduled departure time at 10.35am so I had no time to go anywhere else on the station to get a view other than that shown in Part 9 image 7720 from the end of the platform. In fact because of all the shunting our train again departed 11 late.
The Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line was single track, 56 miles long, and had just three passenger trains each way Monday to Saturday by this date, 10 October 1964. Passengers trains left Carmarthen at 06.10, 10.35 and 17.50 and Aber at 07.00, 11.55 and 17.40. These trains would normally cross in the passing loops at Tregaron, Strata Florida and Lampeter respectively, although they could cross almost anywhere if running late, as most of the stations had a passing loop and a signal box. Points to note en-route were the freight-only Newcastle Emlyn branch going off at Pencader Junction just north of Pencader Station (14½ miles); the freight-only Aberayron branch going off at Aberayron Junction just north of Lampeter Station (27½ miles); the milk depot and factory alongside Pont Llanio Station (34¾ miles); and the line turning through 90 degrees to the west at Strata Florida Station (42¼ miles) for reasons which will be explained.
The Carmarthen – Pencader – Newcastle Emlyn line was built by the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway which never reached Cardigan. The Pencader – Strata Florida – Aberystwyth line was built by the Manchester and Milford Railway. At Strata Florida the line was due to head straight on to Manchester but the line was never built and this was the nearest the line got to Manchester some 140 miles away; it never reached Milford Haven either. Strata Florida to Aber was to be a branch line but became the main line. Both railways were taken over by the Great Western Railway. The M&M opened in sections in 1866 and 1867 (more on Wikipedia). Never having the finance to do what it wanted to do, the company decided that most of its station buildings would be made of prefabricated elements which were then very popular and available from a number of manufacturers. These were the first prefabs and consisted of a timber framework covered on one side with corrugated iron sheets of a panel size that could be transported and handled easily by two or three men. The buildings were particularly popular during the second half of the nineteenth century for village halls and chapels. Many survive and in the most unlikely places; a few years ago I spotted one in a residential road in Harrow, London, but generally they were used in rural areas. The M&M prefab buildings date from about 1866 and there is one to be seen in image 8268 at Pont Llanio. All the M&M examples were demolished when the line closed but just one example survived. Ten years ago, I wrote an article drawing attention to the one derelict example of an M&M corrugated iron station building then just about hanging on waiting for someone to take it on and rejuvenate it. I am happy to report that it has been completely renovated and now looks as good as new and better than it has looked in its 158 year history. More on this station building and Pont Llanio Station in a later instalment.
Our train left Carmarthen at 10.46 (11L) because of all the shunting, and the engine 7826 Longworth Manor coped well with the extra load. The first 14 miles of line to Pencader were particularly curvaceous as the track wound its way along river valleys, so I took several photos out of the drop-down window. Even after that there were still other curves to be used. At Pencader we crossed pannier tank 9677 with six wagons on a southbound freight. At Lampeter Station 4 milk tanks were detached from the train and left in the siding beside the goods shed; this took 3½ minutes. The wagons would be picked up later by a different engine and tripped down to Green Grove Siding, some 7 miles down the 12 mile freight-only branch to Aberayron. The siding had been constructed in 1951 specifically to serve a new milk factory. Our train left Lampeter 12L and carried on to Pont Llanio where the passenger coaches were left in the single platform while the engine detached the remaining four milk tanks; ran into the goods loop in front of the signal box to the north of the platform and left the wagons there. They would later be pulled back into the milk siding using a winch and winch wire. 7826 came back onto its train of two coaches and departed 15½ late, having taken 7 mins to detach the wagons. Later the loaded tanks would be left in the same position in the loop and picked up by a south-bound passenger train by reversing the whole train into the goods loop.
We would later have to wait 9 mins in the loop at Tregaron waiting for the 11.55am from Aber which we should have passed 5 miles further north at Strata Florida had we been on time. The train departed Tregaron 23½ mins late but by dint of slick train working reached Aber just 13½ mins late, after leaving Carmarthen 11½ late. A very creditable performance by the train crew. This was almost certainly one of the most interesting rail trips I ever made. Agricultural produce was the life-blood of the line as some of the other stations dispatched live cattle and sheep by the thousand. This rail traffic continued for a few years after the line closed to passengers in February 1965. I returned a few weeks later to try to repeat the trip but was disappointed to find that the line had been dieselised during those few weeks.
Most of the photos attached to this article show the station at Pont Llanio (Llanio Bridge in English). As old maps show there was very little at Pont Llanio between the arrival of the railway and the first milk depot thirty years later. A bridge over the river, a railwayman's cottage, a post office, one large house and a public house. The station was built principally to serve the village of Llandewi Brefi more than a mile to the south east. The village became famous some twenty years ago as the setting for the BBC comedy series “Little Britain.” Pont Llanio station opened to passengers on 1 September 1866 with the length from Lampeter to Strata Florida and closed to passengers on and from Monday 22 February 1965
7826 heads the train out of the loop at Llanybyther still with the full load of eight tanks as far as Lampeter. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Pont Llanio looking towards Carmarthen. The two coaches have been left in the platform while the engine deposits the four empty milk tanks in the loop. Note the very basic station building. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7826 has returned to its train. Note the signal box, the milk trucks in the loop, and the oil lamp. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Strata Florida showing how it was built on a sharp curve, with the Cambrian Mountains in the background. View taken out of the last window of the last coach. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Our train has arrived at Aberystwyth – the coaches are already being removed by the station pilot. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
7826 is seen on its return working, the 5.40pm Aber to Carm at Pont Llanio. Note the very primitive “gents.” Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking the other way at Pont Llanio it can be seen that we left the carriage door open while we took our photos to ensure we did not get left behind. Had there been any sun it would have set a few minutes earlier. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 16
Tiverton 03.10.1964
Michael L. Roach
This trip was made one week before the trip over the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line described in Part 15. I set out from Plymouth on the 9.15am 3-car dmu. First stop was after just 16 miles at Brent Station for an hour because this was Brent's last day of passenger services before closure. I was probably surprised that there was not more resistance to the closure of the station as Brent is a large village or small town with a present population approaching 3,000 persons. A railway station would be very useful for the residents who work and commute to Plymouth, Totnes, Newton Abbot and Exeter. Just like Okehampton (population 9,000) South Brent is on the edge of Dartmoor, and actually within the Dartmoor National Park Boundary.
I moved on from Brent behind a Warship piloted by a North British Type 2 to Exeter St. Davids where I changed to a 3-car dmu for Tiverton Junction. It was the last day of stopping trains along the line from Exeter to Taunton; and for some reason the dmu stopped for 12 minutes at Cullompton to allow an express to overtake on the through line. The object of the trip was to travel from Tiverton Junction to Tiverton which I did several times on Saturday 3 October 1964. I also walked from Tiverton to Halberton to photograph the halt. The direct route from Exeter to Tiverton and going on to Morebath Junction and Dulverton had already closed exactly one year earlier on the first weekend of October 1963. The shuttle was one of the very few railmotors left in the country at the time and all my trains were operated by 0-4-2 tank 1450 with at first one autocoach (W228) and later two autocoaches (W225 and W228) This was the only steam left on the former GWR west of Taunton; and it was also the last day of passenger services between Tiverton and the Junction. Quite a day for closures, which included Tiverton Junction Shed as well.
At Tiverton Station the shuttle used the former Exeter to Dulverton (north-bound) up platform which was the platform adjacent to the main station buildings. Presumably because there was no direct signalled access to this platform the train had an interesting way of reaching that platform which I did not record at the time, but luckily the Railway Observer did record. The auto arriving from the Junction ran non-stop through the Dulverton to Exeter (south-bound) down platform and out on to the former Exe Valley line and then reversed back into the up platform. This gave passengers a much shorter walk from booking office to train than walking to the bay platform used when all three lines were still open to passengers. At the time of closure, it was quoted that Tiverton with a population of 12,000 was the largest town in Devon without passenger rail services. Sixty years later Tiverton Parkway is considered the railway station for Tiverton and very successful it is too attracting passengers from up to 100 miles or more to the west keen to avoid the low speed of trains on the Cornish main line. So which town in Devon can now claim the title of being the largest by population without a railway station? I think that it is Bideford with a population of well over 18,000 persons and much more with the adjacent towns of Westward Ho! Northam, Appledore and Instow. The present branch to Barnstaple must surely be extended to Bideford in the not-too-distant future.
I moved on from Brent behind a Warship piloted by a North British Type 2 to Exeter St. Davids where I changed to a 3-car dmu for Tiverton Junction. It was the last day of stopping trains along the line from Exeter to Taunton; and for some reason the dmu stopped for 12 minutes at Cullompton to allow an express to overtake on the through line. The object of the trip was to travel from Tiverton Junction to Tiverton which I did several times on Saturday 3 October 1964. I also walked from Tiverton to Halberton to photograph the halt. The direct route from Exeter to Tiverton and going on to Morebath Junction and Dulverton had already closed exactly one year earlier on the first weekend of October 1963. The shuttle was one of the very few railmotors left in the country at the time and all my trains were operated by 0-4-2 tank 1450 with at first one autocoach (W228) and later two autocoaches (W225 and W228) This was the only steam left on the former GWR west of Taunton; and it was also the last day of passenger services between Tiverton and the Junction. Quite a day for closures, which included Tiverton Junction Shed as well.
At Tiverton Station the shuttle used the former Exeter to Dulverton (north-bound) up platform which was the platform adjacent to the main station buildings. Presumably because there was no direct signalled access to this platform the train had an interesting way of reaching that platform which I did not record at the time, but luckily the Railway Observer did record. The auto arriving from the Junction ran non-stop through the Dulverton to Exeter (south-bound) down platform and out on to the former Exe Valley line and then reversed back into the up platform. This gave passengers a much shorter walk from booking office to train than walking to the bay platform used when all three lines were still open to passengers. At the time of closure, it was quoted that Tiverton with a population of 12,000 was the largest town in Devon without passenger rail services. Sixty years later Tiverton Parkway is considered the railway station for Tiverton and very successful it is too attracting passengers from up to 100 miles or more to the west keen to avoid the low speed of trains on the Cornish main line. So which town in Devon can now claim the title of being the largest by population without a railway station? I think that it is Bideford with a population of well over 18,000 persons and much more with the adjacent towns of Westward Ho! Northam, Appledore and Instow. The present branch to Barnstaple must surely be extended to Bideford in the not-too-distant future.
Here we see 1450 having just arrived at Tiverton with the 13.42 from Tiverton Junction on 3 October 1964, but what is the driver or fireman doing with that piece of string? Copyright Michael L. Roach
In this view at Tiverton looking south it can be seen that 1450 has propelled the single autocoach from the Junction. Much of the signage at the station was blue letters on a white background enamelled steel, possibly dating back to 1885 when the station was enlarged to cope with the new lines arriving at the station. Copyright Michael L. Roach
The train stands in the sun looking north. Copyright Michael L. Roach
The station was substantially built with two through platforms and a bay formerly for Tiverton Junction trains at the far end on the right. Copyright Michael L. Roach
In this view looking north it can be seen that the paint is peeling on autocoach W228 beneath the right-hand window. Copyright Michael L. Roach
The forecourt of Tiverton Station looking north with a classic sports car of the time prominent. It may be an Austin Healey 3000. Copyright Michael L. Roach
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 17
Halberton Halt 03.10.1964
Michael L. Roach
In Part 16, I described how I travelled from Plymouth to Tiverton on Saturday 3 October 1964 to witness and photograph the last day of passenger services from Tiverton Junction. The branch was originally broad gauge, 4¾ miles long and was opened in 1848 by the Bristol and Exeter Railway. Journey time was 12 minutes. Roughly half way between the town of Tiverton and the Junction was the village of Halberton, then on the A373, and half a mile north of the railway. The village had to wait 79 years after the opening of the branch before a halt was eventually provide to serve the village. It was the Great Western Railway which provided the short platform during their great halt-building era, to counter road competition.
The unstaffed platform was 109 feet (33 metres) long and had two relatively rare and unusual features. The platform and its waiting shelter were placed directly beneath an overbridge carrying a minor road south from the village, which provided a good walking or cycling route from village to halt. Immediately to the west of the halt, between the track and the railway fence was an orchard extending westwards for several hundred metres. Whether the orchard was deliberately planted or resulted from a regular passenger throwing their apple core out of the window at a similar spot each day is not known. I suspect the latter.
I stayed at Tiverton Station for half an hour and then set out to walk the 2¼ miles (net) to Halberton Halt, probably staying on the minor roads to the south of the railway line. A couple of shots from occupation bridges and then I was at the halt. There was room for the halt under the bridge because the overbridge had been built wide enough for double track which never materialised. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon with lots of sunshine. To the west of the halt the line was in a shallow cutting which has now been filled in and restored to the field it was before construction of the railway. The road bridge remains in-situ. All the trains in this part consist of 1450 and one auto-coach (W228).
The unstaffed platform was 109 feet (33 metres) long and had two relatively rare and unusual features. The platform and its waiting shelter were placed directly beneath an overbridge carrying a minor road south from the village, which provided a good walking or cycling route from village to halt. Immediately to the west of the halt, between the track and the railway fence was an orchard extending westwards for several hundred metres. Whether the orchard was deliberately planted or resulted from a regular passenger throwing their apple core out of the window at a similar spot each day is not known. I suspect the latter.
I stayed at Tiverton Station for half an hour and then set out to walk the 2¼ miles (net) to Halberton Halt, probably staying on the minor roads to the south of the railway line. A couple of shots from occupation bridges and then I was at the halt. There was room for the halt under the bridge because the overbridge had been built wide enough for double track which never materialised. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon with lots of sunshine. To the west of the halt the line was in a shallow cutting which has now been filled in and restored to the field it was before construction of the railway. The road bridge remains in-situ. All the trains in this part consist of 1450 and one auto-coach (W228).
In this photo I am stood on an occupation bridge about one third of a mile west of the Halt and the train is going away from me towards Tiverton. Note the apple trees and the shallow cutting. The time is 3.39pm. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
I have moved eastwards to a second overbridge and am looking east towards the Halt, and again the train is going away from me. The cutting is a bit deeper here, and was necessary because just behind me a short distance away the railway passed beneath the Grand Western Canal dating from 1814. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The auto-train enters Halberton Halt on the 4.15pm from the Junction to Tiverton. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The same train leaves the Halt for Tiverton. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
1450 propels the 4.15pm away from the Halt. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Halberton Halt looking east towards Tiverton Junction. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
1450 approaches Halberton Halt with the 4.35pm from Tiverton which I caught back to the Junction. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 18
Tiverton Junction 03.10.1964
Michael L. Roach
In Part 16 I described how I travelled from Plymouth to Tiverton Junction on Saturday 3 October 1964. Tiverton Junction Station had a poor train service with a gap of several hours in the up direction through the morning. In 1964 one would have changed into a local train at Exeter St. Davids to reach Tiverton Junction. Sixty years later Tiverton Junction's replacement Tiverton Parkway has a wonderful train service and one can travel from Plymouth to Parkway twice an hour by direct train in as little as 73 minutes. TVP has the quite remarkable figure of 526 scheduled train services per week, with a daily average of 1,436 passengers starting or ending their journey there with an average of 19 passengers per service. These figures are quite remarkable for a station that 60 years ago was lucky to survive the withdrawal of the local train service on and from 5 October 1964.
Tiverton Parkway is actually on the site of the former Sampford Peverell Halt closed in October 1964. Tiverton Junction Station was 1¾ miles further south towards Exeter. Tiverton Junction was enlarged in 1932, when some of the stations between Taunton and Exeter received similar treatment, with four lines through each station – two for through trains and two to platform stopping trains. The station closed on and from 12 May 1986, to be replaced by Tiverton Parkway.
After arriving at the Junction from Halberton at 17.07 I made two complete return trips to Tiverton and back that evening. The last scheduled train out of Tiverton on a Saturday was at 20.50. The train departed 1½ minutes late and reached the Junction just half a minute late – quite amazing for a last train; but it was all low-key, as if the residents of Tiverton had already given up on their trains after the withdrawal of their direct trains to Exeter on the Exe Valley Line. There were about two dozen people at Tiverton Station to see the last advertised train depart. All this was hardly surprising when one sees the rotten connecting service from Tiverton Junction. There were no trains off the junction heading north from 7.53 to 13.40; and heading south from 10.21 to 16.55
I thought it would be interesting to look at the ease and expense of getting from Tiverton Town Centre to Paddington by train in Summer 1964; and by bus and train in Autumn 2024. In 1964 one could leave Tiverton Station at 7.05, change at the junction and again at Taunton and arrive in Paddington at 10.55 on The Golden Hind, a journey time of 3 hours 15 mins. The next train off Tiverton with a main line connection was at 13.25 again changing at the junction and Taunton and arriving in Paddington at 16.45 on The Cornish Riviera Express, a journey time of 3 hours 20 mins. Fares from Tiverton were not given, but judging by Exeter and Taunton were about £2.00. In 2024 there is far more choice with a regular hourly bus to Tiverton Parkway Station. Leaving Tiverton Bus Station at 7.05 and changing at Parkway and Taunton one can arrive Paddington at 9.55 on The Golden Hind, a journey time of 2 hours 50 mins for a cost of £121.50 Leaving Tiverton at 13.45 with 20 minutes at Parkway one can travel by direct train to Paddington arriving at 16.29, a journey time of 2 hours 44 mins for a cost of £54.00 The official inflation factor from 1964 to 2024 is 25.4 times so the current fare on some trains of £54 is comparable.
A word about the last image which shows a down express approaching the site of the later Tiverton Parkway Station under an original Bristol & Exeter Railway overbridge dating from 1843. The bridge has been replaced with a modern structure carrying the dual-carriageway North Devon Link Road from the adjacent Junction 27 on the M5 Motorway. The newer bridge can be seen from the platforms at Tiverton Parkway.
Tiverton Parkway is actually on the site of the former Sampford Peverell Halt closed in October 1964. Tiverton Junction Station was 1¾ miles further south towards Exeter. Tiverton Junction was enlarged in 1932, when some of the stations between Taunton and Exeter received similar treatment, with four lines through each station – two for through trains and two to platform stopping trains. The station closed on and from 12 May 1986, to be replaced by Tiverton Parkway.
After arriving at the Junction from Halberton at 17.07 I made two complete return trips to Tiverton and back that evening. The last scheduled train out of Tiverton on a Saturday was at 20.50. The train departed 1½ minutes late and reached the Junction just half a minute late – quite amazing for a last train; but it was all low-key, as if the residents of Tiverton had already given up on their trains after the withdrawal of their direct trains to Exeter on the Exe Valley Line. There were about two dozen people at Tiverton Station to see the last advertised train depart. All this was hardly surprising when one sees the rotten connecting service from Tiverton Junction. There were no trains off the junction heading north from 7.53 to 13.40; and heading south from 10.21 to 16.55
I thought it would be interesting to look at the ease and expense of getting from Tiverton Town Centre to Paddington by train in Summer 1964; and by bus and train in Autumn 2024. In 1964 one could leave Tiverton Station at 7.05, change at the junction and again at Taunton and arrive in Paddington at 10.55 on The Golden Hind, a journey time of 3 hours 15 mins. The next train off Tiverton with a main line connection was at 13.25 again changing at the junction and Taunton and arriving in Paddington at 16.45 on The Cornish Riviera Express, a journey time of 3 hours 20 mins. Fares from Tiverton were not given, but judging by Exeter and Taunton were about £2.00. In 2024 there is far more choice with a regular hourly bus to Tiverton Parkway Station. Leaving Tiverton Bus Station at 7.05 and changing at Parkway and Taunton one can arrive Paddington at 9.55 on The Golden Hind, a journey time of 2 hours 50 mins for a cost of £121.50 Leaving Tiverton at 13.45 with 20 minutes at Parkway one can travel by direct train to Paddington arriving at 16.29, a journey time of 2 hours 44 mins for a cost of £54.00 The official inflation factor from 1964 to 2024 is 25.4 times so the current fare on some trains of £54 is comparable.
A word about the last image which shows a down express approaching the site of the later Tiverton Parkway Station under an original Bristol & Exeter Railway overbridge dating from 1843. The bridge has been replaced with a modern structure carrying the dual-carriageway North Devon Link Road from the adjacent Junction 27 on the M5 Motorway. The newer bridge can be seen from the platforms at Tiverton Parkway.
1450 is seen at Tiverton Junction on 3 October 1964 soon after arriving from Tiverton at 4.49pm. It has left W228 in the platform and is going off to collect another auto-coach. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
1450 returns with the second autocoach. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
1450 propels W225 down towards W228. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Looking north at Tiverton Junction on 3 October 1964. The huge running in board previously read “Change for Exe Valley and Culm Valley Branches”. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
The first train of two auto-coaches leaves for Tiverton at 5.07pm. I am standing behind the signal box. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Tiverton Junction looking north on 7 July 1984 two years before closure. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Note the unusual point rod cranking as an express speeds through on the up main line 7 July 1984. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Warship 814 Dragon on the 08.50 Liverpool to Plymouth express of 13 coaches approaches the later site of Tiverton Parkway Station at high speed at 14.34 on 29 November 1969, running about 10 late. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 18A
Goodbye to Steam July 1964
Michael L. Roach
It was while completing Part 18 (click here), that I came across an article which will compliment Parts 16 to 18 about the last day of passenger services between Tiverton Junction and Tiverton on Saturday 3 October 1964. The article was by Russell Leitch and appeared in The Railway Observer. Here I am just going to quote a paragraph relevant to the Taunton - Exeter area. Later I may quote more of the article in a different context. I think that contemporary information is normally better than the same information being given out for the umpteenth time.
Russell Leitch was a Plymouth rail enthusiast born on 23 February 1916 and in 1939 he worked for the Plymouth & Stonehouse Gas Company whose gas works was alongside the GWR's Sutton Harbour Branch. He was active recording the locomotives and train workings in the Plymouth area throughout the nineteen thirties with his bunch of like-minded friends. It was said that at least one of them visited Laira engine shed every single day. It was Russell Leitch who brought all these records together in a book titled “Plymouth's Railways in the 1930's” with many photos of the trains themselves forming a wonderful record of, what, with hindsight, turned out to be the heyday and most glamorous period of the increasingly confident Great Western Railway. However the Southern Railway trains in the Plymouth area were not forgotten in the book which is highly recommended and can be purchased at modest cost. The gas industry was nationalised in 1949 and soon after Russell Leitch moved to Keynsham presumably to work at the head office of South West Gas in Bath. Many decades later he wrote a book titled “The Railways of Keynsham” which covered a much wider time span than his earlier Plymouth book.
Quote from The Passing Scene – Devonshire – July 1964 (Railway Observer December 1964):
“Travelling down to Devon by the Western Region route nowadays one really says good-bye to steam at Taunton, and even here, the shed is at the time of writing but a shadow of what it was a few months ago. The only steam seen on recent visits has been restricted to the Barnstaple branch and a transfer trip to Bridgwater which has been worked by pannier tank 9647 plus two odd occasions when a 28xx was seen on the down cement block train [note 1] and Grange 6803 seen standing at Norton Fitzwarren station. By the time one reaches Exeter one sees the first sign of integration of Western and Southern operations, motive power and rolling stock. It used to be at Exeter that there were two railways, or two regions, but never the twain did meet, except for the closely defined running powers of the Southern through St. Davids. It was therefore, a sign of the times when three GWR rail motor cars (still in capital stock) were in and around the Central carriage sidings, keeping company with two corridors , one in maroon, and one in chocolate and cream. Conversely, condemned SR green stock, prefixed W was at St. Davids and the old GW motive power depot was host to condemned SR Moguls and a West Country Pacific.”
Note 1: At this time there was a large cement silo in the goods yard to the north of the platforms at Exeter Central Station. This received regular block trains from Westbury Cement Works but also from Plymstock Cement Works at Plymouth. The trains from Plymstock were diesel-hauled but those from Westbury remained steam-hauled right through the summer of 1964 despite the nominal ban on the use of steam engines south west of Taunton on the ex-GWR main line. The RO earlier recorded other classes working the Westbury cement train. On 2 May 1964 it was 2-8-0 no. 4707 of Old Oak Common Shed on the cement just a few days before withdrawal; and on 27 June it was 4978 Westwood Hall of Westbury Shed. The RO recorded that even with three assisting locomotives 4978 only just managed to reach the top of the 1 in 37 incline from St. Davids to Central.
Russell Leitch was a Plymouth rail enthusiast born on 23 February 1916 and in 1939 he worked for the Plymouth & Stonehouse Gas Company whose gas works was alongside the GWR's Sutton Harbour Branch. He was active recording the locomotives and train workings in the Plymouth area throughout the nineteen thirties with his bunch of like-minded friends. It was said that at least one of them visited Laira engine shed every single day. It was Russell Leitch who brought all these records together in a book titled “Plymouth's Railways in the 1930's” with many photos of the trains themselves forming a wonderful record of, what, with hindsight, turned out to be the heyday and most glamorous period of the increasingly confident Great Western Railway. However the Southern Railway trains in the Plymouth area were not forgotten in the book which is highly recommended and can be purchased at modest cost. The gas industry was nationalised in 1949 and soon after Russell Leitch moved to Keynsham presumably to work at the head office of South West Gas in Bath. Many decades later he wrote a book titled “The Railways of Keynsham” which covered a much wider time span than his earlier Plymouth book.
Quote from The Passing Scene – Devonshire – July 1964 (Railway Observer December 1964):
“Travelling down to Devon by the Western Region route nowadays one really says good-bye to steam at Taunton, and even here, the shed is at the time of writing but a shadow of what it was a few months ago. The only steam seen on recent visits has been restricted to the Barnstaple branch and a transfer trip to Bridgwater which has been worked by pannier tank 9647 plus two odd occasions when a 28xx was seen on the down cement block train [note 1] and Grange 6803 seen standing at Norton Fitzwarren station. By the time one reaches Exeter one sees the first sign of integration of Western and Southern operations, motive power and rolling stock. It used to be at Exeter that there were two railways, or two regions, but never the twain did meet, except for the closely defined running powers of the Southern through St. Davids. It was therefore, a sign of the times when three GWR rail motor cars (still in capital stock) were in and around the Central carriage sidings, keeping company with two corridors , one in maroon, and one in chocolate and cream. Conversely, condemned SR green stock, prefixed W was at St. Davids and the old GW motive power depot was host to condemned SR Moguls and a West Country Pacific.”
Note 1: At this time there was a large cement silo in the goods yard to the north of the platforms at Exeter Central Station. This received regular block trains from Westbury Cement Works but also from Plymstock Cement Works at Plymouth. The trains from Plymstock were diesel-hauled but those from Westbury remained steam-hauled right through the summer of 1964 despite the nominal ban on the use of steam engines south west of Taunton on the ex-GWR main line. The RO earlier recorded other classes working the Westbury cement train. On 2 May 1964 it was 2-8-0 no. 4707 of Old Oak Common Shed on the cement just a few days before withdrawal; and on 27 June it was 4978 Westwood Hall of Westbury Shed. The RO recorded that even with three assisting locomotives 4978 only just managed to reach the top of the 1 in 37 incline from St. Davids to Central.
Here we see the Plymstock to Exeter Central cement train at Filham, just east of Ivybridge, hauled by a Western class diesel. The time is 18.42 on 31 July 1970. I am stood in Palace Lane but this gateway is now lost in vegetation. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
NINETEEN SIXTY FOUR – PART 19
The Cattewater Branch and Wharves (1)
Michael L. Roach
It was in 1956 that I acquired my first bicycle and rather than walking or catching the bus to Laira Shed I would cycle there regularly. In summer this would often be in the evening and the bike would give me the flexibility to go on to Friary Shed as well. I would also regularly cycle around the commercial docks of The Cattewater, Victoria Wharves, Sutton Harbour and Millbay Docks to view the ships moored up. Sutton Harbour has not received any boats bringing coal from the north-east for the gas works since the conversion to natural gas in 1971; and Millbay Docks now deals mainly and perhaps exclusively with cross-channel ferry traffic; leaving the Cattewater and Victoria Wharves to receive a regular stream of cargo ships. One of the main exports is china clay through Victoria Wharves. The main imports are oil and cement through Cattewater Wharves. The cement comes from Spain while the oil products come from all over Europe with some from British ports. At present there are six large oil refineries in the UK but this figure will reduce to five when the Petroineos refinery at Grangemouth closes in 2025 or 2026. Occasional loads of refined product are received from Stanlow on the Mersey and the refineries at Immingham. The refinery at Pembroke, on the south side of the Milford Haven estuary, sends regular ship-loads to the Cattewater. The refinery is owned by Valero Energy of San Antonio, Texas who have a depot and tank farm a short distance from Cattewater Wharves. After several months of watching I have not witnessed the Exxon Mobil refinery at Fawley send a single ship-load of oil to The Cattewater. The total capacity of the British oil refineries is 58M tonnes per annum.
It was in 1957 that I acquired my first camera and started photographing railways. Although a few years later I started taking an interest in other forms of transport and landscapes it was railways that were the subject matter of ninety percent of my transport photos right through the nineteen sixties and seventies.
The history of Plymouth goes back thousands of years but it was only in 1928 that it became a city. For the next 50 years the eastern boundary of the City was the River Plym which had been used for navigation in its lower reaches. As the river silted up the quays and wharves moved downstream to The Cattewater which is the name given to the last 1½ miles of the River Plym below Laira Bridge until it flows into Plymouth Sound. On the south side of The Cattewater is the village of Turnchapel which once had a branchline railway terminating on the edge of the village, closed to passengers on and from 10 September 1951. On the north side of the Cattewater lies a ridge of limestone which was extensively quarried over a long period to provide building stone for the area. The grey limestone can still be seen on many public buildings in Plymouth. This area of about half a mile east-west and quarter mile north-south was later developed as an area for heavy industry as the quarries declined. There were only a handful of houses in the area and most of these were demolished as the industries advanced. The industries that gravitated to this area comprised almost every type of smelly, polluting and undesirable industry imaginable; e.g. Chemical works, glue factory, tannery, oil depots, tar distillery, gas works, lime kilns, cement works, manure factory, refuse destructor, power station etc. The ones I particularly remember from the 1950s and 1960s are the glue factory because of the awful smells, the metal bashers who were putting together structural steel (still using rivets perhaps), and the tar distillery again because of the smell. The number of factories is now greatly reduced but the oil depots have lived on through all the changes.
The first railway to enter this area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor which opened in 1823 but not to The Cattewater at first, followed by the LSWR which worked the P&D from 1880 and later built its own freight-only branch through the area avoiding the existing factories and works – hence the need for sweeping curves and tunnels through the remaining outcrops of limestone. The Cattewater Branch started at Cattewater Junction just over half a mile from Friary Station on the route to Plymstock and Turnchapel. The Branch served numerous sidings and depots en-route and finished at the gates of the privately-owned Victoria Wharves. In steam days the normal motive power for the Cattewater goods was the B4 0-4-0 tank class a design dating back to 1890 and built at the LSWR's own Nine Elms Works. The LSWR built its own goods station a short distance before the line crossed Cattewater Road on a level crossing. The Cattewater as a harbour dates back to at least 1708. A short distance inland from Cattewater Wharves are a couple of major tank farms and oil depots. Sixty years ago they were owned by Shell/BP (jointly) and Esso but now they have been sold on to Valero of Texas and Greenergy, a leading supplier of biofuels, recently taken over by a firm called Trafigura in August 2024.
When I first started going along the public road past Cattewater Wharves in the late 1950s it was a fascinating place. There was the railway line wending its way between buildings and through a series of unlined tunnels and across the road going on to Victoria Wharves; sidings everywhere; and small groups of parked rail wagons. There was little security in those far off days and I was able to take photos almost wherever I wanted. Most of the photos shown here were taken in the vicinity of the level crossing where the Cattewater Branch crossed from the north side to the south side of Cattewater Road at the west end of the main Cattewater Wharf. On the Wharf itself a railway line ran along the edge of the wharf connected to the branch at both ends to allow direct transfer of goods from ship to railway wagon. Some of the maps on the NLS website show the situation in the 1860s before the Cattewater Branch was built and the only railway in the area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor.
It was in 1957 that I acquired my first camera and started photographing railways. Although a few years later I started taking an interest in other forms of transport and landscapes it was railways that were the subject matter of ninety percent of my transport photos right through the nineteen sixties and seventies.
The history of Plymouth goes back thousands of years but it was only in 1928 that it became a city. For the next 50 years the eastern boundary of the City was the River Plym which had been used for navigation in its lower reaches. As the river silted up the quays and wharves moved downstream to The Cattewater which is the name given to the last 1½ miles of the River Plym below Laira Bridge until it flows into Plymouth Sound. On the south side of The Cattewater is the village of Turnchapel which once had a branchline railway terminating on the edge of the village, closed to passengers on and from 10 September 1951. On the north side of the Cattewater lies a ridge of limestone which was extensively quarried over a long period to provide building stone for the area. The grey limestone can still be seen on many public buildings in Plymouth. This area of about half a mile east-west and quarter mile north-south was later developed as an area for heavy industry as the quarries declined. There were only a handful of houses in the area and most of these were demolished as the industries advanced. The industries that gravitated to this area comprised almost every type of smelly, polluting and undesirable industry imaginable; e.g. Chemical works, glue factory, tannery, oil depots, tar distillery, gas works, lime kilns, cement works, manure factory, refuse destructor, power station etc. The ones I particularly remember from the 1950s and 1960s are the glue factory because of the awful smells, the metal bashers who were putting together structural steel (still using rivets perhaps), and the tar distillery again because of the smell. The number of factories is now greatly reduced but the oil depots have lived on through all the changes.
The first railway to enter this area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor which opened in 1823 but not to The Cattewater at first, followed by the LSWR which worked the P&D from 1880 and later built its own freight-only branch through the area avoiding the existing factories and works – hence the need for sweeping curves and tunnels through the remaining outcrops of limestone. The Cattewater Branch started at Cattewater Junction just over half a mile from Friary Station on the route to Plymstock and Turnchapel. The Branch served numerous sidings and depots en-route and finished at the gates of the privately-owned Victoria Wharves. In steam days the normal motive power for the Cattewater goods was the B4 0-4-0 tank class a design dating back to 1890 and built at the LSWR's own Nine Elms Works. The LSWR built its own goods station a short distance before the line crossed Cattewater Road on a level crossing. The Cattewater as a harbour dates back to at least 1708. A short distance inland from Cattewater Wharves are a couple of major tank farms and oil depots. Sixty years ago they were owned by Shell/BP (jointly) and Esso but now they have been sold on to Valero of Texas and Greenergy, a leading supplier of biofuels, recently taken over by a firm called Trafigura in August 2024.
When I first started going along the public road past Cattewater Wharves in the late 1950s it was a fascinating place. There was the railway line wending its way between buildings and through a series of unlined tunnels and across the road going on to Victoria Wharves; sidings everywhere; and small groups of parked rail wagons. There was little security in those far off days and I was able to take photos almost wherever I wanted. Most of the photos shown here were taken in the vicinity of the level crossing where the Cattewater Branch crossed from the north side to the south side of Cattewater Road at the west end of the main Cattewater Wharf. On the Wharf itself a railway line ran along the edge of the wharf connected to the branch at both ends to allow direct transfer of goods from ship to railway wagon. Some of the maps on the NLS website show the situation in the 1860s before the Cattewater Branch was built and the only railway in the area was the Plymouth & Dartmoor.
Oil tanker Vally and Esso rail tankers at Cattewater on 6 August 1959. Vally is facing the opposite way to what has been normal for many many years. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Eighteen years later and there is a line-up of Esso tankers in the same place as 1959. All five tankers were built in 1964; the two at the left end were empty and had arrived from Penzance MPD. The three on the right had arrived from Inverness Harbour with Avgas. The wall in the foreground is built of the locally quarried limestone and the date is Saturday 11 June 1977. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Standard 14-ton oil tank wagon belonging to Shell/BP and first registered by the GWR in December 1940 at the Cattewater goods station on 23 May 1970. This is the type of wagon that would then have been used to carry oil products to numerous small rail-connected oil depots like Quintrell Downs. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Bridgeman has brought oil products to Cattewater Wharf on 2 September 1978. Note the bow thruster. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
Unloading coal from Blackthorn on Sunday 28 October 1979. The coal was for Plymstock cement works which has since closed. The cement works was only about one kilometre away from the wharf as the crow flies, but probably twice as far by road. Note the rails set in the road surface. Copyright Michael L. Roach.
BGL 633 V is a new Foden less than three months old. Before leaving the driver executed a shake-down stop to remove any loose coal from the bodywork. Copyright Michael L. Roach.