It is reported that 2 Five Car IEP units will be arriving at Penzance on Thursday morning at 11.01hrs and departing again at 12.47
Full information is now shown on realtime trains
David Tozer
Roger Geach
John Cornelius
Two 5 car IEPs to Penzance A first for Cornwall It is reported that 2 Five Car IEP units will be arriving at Penzance on Thursday morning at 11.01hrs and departing again at 12.47 Full information is now shown on realtime trains Eastleigh Freight David Tozer Four from Roger Geach Three Arch Bridge is about a mile west of Totnes on the steep bank. Minehead
John Cornelius St Erth Station On a quiet Sunday Evening Roger Winnen Memories of the Somerset & Dorset Michael Forward Eastleigh & Southampton David Tozer If anybody has 'older' pictures of the Salisbury - Southampton route and would like to share them then that is the section we'll next be covering. Penzance 75 Roger Winnen Cranmore
John Cornelius Chris Harvey Near Liskeard Tornado + 66 Roger Aston Ron Westwater Out and about. Steam late, HST Fire. Ken Mumford 43004 had a fire which caused the Fire Brigade to attend. Which meant the up & down had to be shut to allow them to run their hose across the lines from west car park! Many thanks to Ken Mumford and Colin Pidgeon for this report and pictures. Yesterday at Bugle What a contrast! Roger Winnen Summer Saturday at Bugle 19th June 1976 Roger Winnen Busy Saturday Craig Munday Looe failure Craig Munday 153318 failed at Looe this week, and arrangements made to assist with 150104 from main line duties. I was tasked with bringing the staff from the failed train back to Coombe no. 1 ground frame to allow the assisting unit on to the single line. One of the few occasions when the staff does NOT remain with the failed train. The three detonators certainly made a racket across the river at Looe as the assisting unit approached. Cheers Craig. Many thanks Craig - it's great to have a report such as this from you. Plymouth
John Cornelius Today on the WSR Roger Aston Wadebridge Event A report by Andrew Jones Dear Keith, please find attached photographs of an event held in Wadebridge Town Hall, today, the 17th June 2017, titled 'Sir Williams Bright Idea' by Nicola Wills. A drama was enacted, to a packed audience, in 4 scenes depicting the inception of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway from 1810 to 1834. There were a number of stands including a very realistic N gauge layout of Wadebridge station. A good time was had by all ! Best wishes Andrew Many thanks, Andrew, for this very interesting report. Redruth Footbridge Roy Hart Dear Keith, I know little about St Erth footbridge beyond what you say. However... dld you know the story of Redruth footbridge? In the mid-1960s, the newly-renamed 'British Rail' established its new blue and grey corporate image and Redruth station was (I think) the first in the county to get the treatment. The footbridge carried the legend '1888' together with some decorative metal scrollwork. This was all stripped off and scrapped because it did not match with the image of a modern, go-ahead railway, leaving ugly scars and holes on the bridge. So it remained until 28th September 1987, when the bridge was listed (together with the down side waiting room , also 1888). English Heritage listing 66866. Rapid replacement of metal and scrollwork with replicas. Well, would you believe it! Roy Swindon '64
John Cornelius Todays WSR Pictures Roger Aston Many thanks Roger SOME NOTES ON THE CORNWALL RESIGNALLING, PHASE 1. Many thanks to Roy Hart for these very interesting notes. In 1948, at the time of nationalisation, there were no less than eight signal boxes between Camborne and Drump Lane, Redruth (nine if North Crofty is counted). Between Drump Lane and Truro were four more. Thus, it was possible to have many trains in transit between Camborne and Truro; some of the block sections were very short, but line capacity was enough to sustain the variety of passenger, perishable, mail and freight traffic which characterised the Cornish main line. By 1970, when Camborne box closed, there were still four block sections between Roskear and Truro, plus the IBS at Baldhu: theoretically, five trains could be held in transit between Camborne and Truro. Today, Roskear Junction Up Home signal, at the end of Camborne up platform, is the last ‘stop’ signal before Truro Up Home, near Penwithers: one train capacity! In the down direction, Baldhu IBS (Intermediate Block Signals –in effect an extra block section) remains, controlled by Truro, which permits two trains between Truro and Roskear, with a third train at Camborne station. The new plan, for which the contract has been let, is for the installation of an OCS (One Control Switch) panel at Roskear Junction, which will control a series of (mostly) 2-aspect colour light signals between Baldhu and Hayle. At present, the Roskear Junction signals are controlled by individual switches on the shelf –a leftover from when the old (1895) lever frame was condemned, having failed a test of the interlocking some years back. The OCS panel combines signal switches with visual display whereby the signaller will have a display of all movements between Truro (exclusive) and St Erth (exclusive). Truro and St Erth will retain their present signalling for now. The original master plan was for the entire Cornish main line, along with Bristol, Westbury, Exeter and Plymouth panel boxes in their entirety, to be absorbed by the new Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot; it now seems more likely that a modified Exeter panel will eventually take over the work of the existing Exeter panel, plus Plymouth panel and the remaining seven boxes in Cornwall. Roy Hart Many thanks indeed Roy for your reminders of the past and a glimpse of the future. GWR IEP Hitachi Azuma John Simmons Good afternoon, I have not contributed before but thought some pictures I have taken today 15 June of the new Hitachi Azuma 800 trains may be of interest. Today (15th June 2017) at Taunton, 2 test trains from London/Swindon to Taunton in full GWR livery arrived almost together. Set 800003 named Queen Elizabeth 11 one end & Queen Victoria the other end Set 800004 named Isambard Kingdom Brunel one end & Sir Daniel Gooch the other end I managed to take some interior shots through the windows, it looks mostly various shades of grey. Regards John Simons PS I enjoy what I see on your website. Many thanks John, and welcome to the website. Weymouth Shed
John Cornelius The Somerset & Dorset Railway in 1992 Michael Forward Taunton
John Cornelius A Rare Event as D6757 hauls a test train to St Ives in daylight hours Photographs by Andrew Triggs and Roger Winnen This train was the 3Q52 22.29 Exeter Riverside to Penzance via Gunnislake to Penzance then St Ives before returning to Penzance. (The section between Bere Alston to Gunnislake was omitted) More photographs will be found in the features pages of this train The Railway at Bude What little remains today! Roger Winnen Having not been to Bude for many years I decided to plan a trip using public transport via Liskeard, Launceston to Bude and returning via Plymouth. Travel via Liskeard is only available Mondays to Fridays. Group Travel Route 236 Opposite Liskeard Station adjacent to the Stag Inn 11.27 Launceston Westgate Street 12.15 then Stagecoach Route 6a from Westgate Street at 12.30 arriving Bude Strand 13.12. Return from Bude Strand at 15.20 on Plymouth City Bus 12b route arriving at Plymouth Railway Station at 17.52 On Saturdays the only route available is via Plymouth. New Signalling on Cornish Main Line Roy Hart and Nigel Tregoning Dear Keith, I note from Network Rail's site and elsewhere, that the contract for phase 1 of the Cornwall resignalling has been let to Atkins Engineering. The contract is worth 9 million and is for the St Erth - Truro section. It is designed to facilitate 2 trains per hour west of Plymouth from December 2018 and includes the provision of '12 new signals and the upgrading of 7 level crossings'. I believe that this will take the form of extra signals controlled from Roskear Junction by a miniature panel there. http://www.railstaff.uk/2017/06/12atki...cornwall/ Once on this website click into UK Rail News and scroll down All the best, Roy Many thanks to you Roy and also to Nigel Tregoning who also advised us of this interesting development. Semaphores Andrew Jones Andrew sends us a couple of reminders of Exeter St Davids in the 1980 and very recent pictures of semaphores which are fortunately still in use on a preserved railway. This railway is really out of our area of coverage. Nevertheless Andrew, many thanks. West Somerset Gala June 2017 John Ball & John Cornelius For more pictures of this busy weekend see Features - click here Taunton
John Cornelius Blackpool Dries at Burngullow Looking rather rundown since its closure! Roger Winnen There is no drying or loading of China Clay at Burngullow these days. The only trains to pass by the complex are racks of CDAs etc and Cargo Vans from Parkandillack and Kernick Dries at Treviscoe. Since the withdrawal of the Silver Bullets to Scotland, Blackpool Dries has ceased to operate. Those large silos at the end of the complex have never been used, and word has it that £1,000,000 would be needed to demolish them. Tornado Secret Movement Guy Vincent Brand New at Bristol Guy Vincent Hello Keith, I happened to be at Temple Meads at just the right time yesterday (9th) to catch sight of one of the new Class 800 Hitachi super express trains currently being built and delivered for GWR. This one (800003) was on a Bristol-Taunton-Bristol-Swindon demonstration and training run and, fortunately for me, it was running late enabling a couple of photos to be grabbed before it departed eastwards. Obviously it was working on diesel power but was surprisingly quiet. You can see that the general theme of the older Voyagers and Pendolinos has been continued in the design of the exterior, and especially that of the 1990s Eurostar and later class 395 'Javelin' sets. Before too long these will be in everyday service and the HSTs will start disappearing fast. Time to get out and start recording them before they go! Guy V Many thanks indeed Guy. Westbury loses 08 Guy Vincent Keith, Worth bringing to your notice is that the last remaining class 08 shunter at Westbury, 08799, departed by road on the morning of Wednesday 7th for further storage at the East Kent Railway. Now owned by the Harry Needle Railway Co. it was stored by previous owners DB Cargo in December 2015. This was because it was due for a D exam however this was not authorised as the freight company decided to dispense with their shunter fleet and use mainline locos for such duties instead. To the best of my knowledge this means Westbury is without a class 08 shunter for the first time in about 60 years. Two pics attached, one taken in March 2017 when 08799 was stored at the end of a siding in Westbury's 'new sidings' on the down side, and the second grabbed from the window of a passing train on the morning of June 7th, just a couple of hours before it was loaded for removal to Kent. Guy V Many thanks Guy. Dunball Wharf Brian Pibworth Good Afternoon Keith, My eye was caught by a recent item, from Colin Burges, regarding Dunball Wharf. In 2008 we were travelling North on the M5 when we saw what appeared to be a ship's bridge and accommodation standing behind a hedge, We thought this might be a left-over carnival cart (dinosaurs and camels are not unknown in this area!) but a bit of map work pointed strongly to Dunball Wharf and an unloading dredger. We returned the next week and took this shot from the West bank of the Parrett, of "Arco Dart" unloading between tides. We've never seen another ship from the motorway and are not even sure how often the wharf is used for this traffic. With kind regards, Brian Thank you Brian, We're not really into 'ships' - however it is very interesting to know the wharf is still in use and we like your comments re dinosaurs. Williton
John Cornelius The Crazy world of our Privatised Railway David Tozer Nothing unusual about a 158 at Pinhoe, except this was the 08.52 Salisbury TRSMD to Loughborough (Brush) with 158885 via Exeter!!!!!! It will be of interest as to the livery it is given whilst at Brush! Night Riviera at Saveock. |
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