Bridgwater & Cogload
Bill Elston
Bill Elston
I travelled over to Bridgwater today to catch the Bridgwater to Crewe Coal sidings nuclear waste train.6M63.
This was hauled by bimode 88007 Electra, and 68007 Valiant ('Bonding' at Bridgwater ?? )
On my way home I called in at Cogload Jct for the Penz to Cf working 2U20 t/t 43156 and 43004.
Best wishes, Bill Elston
This was hauled by bimode 88007 Electra, and 68007 Valiant ('Bonding' at Bridgwater ?? )
On my way home I called in at Cogload Jct for the Penz to Cf working 2U20 t/t 43156 and 43004.
Best wishes, Bill Elston
88007+68007 in the sidings at Bridgwater. 27th November 2023 Copyright Bill Elston
88007+68007 back out on the main line. Bridgwater. 27th November 2023 Copyright Bill Elston
88007+68007 just about to leave. Bridgwater. 27th November 2023 Copyright Bill Elston
43156 approaches Cogload. 27th November 2023. Copyright Bill Elston.
A nice view of the down main from Bristol rising up to cross over the direct lines from Reading. Cogload. 27th November 2023. Copyright Bill Elston.
Many thanks Bill.
NINETEEN SIXTY TWO
PART 53
Michael L. Roach
PART 53
Michael L. Roach
Devonport Kings Road Station (2)
Kings Road was converted to a through station on 12 May 1890 when trains started to arrive at the west end of the station over the double track of the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway from Lydford. The trains were operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of a route from Waterloo to Plymouth Friary, via Okehampton and Lydford. There were two main platforms with a short east-facing bay on the south side which was unlikely to have seen much passenger use after it became a through station as all trains from Friary were travelling as least as far as St. Budeaux.
The main station buildings were constructed on the north side of the line, parallel to but at lower level to Paradise Road which is one of the main routes from Plymouth to Devonport, both then and now. There were sloping station approach roads from Paradise Road to the main entrance from the east and the west. The layout at Friary Station was very similar, but the station buildings were more impressive at Kings Road. In a way it was quite strange that British Railways should choose to call the station Kings Road in 1949 because Kings Road was on the south side of the station with only a secondary entrance to the station.
For the last few years Devonport Kings Road was only open for freight and final closure came on 7 March 1971 when the station, the line to Stonehouse Pool and the line from Kings Road to Devonport Junction were closed and later lifted. The whole area was redeveloped but the two station approach roads remain in use, are now public roads, and may be viewed on streetview.
One almost unique feature of the track layout at Kings Road was that the 76 chain Stonehouse Pool Branch to Ocean Quay on the River Tamar started from a junction in the middle of the goods yard and then descended steeply into a tunnel which started at the centre of the goods shed. Plymouth Friary station had a very similar layout for the start of the LSWR's Sutton Harbour Branch. The line opened to passengers on 9 April 1904 but the service was only for boat trains carrying passengers disembarking from ocean liners in Plymouth Sound in competition with the similar service offered by the GWR. To the best of my knowledge there was never a scheduled passenger service over the branch. The service only lasted until 28 May 1910. The rail disaster at Salisbury on 1 July 1906 when a boat train from Plymouth left the rails and 28 died, severely knocked confudence in the LSWR service for ocean passengers. A later agreement with the GWR saw the LSWR give up running boat trains but goods trains continued running to Ocean Quay for another 60 years. Again there is a very good history of the branch on the Old Devonport website.
One of the classes of steam engine passing through Devonport Kings Road regularly for many decades was the T9 class which we will look at in the next part of the series.
MLR / 25 November 2023
Kings Road was converted to a through station on 12 May 1890 when trains started to arrive at the west end of the station over the double track of the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway from Lydford. The trains were operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of a route from Waterloo to Plymouth Friary, via Okehampton and Lydford. There were two main platforms with a short east-facing bay on the south side which was unlikely to have seen much passenger use after it became a through station as all trains from Friary were travelling as least as far as St. Budeaux.
The main station buildings were constructed on the north side of the line, parallel to but at lower level to Paradise Road which is one of the main routes from Plymouth to Devonport, both then and now. There were sloping station approach roads from Paradise Road to the main entrance from the east and the west. The layout at Friary Station was very similar, but the station buildings were more impressive at Kings Road. In a way it was quite strange that British Railways should choose to call the station Kings Road in 1949 because Kings Road was on the south side of the station with only a secondary entrance to the station.
For the last few years Devonport Kings Road was only open for freight and final closure came on 7 March 1971 when the station, the line to Stonehouse Pool and the line from Kings Road to Devonport Junction were closed and later lifted. The whole area was redeveloped but the two station approach roads remain in use, are now public roads, and may be viewed on streetview.
One almost unique feature of the track layout at Kings Road was that the 76 chain Stonehouse Pool Branch to Ocean Quay on the River Tamar started from a junction in the middle of the goods yard and then descended steeply into a tunnel which started at the centre of the goods shed. Plymouth Friary station had a very similar layout for the start of the LSWR's Sutton Harbour Branch. The line opened to passengers on 9 April 1904 but the service was only for boat trains carrying passengers disembarking from ocean liners in Plymouth Sound in competition with the similar service offered by the GWR. To the best of my knowledge there was never a scheduled passenger service over the branch. The service only lasted until 28 May 1910. The rail disaster at Salisbury on 1 July 1906 when a boat train from Plymouth left the rails and 28 died, severely knocked confudence in the LSWR service for ocean passengers. A later agreement with the GWR saw the LSWR give up running boat trains but goods trains continued running to Ocean Quay for another 60 years. Again there is a very good history of the branch on the Old Devonport website.
One of the classes of steam engine passing through Devonport Kings Road regularly for many decades was the T9 class which we will look at in the next part of the series.
MLR / 25 November 2023
Many thanks indeed Michael, very interesting, we look forward to Part 54.