Blog Archives

Poster Exhibition at Weston super Mare.

29/10/2014

Your members may be interested to learn of a unique railway poster show we are organising and which takes place two weeks on Saturday. The venue is the Art-Deco ballroom at the Winter Gardens Pavilion in Weston Super Mare on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

At the moment we have 140 original posters to display, covering the years 1897-2014, so this will completely fill the ballroom with a blaze of colour. Cornwall is especially well represented being a major focus for railway advertising. Two different versions of 'Speed to the West' are included. I have commissioned two new Weston posters especially for the event, and such a myriad of posters displayed together in this way is unlikely ever to be repeated. It is now the largest show of its type since the 1951 Festival of Britain and features posters for all the 'Big Four' companies and all the BR regions. We hope to see you there!
Dr Richard Furness

Spotted in Truro Yard this morning By Mick House

29/10/2014

Hi Keith At Truro 11.00am this morning is DR73920 Tamper. Regards Mick Many thanks Mick 

DR 73920 in Truro yard on Wednesday 29th October 2014 Copyright Mick House

Remember Sutton Bingham? A picture from Mike Morant

28/10/2014

A golden oldie.

Sutton Bingham, the down platform including the signalbox and waiting shelter.The signalbox closed 6th May 1969, the station had already closed to passengers on the 31st December 1962, the station previously losing its goods service on the 4th April 1960. This picture courtesy of the Mike Morant collection

The workers - congratulations all round, and thanks.

27/10/2014

Report from our Booksales Officer Christine Simmonds. Dear Keith,  Yes, we had a very good day at Bodmin. We were given extra tables as one person didn't turn up. Tony Goulding took me and the books up, and we were joined by Roger. We really needed three people because of the extra tables. We were busy all day. Nigel Tregoning and Ian Cavill manned the stall Sunday morning - Roger also went up again as he realised they would need an extra pair of hands and eyes. He went up by train and
Nigel picked him up from Bodmin Parkway.   Tony Wright and Sue went in the afternoon, Roger stayed all day (he's the one who deserves the medal!), Mike Bojko also assisted in the afternoon, work, transport and photographs.
Overall we took just over £450.   I haven't worked out the profit yet. Perhaps we were helped by the fact that there was no Wadebridge exhibition this year, and the show didn't clash with B&W's gala weekend as it has done previously. The weather also helped - not good enough to send people outdoors, but not bad enough to keep them indoors!
Regards Christine Many thanks for the report Christine - I think they all deserve medals - our willing band of volunteers.

Roger Winnen and Ian Cavill at the Bodmin Bookstall 26th October 2014 Copyright Mike Bojko

The CRS bookstall at Bodmin 26th October 2014 Copyright Mike Bojko

Large refurbishment and Little refurbishment at Hayle by Kevin Jenkin

27/10/2014

Roger has just dealt with the extensive preparations for the refurbishment of Hayle viaduct, but, meantime, just around the corner from Hayle viaduct the old swing bridge on the former Hayle Wharves branch is also enjoying refurbishment. Underneath the extensive scaffold supported covering much noise was being generated as engineers used sand blasting equipment to remove many years of paint. Quite what colour it will emerge as we do not know at the moment - we'll post a picture of the completed works in due course. First, however, courtesy of Sid Sponheimer we look at the bridge in happier days when it carried trains, its future use will be to carry pedestrians only.

Class 25 7575 has propelled its train from St Erth down over the incline, across the road and over the swing bridge which can be seen in the background. Nowadays a new road from North Quay passes where the train is in this picture and then crosses Copperhouse Creek to land by the filling station on the opposite bank. In the background can be seen the main line Hayle Viaduct looking much better without the new Superstore in front!! Copyright Sid Sponheimer

The south end of the encapsulated swing bridge. 27th October 2014 Copyright Kevin Jenkin

The south end of the bridge, a view from the east. 27th October 2014 Copyright Kevin Jenkin

A view of the encapsulated bridge with the new road bridge alongside. 27th October 2014. Copyright Kevin Jenkin

A view of the north end of the bridge. 27th October 2014 Copyright Kevin Jenkin

Finally a view from the Hayle River side of the bridge. Water flow into and out of Copperhouse Pool is controlled by a 'lock gate' such that, if required, a head of water can be stored at high tide and then used to flush out the channel down the main river once the tide has receded. 27th October 2014 Copyright Kevin Jenkin

The Major Refurbishment of Hayle Viaduct by Roger Winnen

27/10/2014

With a major refurbishment of Hayle Viaduct taking place from Saturday 8th Nov until Sunday 23rd November, 2014 I ventured out to photograph the Night Riviera which runs an hour later on Mondays together with the other early trains. During the closure period the Night Riviera will terminate at Plymouth on its downward run from Paddington, however the return run on weekdays will commence from Truro with passengers for all trains west of Truro being conveyed by Rail Replacement Buses between Penzance, St Erth, Hayle, Camborne, Redruth to Truro.
First Great Western states on its publicity leaflet that the viaduct was originally built in 1829,the viaduct is the subject of a £7m improvement program to strengthen it and reduce the risk of service disruption in the near future. I think that FGW has got its facts wrong, this viaduct was built in 1852 when the new line was built westwards from Hayle to Penzance, and further rebuilt in 1886. The original Hayle Railway opened on 23rd December, 1837 in stages from a station situated at ground level under the viaduct to Redruth and Tresavean.

141027a The Night Riviera crosses Hayle Viaduct hauled by 57604 Pendennis Castle, showing the large amount of scaffolding in situ for this major £7m refurbishment. Copyright Roger Winnen

141027b Approaching the viaduct from St Erth is the 08.28 Penzance-Glasgow service. In this view can be seen the large number of trees removed from the banks. Copyright Roger Winnen

141027c The 08.28 Penzance to Glasgow service crosses the viaduct into Hayle, a scene only a few weeks ago obliterated by trees. Copyright Roger Winnen

141027d The 07.02 from Plymouth to Penzance crossing the viaduct enclosed in scaffolding by Chris Sedgeman scaffolders of Penzance. Copyright Roger Winnen.

141027e The former A30 heads west from Hayle, behind the viaduct stands the new ASDA store, soon to open. Copyright Roger Winnen

141027g Looking across from Hayle up platform together with the scaffolding, in the foreground, to the right, can be seen the track formation of the Hayle Wharves branch Copyright Roger Winnen

Michael Portillo, in person at Truro Cathedral. Now's your chance.

27/10/2014

Dear All, I’m contacting you to try and find people who are interested in railways to help publicise the fact that Michael Portillo former Defence Secretary and train journey enthusiast is coming to Truro Cathedral on Mon 3 Nov at 7pm to deliver a lecture entitled Remembering The Great War: tracks and tricks How trains played their part in deciding battles and arguably the outcome of WW1 itself. £10 on the door or via Hall For Cornwall Box office. 01872 262466 or www.hallforcornwall.co.uk
Any help you can give would be much appreciated? Thanks
Colin Colin Reid ,Truro Cathedral Communications Officer
Tel: 01872 245007 www.trurocathedral.org.uk

Laira Bridge Update Pictures from Trevor Tremethick

26/10/2014

Hi Mike
I hadn't forgotten that updates on this are occasionally required!
The attached pics, taken on a rather grey 26th October, show the Plymstock end of the bridge where the tarpaulin has now been removed from the end section, although the scaffolding remains in place. You can just about see that they have painted the structure in a tasteful medium / dark grey and appear (thank goodness) to have resisted the temptation to decorate it with pictures of seagulls or butterflies as they seem to do on other refurbished bridges.
As you can see, work has also begun on the ramp to take the cycle way / walkway down to road level where the railway was chopped off for the access road ('The Ride') to the recycling centre.
Hope these are of interest - I have copied to Keith in case they are of use for website news. Cheers Trevor
Very good for website news - many thanks, much appreciated KJ

Laira Bridge Refurbishment Works 26 October 2014. Copyright Trevor Tremethick (1)

Laira Bridge Refurbishment Works 26 October 2014. Copyright Trevor Tremethick (2)

Laira Bridge Refurbishment Works 26 October 2014. Copyright Trevor Tremethick (3)

Laira Bridge Refurbishment Works 26 October 2014. Copyright Trevor Tremethick (4)

DON'T FORGET!

25/10/2014

British summer time ends at 02.00 on Sunday 26th October. Please don't forget to put your clocks back one hour tonight - including cameras. Looking forward to Sunday 29th March 2015 when British summer time begins again. Cheers.

Just got the sun right - the RHTT at Largin From Craig Munday

23/10/2014

What a difference a bit os sun makes? Autumn tints in the trees as the RHTT crosses Largin viaduct on 22nd October 2014. Copyright Craig Munday Many thanks Craig

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