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.
Classic traction at Silverton
David Tozer
37611 'Denise' tops and tails two barrier coaches with 37510 'Orion' at Silverton in somewhat gloomy conditions. The pair had worked to Plymouth from Ely with a second Class 175 175114. This train had left Ely some 259 minutes late and reached Plymouth some 71 minutes early!!!! 05.12.2024, copyright David Tozer.
Many thanks, Dave - great to see the class 37's, just a pity that the units they are bringing down will see off some of our own classic traction in the form of the HST's.
Exeter St Davids
Michael Adams
Michael Adams
Hello Roger, Interesting pictures,thank you, from Keyham,after a determined effort I expect. I send two pictures of class 50044 ‘Exeter’ ,firstly from Michael Adams with the loco. at ‘home’ waiting to depart on 29 June 1985 with the 13.33 to Waterloo. Thanks,
Exeter crossing Hayle Viaduct
Michael Forward
Michael Forward
Roger, My own picture now shows 50044 storming across the viaduct after calling at Hayle with the 05.45 Barnstaple to Penzance on 14 September 1987. The engine now carries the Network South East livery which began to be applied from 1986. Copyright Michael Forward
Many thanks to the Two Michaels
Swindon Scenes
Ken Mumford & Colin Pidgeon
Back to back HST power cars [ 43271 & 43357 ] on route learning. However when looking on REAL TRAIN TIMES the working I saw [just after 5 pm] was passing along platform 4 at speed BUT RTT said that it was going in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION via platform 1!! RTT timings seem rather strange!! 04.12.2024, copyright Ken Mumford.
66550 is blurred because it is accelerating quite quickly out of Swindon East Loop - hot on the heels of the last passenger train - with 6C54 Oxford (Banbury Road) to Whatley Quarry containing some 'old' and 'new' wagons 6 EARLY. 04.12.2024, copyright Ken Mumford.
47739 on 5Q87 Eastleigh TRSMD to Long Marston with 701503 & 701504 for storage. 04.12.2024, copyright Colin Pidgeon.
Many thanks to you both
A year ago today
CDA's enter preservation
It's hard to believe that it's already a year ago today, that a rake of 9 CDA's were tripped from St. Blazey to Par Harbour, ready for onwards transportation by road to their new lives in perservation.
06.12.2023 - 66165 propels CDA's 375050, 375061, 375063, 375067, 375090, 375091, 375113, 375117 and 375030 over the road crossing on the Par Harbour branch. Copyright Jon Hird.
06.12.2023 - 66165 pushes the wagons into the harbour complex. Copyright Jon Hird.
The wagons have proved popular at their new homes, the sight of a 'modern' wagon in a heritage environment does take a little getting used to, but in years to come I'm sure they will be viewed in the same way as we do, for example, the wooden clay 'hoods'.
A further wagon exists at St. Blazey turntable, whilst two other examples from earlier withdrawls can be found at Barry (Wales) and Chasewater.
A further wagon exists at St. Blazey turntable, whilst two other examples from earlier withdrawls can be found at Barry (Wales) and Chasewater.
375030 has been repainted and restored cosmetically to its original ECC colour scheme, at The Plym Valley Railway. Copyright Jon Hird.
A program to tidy up and preserve the rake of 8 wagons saved by the National Wagon Preservation Group at Bodmin is now underway, too. In this photograph, the roof sheets are being wound back to save the canopies from being damaged over the winter months, the water coming out of the drain holes being what had pooled on the roof sheet. Copyright Jon Hird.
375063 is the first of the wagons to be brought in for a deep clean and for bodywork repairs to take place. This will, hopefully, extend the lives of the wagons for many more years. Copyright Jon Hird.
If you'd like to follow progress of the wagons, the following facebook pages provide a great number of regular updates: