47s and other Classic Power at Southampton: Devon

Showing posts with label Devon. Show all posts

Saturday, 18 November 2017

Diesels at the South Devon Railway, 18th October 2017

6737 (37037) new in May 1962.

37275 new in April 1965.

D7612 (25262, 25901) new in April 1966.

55000 goes back a long way for me, as it was part of the Haymarket dmu fleet in the 1970s.

50002 was under a tarpaulin.

Friday, 27 October 2017

South Devon Railway, 18th October 2017

L92 (5786) running onto the train at Buckfastleigh.

Running around at Totnes Riverside.

4920 Dumbleton Hall in storage.

A stop while running on the branch to drop off a track gang.

5526 raising steam at Buckfastleigh.

Thursday, 26 October 2017

Class 17 D8568, Buckfastleigh, 18th October 2017

My first sighting of a Clayton since the 1960s. As a youngster then, I remember how noisy they were in their BR ScR service. Unfortunately I am yet to be able to see the preserved locomotive working.

D8568 was completed by the Clayton Equipment Company, and allocated to Haymarket 64B from 6th January 1964. Reallocated to Polmadie in September 1968, and withdrawn on 6th October 1971. After working in industrial service at Hemel Hempstead, it is now preserved by the Diesel Traction Group. Currently at the South Devon Railway where it has arrived in advance of their Diesel Gala from 3rd to 5th November.

The locomotive has already seen some trial use on the railway.

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Local trains in Devon, October 2017

The increased 30 minute frequency of local service between Paignton, Newton Abbot and Exeter follows from a marketing campaign under initiative from "Citizens' Rail" which is supported by EU Interreg IVB .

153325 and 153305 at Exeter St Davids, 16th October.

143618 at Exeter St Thomas, 16th October.

143620 at Newton Abbot, 17th October.

150123 at Newton Abbot, 17th October.

Monday, 23 October 2017

Newton Abbot Miscellany, October 2017

Now, I am but a passer-by, with no qualification to discuss the railway history of Newton Abbot, but some notes and miscellany from earlier this week.

A useful map of Newton Abbot railways in the 1950s.

The west end of Newton Abbot station, a much rationalised facility compared with even the 1980s when the remnants of MPD and 'factory' were still present. The former South Devon Railway faclities on the right became part of a site used by publishers David and Charles, although their successors F&W Media have now vacated the site, and it is under a plan, not yet fully agreed, to become an Aldi, which will involve the removal of at least some of the "heritage" seen on the right.

This gantry of signals is from the west end of the station, and was relocated to feature outside of the David & Charles premises. It is located on a ransom strip owned by the council, and intended to be retained as part of the Aldi development. While visiting the town museum, I was told that the ownership would be passed to them, and that the South Devon Railway (Buckfastleigh) team may assist with some maintenance and conservation. Some arms have been removed since 2012 and earlier this year.

Newton Abbot has a small Town and GWR Museum, well worth a short visit. It may move in the near future into the future "Newton's Place". There are many nuggets within one room, including part of frame and signalling equipment from with Newton Abbot West signal box.

A discussion of the historic signalling at Newton Abbot.

A further view of the exhibits, which include a section of South Devon Railway atmospheric railway ducting (hidden), and the factory hooter from the railway works (just to left of centre).

In 1911 the GWR moved the goods station to a location on the Moretonhampstead branch line - which also branched to the Teign Valley Railway which ran inland to Exeter. The 1911 goods station still stands, as the Enigna nightclub, the remainder of the yard being the Olympus Busness Park.

Railway style lamps still present at the lineside.

End of the line, on the Moretonhampstead branch, for the meantime anyway, just west of the Kingsteignton Road, although it is intact to Heathfield. The line appears in good fettle since it was used for Colas Rail operated timber trains to Chirk from 2011 to 2015, but this traffic has now been moved to Exeter, and Network Rail have again placed into a mothballed status.

RMWeb: Heathfield Branch Developments

21st December 2014 "Yuletide Tracker" which ran onto the branch.

The Teign Valley railway has been assessed as an alternative to the Dawlish Sea Wall route:

Network Rail Reference Study (Summer 2014)
BBC News summary (15th July 2014)
Railway Reinstatement Association

Network Rail appear to be planning to improve resilience at Dawlish (September 2017)

There are ongoing attempts, with local press coverage, to re-open the branch railway:

Study to see if reopening disused railway line is feasible (22nd August) "We want to work with train operators to be able to run a train service from Heathfield to Newton Abbot and we are forming a committee to have a look at our next move."
Network Rail to consider plans to reopen the Newton Abbot to Heathfield railway line (11th October) "Nearly 3,000 people have signed a petition in support of the plans"

Great Devon Railway

Sunday, 22 October 2017

Dartmouth Steam Railway, 17th October 2017

A day in the drizzling rain at Paignton, Kingswear and Dartmouth.

143620 is part of a Pacer arriving at Paignton.

7827 Lydham Manor moves to join the train at Paignton.

D3014 Samson and D7535 MERCURY (25185) at Paignton. The Class 08 was withdrawn in October 1972 before BR renumbering.

The climb was slow, with slipping on a difficult rail. The views were rewarding, such as this one over Broadsands.

75014 BRAVEHEART was loaded onto a road transporter at Churston, apparently returning from the West Somerset Railway where it was a guest locomotive. The strange symbols were all over the railway, I think related to forthcoming Half-Term and Halloween.

7827 departs from Kingswear, as seen from Dartmouth.

7827 running around at Kingswear.

The railway company also manages buses and ferry boats. Y816TGH (Volvo / Plaxton) is former London Central PVL216 and Plymouth Citybus 439.

Dart Explorer ran a ferry crossing to meet the train, now seen departing on a cruise.

Dartmouth Steam Railway

Friday, 20 October 2017

HSTs in Devon, October 2017

Full HST service in these parts are not forever, as some of the Great Western examples are to head to Scotland, and there will be IET sets. 11 HST sets are planned to be retained by GWR.

43169 at Totnes, 18th October. This example is on the list for Scotland.

Retro livery on 43185, also at Totnes on 18th.

Cross-Country 43321 again at Totnes.

43010 at Exeter on 16th.

43016 and 43164 at Newton Abbot on 16th. 43164 is planned to go to Scotland.

43160 at Newton Abbot on 17th.

The list of power cars to go to ScotRail:

43003 43124 43138 43151
43012 43125 43139 43152
43015 43126 43140 43163
43021 43127 43142 43164
43026 43128 43142 43168
43028 43129 43143 43169
43030 43130 43144 43175
43031 43131 43145 43176
43032 43132 43146 43177
43033 43133 43147 43179
43034 43134 43148 43181
43035 43135 43149 43182
43036 43136 43150 43183
43037 43137

(43124-43152 are GEC G417AZ traction motors)

Thursday, 19 October 2017

Seaton Junction, 15th October 2017

The 1928 concrete bridge spans to the second platform, on the right, which has a far curving edge for the Seaton branch.

Gothic architecture by Sir William Tite for the LSWR. The station was closed in 1966, although the adjacent Express Dairies depot continued for some time afterward.