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Washout at Dawlish


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  • RMweb Gold

Best not to post scanned maps - copyright rules and all - but a hand traced version might be allowable...?

Various information on the 'net but I can't find any maps I'm afraid

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawlish_Avoiding_Line

https://www.dawlish.com/thread/details/33613

 

 

The Dawlish Warren Avoiding route (=C3) route was planned to diverge at 203m 51ch which is where Dawlish Warren Road turns away from the railway towards the small cluster of housing near the junction with Orchard Lane;  the line continued on the existing railway side of Dawlish Warren Road, through what is now a caravan site until crossing Dawlish Warren road slightly north of what is now the junction of that road and Hazlewood Drive, then curving to the right (through what now appears to be a mobile home park) to cross Exeter Road south of its junction with Week Lane then through the now developed area of Shutterton before crossing Secmarton Lane just north of the buildings immediately east of its junction with Langdon Road.  

 

The route then went into tunnel in what is still (?Google maps date) open country between Langdon Road and Langdon Lane.

 

The Powderham Rout (C2) was planned to diverge slightly east of the 201 milepost which is east of Starcross Yacht Club roughly - I estimate - where Church Road comes down to the railway and turns to run alongside it, it than 'cut the corneroff' by cutting across Powderham Park opposite the yacht club and rejoined the original alignment very briefly where the existing route (Down direction) changes from a right hand curve to left hand and it then ran in a relatively straight line from there to where it joined the Dawlish Avoiding option with the tunnel starting slightly north of the one I mentioned above.  The book then runs out of detail maps but I reckon the tunnels would have ended in the vicinity of Lower Dawlish Water Road/Bere Hill before entering a second, long, tunnel under Luscombe Down.

 

The long tunnel was planned to emerge at Coombe but it is very difficult to relate the roads as they were then with the layout today there was a short stretch in the open then another, much shorter tunnel followed by an open stretch and finally another short tunnel before heading to the south of Bishopsteignton and running inland of the old route before finally dropping to join it at Hackney.  If I had a map with contours I could possibly make more sense of the situation around Coombe and the back of Teignmouth but I'm reasonably sure with the Dawlish etc parts.  there is insufficient information in the book to make any real sense of the Exminster Route (so called) which curved some considerable way inland of the Powderham Route and would probably have demolished my one time greatly enjoyed eating venue near the site of Exminster station!  Hope that helps a bit

 

Edit to correct typos - no map information altered

Edited by The Stationmaster
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  • RMweb Gold

Try www.streetmap.co.uk use zoom control 4th one up will give you online O.S. mapping. :gamer:

Thanks for that - much easier to get an idea of where it goes and the answer is through a lot of houses in Coombe.  However it could by the look of it be routed further north where it crosses the Coombe valley in order to avoid existing housing between the two tunnels and in any case it would cross the valley on a viaduct I believe.

Edited by The Stationmaster
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  • RMweb Gold

Mike, thanks for posting those links. It's not definite fro the Wiki article which scheme was adopted for construction, but I assume "railway no. 2" from Exminster to east of Bishopsteignton (ie not all the way to Hackney).

 

 

The scheme then went south through Kenton

  :scared: That's where we live!

Anyway, enough frothing - kudos to NR and their contractors for essentially completing the base of the track bed now. Hope the rest of the reconstruction work goes well; I'm looking forward to seeing trains again!

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Mike, thanks for posting those links. It's not definite fro the Wiki article which scheme was adopted for construction, but I assume "railway no. 2" from Exminster to east of Bishopsteignton (ie not all the way to Hackney).

 

  :scared: That's where we live!

Anyway, enough frothing - kudos to NR and their contractors for essentially completing the base of the track bed now. Hope the rest of the reconstruction work goes well; I'm looking forward to seeing trains again!

Just to ease your mind the route I described ran just to the south of Kenton (possibly through the parish but not the village) while the 'Exminster Route' ran to the north of Kenton village.  And as you say - hope teh rest of teh reconstruction work goes well for all involved.

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Following on from the "8 hours in 8 minutes" webcam footage from the new Dawlish webcam, there's a new "24 hours in 8 minutes" video posted on YouTube:

I do believe the new track panels are being delivered and stockpiled.

Edited by Pete_S
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Just a bit of idle speculation but as the main footpath has been concreted and they are installing what will become the base for the ballast are they now working normal shifts as they appear to be above high tide level.  Once again thanks to CK and others for their informative posts.

 

Jamie

Edited by jamie92208
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Cornish Triang Paul, on 28 Feb 2014 - 11:47, said:Cornish Triang Paul, on 28 Feb 2014 - 11:47, said:

Meanwhile, down 'ere;

 

Anybody got any ideas about when Penzance will reopen as we have many conflicting reports saying " next week " to " longer than Dawlish " ............. ?

Just been informed by the Truro SM that Saturday night at around 19.00 hrs has been said as a start time for running trains.

There maybe some teething problems with rusty rails / TC's and a little pilot working to begin with is expected.

He was confident of a PZ to Plym train running Saturday night though all being well.

Edited by Gary H
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Thanks for the NR document - quite interesting and good to see some of the old favourites are being tackled (again in a couple of cases).  C1 and C2 are the original and amended GWR routes, C3 would seem to be completely new - time will tell what will emerge.

 

Edit - correction the Dawlish Warren (now C3) route was one considered by the GWR in the 1930s.

 

I've now had an opportunity to read the NR document and it presents the options very well. Whatever option is chosen, I hope that NR (and government) will look not just at route resilience at Dawlish but also how best to meet expected future capacity needs for rail passengers and freight west of Exeter to the whole of the West of England. Otherwise a golden opportunity will be missed.

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  • RMweb Gold

I do believe the new track panels are being delivered and stockpiled.

They are, but what you see in the footage is, I think, tidying up of the old panels that were cut a few weeks ago.

 

The new track panels are being assembled with new concrete sleepers between the tunnels to the west of the main breach site. They can't be moved into position yet, due to the amount of further construction work required at the main breach site. What I mentioned in my previous posts about the pre-cast 'L' sections applies.

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Just a bit of idle speculation but as the main footpath has been concreted and they are installing what will become the base for the ballast are they now working normal shifts as they appear to be above high tide level.  Once again thanks to CK and others for their informative posts.

 

They are continuing to work 24/7 and will do so until the railway is handed back for normal operation. Don't forget that there are many more other sites of work, apart from those captured by webcams!

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Just been informed by the Truro SM that Saturday night at around 19.00 hrs has been said as a start time for running trains.

There maybe some teething problems with rusty rails / TC's and a little pilot working to begin with is expected.

He was confident of a PZ to Plym train running Saturday night though all being well.

Correct. There are still problems with track circuit functionality between Long Rock and Penzance (ballast is contaminated with excess salt etc.). We are still gearing up to reopen at 1900 hrs on Saturday, but will have staff in place for pilot working over the single line to begin with, which I think will actually be required.

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The Captain likes Taunton pasties he feeds his cat on them!

The Captain does like his pasties, it's true, including the ones we serve at Taunton.

 

It's not true to say that he feeds his cats on them, unless he's not looking and the cats are particularly quick...!

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The Captain does like his pasties, it's true, including the ones we serve at Taunton.

 

It's not true to say that he feeds his cats on them, unless he's not looking and the cats are particularly quick...!

From the speed that all the orange clad figures move in the 24hrs in 8 minutes video you could obvioulsy eat as many pasties as you like.

 

Jamie

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On this evenings news, apparently there has been a glut of wartime explosives (bombs/mines etc.) washed up in the south west caused by the storms

 

 

Off topic I know but the BBC produced this piece of news item tonight showing some of the work of the Royal Navy's Southern Dive Unit / Bomb disposal teams, which have had a increase in work due to the amount of EODs washed up on the South Wests beaches and coastlines as a result of the storms.  

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26390618?post_id=531529848_10152000846059849#_=_

 

And an article.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26382127

Edited by surfsup
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