West Country Railway

 

The West Country Railway serves the Isle of Lundy, a large island in the Bristol Channel between Devon, Cornwall, and South Wales. The Isle of Lundy is a Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom. Lundy had historically been an independent state ruled by the Duke of Lundy. Through marriage, the title of Duke of Lundy became united with the English Crown, however there was never a formal union between the two nations. In the thirteenth century, a University was established at Oakhampstead in protest at a series of decisions taken at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, causing the city to develop rapidly. The University would later develop an associtation with radical, liberal, and progressive social, politial, economic, and scientific theories.

During the 18th Century, dissatisfaction grew among the residents of Lundy about direct rule by the monarchy and there were calls for representation in Parliament. Academics at Oakhampstead, who did not have confidence in the level of representation provided by Parliament at the time were alarmed by this, and succesfully campaigned for the island to be granted autonomy. This led to the establishment in 1802 of the Parliament of Lundy, a legislative body of 15 members elected by a system which would later become known as the single transferable vote.

 

In 1834, the Parliament of Lundy approved the construction of a standard gauge railway from the port of Letchmouth to Norton. The north of the island had long supplied enough coal for domestic consumption, but with growing demand from industrial users the Parliament was interested in generating revenue by exporting coal to the mainland. Initially worked by horses, the Norton and Letchmouth Railway (N&LR) purchased its first locomotive, Viribus, in 1838.

 

Following the succesful establishment of the N&LR, the Fishport, Oakhampstead, and Astleigh Railway (FO&AR) was approved in 1840 and opened five years later, connecting the fishing and agricultural industries on the east coast with Oakhampstead, and Oakhampstead with Atleigh, where boats connected the island with Bristol (with the Great Western Railway by this time offering an onward journey to London) and with Barnstaple (and a few years after opening, the London and South Western Railway). This began to open up Oakhampstead to a wider range of visitors, both academics and businessmen, who were keen to investigate Lundy's potential as a separate tax jurisdiction to the UK, a factor which had already played a role in the development of harbours at Westport and Axemouth.

 

In 1844, with the FO&AR nearly open, Oakhampstead was aniticipated to grow rapidly, and the Oakhampstead Mineral Railway (OMR) proposed a railway from Oakhampstead to the market town of Chepdene, and then onto Shipford in the northern coalfields. It had originally been planned that this line would use local ballast, as all of the island's railways had so far, but intensive campaigning by Frederick R. Davies persuaded the Parliament and the railway that using the more durable granite found in the moors at the centre of the island would prove more economical in the long run. Consequently, the OMR would also build a branch to Tremoreton, on the eastern side of the moors, where Davies had established a quarry to supply the line with ballast. One of the OMR's largest customers would later become the FO&AR, who switched to using granite ballast some time in the 1860s and relied upon the OMR to supply locomotive coal. By 1862, the OMR had crossed the moors to reach Wesborough and opened a narrow gauge railway serving various quarries on the moors. The FO&AR began to operate passenger services over their metals to Shipford and Tremoreton from 1858, extending the latter to Wesborough four years later.

 

By this time, Westport was becoming an important shipping hub, with a number of companies based there (rather than cities such as Bristol) for tax reasons. This increased the demand for building supplies in the city, as merchants looked to establish ornate headquarters (and houses) in order to demonstrate their success. The West Lundy Railway (WLR) sought to link this demand with the small area of oolitic limestone in the northwest of the island. However, the WLR could not afford to meet the demands of Davies' granite mines, and so were forced to source their own ballast. The island had another area of granite in the far southwest, but the construction would nearly double the length of the line. The WLR therefore decided to use locally sourced ballast, despite concerns about its durability.

 

Coal was supplied to the WLR (and to the entire west coast of the island) by boats leaving the N&LR's terminus at Letchmouth. In 1865, the WLR proposed to the N&LR that their lines should be extended from Norton and Chapelford, to meet each other at the town of Bishop's Fleming. This would speed up the movement of coal from the N&LR to the west of the island, as well as giving the WLR access to the port at Letchmouth, which could be used to operate ferries to South Wales and to export Chapelford Stone to Britain. At the same time, the WLR would implement its own plans to build a branch to Axemouth, a military port which was becoming increasingly commercial in nature as Westport came closer to capacity. Like in Westport, the WLR hoped that there would be a market for Chapelford Stone due to the merchants setting up headquarters in the Axemouth area.

 

As of 1874, work on the proposals had progressed significantly. The WLR's line to Axemouth was complete, and the N&LR had built its extension, which terminated in a cutting at Bishop's Fleming. Provision had been made for a tunnel, which would be built by the WLR as part of their extension in order to link the two railways. However, the FO&AR and OMR, which were wealthier than the WLR, had set about creating legal and financial obstacles to the construction of this line, which they worried would eventually allow the FO&AR to compete for traffic on the eastern side of the island, which they had previously dominated. In addition to filing court cases claiming that the tunnel near Bishop's Fleming would violate a law regulating coal mining on Lundy, they offered some local landowners who were opposed to the railway a sum equal to any offer made for their land by the WLR, with the added promise that the land would be returned to them for a nominal rent. The WLR had for years been contemplating the viability of its extension, and in 1875 it officially cancelled the proposal. This spelled the end for the N&LR, which had poured vast amounts of capital into its extension from Norton to Bishop's Fleming. The FO&AR aquired the railway after the company declared bankruptcy in February 1876, constructing a link between Norton and the OMR at Shipford. As this bypassed the old Shipford station (now Shipford Town) a new station, Shipford Road, was established on the new line. While a few trains during peak hours ran direct to Shipford Town, most trains between Oakhampstead and Letchmouth (or Norton) stopped at Shipford Road, where they connected to a shuttle service to the town centre.

 

The threat of the WLR's eastward expansion in 1865 had also provoked the FO&AR to expand its operations towards the west. It did this by building an extension to the OMR's line from Wesborough, reaching Appleford in 1868 and Westport Docks in 1870. This was not in direct competion with the WLR's operations at the time, which focussed on providing services to Westport, but instead was intended to head off the threat of the WLR using the N&LR as part of a route to move goods from Westport to Britain, turning the city from a mere offshore tax haven into a gateway to Britain. The FO&AR realised that given the size of the investment needed to reach Westport, heavy traffic would be needed to recover costs. As a consequence, they decided to put into action the plan they had feared the WLR might be making. In 1867, the FO&AR reached an agreement with the LSWR to bridge the gap between Astleigh and Baggy point, creating a direct route for freight from Westport and passengers from Oakhampstead to the mainland.

 

In 1874, Astleigh Bridge opened for traffic, and the original station at Astleigh (now Astleigh Pier) was reduced to serving local passengers. Meanwhile with its first ever fixed link to the mainland, use of Westport exploded, generating large amounts of traffic for the FO&AR. The route was so succesful that the WLR also benefitted, with demand for stone increasing further and the docks at Westport reaching full capacity, forcing traffic to use the smaller port at Axemouth. In 1876, after acquiring the N&LR, the FO&AR opened a freight-only chord to supply the WLR with coal. They also reached an agreement with the WLR to allow them to run trains to the port at Axemouth, generating yet another source of revenue for the WLR.

 

The FO&AR formally amalgamated with the OMR in 1878. By this point, the relationship between the FO&AR and the LSWR had deteriorated. The FO&AR was unhappy about the circuitous route its customer's goods had to take in order to reach London and other parts of England. Consequently, it began working with the GWR to build a new approach to Astleigh Bridge, providing a more direct route via Taunton instead of the LSWR's route via Exeter. The agreement between the two companies building the bridge had allowed for the carriage of 'any standard gauge vehicles' over the bridge and its immediate approaches. At the time, this had excluded gauge conversion on the bridge to handle trains from the broad gauge Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR, since acquired by the GWR). However, with the conversion of the GWR route to standard gauge, all that was required to facilitate through running was a link from the GWR's Victoria Road terminus to the immediate approach of the bridge. This infuriated the LSWR, who immediately ceased all relationships with the FO&AR.

 

It is likely that this turn of events led the LSWR to expedite the building of the Padstow branch, as well as the decision to extend the branch onto the Isle of Lundy. Crossing the 1901 Victoria Bridge (opened just weeks before the death of the Queen), the LSWR built a station at Eglos St Piran, the most important town in a sparsely populated area of the island, and a line extending westward from there. In 1909, The WLR completed its southern expansion to Falcombe, St Petroc, and Porthavon. This gave them access to the granite mines that they had initially endeavoured to reach decades beforehand. It also allowed them to establish a connection with the LSWR at Victoria Junction, giving the WLR direct access to the mainland without using the FO&AR's route. It also ensured that the LSWR would continue to be able to accept coal by rail if the FO&AR attempted to cut them off. Angered by this, and having just overseen the expansion of Westport Docks, the FO&AR prohibited the WLR from using any of their routes, as well as ceasing coal deliveries to Westport Junction. A legal case brought by the WLR, claiming the FO&AR had breeched contractual obligations it had inherited from the N&LR, was settled out of court, with the relationship between the two railways being restored to normal soon after (though with significant levels of mistrust).

 

In 1890, The FO&AR had built a short line from the original Oakhampstead station (renamed Oakhampstead Junction) to Oakhampstead Town, closer to the centre of the city. From 1911, they began to extend this line towards the historic settlements of Newton St Boniface and Easton, as well as the broad beaches of Easton sands. This work would be interupted by the war, and the line would not fully open until 1921.

 

In 1922, tensions resumed between the two railways on the island after the FO&AR reduced the number of paths available for trains to Axemouth citing an increase in traffic at Westport Docks which had been facilitated by the expansion just over two decades earlier. This led to delays at Axemouth, which caused local merchants to blockade Westport in protest. The agreement which the WLR had previously accused the FO&AR of breaking had expired in 1915, so the FO&AR again withrew coal supplies from the WLR. Before the relationship could deteriorate further, the Parliament of Lundy intervened. Lundy, a Crown Dependency, would be exluded from the grouping of Britain's railways in 1923. This had already created the issue of what to do with the LSWR line from Victoria Bridge to Victoria Junction after its parent company ceased to exist. Draft legislation had suggested amalgamating this route into the WLR, but it was clear that this would do nothing to resolve the tensions with the FO&AR. As a result, the Parliament decided to force the amalgamation of all of the Isle of Lundy's railways into the new West Country Railway (WCR). This would be partly owned by the island's government, and personel from the WLR and FO&AR would not be recruited into senior management positions.

 

The amalgamation cleared the way for the railways to begin operating as a single cohesive entity. The WCR was centred on the former FO&AR locomotive works near Oakhampstead Junction. These were the most developed works on the island, and unlike the former WLR works at Chapelford Junction they were able to repair locomotives operating on the former FO&AR branches without first having to drag them across the island. The Chapelford Junction works became a satellite facility, primarily serving locomotives operating exclusively over ex-WLR routes and those visting from the Southern Railway (SR).

 

This established the two main operating divisions of the WCR, the Eastern division centred on Oakhampstead and the Western Division centred on Chapelford Junction The Western Divison had three responsibilities: passenger workings from Porthavon to Axemouth (the West Lundy Line), passenger workings from Chapelford Junction to Chapelford (the Chapelford Branch), and all services using the 'Victoria Line' built by the LSWR.

 

Meanwhile, the Eastern Division had a number of sub-divisions. The Easton Branch mainly catered for passengers. During the summer, the bulk of the traffic beyond Oakhampstead Town was tourist traffic for Easton Sands. The Fishport Branch was a mixed traffic line, transporting passengers to Oakhampstead as well as goods traffic (especially fish and agricultural produce). All passenger services continued to Oakhampstead Town, with some going even further up the Easton Branch. The exceptions were trains to destinations in Devon. The Astleigh Branch usually operated a shuttle service to Oakhampstead Junction, connecting with trains on other lines. Loco-hauled services were experimentally replaced with push-pull sets and later DMUs on this line. Passenger trains on the Letchmouth Branch usually ran from Letchmouth to Oakhampstead Junction, Oakhampstead Town, or Astleigh Pier. A shuttle was provided from Shipford Road to Shipford Town, which was experimentally replaced with a DMU at the same time as the Astleigh Branch. Coal trains ran to a yard at Chepdene, where wagons were sorted for various destinations on the island and in England.

 

The Main Line trains were also the responsibility of the Eastern Division. Passenger trains ran from Oakhampstead to Westport Docks, Westport Junction, or Axeminster. A few continued beyond Oakhampstead to Barnstaple, Taunton, Exeter, or Bristol; and a daily express ran to London Paddington with portions for Axemouth, Westport Docks, and Oakhampstead Town.

 

By the 1960s, the WCR had modernised its practises considerably beyond the other railways. It was now using continuously braked freight trains and hoppers were used on all internal mineral traffic (and trains to Great Britain, where appropriate unloading equipment existed. Preparations were also being made for containerisation of freight. However, steam still remained the dominant form of traction on the island. This was because the decision had been taken, based upon experience with the DMUs the railway had already trialled and observations of electrified lines elsewhere, that electrification would be the way forwards, and that steam would have to last until electric traction had been rolled out fully.

 

Electrification of the Chapelford Branch, whose passenger services were entirely self-contained, had begun in 1937, but the war caused work to progress slowly and the first electric train only ran in 1944. This was done using 25kV AC, and data from the line was credited with persuading British Railways to adopt it as its standard system. Electrification did not resume until 1956, when immediate rebuilding of assets damaged by the war had been completed (making provision for future electrification where required) and the 25kV system had been confirmed as BR's standard. The West Lundy Line was electrified by 1960, followed by the Main Line from 1960-1964, the Letchmouth Branch by 1968, and all remaining routes by 1972. Steam continued to be used to hall special services, which were especially popular during the BR steam ban from 1968 to 1971. However, the ban created other problems for the WCR. Until 1968, while internal services had progressively moved over to electric traction, steam had been used to haul trains which left the island and used the BR network. This was no longer an option after 1968.

 

The WCR was forced to loan diesel locomotives from BR, but BR refused to guarantee any particular locomotives for the role. This drew criticism from both WCR and the public when the Paddington express was delayed because BR only offered a Type 3 (or, on at least one occaision during 1969, a pair of Class 22 locomotives, one of which failed at Reading leaving the other to haul the train and its dead partner back to Astleigh, where it was immediately replaced by an electric). On occaision, WCR turned down BR's offer for that day because Flying Scotsman, which was not subject to the steam ban, was available and considered a better choice. In 1971, the end of the steam ban meant that diesel passenger haulage on the island was largely ended, with steam locomotives once again taking over the passenger services to Paddington, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, and Bodmin (the latter always using a push-pull set). However, freight services continued to use BR diesel locomotives, until WCR joined Foster Yeoman in ordering Class 59 locomotives in the 1980s.

 

Since the Intercity Express Program, regular service trains to Paddington and Bristol are no longer steam hauled, but are instead operated using Class 80x series BiMUs, which switch to electric operation after crossing the border. HSTs had previously been used on some Paddington services, though this meant losing the portions for Oakhampstead Town and Westport Docks. The use of pairs of 5 car units on the London trains (which are now more frequent) allows one portion to serve Oakhampstead Town and the other Westport and Axemouth. Services to Bodmin are now run in cooperation with the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, while CrossCountry have started to offer services from Westport Junction to the Midlands and the north of England.

 

NOTE: The pre-1923 history has already seen a significant revision from its original form. It is likely that the subsequent history will be similarly modified in future, as I am unhappy with a number of subjects, especially the way that trains to Britain work.