Cowley 47521

Yarde Farm is at the main line end of the Silverton Mill line, whereas the mill at Hele is a completely different site (a few miles further north). Yes though, the track at Hele was probably used in the 1980s by the loader after it was disconnected from the main line - to supply the boilers at the mill (at Hele). However the other site (Silverton mill) doesn’t seem to have received any kind of rail related traffic post 1967 (or possibly before). As clear as mud? Possibly at this time of night…

Thanks for the information there Jeremy. Those interiors look beautiful.

Yeah, a horse got spooked and sat down on the bonnet of my friends Transit van a few years ago (it wasn’t him that spooked it). That’s put me off them a bit…

I haven’t been able to find anything yet unfortunately but I’m still looking.

The ultimate in late replies… Just to fill in a bit of detail and having talked to a friend about it, I think sometime in the 1980s when coal deliveries were switched to road, the coal was emptied from lorries into the wagons by a loader with a bucket and that vehicle then pushed the wagons into a wagon lift which deposited the coal into hoppers for the boilers. I guess a bit similar to a large steam era coaling stage.

I guess in its heyday it would have been pretty busy as it’s a fairly sizeable complex. There’s surprisingly little written about it unfortunately.

That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a track plan of the station Keith, thanks for that. I also had no idea that there’d already been a thread on it!

That’s perfect thanks for that. I’ll try and dig up a bit of information on that stock later. Very interesting.

Yes it is parallel to the main highway but it seems to be a bit of no mans land that doesn’t get used for anything other than walking now.

Great photos. It’s a bit more overgrown now but a few years ago I did trundle along it in the van one day. Looks like I wasn’t the only one either…

Wonderful stuff @Nearholmer . That’s filled a lot of gaps in my knowledge in and the 1908 map is fascinating. I’m assuming that the stock shown in the last photo would have been running on the line during 1941 rather than the O and P stock that I was thinking of? Any idea what it was called though? Nick

Absolutely fascinating and very much the kind of information I was hoping for when I started the thread, thank you.

No I haven’t read that but at that price it’s got be worth a look I reckon. 👍 That’s really interesting and I appreciate the kind offer as well, thanks for that.

Afternoon folks. I’ve got a few historical questions for all you London Underground experts, not really modelling related but hopefully interesting nevertheless. This is related to a bit of research for someone I know that’s currently writing a fictional novel and part of it is set in 1941. The questions here I would really appreciate a bit of advice on if possible: 1. Would it be feasible for two kids to hide under a bench seat in a tube train on the circle line in 1941? I was looking at pictures of O and P stock which I believe worked the line in that era and was wondering whether the forward/back facing seat bases could be lifted off and if there was a void underneath them? 2. Was it called the circle line? From what I can see the Metropolitan Railway and the District Railway ran the services before being amalgamated into LU in 1933 but the actual Circle Line title didn’t appear until 1949 when it also appeared in yellow on the tube map, is that about right? 3. Is it possible to access the old LU headquarters from St James Park tube station? For instance was there a direct former staff route from the platforms? 4. Would there have been something like a service lift up to street level at St. James park? Did any stations have things like that? 5. Was there a British museum station where museum artefacts were stored on the platform during the war or was that at Aldwych? That’s it for now but any thoughts on the above would be very much appreciated!

Continuing yesterday’s theme. I’ve been meaning to post photos of this for a while and I was passing through today so I took a few pictures. This is the spur from the main line at Silverton to the site of the former Silverton Paper Mill (which has been demolished and is soon to be redeveloped I believe). For anyone that doesn’t know the area, Silverton station had staggered platforms - so the down side platform was on the Exeter side of the road bridge and the up platform was on the other (London) side of the bridge with the spur to the mill opposite the up platform meaning trains going west could (I believe) run straight onto it. This is looking towards the main line, which is behind the barn that’s been built on the track bed: This is looking the other way towards the mill: At the other end of the short branch is a little carpark and this is taken from there looking back towards the main line (I think the cow had managed to get the wrong side of the fence somehow): Turning around and looking towards the site where the mill was the level crossing over a minor lane is still there: And after the crossing you can see that the points are still in situ leading into the former mill area: A pretty interesting survivor considering it closed sometime around 1967 I think? Apologies if this bit of line has been discussed before, I have read the whole thread and I don’t remember seeing it.

I took this one today near the level crossing at Hele and Bradninch. The lines curve towards the main line north of the level crossing - so trains would be heading towards Tiverton Parkway (or Tiverton Junction if you’re of a certain age 😉). The paper mill at Hele was behind me when I took the photo and you could see the track curving away into the yard. I’d be interested to know what track is left in the actual mill area if anyone knows?

Wow. Mixed gauge too.

Thanks John. Yes it’s been folded away and pushed into the corner for a while as it’s in the spare room and we’ve had people staying off and on. It needs a damn good dusting and a few telegraph wires fixing - which I’m intending to do over the next week or so, then I’ll post a few more photos hopefully.

It would make a fascinating article wouldn’t it? There’s so much interesting detail to talk about on how it’s all been put together.

A pair of 37s out on a Jolly passing Lapford:

Well that’s very nice of you and much appreciated. I’d really like to replace the photos that are missing in this thread but it feels like a mammoth amount of work to do, I’m not even sure what ones they are as it was a while ago that I posted them. I do need to give the layout a tidy up and repair a few things at some point so I’ll add a few photos then. Nick

There’s been an outbreak of somewhat strange signs in Teignmouth this last week…

That’s really interesting, thanks Andy.

That’s a punchy looking machine. Was there ever a chance that it could have worked on the Ffestiniog?