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Teign Valley line operations


Cofga
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I think I have settled on basing my layout on the GWR Teign Valley Line in the mid-late 1930s. Is there anywhere I might find operating schedules for that time period? Of the currently available crop of books on GWR lines in Devon do any provide particular details on this line?

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An interesting book is 'The Heathfield to Exeter (Teign Valley) Railway' by Lawrence Pomroy. ARK Publications.

I have the 1995 edition.

Teign_Valley_Railway_book.jpg.d7d7384ae2980420a55f2bf4ed3295c1.jpg

It includes some timetables from different decades though the 1931 is a passenger only timetable.

The 1924 and 1948 timetables show passenger and freight workings.

There are extracts from the Sectional Appendix giving local instructions, and a list of loco classes that worked the line, as well as details of passenger and freight stock.

 

In the heyday of the line it must have been interesting, with more mineral traffic than passenger,

 

cheers 

Edited by Rivercider
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"The Great Western in South Devon" by Keith Beck & John Copsey (Wild Swan Publications) has a section about the Teign Valley line, including photos of various stations on the line and locos/stock in use.

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Thanks, I’ll look for those. I did find a copy of the Teign Valley Line by Pomroy on eBay and it is on the way, but most others were not available. I’ll keep and eye out for the South Devon book too. If I can’t find an appropriate schedule I guess I can merge the others into a reasonable facsimile. There is a fairly interesting website on the Teign Valley with some nice photos and links. I read somewhere that the largest locos used on the line were 2-6-0s and I have one on order although Dapol has now set delivery back to September—anyone interested in a Hornby King class—too big for the TVR. 

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6 hours ago, Martin Shaw said:

There is also The Teign Valley Line by Peter Kay, published by Wild Swan. It is I think OOP but if you can get a sensibly priced copy it's very good.

Regards

Martin

I have heard that the book is very good, but the only copy I have seen (in a book shop window) was far more than I wanted to pay. I'll keep looking.

 

cheers

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On 01/07/2020 at 13:07, Siberian Snooper said:

There were also diverted mainline trains, when the sea wall was closed, although there no 4-6-0s as far as I'm aware.

 

 

The Peter Kay book - which I thoroughly recommend, if you can find a copy - has a photograph of 7806 “Cockington Manor” at Christow in unlined black. Not on a diverted mainline train though, there is a suggestion in the caption that it was shunting the 10am Newton to Christow goods. 

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24 minutes ago, wagonman said:

The Manors were 'blue' engines of course. What was the weight restriction for the Teign Valley line?

That is where things get interesting.  On the GWR RA map it is shown as 'Uncoloured'.  Obviously it isn't in the 1963 RA book but what was left at the Exeter end (to Alphington Road) and what was left at the Heathfield End (still open to Trusham)  is shown as Dotted Blue and 78XX and '73XX (= all the GWR mogul number groups) are specifically listed for the Heathfield - Trusham section.   From this I would think it reasonable to assume that at some time the entire Teign Valley line was Dotted Blue although there might have been specific restrictions, most likely of speed or for individual structures, on classes in the Blue group

The Moretonhampstead branch was also Blue at that time.

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12 hours ago, wagonman said:

The Manors were 'blue' engines of course. What was the weight restriction for the Teign Valley line?

The Pomroy book (1995 edition) mentioned above contains an extract of Appendix to No. 5 Section Exeter Division dated Feb 1947.

The route Exeter to Heathfield is shown as 'Uncoloured' (apart from the short section to City Basin which is dotted blue).

Yellow types specially authorised 2-6-2T, 0-6-0T, and 2-4-0T

Classes 78XX and 43XX are permitted over the branch in emergency at 25MPH.

 

There is also a list of Standard Loads for Passengers Parcels and Milk, which includes entries giving specially agreed loads for emergency working for classes 41, 51, 43, 53, 63, 73, and 78XX, also loads for 2251-2299,

 

cheers

Edited by Rivercider
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Prior to 1943 the line was rated yellow but during the war they upgraded the line to blue use it as a bypass in case the Germans shelled the seaside tracks at Dawlish. 
 

Be aware that Pomroy apparently did 2 books, the one you have mentioned plus another titled “The Teign Valley Line“ which is the one I purchased and have on order. The Peter Kay book sounds like a more exhaustive one but it is a bit pricier so I think I’ll hold off and see what is in the one I just bought.

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13 hours ago, Rivercider said:

 

The Pomroy book (1995 edition) mentioned above contains an extract of Appendix to No. 5 Section Exeter Division dated Feb 1947.

The route Exeter to Heathfield is shown as 'Uncoloured' (apart from the short section to City Basin which is dotted blue).

Yellow types specially authorised 2-6-2T, 0-6-0T, and 2-4-0T

Classes 78XX and 43XX are permitted over the branch in emergency at 25MPH.

 

There is also a list of Standard Loads for Passengers Parcels and Milk, which includes entries giving specially agreed loads for emergency working for classes 41, 51, 43, 53, 63, 73, and 78XX, also loads for 2251-2299,

 

cheers

That ties up with Service TT information which in both the Summer 1938 and Winter 1947-48 books shows the line as Uncoloured but with Yellow 2-6-2T,  0-6-0T, & 2-4-0T - permitted (without any additional restrictions).  The Winter 1949 STT additionally shows 78XX permitted with maximum speed restricted to 20 mph plus a lower restriction to 10mph at Trusham pending track relaying.    Various other Blue category engines were allowed to work Between City Basin Jcn and Alphington Sdgs for shunting purposes only.   In addition the post-war STTs show a reference to Notice 464 in respect of emergency working of trains which would tie up with the loads mentioned by 'Rivercider'; these loads are also shown in the STTs for the classes which he noted.

 

Through all of those STT editions the maximum speed for all trains was limited to 35 mph between City Basin Jcn and Christow thence a maximum speedof 45mph between Christow and Heathfield - subject in both cases to various intermediate restrictions to lower speeds.   

 

 As the remaining stubs of the line at both ends were classified Dotted Blue in 1963 it strikes me as very unlikely that the line was ever classified as Blue but it could well have been reclassified Dotted Blue at some stage if it had been cleared for all Yellow restriction classes.  As STT information clearly shows the line was still classified as Uncoloured in 1947 & 1949  I would conclude that the only war time exception was the authorities for certain Blue engines contained in Notice 464 and the line was not in fact reclassified to Blue at that time because it would seem odd that it had reverted to Uncoloured after the war but then bits of it later became Dotted Blue (unless anybody has original documentary evidence which says otherwise).

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Prior to 1943 the line was rated yellow but during the war they upgraded the line to blue use it as a bypass in case the Germans shelled the seaside tracks at Dawlish. 

 

i can’t remember the website where I read this but it is likely they simply interpreted what Rivercider and The Stationmaster discussed as being yellow and blue ratings. Good to have this more nuanced Look at the actual facts.

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