Plymouth Sutton Harbour branch

[pb_devon]

33 minutes ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

You are quite correct, not much more than the length of what is now the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop, previously the fish market.

 

 

Edinburgh Wollen Mill gone bust! Shop now empty with a To Let sign.

 

[bécasse]

Here is a drawing of the crossing gates at Sutton Road. There was a photo in the August 1961 Railway Modeller, page 193.

SuttonRoadCrossingGate.pdf

Edited August 1, 2021 by bécasse

[brianthesnail96]

Bernard Mills' "Backtracking Around Friary, Laira and the Plym" has some good pictures of the branch before it was buried under roads, pizza restaurants and hotels. I bought the book while staying in Plymouth in the Lockyer's Quay hotel and was quite surprised to find out that where I was sat used to be a goods depot, although I was aware that what is now Gdynia Way was originally a railway- the Cattedown Road bridge crossing it has a very railway look to it. 

Plymouth's railway history is fascinating, not least because so much has vanished!

[KeithMacdonald]

On 07/08/2021 at 09:07, brianthesnail96 said:

I bought the book while staying in Plymouth in the Lockyer's Quay hotel and was quite surprised to find out that where I was sat used to be a goods depot,

 

Yes, Lockyer's Quay and Johnson's Quay together looks like a very nice waterfront modelling opportunity. Does anyone know what kind of goods were handled by the goods station?

 

[Kris]

Likely to have been general goods. 

[brianusa]

Hi Keith, On a dimsy Autumn day there wasn't much else to do until I came across the on going series of dockside Plymouth which pops up every now and again.  Always of interest and amazing facts and info keep turning up over the span of this subject.  Its been a while since I trod those once familiar quays and wharfs and with all the new development, it begins to lose the attraction such places have to those of us who like to delve into the past.  We must hope there is yet some undiscovered siding or remains of a wagon buried somewhere in the bushes and brambles!

   Brian

[Michael Crofts]

I thought perhaps a bit of cheerful news might not go amiss. The LSWR receiving office painted signs which were mentioned earlier in this thread were restored a while back and are in good condition. Below is a link to a Flickr album with 3 snaps I took in 2020 but it hasn't changed. I'll try and take some better pictures next time I am around on a good day. We have a boat which has been lying against Sutton Wharf in what is now a marina for a year, and we have just signed up for another year in that berth, so we go there quite often. Our car parking space is on the granite setts with the inset lines of the old tramway - very uneven ground especially when trying to push a trolley, but very well preserved.

Snaps of the LSWR building:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/albums/72177720295344718

Some snaps of the tramway lines including the remaining in-situ piece of broad gauge track on Sutton Wharf are among the contents of this album. There are 7 photos, towards the bottom of the page which this link should open:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/119194913@N05/sets/72157715569367772/

The track is also preserved on Vauxhall Quay but I haven't got any pictures of that at the moment.

 

I want to take this opportunity to thank those who have provided information about this part of Plymouth, in this thread and in the earlier one about Cattewater, all of which I have enjoyed reading. I have a much better appreciation of the area because of this forum.

 

EDIT: there is another piece of in-situ broad gauge track - on the quayside at Exeter

Edited January 19, 2022 by Michael Crofts
Clarified broad gauge track survivors