Jump to content
 

Peterborough North


great northern
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium
39 minutes ago, great northern said:

Only two candidates in the poll, poor old Bude didn't get a look in. Wadebridge-Padstow won 5-4, not surprising really, as it looks to have been a lovely little line.

 

To glorious Devon now, and GW single track branches therein.

Hi Gilbert

 

I voted for Bude, pressed "submit reply" and it never appeared.

  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, great northern said:

Morning all. Raining hard here, but its on its way out, so golf may not be too bad, despite the lack of kangaroos and koalas.

 

One more shot of Quicksilver from up on Cresecent Bridge.

 

 

1025099949_12a156.JPG.7e474df9e896d0a2c6581338e5d510bc.JPG

then to Spital Bridge, and a shot of the Little Barford goods heading for New England.

 

 

1139379936_13785.JPG.0ec2fe00fe8ad25b6c22de98d0ecba25.JPG

Another attempt at a new angle, but there is very little light in this corner now, so I won't try it again.

Are we going to get a closer view of the met cam lurking as the second vehicle behind Quicksilver?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Only one choice for me - the Kingsbridge branch along the Avon valley (the "Primrose Line"). 

 

I have walked parts of it many times and have always thought it more deserving of preservation than certain other more fortunate lines.  Very picturesque in parts, very modellable as seen on this forum and with potential for "might have been" extensions to Salcombe and Bigbury/Bantham.  But I have never understood how anyone thought stations like Gara Bridge could be profitable.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

The problem with the Bude branch in this category is that most of it was in Devon. Did anyone mention Callington?  

Part of the Callington branch was too, of course Ian. The "main" line to Padstow was also partly in Devon, so perhaps only the branch from Wadebridge to Bodmin was eligible - except that, originally, that was the main (only) line. So what's left? The Ruthern Bridge and Wenford Bridge branches.

 

I think that Gilbert steered a good path with the spirit of the poll, as did the respondents, and either Padstow or Wadebridge would have been a worthy winner.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
58 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

The Hemyock branch for today's poll. Don't know a great deal about it but it looks lovely in the pictures and well-known I believe for the diary traffic from the creamery at Hemyock. Quintessential GWR branchline.

Lett's have another try, shall we?

  • Thanks 1
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
  • Round of applause 1
  • Funny 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Kingswear. Not completely convinced by the ambiance these days - even in the observation car we were irritated by some airhead girl on the phone, and we concluded she must have been on a freebie - but love the views, and the challenging terrain gives locos a workout not every such route offers. 

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Difficult choices for today’s poll and I’m 

still undecided even as I type this... However, I’ll go for Kingswear. It is the only one I’ve visited both in my youth and later life, with good memories at all times.
 

Not really good looking in itself but it is ‘Kingswear for Dartmouth’ after all. A bit like the ‘Plain  Jane’ who looks entirely different when she smiles as flashes her eyes! 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Kingswear for me.

I would love to have seen it in the late 195O’s , early sixties. Where else in the country could you see an island platform terminus at the end of a single track branch with class 7 and class 8 locos arriving and leaving with named trains, or a big 2-6-2 tank piloting a class 5 4-6-0 ? Or if the driver was brave enough, a Hall having negotiated those steep banks with 13 on. Trains arriving from all over the country, in chocolate and cream, maroon , blood and custard, and if you were lucky, green in connections with River Dart Excursions. Add to that the jetty with  coal  being unloaded by rail crane and taken up to Torquay power station behind any thing from a pannier to a Hall.

I agree it’s lost a lot of its atmosphere now though. I think in part it’s due to it being a commercial tourist attraction rather than a preserved line as such. It doesn’t seem to exude enthusiasm in the way that the Bluebell, for example does. I was down there at the end of September, and went on it one day, basically to get out of the rain but it wasn’t a lot of fun.

It still gets my vote on account of its heyday when trains still had character, before the days of mass car ownership.

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...