Peterborough North

[St Enodoc]

The Par - Newquay branch. A bit of everything - wooded valleys, the St Austell Alps, gorse-covered moorland; double-headed 15-coach expresses, lengthy china clay trains, bustling B-Sets; steep gradients, sharp curves, a triangular junction, and some short sections of double track (I hope that doesn't disqualify it!). Oh, and it's still open. What more could one ask?

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Where my Wife says I belong...........................Looe.

 

manna

[great northern]

1 minute ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

Where my Wife says I belong...........................Looe.

 

manna

What? Down it?

[manna]

1 minute ago, great northern said:

What? Down it?

 Yep...........I'm full of it.  LOL

 

manna

[CUTLER2579]

Manna looks somewhat red today,A little flushed I guess. 

[The Pilotman]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

The Par - Newquay branch. A bit of everything - wooded valleys, the St Austell Alps, gorse-covered moorland; double-headed 15-coach expresses, lengthy china clay trains, bustling B-Sets; steep gradients, sharp curves, a triangular junction, and some short sections of double track (I hope that doesn't disqualify it!). Oh, and it's still open. What more could one ask?

What he said

[Oldddudders]

I'm another for Looe. The ridiculous configuration at Liskeard, where the branch platform is at almost 90 degrees to the main line, then the huge descending loop to a reversing platform, before setting off for the coast. Surreal - more like one of our models than 1:1! 

[Andrew P]

Just found this, so if I may be aloud a Vote, it would be the Ashburton Branch, I traveled on it a few years ago, and having lived in Buckfast and Buckfastleigh it was my Local. The stretch alongside the Dart, and Staverton Station are just wonderful. 

BTW I too would have voted Llangollen in the last round as well, and a stunning line in the Autumn with the trees of all colours. 

[Clive Mortimore]

St Ives

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

Just found this, so if I may be aloud a Vote, it would be the Ashburton Branch, I traveled on it a few years ago, and having lived in Buckfast and Buckfastleigh it was my Local. The stretch alongside the Dart, and Staverton Station are just wonderful. 

BTW I too would have voted Llangollen in the last round as well, and a stunning line in the Autumn with the trees of all colours. 

 

3 hours ago, great northern said:

Another easy winner, Llangollen with 5 votes.

 

We'll have a change. I've been working down to the smallest, which takes us to single track branch lines. So, as a whole what is/was the most evocative/scenic/interesting GW single track branch line in Cornwall? You don't have to have been there, I'm sure we have all seen plenty of pictures in books and magazines.

Trans-Tamar civil war breaks out...

[Metropolitan H]

A difficult choice, the main contenders (Par - Newquay / Bodmin Rd. - Bodmin / St. Erth - St. Ives / Gwinear Rd. - Helston / Liskeard - Looe / Lostwithel - Fowey) all being rather marvellous in different ways.

 

In the end I'm plumping for The Par - Newquay branch - for the same reasons as St. Enodoc.

 

Regards

Chris H

[TrevorP1]

St Ives branch for me. For the section along the cliffs near Carbis Bay.

[St Enodoc]

27 minutes ago, TrevorP1 said:

St Ives branch for me. For the section along the cliffs near Carbis Bay.

I thought you'd have chosen the Parkandillack line!

[TrevorP1]

18 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I thought you'd have chosen the Parkandillack line!

 

I think even today the St Ives branch is pretty special. You leave from the bay platform at St Erth, still reasonably unmolested.  The journey in the sunlight of a clear evening is pretty special and you arrive in St Ives above a beach.

 

I always think that ‘back in the day’ holidaymakers from a northern mill town must have thought they’d died and come to heaven. Not only that but on a summer Saturday it was the destination of no lesser train that the full length Cornish Riviera Express, double headed by two small praries.

 

I rest my case. Can I vote for it twice please Gilbert? 

[New Haven Neil]

Looe for me, as it is Mrs NHN's home town and she sometimes reads this!

[jollysmart]

St Ives branch, loved it from the fist time I saw it and it is still special, which is quite an achievement in present times.

[great northern]

A question for our railwaymen. I am trying to establish whether a particular A3 had early emblem or late crest during summer 1958. Pictures taken at that time are very hard to come by. The loco had a general from which it emerged at the beginning of March 1957, so definitely with early emblem. Yeadon then shows it in Plant for a casual heavy repair for 19 days between 2nd and 21st December 1957. Would it have gone through the paint shop during that visit, when it may have received the late crest? 19 days in total seems to me too short a period to have allowed a repaint, but if anyone who was around any of the works at the time can tell me if I'm right, it would be a great help.

 

There is a further complication. Yeadon shows the loco got a replacement boiler. Would that change things? Could it be that the boiler got a repaint, but the rest of the loco was not done? I have found a picture taken at Grantham. It is undated, but Tim says it was taken in spring/early summer. The loco is quite clean in places, but the front buffer beam is very dirty. There is a maroon BSO behind the tender with a Scottish prefix. Tim has looked that up, and it seems the Scottish region didn't get them till 1958 or later. We think this was taken in 1958, and the loco has single chimney and early crest.

 

But, the first question has to be, could a loco go into works and be stripped down enough to have a replacement boiler fitted, and then also go through the paint shop, all within 19 days?

[DaveF]

 

St Ives.

 

David

[David Bell]

St Ives for me too

[Andrew P]

6 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Just found this, so if I may be aloud a Vote, it would be the Ashburton Branch, I traveled on it a few years ago, and having lived in Buckfast and Buckfastleigh it was my Local. The stretch alongside the Dart, and Staverton Station are just wonderful. 

BTW I too would have voted Llangollen in the last round as well, and a stunning line in the Autumn with the trees of all colours. 

 

8 hours ago, great northern said:

Another easy winner, Llangollen with 5 votes.

 

We'll have a change. I've been working down to the smallest, which takes us to single track branch lines. So, as a whole what is/was the most evocative/scenic/interesting GW single track branch line in Cornwall? You don't have to have been there, I'm sure we have all seen plenty of pictures in books and magazines.

 

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Trans-Tamar civil war breaks out...

Whoops, Back to Skool for Gogofey lessons tomorrow.

[LNER4479]

For sheer railway interest and idiosyncrasy, it has to be Liskeard-Looe for me.

 

Lovely semaphore signalling (still?) on the mainline, the orientation-challenging 360 degree spiral down to the reversal at Coombe Junction, under the shadow of the Moorswater viaduct and the picture postcard final destination.

 

And I don't even particularly 'do' all things GWR!

[mullie]

St Ives for me too.

 

Martyn

[LNER4479]

4 hours ago, great northern said:

A question for our railwaymen. I am trying to establish whether a particular A3 had early emblem or late crest during summer 1958. Pictures taken at that time are very hard to come by. The loco had a general from which it emerged at the beginning of March 1957, so definitely with early emblem. Yeadon then shows it in Plant for a casual heavy repair for 19 days between 2nd and 21st December 1957. Would it have gone through the paint shop during that visit, when it may have received the late crest? 19 days in total seems to me too short a period to have allowed a repaint, but if anyone who was around any of the works at the time can tell me if I'm right, it would be a great help.

 

There is a further complication. Yeadon shows the loco got a replacement boiler. Would that change things? Could it be that the boiler got a repaint, but the rest of the loco was not done? I have found a picture taken at Grantham. It is undated, but Tim says it was taken in spring/early summer. The loco is quite clean in places, but the front buffer beam is very dirty. There is a maroon BSO behind the tender with a Scottish prefix. Tim has looked that up, and it seems the Scottish region didn't get them till 1958 or later. We think this was taken in 1958, and the loco has single chimney and early crest.

 

But, the first question has to be, could a loco go into works and be stripped down enough to have a replacement boiler fitted, and then also go through the paint shop, all within 19 days?

I see you've not (yet) had a response to this, Gilbert.

 

There's a danger of me commenting from a position of mixed knowledge; however, the following is quoted from some notes I made from 'Memoirs of a railway engineer' by E (Edgar) J Larkin:

Types of repair:

1) Heavy General Repair - complete strip down of every sub-assembly and component. 1.5 days initial stripping, 8 working days in the repair shop then paint shop. 16 working days (my notes aren't clear - that MIGHT be 16 days in the paint shop)

2) Heavy Service Repair - a change of boiler or cylinders. 6 working days (hence no visit to paint shop)

3) Light Service Repair - specified work other than 1) or 2)

(obviously these are planned / target times. ACTUAL time on works could vary according to circumstances)

 

Hence a works visit without paint shop would be quite common. Paintwork would be cleaned but, unless there was a concerted campaign or some other special instructions then it could well come out of works with old emblem.

 

Note that Mr. Larkin was a LMS/LMR man so what I quote above might not be quite how it was on the Eastern Region. In particular, 'casual heavy repair' is not amongst the above categories!

[Brian Hawkins]

Looe for me Gilbert, so many happy family holidays over the years.

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Gilbert, check to see if your loco had a Tender change in the works visit !!

 

manna