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Dawish Warren and starcross


Guest 34008Padstow

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Guest 34008Padstow

i think i'll have a look on google. i really must go up there sometime and take some reference photos

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Guest 34008Padstow

Fantastic picture. from what i can see is dawlish warren on an embankment? also a little of the topic is the main road at starcross on a slope. i was looking at pics lastnight (hope to use it in a new model) and it seems that track level is higher

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Guest 34008Padstow

Is the platform on the beach side made of wood? it looks like bracing underneath the platform

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Greetings - the 'signalbox' on the Up Platform is actually a privately-built and owned holiday home, possibly even available to rent, if you know the owner (which I don't). It isn't and never has been intended as a signalbox.

<snip>

Back in the late '70s we had family holidays in Dawlish Warren for a few years. I remember wandering out one afternoon to go and see a model railway in what I've thought for the last 30 years was an old signal box. Is this likely to be the same building, and does anybody else remember the model railway?

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I remember the model railway! It wasnt in the signal box, as it was there before MAS came along in the 80's, my (admitedly faulty) memory is that it was in a grounded coach or somesuch, but then I was young!

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Dawlish railway museum was in the timber station buildings on the up side that burnt down - have postcards of it from the 70s showing Westerns running through - and it must have lasted a reasonable time as I also have a postcard of an HST running through the Warren.

 

regards

 

Matt

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Couple more oldies

 

Owen, awww, yet again you come up trumps sir.

 

drool - you must have been there at the same time as me, compulsory evening walk from the Beach Hotel to the Warren for Fish and chips and then back along the sea wall to the whump of the waves and an endless procession of trains - used to like the Milks, the papers and the sleeper.

 

My Dad never let me forget that I made him stand with me on the footbridge at the Warren waiting for a 25 to pull out on a freight for what he maintained was about half an hour....chance to do that again eh - mind you, you'd have to levitate to get the same position !

 

- I have searched your images on here in 'galleries' as I am sure you posted a really enigmatic and intriguing picture of a 37 with about 3 FK Mark 1's and a few motorail flats heading down through the Warren ? Of course I can't find that image now, and given that it was a 37 must have been post 78 but I have never seen anything like it before or since.

 

regards

 

Matt

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Dawlish railway museum was in the timber station buildings on the up side that burnt down - have postcards of it from the 70s showing Westerns running through - and it must have lasted a reasonable time as I also have a postcard of an HST running through the Warren.

 

regards

 

Matt

Ah, that must have been it. I must just remember walking past a building that looked like an old signal box :rolleyes: Last time I was there must have been '78 or '79 and HST's were definitely screaming past :D

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Owen, awww, yet again you come up trumps sir.

 

drool - you must have been there at the same time as me, compulsory evening walk from the Beach Hotel to the Warren for Fish and chips and then back along the sea wall to the whump of the waves and an endless procession of trains - used to like the Milks, the papers and the sleeper.

 

My Dad never let me forget that I made him stand with me on the footbridge at the Warren waiting for a 25 to pull out on a freight for what he maintained was about half an hour....chance to do that again eh - mind you, you'd have to levitate to get the same position !

 

- I have searched your images on here in 'galleries' as I am sure you posted a really enigmatic and intriguing picture of a 37 with about 3 FK Mark 1's and a few motorail flats heading down through the Warren ? Of course I can't find that image now, and given that it was a 37 must have been post 78 but I have never seen anything like it before or since.

 

regards

 

Matt

 

 

Yes Matt, 37 was a Stirling-St Austell motor rail, its there on gallery somewhere!! I did not see it there either, LOL. remember the large layout in museum,(old station building) was run by a couple of my dads friends, one i remember was named Mr Montgomerie. I bought my first model railway stuff in there. Colin marsden was a regular visitor when not driving 33s.

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The sidings were still connected to the up loop in the 70's, when the BR Staff association coaches were in a fetching range of light blues and yellows. (there's a good image on page 50 and 52 of Stratwood's wonderful Seventies Spotting Days around the Western Region.

 

I seem to recall seeing a picture in one of the railway publications of the early 80's showing some of the coaches being towed away by a 31.

 

Current coaches are chocalate and cream - no idea whether they were taken to the Warren by rail or whether they were taken in by road.

 

web site for Brunel Camping Park

 

http://www.dawlishwarren.info/railwaycarriages.php

 

Funnily enough, my wife seems less than keen for our family to sample the delights of the camping coaches - When I were a nipper, I used to spend hours on the footbridge, (the original station one, since gone) gazing through the spectacle of the home signal there, watching the trains go by. Dawlish was paradise then - get very miffed by the absence of freight, and variety of freight there now.

 

regards

 

Matt W

 

We usually have a week in the camping coaches every year, round about Easter time. We always stay in the coach called "Plymouth" which is the inspection saloon at the end of the row. This is best as the sitting room is at the Dawlish Warren end and the end windows give great views of approaching trains. The facilities are basic, but they have always been very clean. There is next to zero insulation in the coaches, so if the sun is shing they get very warm and if it is cold outside they rapidly get freezing inside! Electric fan heaters are provided though.

 

I have a few videos taken in the Dawlish area on my Youtube channel at:

 

Youtube channel

 

along with some other railway related clips.

 

Regards

 

ROB

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Guest 34008Padstow

Hi guys. another question. moving a little further up the line to starcross. ive noticed in some pics that the main road is level with the track but others it seems that it drops down. is there certain parts where this happens?

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Hi guys. another question. moving a little further up the line to starcross. ive noticed in some pics that the main road is level with the track but others it seems that it drops down. is there certain parts where this happens?

The railway line is level, the road level undulates....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great photos! And a nice mix of locos too. It was always such a magical place for me as a youngster, and it's still special to me now, just whenever i'm there now i find the trains are less varied/interesting, but it seems like there is still a good mix of trains down there at certain times!

Thanks again for sharing the photos

Ian

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Starcross is my nearest station(!) - not much to get excited about, just Up & Down main lines.

The main road is slightly lower than the railway line immediately alongside the station, there are about 6 steps up from road level to the Up side platform & then a footbridge to the Down platform, which also gives access to the jetty for the Exmouth ferry. There is no level access which is a pain for pushchair users & a complete no-no for wheelchairs. There was a foot crossing at the Up end of the platforms but this is locked out of use. Interestingly though, there is another foot crossing about 200 yds further along by the car park which is still usable, but only give acess to a small jetty & steps to the sea / river bed.

Going towards Dawlish, past the Brunel pumping station & before Cockwood, the road dips lower still past a golf course & I get the distinct feeling it is at or even below sea level with the railway embankment keeping the sea at bay!

 

 

 

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Starcross is my nearest station(!) - not much to get excited about, just Up & Down main lines.

The main road is slightly lower than the railway line immediately alongside the station, there are about 6 steps up from road level to the Up side platform & then a footbridge to the Down platform, which also gives access to the jetty for the Exmouth ferry. There is no level access which is a pain for pushchair users & a complete no-no for wheelchairs. There was a foot crossing at the Up end of the platforms but this is locked out of use. Interestingly though, there is another foot crossing about 200 yds further along by the car park which is still usable, but only give acess to a small jetty & steps to the sea / river bed.

Going towards Dawlish, past the Brunel pumping station & before Cockwood, the road dips lower still past a golf course & I get the distinct feeling it is at or even below sea level with the railway embankment keeping the sea at bay!

 

 

Rich.I drove down that road last weekend and vouch for your detail.Excellent for watching trains but very busy on that road on a changeover Saturday.

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