Jump to content
 

A visit to Bere Alston


Captain Kernow

Recommended Posts

G'day roundhouse,

 

Excellent pics you have. How Calstock has diminished since the youtube footage from 1964 Nick mentioned...!

Great pic of the viaduct. You can see where the wagon lift once was, in the foreground of this pic. The pic of Latchley Halt gives me a great indication of how the platforms were constructed along this amazing branch line. Thanks for posting.

 

Cheers, Gary.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wonder if that ex Plymouth (Torbay) tram still exists around Chilworthy?Guessing it would have gone by rail minus bogies etc on a flat or well wagon.

Long gone I'm afraid. The last trams in Plymouth were one on Camels Head tip (under "Shakey Bridge" aka Camels head Viaduct) and two at Home Park the Plymouth Argyle ground which gave rise to a memorable conversation one evening when I returned their minibus after the garage I was working at had serviced it.

 

"Put it down the bottom by the stand please"

 

"Do you mean by the old trams?"

 

"We don't have any old trams"

 

"You did the last time I was here"

 

"When was that?"

 

"The year you got into the second division"

 

"That was only two years ago!"

 

"No - I was only twelve at the time"

 

End of conversation

 

Wally

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Well these plans have being considered for at least 20 years now and still nothing has happened :nono: .

 

I did a work placement on a nursery (plant type) in 1992/3 just outside Bere Alston as it was also been talked about then.

Of those 20 years - first 10 years - non-serious discussions (I was also working on BR/RT down here at the time)...

 

Last 10 years - serious discussions with developer on board now. Track plan for Bere Alston worked out provisionally, but can't go into more details right now.

Link to post
Share on other sites

We stayed at Chilsworthy on holiday a few years back and used the Gunnislake Branch for a day out in Plymouth. It was a fantastic journey with the contrast between the light railway section between Bere Alston and Gunnislake, where the unit crept at low speed across ungated crossings, and the LSWR main line section where it rattled along at higher speed on a well built formation. It's easily my favourite branch line in the country.

Thanks for posting those pictures, they are very evocative.

I hope the Tavistock section gets re-opened. It was encouraging to read that planning for this has been included in the re-franchishing process for the area.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...