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Bude Station, Yard etc


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Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but there are lots of photos of Bude station and wharf branch on the Railway page of the "Bude Past & Present" website here: http://bude-past-and-present.org.uk/category/railway/

Cheers, Dave.

Some interesting shots there Dave. Not sure what the Merchant Navy, show of Exeter or Okehampton are doing there though.
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Bude was slightly unusual in having two pieces of rolling stock placed on short isolated sections of track:

 

attachicon.gif0001.jpg

From an original picture by Chris Knowles-Thomas / http://www.semgonline.com

The first was a Crane situated between the Turntable and canal branch which,   as far as I am aware,

was used to tranship goods between rail and road vehicles, the latter gaining access by means of the

road leading to the Gasworks. 

 

attachicon.gifR6004.jpg

In connection with this,   I've have always been struck by the remarkable similarity between the crane

at Bude and this model of an engineers crane produced by Hornby, Cat No R6004.

 

The crane is one of a number built by Cowans-Sheldon of Carlisle during the early part of WW2, and intended to provide increased cranage capacity at strategic locations around the UK- they were of 6.5 or 10 ton capacity, several times greater than many fixed yard cranes. The majority seem to have gone to the LMS, and its successor, but it would seem a couple of examples went further south. Paul Bartlett's site shows one at Exmouth Junction wagon works in 1979, and another at Tonbridge West Yard- this one was still in use at the beginning of this century. The Hornby one can provide the basis of a decent model.

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The Last Train.

 

attachicon.gif99 - RmWeb - BHC_25_299ed A.jpg

Copyright Bude Heritage Centre; http://cornishmemory.com/item/BHC_25_299

WR Single Car DMMU No 55012 waiting to leave Bude with the 19:35 to Exeter Central

on Saturday 1st October 1966.

Great photos in this and your previous post Nigel, but they throw up a little mystery for me - neither end of the "last train" seems to have any exhaust pipes. Is it possible that it wasn't in fact a single car?

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Post any photos you have please, don't worry about quality, particularly if it's not a common angle.

 

 

Don't worry about the quality, all information is good!

And a bit of Photoshoppery gives us these:

 

attachicon.gifBude post-19996-0-70674100-1438799173 shopped.jpg

 

attachicon.gifBude post-19996-0-82204400-1438799171 shopped.jpg

 

Whats the van, is it a Bedford Doormobile?

 

Cheers, Dave.

 

 

My dad had a Ford Prefect exactly like that, same colour as well, OBO 914.  The Bedford is an 'ordinary' van, but they were available in crewbus and open versions as well.  A Dormobile is a conversion with a lifting panel in the roof to convert it to a motor caravan, seen on Bedfords, VWs, and Commer Cobs as well.

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Whilst researching the demise and closure of the line,  I came across this locally produced film

about the Bude Branch which may be of interest.

attachicon.gifUntitled.jpg

See:  http://cornishmemory.com/item/BHC_15

 

At one point during the film,  (at approx 13min)  the narrator talks about the regular delivery of

newspapers to Grills Farm at Trelay.        This was carried out by the Guard of the first up train

who would throw out a rolled up copy of the paper, which was caught and taken into the house

by the farm dog.

 

attachicon.gifD17, Last paper delivery at Trelay.jpg

Copyright Grills Family Collection / Adrian Abbott

Here,  having made his throw,  Guard Claude Daniel can be seen waving from the van window

as the dog waits in the field to retrieve the paper.

 

Actually, I think Guard Daniel has been captured on film in the act of throwing the rolled up paper, which is the white thing gracefully arcing through the air in front of the bridge abutment, and it looks as if Rover is about to be hit on the nose by it; Rover is probably a Border Collie by the look of it, a breed far to bright to be hit on the nose in this way.

 

My imaginary version of the next 2 seconds involves Rover very satisfyingly catching the paper in mid air and bounding joyfully back to the farmhouse where hopefully his master will reward him with at least a biscuit!

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That is something I would very much like to see.

 

Following Royal Mail delivery vans in rural Mid Wales might provide you with an opportunity!

Edited by The Johnster
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As has already been alluded to in an earlier post, apart from the three sets in use for the service trains, there was another DMMU running on the last day:

 

 

The unit in question was operating the Great Western Society North Cornwall Lines Farewell Tour, which ran over a circuitous route from Plymouth to Okehampton via, Bodmin Road, Bodmin General, Bodmin North, Padstow, Halwill and Bude.  From Okehampton it then returned to Plymouth via, Halwill, Wadebridge, Bodmin General, and Bodmin Road.

 

Whilst it has not been possible to unequivocally identify the unit in question, a photograph taken at Tresmeer clearly shows the DMBC to be W51581, which, according to available records, suggests it was Set No 560.  This was a 3-car Swindon built Class 120 Cross-Country Unit which was allocated to Laira between June 1962 and June 1968, the other two vehicles being TS W59587 and DMS W51585.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 001 - Ticket No 0045 {Mike Roach}.jpg

Copyright Mike Roach: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/features-page-july-to-december-2016.html

 

Surprisingly perhaps, photographs of the railtour are not that common and I would like to thank both Keith Jenkin and David Hawkings for allowing me to use some of the pictures they took on the day.  Permission to use these photographs has been granted specifically for the purpose of illustrating this topic and copyright remains with the original owners.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 002 - Plymouth.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/features-page-july-to-december-2016.html

Attaching the headboard at Plymouth North Road.  Fortunately, as the train was scheduled to reverse no less than nine times during the day, someone had the foresight to produce two headboards, on for each end of the unit.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 003 - Timings.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin/Great Western Society

The full timings for the farewell tour, as issued to passengers on the day.

See attachicon.gifGWS 003 - Timings.pdf for a downloadable pdf copy.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 004 - Halwill.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/okehampton-to-launceston-excl--dunsland-x--ashbury-pre-1980.html

On arrival at Halwill, because the up platform was not signalled for departures towards Bude, the train was shunted out of the station towards Okehampton and then set back into the down platform.

attachicon.gifGWS 005 - Halwill.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/okehampton-to-launceston-excl--dunsland-x--ashbury-pre-1980.html

The train standing in the down platform at Halwill ready to depart for Bude.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 006 - Halwill - 6345347562_e56ca69f5a_o.jpg

Copyright David Hawkings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12549538@N08/6345347562/in/photolist-aEHyLb-bfhhGK-bgJvgV

And looking back the other way.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 007 Last BR Timetable - GWS Spl.jpg

This is a copy of the timetabled service for the last day, which has been adjusted to include the timings of the GWS Farewell Tour.

See attachicon.gifGWS 007 Last BR Timetable - GWS Spl.pdf for a downloadable pdf copy.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 008 - Holsworthy.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/okehampton-to-launceston-excl--dunsland-x--ashbury-pre-1980.html

At Holsworthy the special was booked to cross the 15 20 from Bude to Okehampton.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 009 - Whitstone & Bridgerule.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/north-cornwall-line-including-route-to-bude-and-okehampton.html

On the way down to Bude the platform at Whitstone & Bridgerule was probably busier than it had been for some time.  The original LSWR name board has survived right through to closure.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 010 - Bude.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/north-cornwall-line-including-route-to-bude-and-okehampton.html

On arrival at Bude, with no timetabled services about, the special was able to use the main platform.

 

attachicon.gifGWS 011 - Bude.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/north-cornwall-line-including-route-to-bude-and-okehampton.html

The schedule only provided for a three-minute turnaround, which would be ambitious at the best of times.  However, with a trainload of passenger wanting to stretch their legs and take photographs timekeeping was always going to suffer and a late departure was inevitable.

attachicon.gifGWS 012 - Bude.jpg

 

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/north-cornwall-line-including-route-to-bude-and-okehampton.html

Having delivered the single line token and explained the revised crossing arrangements to the Driver, the Signalman walks slowly back to his box.

attachicon.gifGWS 013 - Whitstone & Bridgerule.jpg

Copyright Keith Jenkin: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/north-cornwall-line-including-route-to-bude-and-okehampton.html

Now running rather late, on the way up to Okehampton, the special crossed the 16 00 from Halwill to Bude at Whitstone & Bridgerule instead of Holsworthy.

 

By way of a postscript, there was a moment of high drama on the return journey from Okehampton.  With an additional train shown in the special traffic notice, passengers had been allowed to travel up on the 18 40 from Wadebridge with the intention of returning on the 19 06 from Delabole - the GWS Tour.  In the event they were unable to board the return service, so how they actually got home remains something of a mystery.

What a wonderful post Nigel. May I humbly suggest that you arrange with the Cornwall Railway Society to place it in its entirety on their website where it will have a much wider circulation?

 

Separately, the first thing that struck me about the timings was the very limited provision for Personal Needs Breaks (not for the crew, for the passengers). I wonder how they coped?

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May I add a note of caution re the dmu set numbering?  The region-wide system was not finally in place until the early 70s and prior to then sets were numbered individually by their designated depot.  Laira had a distressing tendency to renumber its allocation following movements in and out, of which there were many during the 1960s.  In addition, at the time of the end of the Withered Arm there had been some temporary re-formations whereby some suburban sets swapped cars with Cross-Country sets to ensure that there was at least one toilet fitted vehicle available on the lengthy journeys on which the units were deployed.

 

Chris

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I've done a bit of digging.  The Railway Observer for December 1965 has a piece on the dmu allocation for the Western Region as in mid October 1965.  At that time 51581 was part of set LA502.  The article states that 51590 from that set had been temporarily exchanged with 116 motor second 50921.  I then looked at notes from 1962 which inter alia suggest that those power cars arrived from Tyseley with trailer 59587 in early 1962 as one of the first three Cross-Country sets allocated to Laira.  Now a lot can happen to a dmu formation in four and a half years, not all of which was recorded - there is a limit even to the diligence of the scouts working for the Royal Corps of Train Spotters.  Power cars tended to stick together and swap trailers, either as a make-do-and mend measure or more permanently.

 

This cannot be definitive but it is the best I can do!

 

Chris

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'Shedmaster's' is likely to be the missing word, perhaps. But the whole sign is ridiculous - who would take an engine without authority, not least from the signalman?

 

Edit :

 

Or had there been cases of locos being borrowed, maybe for a spot of shunting, e.g. on the Canal Branch?

Edited by Oldddudders
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'Shedmaster's' is likely to be the missing word, perhaps. But the whole sign is ridiculous - who would take an engine without authority, not least from the signalman?

 

Edit :

 

Or had there been cases of locos being borrowed, maybe for a spot of shunting, e.g. on the Canal Branch?

Ian,

 

Drivers would take an engine without authority.  In the 80's when there were loco's at Dover, Ashford, Tonbridge etc it was not unknown for the Ashford  'Foreman' to send someone over for a loco and it wasn't there...  later found sitting at Tonbridge... Track Access as now didn't exist, just get on the SPT and ring out as 'Light Loco for Tonbridge' and off you went....

 

I'm sure you know of such things...  nod nod wink wink

 

Ernie

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  • 3 weeks later...

Returning to the 1Z10 The North Cornwall Farewell Railtour and pulling together all available information, it was formed of DMBC W51581 and DMS W51590 (definites) with a strong possibility of the TS (centre car) being W59587 and a slim chance that it could have been W59582. We may never know! History is easily lost!

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An interesting possibility and not one that had occurred to me.

 

attachicon.gifpost-19996-0-00141100-1504009528.jpg

 

There was a problem at Bude with the prevailing winds blowing ash from the loco depot across the station.  In an attempt to alleviate this, the concrete fence seen to the left of the sign was erected by the Southern in the 1920s.

 

If it is indeed Ashes, then maybe it was the Stationmaster's permission that was required in order to ensure the work was only undertaken on a calm day.

Looks more like 'signalmans' than 'stationmasters'

Edited by Echo
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I would agree.

 

However, if the first word is ashes, it's inconceivable that anyone would need authority from the signalman before removing them.

Had another look. The best fit for the first word is definitely 'ASHES'. I am pretty sure now that the other mystery word is 'STOREKEEPERS'

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Fascinating building. Cries out to be modelled! Couple of thoughts. The station house doesn't seem to have anything resembling a bathroom; did the scullery do duty as that? Also, no sign of a station master's office; would the ticket office or porters' room provide that function?

 

Fourth pic down; think the chimney on the right can't serve the refreshment room, but maybe the kitchen?

 

Cheers

Nigel

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6 hours ago, bude_branch said:

Having dug very deep into the records I think it is Swindon built WR Cross Country Set P558, comprising MOCB (DMBC) W51580, TS (TSL) W59586 and MOS (DMSL) 51589.

 

Can anyone confirm please?

That would tie in with the information shown here. https://www.railcar.co.uk/data/vehicle/51589

 

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