Washout at Dawlish

[woodenhead]

The rebuild of the wall of course isn't designed to keep the sea out - it never can, if sea levels rose that much the line and the coast would be abandoned - in fact much of the UK coastline would be abandoned - but that is a matter for future governments subject to how well we present humans deal with global warming and the erosion of ice sheets.  When that happens our housing shortage now will look like a double booking at a Premier Inn.

 

The wall is there to protect from freak events, which are on the rise, so it will keep at bay bigger and stronger waves, protecting the line and the land behind it as long as is feasible.

[Rivercider]

Although the stretch along the sea wall at Dawlish, and to a lesser extent near Teignmouth, are the bits that attract most attention the railway forms part, (or all), of the coastal defences for a much longer stretch. The line is adjacent to water from near the Turf Hotel in the Exe Estuary down to the coast proper, and also up the Teign Estuary almost as far as Hackney.

 

cheers  

[hayfield]

Going off topic a bit I was fortunate to travel and explore the Cinque Terre in Italy a few years back, been to Dawlish many times as well as Torbay area and further down in Cornwall,

 

We have a series of special sites which could be be a marvellous tourist attraction (even in the winter) which could boost revenue for both the railway and local businesses, I guess moving on to the Torbay steam railway would cause issues, but a joint venture cannot be hard to arrange. Perhaps something like Railtours could be the answer. Lets face it there are many stunning areas across Devon & Cornwall, some more breath taking in Winter than summer 

[brushman47544]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

[deleted]. 

 

Hope all is well, but have you posted in the wrong topic, by chance?

Edited February 6, 2019 by brushman47544

[Gwiwer]

Ah yes. The new RMweb still seems to have gremlins. Post deleted. Thanks. 

[Gwiwer]

Another post deleted. 

 

Reported to Andy Y as the posts have been compiled in a “Reply to this post” link from another topic altogether. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Gwiwer

[Re6/6]

Might not something like this at Bermeo on the Basque coast be a sensible additional solution as it would seem to take dispersal of high waves in its stride.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2019 by Re6/6

[Talltim]

https://www.dawlishbeach.com/2019/04/dawlish-line-gets-the-blue-signal-to-proceed/

Quote

The first part of resilience and new safety equipment is now being tested at Dawlish as part of the South West Resilience Programme. In a first for the United Kingdom, NR are overseeing the introduction of a new signalling system to warn train drivers of potential over topping of waves on the sea wall. The addition of the Blue aspect on the signal gantry will only be applied during severe weather periods and will instruct the drivers to activate windscreen wipers whilst proceeding at caution until Teignmouth Station.

Not mentioned in the article is that Voyagers are not allowed to pass the blue aspect at all.

Edited April 1, 2019 by Talltim

[woodenhead]

Bit choppy today

 

[Siberian Snooper]

Not that bad yesterday at around 12.45 or today at 16.20. Today was closer to the conditions depicted.

 

 

[jcredfer]

Amazing how weather differs in the UK, even over relatively short distances, in Wx terms.  Dawlish yesterday trying to blow a hooligan, yet Salisbury, admittedly cold, but mowing the lawn in a breeze.  Sea conditions, also, apparently "fair".

 

Regards

 

J

[bgman]

This may give an idea of what it was like a few days ago

 

 

[woodenhead]

You'd think NR/FGW would have at least ensured the small bit of cover was actually watertight on the roof, could you imagine some poor unsuspecting person on that bench.

Edited April 7, 2019 by woodenhead
to add FGW

[Fat Controller]

On 10/02/2019 at 22:01, Re6/6 said:

Might not something like this at Bermeo on the Basque coast be a sensible additional solution as it would seem to take dispersal of high waves in its stride.

 

 

'Rock Armour' like this is widely used in the UK, using a mixture of large boulders, and cast concrete or steel-slag blocks. Places I can think of that use them include the two stretches of the Fishguard main-line alomgside the Burry and Tywi estuaries, between Llanelli and Carmarthen, various sections of the Cumbrian Coast line, and most recently, parts of the approach to Dover. The latter was widely covered on here in postings by David Todd.

[bgman]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

poor unsuspecting person on that bench.

 

Been there, done that !

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, bgman said:

This may give an idea of what it was like a few days ago

 

 

If they put the railway on stilts maybe the water would drain away more quickly 

Edited April 7, 2019 by The Stationmaster

[jcredfer]

Somehow tha whole Stn looks way, way smaller than it did when I was a kid.  I don't mean just that sense that everything looks slightly smaller, I mean in the sense that memory says it was a huge place with loads of holiday-makers and long Stn buildings.

 

IKB could have run it halfway up the cliffs, out of reach of the waves. 

 

Regards

 

J

[Fat Controller]

13 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

Somehow tha whole Stn looks way, way smaller than it did when I was a kid.  I don't mean just that sense that everything looks slightly smaller, I mean in the sense that memory says it was a huge place with loads of holiday-makers and long Stn buildings.

 

IKB could have run it halfway up the cliffs, out of reach of the waves. 

 

Regards

 

J

Problem is that those cliffs are unstable as well, so the line might not have been halfway up them for very long....

[Re6/6]

Are the up and down waiting rooms still available or have they been locked out of service?

[rab]

10 hours ago, bgman said:

This may give an idea of what it was like a few days ago

 

 

What a place to build a railway.

[bgman]

1 hour ago, rab said:

What a place to build a railway.

 

Nothing to do with me ! 

 

I just travel on it 

 

N.O.T.Brunel

[TheQ]

Two views of rock sea defences near me and a photo of what they are preventing  the1953 floods.  (my house was on a island during the floods) 

 

Edited April 8, 2019 by TheQ

[Captain Kernow]

On 07/04/2019 at 11:54, Fat Controller said:

'Rock Armour' like this is widely used in the UK, using a mixture of large boulders, and cast concrete or steel-slag blocks. Places I can think of that use them include the two stretches of the Fishguard main-line alomgside the Burry and Tywi estuaries, between Llanelli and Carmarthen, various sections of the Cumbrian Coast line, and most recently, parts of the approach to Dover. The latter was widely covered on here in postings by David Todd.

It's not been used on the main Dawlish Sea Wall because of the need to access the main masonry wall for maintenance.

 

A new wall, with different construction techniques, may obviate this requirement.

 

[Captain Kernow]

On 07/04/2019 at 23:43, bgman said:

 

Nothing to do with me ! 

 

I just travel on it 

 

N.O.T.Brunel

The thing is, what do people expect?

 

It's the sea, it's right next to the railway, so there is a chance that you might get wet now and then!

 

The new section of wall, on Dawlish Collonades, will be designed to reduce the risk to the infrastructure as much as possible, but it might not stop foolhardy people getting too close to the sea from getting wet.

 

I've seen some right idiots on that wall in my time.

 

[locoholic]

Does the strengthening of the Dawlish Sea Wall mean that train passengers will no longer be able to see the sea properly?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-48472901