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Devon Diesel Era Photo Record


Garry Morris
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I passed Stoneycombe a few times when it was open for rail  traffic and remember seeing dogfish hoppers but never a loco. 

My father, who worked for the WR Civil Engineers, told me that Stoneycombe ballast was not as hard as that from Meldon,

and that it was generally only used branch lines, or the main line west of Plymouth.

 

My only photo of Stoneycombe traffic is at Newton Abbot, it is chippings for Taunton Concrete Works loaded in hoppers.

 

I am looking forward to more photos from around Devon,

 

cheers   

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Would very much like to know what working this was. May 1983 up freightliner near Aller Junction 50015+45145 heavily loaded. Nothing much happened all afternoon and then as I returned back to the car this turns up, hence strange angle, glad I got the first wagon in or no one woulld believe me! As there was no freightliner terminal further west I can't work this one out...Falmouth Docks or Friary? Any ideas? 

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I passed Stoneycombe a few times when it was open for rail  traffic and remember seeing dogfish hoppers but never a loco. 

My father, who worked for the WR Civil Engineers, told me that Stoneycombe ballast was not as hard as that from Meldon,

and that it was generally only used branch lines, or the main line west of Plymouth.

 

My only photo of Stoneycombe traffic is at Newton Abbot, it is chippings for Taunton Concrete Works loaded in hoppers.

 

I am looking forward to more photos from around Devon,

 

cheers   

Stoneycombe is described in a Devon County Council document as 'marbalised limestone' (limestone that was 'cooked' by the heat from the massive igneous intrusion of Dartmoor. Meldon is part of the intrusion itself, the main rock quarried being hornfels: this is much harder than the rock at Stoneycombe.

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Would very much like to know what working this was. May 1983 up freightliner near Aller Junction 50015+45145 heavily loaded. Nothing much happened all afternoon and then as I returned back to the car this turns up, hence strange angle, glad I got the first wagon in or no one woulld believe me! As there was no freightliner terminal further west I can't work this one out...Falmouth Docks or Friary? Any ideas? 

Is it possible that a loaded container ship had to put into Falmouth for emergency repairs, and had to be unloaded? There had been a Freightliner presence at Par in the early 1970s, but this was for domestic traffic only.

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I expect that the 50 will pick up more milk tanks (assuming that is what they are) on its way to London.

More tanks may have been attached at Exeter, the Hemyock branch closed in 1975, but Chard Junction continued to send milk until around 1980.

 

cheers 

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Sometimes good fortune is spot on. October 1982 and Aller Junction. Not a Mecca for freight but two were caught passing each other. 50032 on empty Motorail flats (is that freight?) and a named 45 on Speedlink?. What a fine gantry sadly stripped of most of it's signals. 

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Definitely Heathfield, looking through the double bridge carrying the A38 over. We took the Santa Special up from Newton Abbot before Christmas and it's still possible to see the siding tracks, although I don't think they've been used for many years....

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Definitely Heathfield, looking through the double bridge carrying the A38 over. We took the Santa Special up from Newton Abbot before Christmas and it's still possible to see the siding tracks, although I don't think they've been used for many years....

Well spotted Rich, I was running out of ideas, admittedly from a very short list to start with!

 

I have never been up there,

 

cheers

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I am always interested in photos of diesels in Devon, particularly from the 1970s and 1980s,

I took quite a few myself in the 1980s, most of the freight photos have already appeared on threads here.

Whilst I am looking forward to the next post from East Wivelshire here are a couple of my passenger train photos.

 

Following the theme of pictures already posted, at Totnes and Newton Abbot, here are a couple more views.

 

Firstly a view from the footbridge at Totnes

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It is fairly early on a Saturday morning in July and one of the numerous Friday overnight holidaymaker services approaches,

this one, with 47447 in charge, has come from Edinburgh and is heading for Plymouth, 3/7/82

 

Later that day I was at Newton Abbot and there was a steady procession of trains heading up and down. 

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50045 Valiant has restarted the 09.30 Paddington - Paignton away from Newton Abbot as 47240 approaches with the 12.20 Paignton - Manchester Piccadilly. 

47240 was a non-boilered slow speed fitted Canton loco that probably spent more  time going round the Aberthaw Power Station loop discharging coal trains

than working passenger services, so I wonder if there were any loco haulage enthusiasts aboard, 3/7/82

 

cheers

 

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Aller Junction 30.06.84

 

'Was a hot afternoon, last day of June, and the sun was a demon!' Extra points if you can name that song and artist! Googling is cheating!

 

This next group of images are from the 30th June 1984 at Aller Junction. A summer Saturday with the sun blazing down and my camera giving very erratic exposures. 50028 Tiger heads down the Torbay line with 1C31 the 10.18 Paddington to Paignton. I believe that the substantial terrace of houses behind have now been demolished to make way for the new road.

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I have been singing that song quote to myself, and I vaguely know the music that goes with it, but am not sure of the song title unless it is called "Summer of 1942" or similar.

 

It will probably go round and round in my head until I go crazy, but I think it was from a long time ago; maybe 40 years?

 

 

EDITED: to add that the more I think of it, the lyrics revolved around two lovers with quite an age difference and it was a man singing.

Edited by jonny777
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Moving across to the Plymouth line off Aller Junction with the housing terrace directly ahead now. A Great Western semaphore emphatically of  - I'm sure they don't normally drop to such a steep angle! The following down train was the 09.14 Brighton to Plymouth hauled by 47539 Rochdale Pioneers. There is still some evidence of the down loop where freights would be held to attach a banking loco. This working has a long and interesting history dating back to steam days when it was routed via Okehampton, then later curtailed back to Exeter with the paired 33's and later Hastings units. In 1984 its destination was once again Plymouth and I believe it may even have subsequently been extended to Penzance with 159's all the way. I don't know if any equivalent working still exists. Probably deemed too much bother to reverse at St. Davids. I look forward to it returning to the Okehampton route one day! 

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Summer (the first time) by Bobby Goldsboro is the track and the artist - Really good to see the pics after an "interesting" night shift! They certainly bring back memories of my first trips to Devon and Cornwall during this era

 

Thank you folks!

 

Jonathan

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