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Devon Diesel Era Photo Record


Garry Morris
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A relatively unusual dmu for Paignton. Is it a class 120? They were the ones with orange curtains (in very thick material). Originally built including a buffet car which was never used on some of them allegedly. They had dials going up the window pillar so one could sit behind the driver and read the speedometer!

Yes that is a class 120 set, I remember riding in  DMUs in the late 1960s/early 1970s still with the miniature buffet, but never saw one in use.

 

In my 1974 Combined Volume the centre Trailer Buffet Second cars were classified class 179, but later became class 120,

 

cheers

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Back in July 1982 here is a view looking the other way off the bridge towards Paignton 

 

 

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50027 Lion is on the short trip from Paignton heading towards Goodrington with empty stock, 31/7/82

 

cheers

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A relatively unusual dmu for Paignton. Is it a class 120? They were the ones with orange curtains (in very thick material). Originally built including a buffet car which was never used on some of them allegedly. They had dials going up the window pillar so one could sit behind the driver and read the speedometer!

Several of the final batch of 120s with the headcode boxes (WR set numbers in the 55X series) were allocated to Laira through the 70s. I remember them from holidays on the beach at Dawlish, pulling away from the station with an exhaust rasp that sounded much sportier than the usual LA BRCW sets. Ugly brutes, but they rode well (for a DMU).

 

David

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Yes 120s were quite regular sights in the late 1960s and early 70s on local Devon services. I remember my first trip on one from Dawlish to Exeter and sitting in the centre coach with curtains at the window and very little engine sound from the powered driving cars. Compared with the noisy, spartan conditions I was used to on the Lincoln based 114s at home, this was like travelling first class.

 

On 30th Aug 1969 I had super power for my trip to Exeter from Paignton, (although at the time I would have been miffed by the lack of hydraulic power), because at Paignton was W50666 W50712 and W55027. They had 900hp for a three coach train of just under 100 tons in weight. There must have been some lively acceleration, but it is not something that I can remember.

 

The ordinary 3-car units tended to work the Cardiff - Taunton trains on a regular basis in those days.

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The heyday of the Mk 1 coach!

When I took this photo I hesitated about wasting a precious exposure on such a mundane scene (just a dmu). However now I am amazed to be reminded that a summer Sunday afternoon would result in 40 or so Mk 1 coaches stabled in the far yard at Goodrington and a dmu in the much lesser used siding behind the platform. Dmu's seldom found their way beyond the station at Paignton which made the earlier posting of the class 120 all the more interesting. One set of coaches was an evening scheduled train to BNS but the rest are probably excursions. Their locos have gone off to Newton Abbot to refuel. It all makes for a very tidy scene. There are currently some pictures up from yesterdays mini railtour which is in the same location as the dmu - interesting to compare the same scene today. 

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Yes that is a class 120 set, I remember riding in  DMUs in the late 1960s/early 1970s still with the miniature buffet, but never saw one in use.

 

In my 1974 Combined Volume the centre Trailer Buffet Second cars were classified class 179, but later became class 120,

 

cheers

The buffets had dropped out-of-use by the mid-1960s; I remember being dispatched to buy myself a can of pop from one on a trip from Llanelly to Tenby in about 1962 or so.

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Here is one with somewhat less usage than all the previous Goodrington shots,

 

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47659 complete with Scotty dog just after its transfer to Bath Road from Eastfield.

 

11th June 1988.

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Here is another 1980s view of Paignton from the footbridge

 

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47138 departs a rainy Paignton with the 12.20 departure for Manchester Piccadilly, 31/7/82

 

cheers 

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Good old Paignton - nearly August and its raining!  Most people don't seem prepared, no macs or brollies, etc.

 

Brian.

Odd, i`m sure I can remember lots of sunny summer Saturdays in Paignton. I just can`t find any photographic proof.....

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I looked at the historical weather charts and most of July had been hot and dry, but the weather broke on the 31st with thunderstorms moving up from the south, and the unsettled and miserable weather continued through much of August.

 

Therefore my guess is that the morning had been warm and humid with the heavens opening not too long before the photo was taken.

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I looked at the historical weather charts and most of July had been hot and dry, but the weather broke on the 31st with thunderstorms moving up from the south, and the unsettled and miserable weather continued through much of August.

 

Therefore my guess is that the morning had been warm and humid with the heavens opening not too long before the photo was taken.

I think it must have just been a shower, looking at this photo taken later the weather seems to have brightened

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An unidentified class 47 stands at Paignton with MK1 stock, the former BR class 03 D2192 now named Ardent stands in the sidings of the Torbay and Dartmouth Railways Queens Park station, 31/7/82

 

cheers

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April 83.  50043 arriving in Exeter having apparently hit every fly in southern England.

 

 

O/T, if only there were that many flies to hit 30 years later, but the application of vast quantities of agricultural insecticides has put paid to that, and most of the birds that feed on them.

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Apologies for the quality.but I tend to think that for some pictures it's worth hanging on to them for interest and sharing. Taken on my Brownie 127 camera at Goodrington in 1968. This shows the signalman having delivered the single line token to the driver of a Newton Abbot to Kingswear service (2B99) which will then form a morning Kingswear to Paddington on a Summer Saturday - a regular class 43 working. NBL D860 Victorious, long gone and none of the class preserved. I note that the tablet catching apparatus is still present in this picture. All has gone now including the signalbox. The nearest siding has since been taken out and reinstated by the Dart Valley Railway/Torbay Steam Railway/ Torbay and Dartmouth Railway/Dart Rail...I could go on! Anyone know who the signalman is?

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Some shots of mine from Aller Junction 23rd June 1981

 

37274,37299

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43036,43037

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47063

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47565

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50016

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I agree with that sentiment, but got myself into terrible trouble on another forum for daring to criticise Ivo Peters' policy of throwing away any negative/transparency that was not a perfect exposure, composition, etc., or even had a dirty locomotive.

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