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Devon Diesel Era Photo Record


Garry Morris
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Mornin' SK,

 

Fraid I was on holiday in Paignton when it rolled in and I simply caught the bus towards Torquay to head it off on the rtn leg. I've seen occasional images of 37s on these Summer workings but not many.

 

Thanks for the complement

 

Dave

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Mornin' all,

 

Whilst having a look see for the 40s in Devon image I found another couple which might be suitable for this thread. Peaks were getting rarer in Devon by 1985....here 45104 passes Teignmouth with a westbound working on the 7th of September.

post-7795-0-85166400-1438757922.jpg

 

Earlier the same day 45111 TO passes through Totnes with an eastbound working

post-7795-0-50090500-1438789616.jpg

 

The grim reaper is sharpening his blade....No11 was one of the first casualties....here she is on the same day as the above pics with a westbound service.

post-7795-0-31324600-1438790449.jpg

 

Dave

Edited by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71
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Here`s another from Crediton 47575, Oddly enough, I saw a picture of the same loco, running light engine through Crediton, (taken from a different angle, but presumably on the same day), for sale on e-bay. I couldn't see myself in the other picture though. Odd, because I don't recall seeing anyone else on the platform that day.

Make sure someone isn't taking your pic and reselling denying you payment.

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Very Rare Traction

Devon is seldom the recipient of locomotives that Exeter crews aren't trained on, particularly on normal service trains.  An example that springs to mind was a class 58 working through from Saltely to Plymouth which was well documented. Here we have a combination of 40/25 on the up Bitumen tanks from King's Asphalt. The 40 is the one involved in the Great Train Robbery 40126 along with 25209 of Bescot.  A class 40 once worked through to Plymouth in connection with testing the washing plant at Laira in the early 1960's but apart from that they were rarely seen west of Weston - Super - Mare where they could turn up on excursions. The first arrivals of class 45's in the mid 1960's were by freights to Riverside Yard where we see this one departing 20/05/82. Class 20's have been rumoured to have reached Exeter but no photos have come to light yet. South Wales Class 37's were also known to have appeared long before their allocation in Cornwall. I don't know the source of this picture but it must have been someone keeping a close eye on workings to catch such a rare combination in the West.

Class 40's were booked on this working to/ from Riverside Yard.

Gloucester crew.

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The daily trip working from Riverside yard to Exmouth Junction repair shops was rarely photographed. Thanks for posting those.

With the condition of the engine and train, you can see why but good that someone did!

 

Brian.

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The daily trip working from Riverside yard to Exmouth Junction repair shops was rarely photographed. Thanks for posting those.

The Exmouth Junction trip usually had a good selection of rolling stock, any type of freight vehicle that worked into Devon and Cornwall could turn up on it,

the first photo shows that really well. It would make an interesting subject for a model. 

 

It also occasionally conveyed coaching stock to or from repair, and sometimes a siphon G loaded with stores.

Here is a poorly exposed view of 08479 at Exeter Central waiting to drop down the bank on the way back to Riverside on 24th July 1980

post-7081-0-98028300-1439067263_thumb.jpg

 

cheers

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The Exmouth Junction trip usually had a good selection of rolling stock, any type of freight vehicle that worked into Devon and Cornwall could turn up on it,

the first photo shows that really well. It would make an interesting subject for a model. 

 

It also occasionally conveyed coaching stock to or from repair, and sometimes a siphon G loaded with stores.

Here is a poorly exposed view of 08479 at Exeter Central waiting to drop down the bank on the way back to Riverside on 24th July 1980

attachicon.gifRailway scans August 2015 (2).jpg

 

cheers

Thanks for the picture, just like it was years ago.  A bit after my time as the loco would have been an O2 or an M7 then I suppose but when Exeter Central was a real station!

 

Brian.

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A Short History Of Class 40's in Devon

 

Surprisingly at least 15 Class 40's have appeared in Devon so far. This may not be a complete record because no one person holds all the data! Please post if there are any other 40's that you know have come our way.

 

10/62      D336                  11.30 Liverpool-Penzance

9/10 77   40081+40084     MTK railtour. Paddington - Exeter (2x25 on to Paignton)

16/10/77 40081+40083    Deltic to Devon railtour. Paddington-Newton Abbot (2x33 West)

6/5/78     40118                Cathedrals Express railtour. Cardiff-Exeter

3/12/78   40028                Parkandillack clay working

20/5/82   40126                Exeter Riverside inbound freight service

19/9/82   40025               Western Whistler railtour. Crewe-Plymouth (2x37 to Carne Point)

28/5/84   40057+40135   Devonian railtour. Preston-Paignton and Meldon

16/9/84   40079               The Devon Belle railtour. Swansea-Paignton

24/11/84 40118+40086   Devon Quarryman railtour. Paddington-Meldon

31/8/87   D200                 Desert Songster railtour. Waterloo-Exeter

30/4/94   40012               Display exhibit-Riverside Yard

22/5/04   40145               Western Whistler 2 railtour. Crewe-Plymouth

28/8/06   40145               The Whistle Pixie railtour. Ealing Broadway-Penzance

8/09/07   40145               Devonian railtour. Banbury-Kingswear

20/9/08   40145              Torbay Whistler railtour. Thame Bridge-Kingswear

27/6/09   40145              The Cornish Explorer railtour. Portsmouth Harbour-Penzance

25/5/10   40145              The East Lancs Champion railtour. Crewe- Penzance+ with D1015

 

This photo is of 40057 and 40135 passing the site of the former Hollicombe Gas Works sidings. A creative railtour as this is only a four coach train, the rest of it went to Meldon Quarry, a very popular short train!

One significant ommission) was 40122(D200) 0n the Penzance Fryer 9th November 1985 allegedly the first class 40 to Penzance (it definitely went through Devon)

 

At Teignmouth (before the bi-directional gantry signals were installed.)

post-1161-0-98840000-1439138324.jpg

 

Atleast one other photographer was out braving the B***** awful weather.

post-1161-0-91180500-1439138344.jpg

 

Aller Junction

post-1161-0-67316000-1439138356.jpg

 

Penzance

post-1161-0-03454500-1439139042.jpg

 

post-1161-0-17788600-1439139054.jpg

 

 

A very long trip.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Platform 2 at Kingswear has an old world charm of it's own quite unlike any other arrival platform anywhere. Possibly because it is hemmed in between the canopy and the wall and holds 15 coaches. It will be in use three consecutive days this week. Here is the Torbay Flyer with a rare visit of Class 20's to the terminus which was bustling with the ragatta in full swing and HMS Monmouth taking prime position in the river. There was a queue to cross the river which extended all the way from the pontoon to the buffet door on the platform! Class 20's in Devon probably don't outnumber the class 40 visits though they have only ever visited in pairs I believe. A stirling performance was put in by these machines to make an on time arrival. Here they fill the terminus with their unfamiliar whistle awaiting release  by D2371.

post-12275-0-96923500-1440871747.jpg

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Not  a diesel but this coach on 'The Torbay Flyer' recalls  an age when catering was taken seriously; a coach given over solely to food preparation. Much food prep was going on in Platform 2 for the return meal, all the Pullman seats were laid up ready.  Other staff of all sorts exchanged banter with Dartmouth Railway staff in the sunshine having been on the go since 06.00 or  before from  Nuneaton. There were 40 of these coaches built originally but this is a latter day conversion not an original as it is beyond the number series of the originals as M80042. It shares this practice with Tornado! I am not sure what it started out as but I imagine there must be an 80041 somewhere.

post-12275-0-94072700-1440875833_thumb.jpg

post-12275-0-36017900-1440875946_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was very fortunate to find this picture of 4A64 on ebay with unopposed bidding. Photos of this service in Devon are extremely rare. The short lived Par to Park Royal freightliner ran from 18 May 1968 to July 31st 1970 and was a class 47 turn but some of the early airbraked Westerns did work it on occassions. Southbound it was an overnight service (never seen any pictures) but Northbound was an afternoon departure from Par. D1652 works the train through Teignmouth here (18/8/69) never fully loaded hence its short life. The same loco sometimes worked the service for the whole week but usually something happened to upset the roster. Given that Falmouth is the third largest, deepest, natural harbour in the world, it always dissappointed me that a large container terminal was never developed (gaining an earlier arrival in the capital than going up the channel to Southampton) but I was once told that Hemerdon and Dainton precluded such a scheme. Thankyou Mr Brunel! Whos atmospheric experiments gave us 1 in 37's on our mainline! There were a couple of photos of this train that appeared in Modern Railways and there is one on Flikr (Dave Mitchel) mistaken as a Motorail (I have corrected!) but apart from that I once photographed Western Musketeer on it in Somerset and Brian Mills reckons He captured it at Brent once. Would be good to find more photographs of this service. 

post-12275-0-40723900-1442261368_thumb.jpg

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Motorail

Devon was quite a hotspot for Motorail trains in the 60's and 70's. They sometimes originated from locations that no other trains came from like Sutton Coldfield, Kensington Olympia, Stirling and Inverness. Loadings could be up to 20 bogies by far the heaviest passenger trains to regularly enter Devon. Newton Abbot was the main destination in Devon but there was also a small somewhat makeshift terminal at Totnes which required loading from the actual platform. Not sure of the origin of this picture or why everyone drove a white mini! Glorious Devon with our own special 'Liquid Sunshine'!

 

Playing catch-up on this thread. The Austin Minis appear to have consecutive or at least very close reg plates. GYK being London from Nov 1963. Some kind of test or publicity stunt then? Totnes appears to have got it's 'Car Carrying Service' from 1966.

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To round off 'double headed in Devon'! A perfect evening in Paignton sees D153 and D1925  with 'board off' ready to depart with a local train? Taken on 12th July 1969 it had been a full on Summer Saturday and I suspect one of the pair had been on standby duty in Goodrington Yard. This duty included some splitting of stock even in '69 but more importantly the loco could substitute for any arrival with a defect including shortage of fuel which could happen on occasions. 2B46 may not be correct but as the train had waited for time it was probably a timetabled local to Newton Abbot working 12 coaches that would otherwise have been ecs. Slick working between Paignton South and Paignton North boxes sometimes resulted in a non stop run through the platform from the yard at Goodrington. Judging by the clothing, the people held up at the gates are most definately 'Grockles '- the local term for holiday makers. Actually as teenage boys we relished their arrival especially if they were female and attractive!  

 

Interesting shot. 2B46 was 19.40 Paignton - Bristol in Summer '69. Between 12 July and 9 August it was diagrammed for 12 coaches, off the 21.30 FO service from Newcastle and the 10.10 SO from Bradford. For the rest of the summer period it was either 8 or 10 coaches from one of those places. There was just a LH ecs to Newton Abbot after this one had gone.

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I was very fortunate to find this picture of 4A64 on ebay with unopposed bidding. Photos of this service in Devon are extremely rare. The short lived Par to Park Royal freightliner ran from 18 May 1968 to July 31st 1970 and was a class 47 turn but some of the early airbraked Westerns did work it on occassions. Southbound it was an overnight service (never seen any pictures) but Northbound was an afternoon departure from Par. D1652 works the train through Teignmouth here (18/8/69) never fully loaded hence its short life. The same loco sometimes worked the service for the whole week but usually something happened to upset the roster. Given that Falmouth is the third largest, deepest, natural harbour in the world, it always dissappointed me that a large container terminal was never developed (gaining an earlier arrival in the capital than going up the channel to Southampton) but I was once told that Hemerdon and Dainton precluded such a scheme. Thankyou Mr Brunel! Whos atmospheric experiments gave us 1 in 37's on our mainline! There were a couple of photos of this train that appeared in Modern Railways and there is one on Flikr (Dave Mitchel) mistaken as a Motorail (I have corrected!) but apart from that I once photographed Western Musketeer on it in Somerset and Brian Mills reckons He captured it at Brent once. Would be good to find more photographs of this service. 

There have been several proposals, and a scheme in one case, to develop Falmouth as a major deep water container port and several trainplan studies were undertaken over the years.  The final one which was voiced as a scheme was when Peter de Savary got involved but instead of a container port the main result of his involvement was the building of various blocks of flats on part of the docks.

 

When you see the situation at Southampton and Felixstowe it would quickly be obvious that Falmouth simply hasn't got the space to become a major container port without massive redevelopment and probably the end of the place as a ship repair yard.  And while it would no doubt be great to see hourly double-headed container trains heading up the Falmouth branch and eastwards from truro it would have involved massive infrastructure investment on the part of BR so they no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief when it all came to naught.

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