Moretonhampstead branch and Teign Valley Line

[KeithMacdonald]

Most folks on RMWeb will be familiar with the GWR route from Exeter to Plymouth via the (in)famous Dawlish Sea Wall, and the historical competition with the Southern route via Okehampton and Tavistock.

 

After the last Dawlish Sea Wall collapse happened, there was much talk of reopening the Southern route, or a “Dawlish By-pass”. There was even talk of reopening the less well-known (and much less well used) Teign Valley Line, even though nearly all of it was only ever a single-track route.

 

Where was this route, and how did it come to be?

 

[KeithMacdonald]

The name “Moretonhampstead branch” makes it sound like it might be an offshoot of the Teign Valley Line, but the branch was opened first in 1866, running just 12 miles between Newton Abbot and Moretonhampstead on the edge of Dartmoor.

 

Stations and places on that route were:

• Newton Abbot Station
• Newton Abbot goods station
• Teignbridge sidings
• Teigngrace Halt
• Heathfield Station - and the junction with the Teign Valley line
• Bovey Pottery sidings
• Brimley Halt
• Bovey Tracey Station
• Pullabrook Halt
• Moretonhampstead

[KeithMacdonald]

The Teign Valley route opened 16 years later in 1882. In part, it shared the same route as the Moretonhampstead branch, between Newton Abbot and Heathfield. It ran from Heathfield station to Exeter via the following:

• Chudleigh Knighton Halt
• Chudleigh Station
• Crockham Quarry sidings
• Trusham Station
• Ashton
• Christow Station
• Dunsford Halt
• Longdown
• Ide Halt
• Alphington Halt
• Exeter City Basin Junction

[KeithMacdonald]

A few maps:

 

Moretonhampstead branch

 

 

Teign Valley line from Heathfield end to near Horrowmore

 

 

Teign Valley line from Horrowmore to Alphington, near Exeter.

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Starting from Newton Abbot.

 

Usually, when I paste in an image of a trackplan, I use a scale of c.1:20. I can't do that for this image, mainly because Newton Abbot used to be so big. And when I say big I mean BIG.

 

 

This is at 1:40. It's such a big area, partly because of the length of the station approach, but also because of the GWR Works - "Little Swindon" as it was once called. Shaded in yellow is the Moretonhampstead branch entering top-left and going down to the "Moreton Bay", platform nine.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Has anyone seen any period images of the Moretonhampstead branch bay in use? Here's a more recent one, thanks to Chris W Brown on Flickr:

 

Quote

56078 and 56113 Newton Abbot 24.05.14 - 56113 and 56078 are stabled in the former Moretonhampstead branch bay at Newton Abbot on the 24th May 2014. They had arrived the previous day with 6V54 05:35 Chirk-Teigngrace empty log wagons.

 

More on Teigngrace to come.

 

 

Another view from the station footbridge

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Another Flickr pic of the same Colas freight, after working the Moretonhampstead branch up to Teigngrace and back.

 

 

[pb_devon]

The ‘go to’ website for all things South West is the Cornwall Railway Society.

Mortonhampstead branch here http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/mortonhampstead-and-teign-valley-branch.html

Teign Valley here http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/teign-valley-branch.html

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by pb_devon

[Siberian Snooper]

Great to see some different views of both lines, from the usual published ones, particularly Lustleigh.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Siberian Snooper

[ThePipersSon]

On the Mortonhampstead branch line list, the station at Lustleigh seems to be missing!

[KeithMacdonald]

Newton Abbot Goods Station

 

By the time of this 1936 OS map, Whitelake Bridge had been doubled to provide better access to what was by then a substantial Goods Station with cattle pens and a crane. Its seperation from the main passenger station may be an indicator of the volume of traffic. In between Whitelake Bridge and Lemon Bridge there was also a single siding to Devon Wharf, with a conveyor to the power station. Some coal for the power station may have arrived by rail, but it's also likely a significant portion arrived by barge, up river from Teignmouth Docks.

 

 

A view of the power station (in 1949) can be seen here.

https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/eaw021326

 

It closed 1976, but I was fortunate to visit it c.1970, thanks to a school trip organised by our Physics teacher, who was keen for us to visit it while it working. It was indeed an impressive experience, hot, smelly and noisy. Lovely! 🙂 Later he took us on a trip to Hinckley Point nuclear power station which, I'm sad to say, was rather dull in comparison. Just a quiet hum, and we were rather disappointed that there no windows into the reactor for us to see what was happening! 👾

 

Thanks to Mark Ireland on Flickr for this view in 2013 of some of what remained.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Almost back on the subject of the “Dawlish By-pass”...

 

Quote

Between the early 1900's and the start of WWII, both passenger and freight traffic volumes were high and during WWII the branch from Exeter to Newton Abbott, via Heathfield, was kept operational 24/7 as a diversionary route in the event the mainline at Dawlish was damaged by enemy attack, which would have prevented transport of supplies to the Naval base at Plymouth, and many of the wooden bridges were replaced with metal girder structures to enable heavier trains to use it.

Ref: Neil Prior on Flickr

 

Whether it was enemy attack, or force of nature, the TVL could have been a jolly useful asset.

 

Quote

Both the Moretonhampstead branch and the Teign Valley route were early victims of British Railways cutbacks (years before the name Beeching was associated with line closures), with the passenger services being withdrawn on the Teign Valley in June 1958 and from Moretonhampstead in February 1959. Goods traffic remained on the Teign Valley until the mid-1960's, with the line being lifted shortly afterwards. Freight to Moretonhampstead lasted until 1970, with the line to Heathfield being lifted in early 1971. Freight traffic continued on the Heathfield to Newton Abbott section, with oil, ball-clay and bananas being transported. The banana traffic ceased in 1975, with the ball clay traffic ending in the early nineties and the oil in 1995. It was officially moth-balled in 2009, but re-instated in 2011, when Colas Rail won a contract with Kronospan to supply their factory in North Wales with timber and a loading facility was opened at Teignbridge crossing.
(Same ref)

 

Here's that Colas train again...

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

The next stop is Teigngrace Halt

 

Quote

The station was renamed Teigngrace Halt by the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1939. It had a single platform, with a ticket office and waiting room, with sidings and a passing loop - now lifted. In around 1961 the South Devon Railway Society leased Teigngrace Halt as their headquarters and carried out some repairs and renovation works. The platform was still in situ, as was the ruined station building in 1975. The old Stover Canal runs parallel to the line at this point and locks were located nearby.

Ref : Wikipedia

 

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.7&lat=50.55564&lon=-3.62411&layers=168&b=1

 

Here's the halt in 2021.

 

 

Note the shine on the rails, something still running!

 

Quote

The nearby sidings and loading dock lie on the other side of the level crossing and were used for many years for ball clay traffic, however this eventually ceased and in 2009 the line was mothballed until December 2011 when it was announced that the section of the line to Heathfield would re-opened to facilitate the transport of timber from Heathfield to Chirk in North Wales by Colas Rail. In the same month a timber siding was opened at Teigngrace, just before the level crossing at Exeter Road, to allow the timber to be loaded onto the freight trains. Teigngrace lacks a passing loop and trains with empty wagons continue up the line to Heathfield to permit locomotives to run around the waggons using the loop in the disused station. The empty freight train then ran back to the timber sidings at Teigngrace to be loaded. Loading of the timber is carried out by the lorries that bring the timber to the sidings.

 

Here's some of that timber at Teigngrace railhead.

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

I've read some authors talking about "china clay" from Heathfield via Newton Abbot. This is an easy mistake to make, as so many other articles (and topics here on RMWeb) cover the china clay subject as well. And most of us have seen various pics and models of the china clay hood wagons further west in Cornwall with their signature blue cover sheets.

 

 

Less well featured, or less frequently mentioned, is the ball-clay traffic, which didn't use such distinctive wagons. Some from places like Meeth and Marland via the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway. But plenty came down the Teign Valley Line. This might well be some in this picture taken by Roger Joanes in 1959, now on Flickr.

 

Quote

Heathfield (Devon). A freight train leaving the station, heading for Newton Abbot. 7.4.59

A "plain brown wrapper" kind of wagon?

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
.

[KeithMacdonald]

Some of that ball clay never left the area as a raw material, it went straight into local manufacturing. Here's a pic of Heathfield Station that gives us a good view of the Great Western Potteries and Brick Works, and its tramway entrance.

 

 

 

Later...

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

A Heathfield Station map.

 

A bigger plan, with the curved track (in yellow) being the start of the Teign Valley Line proper (Heathfield to Exeter), while the straight track is the continuation of the Moretonhampstead branch. In blue is the tramway into the Potteries and Brick Works.

 

 

Not to be confused with Crowcombe Heathfield Station!

Also, not to be confused with Heathfield on the Cuckoo Line in East Sussex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_Line

 

[KeithMacdonald]

In 1961, Geest opened a banana ripening centre at Heathfield, which lasted until 1975.

As featured in this BFI video.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-geest-bananas-1963-online

 

Quote

Geest bananas are unloaded from a train cabin onto a conveyor belt to be transported into a holding plant and ripening warehouse in Heathfield, Newton Abbot. The bananas are then sorted packaged and sent to grocers and supermarkets. There are various types of banana but the Cavendish (the family name of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire) gained popularity in the 1950s and accounts for the vast majority of imported bananas into the UK. The Geest horticultural business was formed by the Dutch Van Geest brothers in Spalding. In the 1930s they specialised in selling flower bulbs and then their first shipment of bananas came to London in 1953. In the 1960s a network of ripening centres opened in Heathfield, Devon, Ardrie in Scotland, St Helens in Lancashire, Spalding in Lincolnshire, Stansted in Essex and other plants in Wiltshire.

 

[KeithMacdonald]

So, it seems we can run the Accurascale BR era wagons (1961 onwards).

 

https://www.accurascale.com/collections/sr-banana-van/products/sr-d1478-van-british-railways-1961-onwards-triple-pack

 

The crucial question is: What should be pulling them?

 

[Rivercider]

An interesting thread.

 

I never knew the Teign Valley line as it closed to through passenger traffic before I was born, but I remember trips by road from Exeter to visit family in Bridford, and my dad pointing out the remains of bridge parapets along the way. Christow station was nearer to Bridford than Christow I believe.

I am familiar with the Heathfield stump of the Moretonhampstead branch from my time working on the freight department of BR. I still have family members living in Bovey Tracey, and until fairly recently in Moretonhampstead, so have made quite a few visits to the area in recent years. In that time I have walked the length of the Stover Canal which parallels the branch for a while, also part of the Wray Valley Trail which follows the track bed at the Moretonhampstead end, and at Parke NT. I have also visited the heritage museum at Bovey Tracey station. There are still quite a few railway artefacts to see along the way.

 

cheers

 

 

[KeithMacdonald]

From Heathfield, heading up the Moretonhampstead branch, the next stops are Brimley Halt and Bovey Tracey station. But just before we get to those, we would have passed the Bovey Pottery siding. Perhaps for clay and coal to fire the kilns?

 

 

Notice on the 7" imap mention of "Old Lignite Pit". Folks might not think of Devon as a coal-mining area, but it was for a while.

 

Quote

Lignite, a low-grade coal had been excavated at the Bovey Coal Pit, more recently known as Bluewaters, since the middle of the eighteenth century if not before. Lignite would have been used as a domestic fuel but by the mid-nineteenth century there were several references to the continuing domestic use of lignite by only the poor of Bovey Tracey. Lignite was also the fuel used in the early Bovey Potteries (the Indio, Heathfield and Folly potteries) and its use continued for some time after 1843 when the more industrial-scale Bovey Tracey Pottery Company was established.

 

Quote

In 1775 Josiah Wedgewood from the Staffordshire Potteries visited an early Bovey Pottery and remarked upon the use of locally-sourced lignite, ‘The coals are only 2/6 per ton at the pit [Bluewaters], and so near to the works, that only wheelbarrows are used for their conveyance to the works.’ (Brian Adams, 2005.  Bovey Tracey Potteries, Guide and Marks (Bovey Tracey, House of Marbles) p.8).

Ref: https://boveytraceyhistory.org.uk/topics/domestic-fuel-victorian/

 

Bovey Pottery was big enough to have its own water supply, fire department, and a tramway.

The 1:10,560 OS map of 1949 shows us some more detail.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.5&lat=50.58322&lon=-3.67520&layers=193&b=1

 

 

The Blue Waters Mine produced not only lignite but something called "Montamite" - does anyone know what that is?

See https://www.mindat.org/loc-375425.html

[Mikkel]

What an interesting thread. Thank you.

 

 

On 08/11/2022 at 23:12, KeithMacdonald said:

Some of that ball clay never left the area as a raw material, it went straight into local manufacturing. Here's a pic of Heathfield Station that gives us a good view of the Great Western Potteries and Brick Works, and its tramway entrance.

 

 

 

Later...

 

 

 

Stephen Williams uses that photo of Heathfield Station (the top one!) in vol. 1 of his Great Western Branchline Modelling books to illustrate that branch junctions can make interesting layouts. A good point. He dates the photo ca. 1910. The train is interesting, as it's four and six-wheelers with (I assume) a small prarie.

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by Mikkel
Clarity and typos

[JohnR]

Wonderful and informative thread.

[KeithMacdonald]

Brimley Halt

Which is a little elusive.

 

 

Mentioned briefly on Wiki:

Quote

 

Brimley Halt was a railway station open in 1928 by the Great Western Railway (GWR) to serve the village of Brimley that lies between Bovey Tracey and Ilsington in South Devon, England. It had a single platform and was located on a curved section of track without a passing loop or sidings. A special train to Bovey Tracey visited Brimley Halt on 5 July 1970, its last known use by a passenger train. The track had been lifted by 8 September 1975.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimley_Halt_railway_station

 

 

Quote

 

A little more info is on Disused Stations:

Notes: The Halt consisted of a single platform of 72ft in length with an open fronted wooden shelter situated on the up side of the track, it had two platform benches and two concrete lamp posts. It was reached by a cinder path sloping down from the main Ashburton road. New house nearby brought additional passengers in the final years of the line. The Halt was demolished in November 1986 to allow construction of the realigned A382 around Bovey. The road follows the route of the track from pottery bridge, through both Brimley and Bovey stations on toward Moretonhampstead.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/brimley_halt/index1.shtml

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by KeithMacdonald

[KeithMacdonald]

And so to Bovey.

 

 

I think this pic on Flickr is taken from the north end of the station, which is on the left in the track plan above.

 

 

Richard Powell says "Teign Valley Truck" , with a pic of a private owner's wagon that itself says :

"Teign Valley Granite Co.
Private address Hennock, Bovey Tracey

No. 1140 Devon

Tare 6-10   Load 10 tons   Empty to Trusham"

 

I'm sure I've actually seen this somewhere - perhaps it was at Staverton Station on the South Devon Railway?

 

 

Trusham station was on the Teign Valley Line, not the Moreton Branch, so we'll get to Trusham shortly.

Hennock was on neither of the lines, but the mines around Hennock were closest to Trusham and the quarry there.

 

Peco made a similar model in N gauge
https://peco-uk.com/products/teign-valley-granite-5-plank-wagon

 

Hornby did make this:

Hornby R6168C Teign Valley Granite 4 Plank Wagon No.738

[KeithMacdonald]

The station had two platforms, so presumably it was a proper passing loop. not just a runaround for shunting?

SB is presumably signal box, next to quite a large building.

 

 

By the time of the 1949 map, there are some extra buildings, shown as "Works" and "Mill". The leat for the mill is visible in both maps.

 

 

Is this mill now the home of the Dartmoor Whisky Distillery?

https://dartmoorwhiskydistillery.co.uk/contact-us/

Edited November 10, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
Drink!