Moretonhampstead branch and Teign Valley Line

[KeithMacdonald]

The Teign Valley was always rich in minerals. Mentioned so far has been the ball clay, lignite and granite. Within the "catchment area" of the railway were some even more exotic minerals e.g. at Woolley Farm near Bovey Tracey:

 

Quote

Exceptional British schorl crystals (to 4 inches across) were found in a pegmatitic cavity at this location a year or two before 1817. Specimens from this occurrence occasionally surface from old collections and may be labelled Chudleigh or Bovey Tracey as well as Wooley Farm. The occurrence was a pegmatitic cavity in the Dartmoor granite which was uncovered by ploughing. An account of the find and the extraction of specimens was provided by the mineral dealer John Mawe in 1818. He described the schorl and white apatite crystals as being accompanied by quartz with jasper and ochrey matter, formed in beautiful groups upon granite. At the time of the find the size and perfection of the schorl crystals was outstanding by world standards.

 

Ref : https://www.mindat.org/loc-1537.html

[Harlequin]

5 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

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.

 

 

Yes, Bovey was a crossing place but your overlay doesn't show the Moretonhampstead end correctly. The goods yard line crosses the nearside of the loop to make a trailing connection into the "down main" side of the loop, thus avoiding a set of facing points in the passenger rated line. Then the two sides of the loop separately converge into the main running line. You'll see a similar setup at Moretonhampstead when you get there.

 

"S.B." does mean signal box and the large building with the siding passing through it is the goods shed, of course.

 

There are several books about the Moretonhampstead branch...

 

[KeithMacdonald]

Only a few 100 yards north of that was Plumley Mine: https://www.mindat.org/loc-34995.html

 

Closer to Hennock was Bowden Mine ( https://www.mindat.org/loc-34994.html ) and Great Rock Mine ( https://www.mindat.org/loc-32191.html )

 

All three produced Micaceous Hematite 'Shining Ore'. Are you wondering what it was used for?

e.g. at Great Rock Mine

Quote

micaceous Hematite for use in rust preventing paint until about 1950. Peak production of about 2500 tons / year was achieved in the 1940's one of the biggest uses being the Navy's battleship grey paint. The last record of mining as late as 1969. The sett comprises 5 east-west lodes worked principally by adits with few shafts. These can be viewed from the public footpath. The workings are barred and reported to be very unsafe. The high quality of the ore gained it the term 'Shining ore' which was adopted by the geological survey.

 

[KeithMacdonald]

18 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

Yes, Bovey was a crossing place but your overlay doesn't show the Moretonhampstead end correctly.

 

Is this better?

 

[Rivercider]

I think the heritage centre at Bovey Tracey is closed over winter. 

I have visited a couple of times, lastly back in 2017.

 

The station building at Bovey Tracey 24/10/2017

 

End view of the station building, 24/10/2017.

 

The toad 114906 contained a model of Moretonhampstead station when I visited in 2017.  24/10/2017

 

cheers

 

 

[Rivercider]

When I walked the Stover Canal I took a few photos along the line, including at Teignbridge in 2019.

 

Level crossing at Teignbridge, 9/7/2019

 

Looking north over the crossing at Teignbridge 9/7/2019

 

Railway buildings at Teignbridge 9/7/2019

 

The  ball clay loading platform at Teignbridge looking south towards Newton Abbot,

I think there was originally a loop line against the platform here, a rake of empty wagons could be dropped by a northbound service or loco, then a loco could attach at the south end and work the loaded wagons down to Newton Abbot, 9/7/2019

 

cheers

 

cheers 

[KeithMacdonald]

Pullabrook Halt

 

This little-known stop on the way to Moretonhampstead doesn't even appear on some maps, even while it as open.

 

 

Quote

Pullabrook Halt was a railway station opened in 1931 by the Great Western Railway to serve the hamlet of Pullabrook that lies between Bovey Tracey and Lustleigh in West Devon, England. Opened as Hawkmoor Halt after Hawkmoor Hospital, originally known as Hawkmoor County Sanatorium, a specialist hospital founded in 1913 as a pulmonary tuberculosis sanatorium. It was renamed Pullabrook Halt by the British Railways in 1955, a few years before closure.

Ref Wikipaedia

 

Quote

Hawkmoor was the smallest and most basic station on the line, the station was built from old sleepers to a length of 48ft. It consisted of a small waiting room, a bench and a name board  It was located on the 'down' (west) side of the track. The name was shared with an isolation hospital nearby. Some visitors used the halt for their first visit to the hospital and found that although the hospital was only ¾ of a mile from the halt as the crow flies it was, in fact, over twice that distance uphill and along narrow lanes.

 

Not a walk many fit people would take, let alone one with pulmonary tuberculosis and breathing difficulties!

 

Quote

Eventually it was decided to find an alternative name for the halt. The most obvious would have been Knowle, named after a hamlet in the area, however British Railways preferred name individuality and as the name existed elsewhere on the western network they opted for the name Pullabrook, a nearby farmstead. Therefore the halt was renamed Pullabrook on 13th June 1955, less than four years before closure!

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/pullabrook_halt/index.shtml

 

Edited November 10, 2022 by KeithMacdonald
Added map

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Is this better?

 

According to the SRS signal box diagram, which I can't reproduce for copyright reasons, there was no slip road in the crossing to the goods yard.

[KeithMacdonald]

Paging @ThePipersSon, we've reached Lustleigh 🙂

 

 

A small station with one siding, and a station master or porter who clearly kept a tidy the flower bed. A gate to the siding area can be seen to the right of the main building.

 

 

Can anyone make out what the smaller building is? Would Lustleigh have needed a signal box?

[KeithMacdonald]

A picture of Lustleigh on Geograph -  with a camping coach in the siding.

 

Quote

Together with friends from London, our family took a camping coach holiday during the Easter vacation. This was the time of the Suez Crisis so a railway- rather than car-based holiday was in order. Camping coaches were old coaches converted into the equivalent of a mobile home with some compartments converted into bunk rooms with lounge and kitchen accommodation. This view also shows the very basic facilities at this station. Just a single platform and a single siding for the small amount of goods traffic that would have originated. The camping coach was parked at the head of the siding giving direct access to the platform.

 

© Copyright David M Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6378684

 

From the same source:

 

Quote

Lustleigh Station, 1957 - Classic branch line station with single platform. Note the beautifully maintained garden in the foreground, on land which was intended to allow for a passing loop to be installed at a later date if required. The station building survives, much extended, as a private residence.

 

© Copyright David M Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6378677

 

Quote

Autotrain departing towards Newton Abbot, typical formation consisting of a former Great Western Railway 14xx tank engine propelling a single autocoach.

 

© Copyright David M Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6378690

 

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Paging @ThePipersSon, we've reached Lustleigh 🙂

 

 

A small station with one siding, and a station master or porter who clearly kept a tidy the flower bed. A gate to the siding area can be seen to the right of the main building.

 

 

Can anyone make out what the smaller building is? Would Lustleigh have needed a signal box?

There was a signal box at Lustleigh in 1895 but by 1945 it had become a ground frame. Sorry I can't be more specific!

[KeithMacdonald]

Quote

 

Southbound train at Lustleigh Station, 1957

Headed by a former Great Western Railway 41xx 'large prairie' class locomotive. Whilst most of the service on the line was provided by an 'autotrain' Link shuttling between Moretonhampstead and Newton Abbot, a few trains ran through to Paignton formed of a normal locomotive and carriages.

 

 

© Copyright David M Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6378670

[KeithMacdonald]

Moretonhamstead

 

Here's the track plan

 

 

With a classic picture of the large plaform canopy, c.1909.

 

 

Disused Stations has some better pics of autocoach trains in the 1950s.

See http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/moretonhampstead/index.shtml

[KeithMacdonald]

For almost all, Moretonhamstead was always the terminus. Not a lot of people know there were plans to extend the branch to a new terminus at Chagford. In terms of engineering it was certainly no harder than the line from Lusteligh to Moreton, perhaps easier. But the plan was never realised. All we have left is a proposed route.

 

[Rivercider]

Retracing the route a little to the south, it is possible to walk quite a lot of the track bed where it passes through the National Trust Parke Estate just to the north of Bovey Tracey.

 

Looking north (I think) along the track bed in the Parke Estate, 6/9/2016

 

Former concrete lineside permanent way hut now is use as a bat roost. (There is the remains of another collapsed hut further to the south). 6/9/2016

 

Underbridge at the north end of the Parke Estate, I am not sure where tis one was, but heading up towards Lustleigh, 6/9/2016.

 

This bridge has been rebuilt so the Wrey (Wray?) Valley Trail can be re-instated along the former track bed, - I think this is near the junction of Lower Knowle Road and Ashwell Lane, at the north end of the Parke Estate, 6/9/2016.

 

cheers 

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Rivercider
tidying up.

[Rivercider]

On another visit to the area me and Mrs Rivercider walked from the Parke Estate up along the Wrey Valley trail as far as Lustleigh, and back. The Trail follows the track bed for much of the way, but not through Lustleigh itself, where I believe the landowner(s) of the track bed are not happy for the former railway route to be used by the public.

 

Underbridge - may be the same as posted above, 12/10/2017

 

These double arches seem to be a feature of the Moretonhampstead branch, I saw two or three of them on my walks, this is between Bovey Tracey, Parke Estate and Lustleigh , 12/10/2017

 

Another taller double arch in the Lustleigh area, 12/10/2017.

 

Edit - I now think this might be the three arch Knowle Viaduct with the left hand arch obscured by trees.  

 

cheers 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Rivercider
Correction to caption - Knowle Viaduct.

[Rivercider]

A couple more photos from our walk to Lustleigh, we found the site of the former station, which is not accessible to the public,

 

The Brookfield Road railway bridge over the line just north of Lustleigh station, 12/10/2017

 

Lustleigh station glimpsed through the trees from the Brookfield Road bridge, 12/10/2017,

 

cheers

[Cwmtwrch]

23 hours ago, Rivercider said:

The  ball clay loading platform at Teignbridge looking south towards Newton Abbot,

I think there was originally a loop line against the platform here, a rake of empty wagons could be dropped by a northbound service or loco, then a loco could attach at the south end and work the loaded wagons down to Newton Abbot,

Actually a loop siding against the bank, capacity 15 wagons, and a running loop the other side of the main line. There is a one page article, with photographs and a diagram of constructional details, in the Railway Modeller for October 1974, which describes the loading bank as recently built at Teigngrace, just before the road crossing, i.e. at Teignbridge. There are seven wagons in the photographs, all Highfits [1 x BR, 2 x GWR, 1 x LMSR, 1 X LNER and 2 X SR - the numbers are given] branded for China Clay traffic, most with roller bearing axleboxes [the writer refers to wooden axleboxes, but this may be down to the editorial team...]. The bank is also described as being for China Clay*,

 

* I am not questioning that it was actually Ball Clay - I once lived in the area.

[KeithMacdonald]

Thanks to @Rivercider for great pics! 🙂

 

Back to Heathfield for the start of the other part, the Teign Valley Line. Was the track plan always like this, with the Teign Valley Line forming a terminus next to the Newton line? Clearly there was a link, but in this arrangement not one that make any through traffic easy (i.e. Exeter to Newton Abbot via Heathfield)

 

 

 

The track curved north and then ran north east to Chudleigh Knighton Halt.

 

 

A small granite-block station with the classic GWR pagoda shelter.

 

 

This site is now under the A38 dual carriageway.

[KeithMacdonald]

Chudleigh Station

 

 

This was about a mile from Chudleigh itself. It had a goods yard with a long loop and a siding. What was the B3193 leading to Kingsteignton is now a slip road off of the A38 as it bypasses Chudleigh.

 

 

More details on Disused Stations

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/chudleigh/index.shtml

 

[Mikkel]

On 10/11/2022 at 23:44, KeithMacdonald said:

Paging @ThePipersSon, we've reached Lustleigh 🙂

 

 

A small station with one siding, and a station master or porter who clearly kept a tidy the flower bed. A gate to the siding area can be seen to the right of the main building.

 

 

Can anyone make out what the smaller building is? Would Lustleigh have needed a signal box?

 

 

The staff at Lustleigh won a prize for best kept garden on the GWR. That and some nice views of the station can be seen on the Lustleigh Society's website:

 

https://www.lustleigh-society.org.uk/lustleigh-and-the-railway/

 

Also seen on that page is a lock-up that was next to the station, built to a design that I have only ever seen here and at Long Marston station. Here's a 4mm model of it (lightly adapted at the base):

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Mikkel
Tidying

[Compound2632]

Cecil Torr's Small Talk at Wreyland is essential reading for anyone who wants to get the atmosphere of the area. Written just after the Great War, it describes the habits and customs of the people of the Teign valley over the previous century or more (among many other things). He even has some good bits on the coming of the railway.

[7802]

8 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

Was the track plan always like this, with the Teign Valley Line forming a terminus next to the Newton line? Clearly there was a link, but in this arrangement not one that make any through traffic easy (i.e. Exeter to Newton Abbot via Heathfield)

 

 

 

It was not always this way. The original layout as above was a result of the Moretonhampstead line being built in broad gauge and the teign valley being built standard gauge. As such when built there was no prospect of a direct link. When the moreton branch was converted it allowed the connection to be made however the work to allow through running was not considered essential. The layout was changed eventually (I believe in the Second World War so that it could be used as a diversionary route in case of enemy bombardment of the coastal route via dawlish) so that no reversal was required.

 

see the second signal diagram on the link below 

https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwe/S902.htm

[KeithMacdonald]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

The staff at Lustleigh won a prize for best kept garden on the GWR. That and some nice views of the station can be seen on the Lustleigh Society's website:

https://www.lustleigh-society.org.uk/lustleigh-and-the-railway/

 

@Mikkel - thanks, not seen that before, a nice & interesting page.

Their next page is on mining in the area

https://www.lustleigh-society.org.uk/mining-and-quarrying/

 

Quote

Much more important in recent times has been the mining of micaceous haematite, or’shiny ore’, found at various sites along the Wray Valley. “In the parishes of Hennock and Lustleigh, there is found in the granite a species of micaceous or peculiar iron ore, known by the name of Devonshire Sand it was used for writing sand and vorious other purposes.” ... The full barrels were loaded on to carts or lorries and taken to Lustleigh station.

 

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, 7802 said:

It was not always this way. The original layout as above was a result of the Moretonhampstead line being built in broad gauge and the teign valley being built standard gauge. As such when built there was no prospect of a direct link.

 

That would make an interesting layout, or pair of layouts! Did the Moretonhampstead line remain purely broad gauge right up to 1892? [Yes.]

 

Incidentally, Torr says that Moretonhampstead was a name made up by the railway to avoid confusion with all the other Moretons and Hampsteads. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Compound2632
Insert [Yes.]