Washout at Dawlish

[Gary H]

Just a couple of pics from me, little point of repeating what has already been covered.

You do get a very humbling feeling being there though, the massive power of the sea is not to be messed with!

My heart does go out to the owners of the effected houses above. Ive a feeling that this weekend could be make or break!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

Would reinstating Oakhampton to Bere Alston really be that expensive as a relief route? A quick glance at google maps shows very little built on the old trackbed apart from the council building in Tavistock - just a few barns and less than 10 houses.

 

(Quite why an organisation which is itself responsible for planning, infrastructure and economic development would build their HQ bang on top of a potentially reinstatable route is bewildering to me, although sadly not that surprising …)

 

Is Meldon Viaduct the only major structure which would need replacing on that route? How about the other bridges?.

 

There weren't many to demolish after the line closed and Meldon is the only big one.

 

John

[trisonic]

Bit outside the remit of Capn. Kernow and his fellow engineers but perhaps "Rip Rap" using local stone (or concrete spiders) should be looked at as a first defence - by the way just who is responsible for sea defences in the Dawlish area?

 

Best, Pete.

[Gary H]

. I was certainly heartend to see that already the process of recovery has begun - and of course that's not to say they aren't busy elsewhere, but the camera didnt record it.

 

Indeed. I can report that 400 G44 sleepers have been ordered already as I was sat right next to my ole matey who orders all the plant and materials today!

What I can also say is without a doubt, some of the most professional and experienced railway people on the planet are involved in this project.

We'll crack this nut one way or the other!

[Gary H]

 

Captain Kernow - I have the solution to fixing the breach...

 

 

 

You'd probably be done for pollution if you used those!

[Re6/6]

The 'hanging tracks' have now been dropped by oxy cutting. A hairy piece of work as the cutting guy jumped quite a bit when it went!

 

Good to see work starting already.

 

 

 

Much media coverage about the GWR 1935 project which still has the approval of Parliament. Signed off by the then Chancellor Neville Chamberlain!

When the fuss has all died down I have a feeling that it won't happen.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Re6/6

[Coombe Barton]

Bit outside the remit of Capn. Kernow and his fellow engineers but perhaps "Rip Rap" using local stone (or concrete spiders) should be looked at as a first defence - by the way just who is responsible for sea defences in the Dawlish area?

 

Best, Pete.

Up the coast at the Warren they're used Larvikite - the blue stuff from Norway (Think Barclays Bank counters). You can float a barge in at high tide, drop the rocks and float off on the next tide.

 

However what that would do to the look of the place is probably not printable. The local resistant stone is granite from inland quarries in Cornwall (probably Penryn) or gabbro from Porthustock - that has a quay. But ditto ditto about the look of that stuff. The local sandstone can be cut with a handsaw.

[edcayton]

If I can play Devil's advocate (contentious-moi?). If this railway is so vital then we should fix it in days, not weeks (this was done back in the 50's). If we can manage without it for months then I would suggest we don't need it at all.

 

Poor roads? The A30 and A38 from Exeter into Cornwall are both excellent motorway standard dual carriageways. My family find it easier, cheaper and faster to get the coach from Newquay to London.

 

As for Dawlish, that is a different problem. Interestingly, none of the people who I have seen interviewed on TV as affected by the storms have had a Devon accent.

 

I await the deluge!

 

Ed

[298]

Hi Ian,

Can you tell me what percentage of holiday makers come to your holiday destinations by train. I would wager it's not a lot.

 

 

Cheers Godders

We've booked a cottage in Starcross for a week at Easter, and although will be arriving by car, were planning to use the train for day trips. It'll hardly be a massive revenue earner for FGW, but enough to make me rethink our plans should the line not be reopened by then.

[Gary H]

The 'hanging tracks' have now been dropped by oxy cutting. A hairy piece of work as the cutting guy jumped quite a bit when it went!

I bet it made a bang when it went!

Just 60 feet of that track is just over 10 tons!

[Joseph_Pestell]

I seem to recall learning that the Exe estuary has a rather unusual format (if that is the right word) and that the sea is often rougher than one might expect relative to the weather. I certainly remember a night trip along the wall in 1977 with waves crashing over the train and pebbles from the beach being thrown against the train (smashing the window of an adjacent compartment).

 

An artificial reef that diminishes the power of waves reaching the sea wall would seem the only viable long-term solution. There may also be a need for an almost continuous rock shelter below the cliffs.

[BlackRat]

Neither the A38 or the 30 are dualled through Cornwall, indeed much of the new dual section of the 38 is now coned off due to the influx of rising spring water and e risk of frost, a newish road reduced to one lane in each direction.

 

My average journey to work in Bodmin takes me along it daily, and basically there is no overtake till Coleslogget bends near Bodmin Crematorium.

 

If you are stuck behind a stream of traffic, sometimes averaging 30 mph (or less, try getting behind a load of vehicles with a tractor or crane 30 vehicles ahead it's a bind! )

 

That's 12 miles on a trunk road with no possibility of passing anything.

 

And we are talking here of a major arterial route, with no other route as a choice.

 

Add the pinch points at Temple, Carland Cross etc on the 30, and now no rail or realistic air link, the Easter traffic should be 'interesting' to say the least!

 

The railway is a vital lifeline, some of you just don't realise how much so, otherwise you wouldn't be spouting what you are!

 

And we have another storm a comin this Friday!

Edited February 6, 2014 by BlackRat

[Clive Mortimore]

A train service is running between Penzance and Plymouth

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/PNZ/2014/02/06/0600-2000?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

 

Good luck to all involved in the restoration of services, I'm sure there are very capable boys and girls doing their best to resolve the issues.

 

Sympathies to all affected, I had to chop down one of our climbing roses yesterday afternoon, the high winds caught it and it was banging against the windows, eventually it was going to "come in" - trivial in the scheme of things but gave me an unwelcome taste of what it must be like battling against nature, I was saving inconvenience, some are doing it to save their homes. I wish you all well.

Hi Beast

 

My sister travelled from Plymouth to Redruth, form her account on facebook. 

 

"I am off to Redruth BY TRAIN. This is clearly such a daring adventure that someone has just tried to interview me and I have been given free tea and biscuits. Think this is on the basis that I may not return."

[Jonboy]

If I can play Devil's advocate (contentious-moi?). If this railway is so vital then we should fix it in days, not weeks (this was done back in the 50's). If we can manage without it for months then I would suggest we don't need it at all.

 

 

 

Ed

 

Having enjoyed full and standing HST's to Newquay in the summer a couple of times I would suggest there is a bigger picture than a few weeks in January/February...

[Kris]

Hi Beast

 

My sister travelled from Plymouth to Redruth, form her account on facebook. 

 

"I am off to Redruth BY TRAIN. This is clearly such a daring adventure that someone has just tried to interview me and I have been given free tea and biscuits. Think this is on the basis that I may not return."

Thats just because Redruth is an outlaw town 

[edcayton]

Having enjoyed full and standing HST's to Newquay in the summer a couple of times I would suggest there is a bigger picture than a few weeks in January/February...

 

Having enjoyed a train to myself from Par to Newquay in October, I would suggest there is a bigger picture than a few weeks in July/August...

 

Ed

[edcayton]

The main line ain't exactly busy. I do question whether it might be worth rebuilding the Dawlish bit as single track.

 

Ed

 

Please refer to the second sentence of my original post.

Edited February 6, 2014 by edcayton

[Oldddudders]

Good to see on a railway forum, when discussing a horrendous loss of arterial infrastructure, that mean spirits abound.

 

I can hardly believe some of the stuff I'm reading here.

[Gary H]

The main line ain't exactly busy. I do question whether it might be worth rebuilding the Dawlish bit as single track.

 

Ed

 

Please refer to the second sentence of my original post.

You must be joking! Not busy??

Try getting a line blockage granted to do anything on the track during the day there! You'l be lucky to get 10 minute windows! Indeed the signallers at Exeter PSB will not grant you hardly anything during the day because of the very fact that it is so busy!

Talking from experience!

As for single tracking it, ive not heard of such a daft idea over the last 12 pages.

[deltic17]

John - the industry/country simply can't afford to have such a lengthy route, seeing relatively little use most of the year, just 'sitting on the shelf, just in case'... sorry!

 

I would have to agree the only sensible solution is to strengthen the existing route (get the line open as soon as practically possible and then seriously look at a longer term proper strengthening solution) - it can't be too difficult when you consider the £m's spent on road networks - but I do appreciate it is the sea we are dealing with here - others have mentioned freight traffic on a 2nd route to justify costs but I believe (sadly) there is relatively little freight on the line these days.

[tomparryharry]

I can't see anything but the seaward route being rebuilt. Residents get all wibbly-wobbly when the news of a railway scheme near them gets going.

 

"What'll it do to the value of my holiday home", etc, etc.

 

Putting a block ship in, and scuttling it, is a non-starter. Firstly, the view. "We can't possibly have that! What'll it do to the value of my holiday home?" Etc, etc. Then there's the ecological survey. It'll cost hundreds of thousands to find there's a rare sea urchin living just off the mean low tide level, so no-go. Finally, the mechanical properties of the scuttled vessel. How long will it last? Will parts from the vessel be washed up on the beach? Will the rock strata underneath the wreck sustain the mechanical properties of the vessel?

 

My deepest respects to the engineers involved on this. I reckon there's over a years total work on this project, Getting the track back in is relatively simple. It's the long term repairs that will take the time, especially as the damage extends landward, past the boundary fence.

 

Ian

[Gary H]

 My family find it easier, cheaper and faster to get the coach from Newquay to London.

It maybe cheaper but its cheaper for good reason! Having had a look at the Nat.EX website, the journey by coach you mention takes a fraction under 8.5 hours into Westminster.

Looking on the Train Line.com, the same journey by train takes 5 hours 18 minutes with one change.

I sooner pay the extra than sit on a coach for a day being at the mercy of traffic hold ups, road works, accidents etc etc.

Not to mention the road works at Bristol on the M4 / M5 which seem to have been on-going for the last 17 years or so! What heck is that all about?

Edited February 8, 2014 by Gary H

[Cornish Triang Paul]

Getting fed up of some of the "comments" on here now by uninformed people.

The coastal line IS to be repaired.

ONE DAY an inland route WILL have to be built and surprisingly, nobody has mentioned electrification. YES it WILL take time to work out a route by then all train/staff requirements would be filled what with IEP/cascades etc.

Comments about customer numbers have been largely wrong as anybody catching the current TT unit from PLY at around 1415 will tell you.....

Both Cornwall and Devon numbers are amongst the fastest growing in the country so any talk of single line or closure is @~#% !!

There are plans to dual the last bit of A30 through Bodmin Moor. AND Long Rock depot is planned to see MORE work even BEFORE IEP....... .

 

For those who don't follow my posts, I am resident in Kernow and rail user andFGW employee with some responsibility !!

Edited February 6, 2014 by Cornish Triang Paul

[Siberian Snooper]

The Beeb local news Spotlight has said that the Captain and his crew will be doing the best they can to protect the foundations of the exsisting wall and anything else they can before tomorrow nights predicted storms arrive, after that lot has abbaited then a survey and solutions will be put into action. The track at the Exeter end of the washout was severed using mechanical cutters on a R/R, whilst the Teignmouth end was gas axed, there appeared to be some brown adrenaline when the first rail was burnt through.

 

A few, but not all, people in Dawlish are being allowed to return to their homes following surveys.

 

The local mp's also had their ten pen'orth.

 

SS

[robmcg]

Having read some of the sentiment and speculation here (apologies if already suggested) I think the most likely result will be, and should be, a large, that is, huge amount of rocks and fill deposited on the seaward side of the existing railway, completely transforming the existing appearance, so that the sea defence is perhaps 50 metres out.

 

Rebuilding the line a bit higher, and a bit better, and of course re-instating the viability of the many houses involved.

 

We do similar here in NZ with king tide/storm damage, it's rather less pretty than seaside boulevard stone walls but is the only thing that will work in a sensible cost way.