pb_devon

That’s a sound presumption!

Here is a bit more about Maurice from my own recollections of things he shared with me.

He was a Plymouth boy, and was one of the informal “St Budeaux Railway Circle” a group of lads who gathered at the two stations in the suburb served by GWR and SR to spot. He joined ECC in the laboratory at Lee Moor, then transferred to St Austell where he remained for the rest of his life. He never married but often turned up at events with a variety of lady friends. His local accent was so thick you had to concentrate to understand, especially after a pint or so. He & I were undertaking a mini tour once of tramways in clay country, on a Tuesday, and we stopped at the pub in Stenalees for lunch. It was packed with clay workers, and everyone knew Maurice. It took a bit of effort to get him back out the pub and on with our tour! 
Maurice was also into the Folk scene and was a member of the local Morris Men. A friend of mine from Bodmin Folk Club said to me this morning “I knew Maurice well over 50 years and he looked the same all that time!”.

He was a wonderful character.

R.I.P.

33 minutes ago, C126 said:

Pondering this over after-noon tea, I assume the escort coaches could be made gas-proof in case of attack by terrorists.  Which made me wonder why there were still old Mk. I windows used that had not been replaced.  Perhaps I have been watching too many episodes of The Professionals.

 

Your imagination is running away!!

Sorry, Can’t say too much other than that.

On 31/03/2024 at 10:31, C126 said:

Could a few sketches from memory be done, to illustrate the general arrangement and procedure, without breaching secrecy of a now extinct wagon?

 

 

Possibly, but it may take a few weeks.

I have seen the drawing of the road bogies, which was in a MoD document on the wagon. I speculate that this may no longer exist since the wagon is long gone and the document would have been withdrawn and shredded. 

Unless some enthusiast type quietly kept a copy!

There is an interview for local radio on BBC Sounds with Will Smith of the SDR about the making of the episode.

I cannot work out how to link to the clip, so search on the Sounds site.
 

See also this parallel thread: 

The loco used was GWR 45xx 5526.

As the series is set in present day South Devon, no fiddling with era was required.

The elephant in the room is all the filming is done in Looe and South East Cornwall!

The above drama (?) featured a murder on a steam railway train, of a performer in a train murder mystery trip.

Railway scenes were filmed at the South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh, with a (presumed) cgi generated tunnel portal, as the SDR does not have a tunnel!

Another cgi scene had a distant scene of a steam train crossing Calstock viaduct (on the Gunnislake branch of NR). Certainly cgi as if they had done it for real us locals would have surely heard of it!

It is a BBC programme so available on iplayer.

This subject was discussed on the Swiss Railways groups.io forum in January.

Essential reading is this in-depth analysis https://jonworth.eu/the-future-of-long-distance-train-services-through-the-channel-tunnel/

In summary…it’s wishful thinking!!

22 hours ago, Fredo said:

Reading back through the thread it seems we don’t know what finally happened to the wagon, is that correct? 

I have a note that it was seen in Booths scrapyard in August 2007.

I think you are being unnecessarily negative about the scheme. If Falmouth, Truro, St Austell and (especially) Newquay residents get an improved rail service, surely that’s to be lauded?

Another example is Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth. An internal 30 minute service operated between the three separate yards, only connected by tunnels. Stock was converted goods wagons, loose coupled to one of the yards fleet of industrial locos (latterly diesels). The significant feature was six classes of accommodation! 
Full details in the book Devonport Dockyard Railway by Paul Burkhalter, now OOP but s/h copies available.

Some images on the Transport Treasury website.

18 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

So rather well served for commuting to the dockyard etc from the Cornish mainline.  Now a lot depends too on where today's 'dockyard mateys' or 'dockies'  (to use the old terms) actually live.   I doubt many of them still live in Devonport but are spread all over the place.  And that means many will be nowhere near a station.

 

I can answer that Mike. I’m now retired, but about a dozen years ago one bit of my job was Dockyard traffic management. I commissioned a study in connection with this, which looked at where Dockyard and Naval Base employees lived. Very few were nearby, and most resided in the leafy suburbs around the city. The outcome showed that commuting by car was widespread (I think we knew that already!)

I note that about 2 years ago a dockyard special bus has been running weekday morning and afternoon, presumably in an attempt to reduce dependency on the car. 

It will probably be due to the cost of keeping the branch line track etc maintained to a suitable standard.  That cost would be wholly to the nuclear traffic, whereas the main line would be standard track access.

The Industrial Railway Society groups.io forum has very recent (April/May 2023) reports on current ops and visits.

https://groups.io/g/IndustrialRailwaySociety

Looked in yesterday and very well attended! A small venue so quite cosy. On again today.

My experience is a large rail served dockyard in south west England.

Cobbled areas were at older rail installations (now disused) and a check rail was provided to maintain the ‘groove’ as cobbles can get displaced. Tram rail usage is more modern and as a result is in tarmac and concrete surfaced locations.

Dapol used to do a Hoare Bros wagon for Antics

https://www.hattons.co.uk/305668/dapol_ant031_3_plank_open_wagon_hoare_bros_antics_special_edition/stockdetail

Maybe s/h somewhere.

And Christow Station is home to the Exeter & Teign Valley Railway heritage centre https://www.teignrail.co.uk

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

Some suggestions:
The London Metropolitan Archives has an extensive photo archive.

Both Britain from Above and Historic England have aerial photos which might have something.

Agreed!

Though it’s useful to have a plan B in case that file you pre-ordered titled “High Wycombe station staff 1861” turns out to be empty/something completely different/ lost!!

A back-up list of other, seemingly, less likely files may well turn out to be exactly what you want.

That’s often my experence.

Good luck!

There is a National Archives guide to researching railway workers: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/railway-workers/

That would seem to be a good place to start!

Plus their bookshop has a number of books on how to find records.