Dave_Hooe

Thanks Kevin. Oh yes, I see what you mean about the van sliding door mechanisms … arched bracket over the runner holding the wheel in place. Brian’s earlier comment about the density of features of interest in this short branch is very much to the point as well. Digressing to Plymstock for a moment … a few weeks ago I paid a visit to the former Plymstock Station site, now being developed as a cycle and walkway through to the new housing development (Broxton Drive) in the quarry and former Blue Circle cement works (that were also linked up to the rail network). It was pleasing to find a segment of preserved track installed (Figure 78 top left) as a nod to the history of the site. Also, nice to see the bridges being renovated. I stumbled across some rotten timbers in the old track bed complete with chair bolts just beyond the ‘Rock Gardens’ bridge (bottom right in Figure 78). I dare say you might have been over that section of the track in outings on the Yealmpton line in your youth, Brian. So there’s a bit of tangible nostalgia for you!

Thanks for the comments folks. I think that’s all I’ve got on the Turnchapel Station building. I’ve not found out anything about the replacement post-bombing building other than a comment in Tony Kingdom’s book that “both the replacement booking office/waiting room building and the signal box were of lateral wooden planking and asbestos sheeting and concrete slab construction, and were poor replacements to the original station”. Perhaps we can turn our attention to the signal boxes, if time permits in the next few weeks.

Sticking with the station building, let’s now zoom in on some detail for the canopy and doors… Analysis of photographic records allows us to fix the height of the sliding doors relative to the top of the front wall and window recess with reasonable confidence, as shown in Figure 72. The doors were large (probably 8-ft 6-in x 6-ft 0-in) and hung from a metal runner that extended the full length of the building’s front wall. As we’ve noted, the innermost valance panels were cut short to accommodate this runner after the building was constructed. It’s not easy to make out detail of door hanging mechanism, but inspection of the best photographs suggest that it may have been something like that of the sliding doors illustrated in Figure 73. These are doors at the National Trust’s Lanhydrock House, which was substantially rebuilt following a fire in 1881, and are likely to be fairly contemporaneous therefore. The Lanhydrock House doors are of a similar size to those that existed at the station building in Turnchapel. They are a good 2.5-in thick (possibly 3-in) and are hung with wheels fixed in arches that straddle the runner. At Lanhydrock the two doors pass one another and are therefore hung from parallel runners. In contrast, the Turnchapel Station building doors closed together on the same runner. Only a small number of photographs are available that capture the Turnchapel building, and these seem to show the left hand door in an open position with the right hand door in a closed position. The building was fitted with a stove but would nevertheless have provided a fairly chilly and drafty wintertime waiting experience if both doors were kept fully open! So possibly the right hand door was routinely kept closed. When open, the left hand door is seen to extend slightly beyond the corner of the front wall because the wheel arch is set in from the door edge by some distance. Obviously, the station building doors were not glass panelled like the Lanhydrock doors. They were constructed from vertical planks, possibly eight 9-in planks (based on inspection of the Oreston Station building photographs). Both doors carried substantial notice boards (Figure 74). Large lettering can be seen running across the top of these notice boards. The wording is difficult to make out but could possibly have read ‘DEPARTURES’ on the left hand door. A notice board was also located on the front wall to the right of the right hand door, another reason for keeping that door routinely in the closed position. And, indeed, the doors were in this state (just discernible, Figure 74 insert) when the building was eventually burned down in Nov-1940 following the bombing. Perhaps they were left like that after the station records were hastily extricated — Bernard Darwin notes in his War on the Line that “a signalman and a porter, seeing the danger to the station, saved all the records at considerable risk to themselves”. The valance panels in the station building canopy were somewhat similar to the ex-GWR design, still to be seen at Exeter St Davids. Having recently measured the panels there, I can give some definite figures (Figure 75). At Exeter St Davids the panel width is 6.5-in with a gap of about ¼-in between adjacent panels. Both edges on the panels have semi-circular notches corresponding to a 1¼-in diameter. The seam between adjacent panels is filled by a tongue inserted into grooves on the panel edges above the height of the hole. The panels are of exactly 1-in thickness. However, it is likely that the Turnchapel panels were slightly less wide (6-in instead of 6½-in) and with the ends cut a little more acutely (see detail in Figure 72). We can be reasonably confident of the 6-in panel width because 23 panel tips can just be discerned making up the front face of the canopy in one photograph and the inside faces of the canopy sides were almost exactly aligned with edges of the 12-ft opening in the front wall of the building (as constructed before the sliding doors were installed). Twenty-three 6-in panels with ¼-in gaps comes to 12-ft pretty much exactly. The front elevation of the station building would then have looked something like the drawing shown in Figure 76. Again, the colour scheme shown here is purely for figurative contrast. I’m not sure what the colour scheme would actually have been in LSWR and SR days … presumably cream and green would have featured somewhere. Perhaps others might comment on that. Interior detail of the building is not available, other than the fact that there was stove (with the chimney located somewhere towards the back and right of the building) and that the left hand end had a small booking office partition. The doors would have to have been 6-ft in width in order to span the opening in the front wall, at least as originally constructed and seen in the 1896 photograph mentioned in post #84 (PWDRO PCC/76/5/9795). The entrance surround may have been somewhat modified (as suggested in Figure 76) to provide a weather seal for the doors however. I have also wondered whether the wall behind the left hand door was extended to the right to provide a little more space for the booking office partition. The drawing of the station building on the 1911 ADM 140/1484 plan (referred to in previous posts) seems to suggest that it might have been. This same plan also suggests that the door (or perhaps counter flap?) into the booking office partition was immediately behind the front wall on the left when entering the building. The canopy side of the Turnchapel Station building can just be made out in the Aug-1928 postcard picture shown in Figure 77 together with lampstand detail etc. These details are actually much clearer in a 1904-1910 picture to be found on page 239 of The Okehampton Line by John Nicholas and George Reeve. There were 7 full width valance panels in the side of the canopy and an eighth partial panel (of less than half width), as shown in the detail drawing of Figure 72 above. That suggests the canopy extended some 46-in over the platform or nominally 4-ft including the facia board and roof on the front edge of the canopy. Notice the high quarry bank to the right of the train in the 1928 picture above. This was substantially reduced when the Air Ministry sidings were installed in 1939. A local resident of Hooe recorded this in his diary in the build up to WW2: “Wimpey’s of London commenced removal of rubble bank beside Turnchapel Station for construction of sidings, with the rubble used to bury the Radford oil tanks.” (Apr-1939 diary extract from Henry J. Hurrell of Hooe) Also missing from the station building in 1928 is a hanging sign beneath the canopy. A sign was installed by 1939 on the Turnchapel building (as illustrated in Figure 74) and was also evident in photographs of the Oreston building dating to 1951 and 1962. In these, I think the word ‘OFFICE’ can just be made out in pale lettering across the width of the board. At some point bars were installed inside the windows of the building. These were not present in the 1904-1910 photograph mentioned above but were installed at least by 1939. The oil tanks of the Admiralty compound have been discreetly left out of sight by the photographer, behind the bank on the left in the 1928 picture. However, one of the original cast iron gas lampstands is visible. Again, this is clearer in the 1904-1910 picture in Nicholas and Reeve. There was a second lamp just behind the station building (as viewed in Figure 77) at the top of the ramp up to the platform. By 1939 these had been replaced by the concrete lamp posts that we have featured in the photos of Figures 38-40 (post #51). It seems that these were likely located in exactly the same spots on the platform as the original cast iron lamp stands. Henry Hurrell from the village of Hooe, just along the road from Turnchapel Station, recorded the coming of electricity to the village in his diary: “Hooe streets lit up by electricity for the first time” (15-Aug-1932) “Our house wired for electric light (Croft Cottage)” (22-Aug-1932) – diary extracts from Henry J. Hurrell of Hooe Perhaps the gas lighting at Turnchapel Station was replaced by electricity around the same time in 1932 therefore.

Based on a 30’-to-1” scale drawing of Oreston Station [PWDRO PCC/45/1/3501], the station building there would have been 20-ft in length by 10-ft in depth. Tony Kingdom notes that the Turnchapel and Oreston Station buildings were identical, with the exception that at Oreston one end of the building was additionally partitioned off as Goods Office section. The 20-ft x 10-ft dimensions taken from the Oreston drawing are also consistent with the Turnchapel station building as marked out (at smaller scale) in the 1911 Admiralty plan of the Turnchapel Oil Fuel Depot [National Archives ADM 140/1484]. The ADM 140/1484 plan clearly shows that it was the western end of the station building at Turnchapel that was partitioned off as the booking office. As shown in Figure 70 (above), the station building was constructed with vertical planking and with a single large window at each end. A sloping flat roof covered the building and extended to the front over the platform where it was bordered with a valance to create a canopy. The canopy did not run along the full 20-ft length of the building but covered the platform opening. The canopy and building roof sloped as a single plane from the platform side downwards towards the rear of the building, which was set into the bank that formed the bund of the naval oil fuel depot. Given an end wall length of 10-ft, and without going into tedious detail of photographic perspective and direction points, analysis of available pictures of Oreston suggests that the height of the rear and front walls of the building were very close to 9-ft and 10-ft 6-in respectively, with the roof adding a little extra thickness on top of that. From photographs of the buildings at both Turnchapel and Oreston it is possible to discern 19 vertical cladding planks in the end wall construction between the corners, with the structure of the corners being about half the width of the cladding planks. Cladding at 6-in centreline spacing (i.e. nominally 6-in planks) would then be nicely consistent with the overall end wall length of 10-ft taken from the PWDRO PCC/45/1/3501 Oreston Station drawing. From that analysis of the end wall cladding it is then possible to provide dimensions for the window width. With some additional analysis, it is possible to come up with end elevation dimensions (in reasonable confidence) as marked out in Figure 71 (below). The colour scheme shown is purely to provide figurative contrast, and comments from anyone else on the likely actual colour scheme would be very helpful! I plan to come to front elevation and canopy/valance detail in subsequent posts.

Thanks for alerting me, Brian! Hopefully the 'click here' link in post #84 is now fixed. It's not possible to install a direct working link to the PWDRO image itself alas, but the 'click here' link should go to the PWDRO search page into which the record number (PCC/76/5/9795) can be entered ... and that will eventually lead to a viewable image!

An early surveyor’s record (1896-1906; PWDRO record: 1023/124) for Turnchapel Station gives platform dimensions of 3-ft in height, 52-yds in length and 3-yds in width with a masonry retaining wall construction, brick coping and gravel top. Kingdom’s Turnchapel Branch book quotes a longer platform length of 175-ft. A simple station building (Figure 70) was located on the platform, cut into the embankment that was later to form the bund to the Admiralty oil fuel depot that we’ve examined in preceding posts. A very early picture of the station building from c. 1896 (when the station was newly constructed) is available in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office (reference: PCC/76/5/9795). The image can be found by entering the preceding reference number into the PWDRO archive search (click here). As seen in this photograph, the building was initially constructed as an open shelter. Heavy sliding doors were subsequently added and the down end of the structure partitioned off as a small booking office. The large sliding doors across the building opening are seen to have been installed in a photograph of the station dating from 1904-1910 [The Okehampton Line by John Nicholas and George Reeve (Irwell Press, 2016 / 2nd edition) page 240]. Thus, it is likely that the doors were added soon after construction. Installation of the doors required the building’s modest platform canopy to be modified, partially cutting away the innermost valance tongues to accommodate a metal bar from which the doors were hung. The original Turnchapel Station building was destroyed in the fire that followed the bombing in Nov-1940. However, an identical building was present at Oreston Station and this survived (albeit modified with asbestos sheeting repairs in its final years) until closure of the Turnchapel Branch. Good photographic records are available of the Oreston building. I haven’t managed to find any photographic records of the replacement Turnchapel Station building that was constructed after the bombing, but it is possible to build up some detail about the dimensions and structure of the original building, and I plan to add that in following posts (when time permits).

I hope the preceding post provides a useful account of the oil tanks that stood next to Turnchapel Station. They were a prominent aspect of the site for much of the operational life of the station and played an important role in the station’s history. Viewed from the station itself, the tops of Tanks ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘F’ would have been visible up until Nov-1940, and public passenger service use of the station only lasted a further 11 years until 10-Sep-1951. The tank top features (v-z) marked on the Tank ‘C’ model of Figure 69 would have been noticeable along with the concrete windlass platforms on the station bank. The information above should at least have shed light on the purpose of those concrete blocks now. A particularly clear view of the blocks is seen in another of Mike Roach’s superb Sep-1961 photographs on the Cornwall Railway Society website (embedded link below). The block at the top of the bank to the left of the signal post is the one that served Tank ‘C’; the block hidden behind the funnel of M7 No. 30034 served Tank ‘B’ and was located approximately above the station platform end. The double catch leading to the sand drag that curved around the rock (far left) can also be seen in Mike’s photograph. [embedded link to the Cornwall Railway Society pre-1968 Railtours section. Image © Mike Roach (all rights reserved). Time to leave the Admiralty tanks now, and perhaps turn attention to the station building and signal box in forthcoming posts …

Now we come to some suggested photographic resources that may provide a guide to the visual appearance and structure of the Admiralty oil fuel compound tanks adjacent to Turnchapel Station. The detail here may not be of wide interest, but it’s as well to include it because the tanks would have been such a prominent feature for much of the operational life of the station and because they played such an important role in its history. Without access to engineering drawings for the tanks we cannot be sure of the dome dimensions, but a typical ratio for dome cross section to cylinder radii in modern tank design might be 2.456 (www.astanks.com/EN/Intro_EN.html). This would put the dome centres around 9-ft 7-in above the cylinder top. Structural analysis of the Turnchapel tanks is assisted by the availability of excellent reference photographs for the Invergordon tanks, 20 tanks of which were supplied by Whessoe in 1913/14 with the same design and 90-ft x 37-ft dimensions. Recommended reference pictures are embedded in the post below, linked to the source websites. [The linked images below are dependent on the sharing status set for the source images and may disappear from the post in the future, if the sharing status is changed or the image removed from the source site by the image owners.] The cylinders were constructed from seven rings of riveted steel plates and were self-supporting with no internal girder work along the cylinder axis. There were 12 plates per ring with the vertical seams aligned antiphase between consecutive rings. The horizontal seams were made with a single row of rivets. For the four lower plate rings, the vertical seams were made with 3 staggered vertical rows of rivets at the lateral plate overlaps (e.g. configured in a 17-16-17 rivet pattern between the horizontal plate seam rivet rings). For the top three rings, vertical plate seams were made with two staggered columns of rivets instead of three. Photographs of similar tank construction in progress (ca. 1907/1908) can be seen at Portland and Dover Eastern Docks installations. Detail of plate structure and riveted seams from the Invergordon tanks can be found in the image below. The particular tank featured in this image may at one time have had an outer brick cladding installed around the cylinder, presumably to provide a measure blast resistance. [embedded link to image DSC2203 in the Flickr account of Revelation_Space, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] The AWM-SUK10477 photograph (at high resolution) suggests that the tank domes comprised 8 concentric rings of riveted overlapping plates around a central crown plate. Radial and annular seams were likely made with single rivet rows, as shown in the following picture of a dome from a similar but larger tank at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka dating from the period 1924–1937: [Explore Sri Lanka source website for the Trincomalee tank photo now requires login -- so embedded link no longer works and has been removed] The dome of the Turnchapel tanks supported 4 radial catwalks with handrails leading to a central hatch or vent at the top of the dome. The four radial handrails appear to have been of circular tube and very similar to the ones shown in the Trincomalee tank (above), except that each rail comprised only five stanchions (i.e. generating four segments from the edge of the tank to the centre). The handrails did not connect above the centre of the tank, but stopped short to leave a free working area above the crown. The catwalks may have extended beyond the handrail to form, in effect, a square around the central vent/hatch. The handrails appear to have been located on the four-fold radial symmetry lines of the tank dome with the catwalks offset to the right and fixed by brackets to the dome plates. Only the brackets are visible on the Trincomalee tank dome picture above. Photographic references for the Invergordon tank domes are available in Flickr user collections; two excellent examples are: [embedded link to image DSC2244 in the Flickr account of Revelation_Space, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] [embedded link to image DSC2258 in the Flickr account of Revelation_Space, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] It’s worth noting, however, that there were some furbishment differences between the Turnchapel tanks seen in the AWM-SUK10477 photograph and the various Invergordon tanks. Some of these differences may reflect post-construction modifications and enhanced safety features at Invergordon. Thus, the dome radial railings appear to comprise a pair of rails instead of a single handrail and the peripheral circular railings may show three rail levels. In several instances angle iron is used on the Invergordon tank domes instead of tube and catwalks appear to the left of the radial railings rather than to the right as at Turnchapel. The peripheral annular railings on the Turnchapel tanks comprised two rail levels and were of tube with stanchions and brackets similar to those shown for the Trincomalee radial handrail (above). Close to the foot of each of the four catwalks on the tank domes was located a circular inspection hatch with a flip lid. These appear to have been in an open state on Turnchapel Tanks ‘C’ and ‘D’ captured in the AWM-SUK10477 photograph. Smoke can be seen issuing from these hatches on Tank ‘D’, next to the seat of the fire in Tanks ‘E’ and ‘F’. This accords with eyewitness accounts that indicate that Tank ‘D’ was the third to join the fire. The high resolution AWM-SUK10477 photograph shows that the top ring of Tank ‘F’ is much brighter than the lower section of the tank. This may well represent the fill line in that tank, with the metal above the oil level at or above red heat and with that below the oil surface at a temperature somewhere in the boiling range of the stored oil or lower, perhaps ca. 200 °C. Shadows can be seen in the AWM-SUK10477 photograph, indicating that the sun was out when the photograph was taken and suggesting that the metal temperature above the oil surface in Tank ‘F’ was likely above 550 °C, which is roughly the temperature at which red heat emission is visible in sunlight. In all likelihood the temperature was much higher still. Structural steel begins to soften around 425 °C and exhibits a 50% drop in Young’s modulus by about 650 °C. The significance of this in relation to the AWM-SUK10477 photograph is that a pronounced buckle –– clearer in the high resolution image –– can already be seen in the topmost cylinder ring of the tank on the side facing Turnchapel Station. This suggests that the walls of Tank ‘F’ were already in danger of collapse when this photograph was taken on 28-Nov-1940. Returning to the inspection hatches on the tank domes, one can just be made out on the far side of the catwalk in the photograph below for a tank at Invergordon. This photograph also gives an excellent view of a gantry linking two adjacent tanks. The AWM-SUK10477 photograph reveals that a similar gantry bridged between Tanks ‘B’ and ‘D’ at Turnchapel. Presumably there may have been similar north-south bridges between Tanks ‘A’/‘C’ and ‘E’/‘F’, although I’ve found no photographic record to confirm this to date. Possibly there may have been east-west bridges too, but again no photographic evidence is available to establish that at present. Tank top maintenance required personnel to make a rather perilous climb up the 40 or so rungs of the narrow ladders (one attached to each tank side). The Invergordon tanks have spiral steps and / or guard fences fitted to the ladders, perhaps installed as a later safety measure. The presence of bridging gantries between tanks would presumably reduce the number of ascents and descents required. [embedded link to image DSC2247 in the Flickr account of Revelation_Space, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] The Turnchapel tank ladders were attached with two brackets fixed to cylinder rings 2 and 6, the point of attachment being a little off centre in each ring. The ladders were angled slightly outwards at the base so that the climb would not have been quite vertical. A white-faced depth gauge was attached to the side of each tank. This can be made out for Tanks ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ in the high resolution version of the AWM-SUK10477 photograph. In each case the depth gauge was fixed immediately to the right of the ladder. There appear to have been more than one type of depth gauge in use in the Invergordon tank farm, doubtless reflecting some later installations or upgrades. The picture below provides a good visual reference for the type of gauge on the Turnchapel tanks. The two parallel gauge uprights may have been of wood and were fixed by brackets in rings 1, 3, 5 and 7 on the Turnchapel tanks. A cable ran from the external gauge marker over a pulley at the cylinder top and in through a slit in the tank dome. This was covered with a housing at the edge dome, marked (y) on the Tank ‘C’ model shown in Figure 69 and on the AWM-SUK10477 photograph. The housing was immediately to the right of the ladder top. [embedded link to image Looking for a route to the top in the Flickr account of zimbob.co.uk, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] Each of the Turnchapel tanks was linked to a 15-in and 4-in pipeline as marked in Figure 52. A similar connectivity is seen in the Invergordon tanks. The pipes entered the tanks side by side with a valve fitted externally close to the tank wall. Inside the tank the pipes fed a pair of delivery/take off arms that were hinged at the base by means of a swivel joint. The arms could be raised by cables running through blocks at the cylinder top and thence to windlasses outside. An excellent view of an Invergordon tank interior is seen in Christopher Weager’s Flickr account. Sharing is disabled for this photograph, but you may be able to see it from Christopher’s Flickr account by clicking on this link –– it’s well worth looking at for an insight into tank structure and function. The blocks at the tank top that served the cables were covered with a housing similar to the one above the depth gauge. These correspond to the features marked (w) and (x) on the Tank ‘C’ model shown in Figure 69, with the block housings located above the two pipeline entry points at the foot of the tank. This explains the purpose of the windlasses that were mounted on the concrete blocks of the bank above the Turnchapel Station platform. Another distinctive tank top feature was a U-shaped breather tube hanging over a side bracket. One of these is seen at position (z), marked on Tank ‘C’ in Figure 69, and would probably have been visible from Turnchapel Station. Images of the corresponding feature on Invergordon tanks are available here and here on the Canmore Historic Environmental Scotland website and suggest that a pulley may have been attached to the bracket cross bar. [Note that the tank top structure was a little different on the tank pictured in the above linked images. Many tanks (including those at Turnchapel) had a distinct lip over the cylinder edge; the tanks showing the breather pipes in the Canmore photos lacked the lip.] A circular manhole seems to have been present in the Invergordon tanks and may have been present in the lower ring of the Turnchapel tanks too. The following image shows one of these on an Invergordon tank, with the hatch bearing the name of Whessoe. [embedded link to image Untitled in the Flickr account of zimbob.co.uk, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] The AWM-SUK10477 photograph also shows detail of the pipelines outside the Turnchapel tanks, although again this is clearer in the high resolution version of the image available from the AWM. They appear to have been embedded in a masonry causeway leading from the culvert at the south west of the bunded compound and with a masonry ‘branch’ taking pipe spurs to individual tanks. Some of the pipelines at Invergordon appear to have been insulated and a network of steam heating pipes is seen in the interior of some, but not all, of the Invergordon tanks. Heating seems to have been required to reduce the viscosity of heavy fuel oils. It is unclear whether the tanks at Turnchapel might have required a similar steam heating system. There is a 6-in pipeline marked on the ADM 140/1484 plan, the purpose of which is not clear. Could this have been for a steam line? A control wheel, probably linked to this pipeline, can just be made out at the bund top marked in the AWM-SUK10477 photograph of Figure 69 (clearer at high resolution). The ADM 140/1484 plan seems to indicate that this was connected by a shaft running down the concrete slope of the bund close to the culvert in this south west corner of the compound. Valves on the oil pipelines entering the Invergordon tanks are well documented in photographs (examples below) and were probably similar at Turnchapel. One of these can just be made out the AWM-SUK10477 photograph (when seen at high resolution) on the 15-in pipe into Tank ‘C’. [embedded link to image Seabank Tank Farm, Invergordon in the Flickr account of Gavin 2013, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] [embedded link to image Seabank Tank Farm, Invergordon in the Flickr account of Gavin 2013, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] [embedded link to image _DSC2236 in the Flickr account of Revelation_Space, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] The windlasses that operated the internal tank delivery arms are also clearly defined in photographs of the Invergordon tanks (as below). These can be made out in reasonable clarity in the AWM-SUK10477 photograph (when seen at high resolution) and appear to be identical in structure. For some of the Invergordon tanks windlasses were fitted on the tank sides themselves, in other cases they were mounted on a pair of concrete slabs in the same way as at the Turnchapel oil fuel depot. [embedded link to image Seabank Tank Farm, Invergordon in the Flickr account of Gavin 2013, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] [embedded link to image Seabank Tank Farm, Invergordon in the Flickr account of Gavin 2013, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)] [embedded link to image Suction-hose winch in the Flickr account of zimbob.co.uk, image © the account holder (all rights reserved)]

The 28-Nov-1940 Australian War Memorial (AWM) photograph (SUK10477) is shown in Figure 69. A similar photograph (Figure 50) appears in Arthur Clamp’s Plymstock during the Second World War 1939–1945 monograph (page 19), in Anthony Kingdom's Turnchapel Branch (page 57) and appended to the relevant date entries in the Operations Record Book of No. 10 Squadron, RAAF (National Archives AIR 27/149/24). This latter image is attributed to B. Thornton in Anthony Kingdom’s book and may correspond to a photograph in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office’s archive (search ‘P000079541’ in the PWDRO online catalogue), since many of the images used in the Anthony Kingdom’s book were subsequently deposited there. The top of the ‘Turnchapel Station rock’ is visible in the foreground of the AWM-SUK10477 photograph, which must have been taken from the same quarry cliff top vantage point as marked for the image in Figure 50. Detail is not easy to distinguish in the low resolution image on the AWM website (posted in Figure 69), but a high-resolution image, available for purchase from the AWM, reveals the scene in extraordinary clarity and brings home the enormity of the struggle faced by the firefighters as well as technical details about the tanks that loomed over the Station. The tanks would have looked something like the model shown in Figure 69. We know from Whessoe records that the cylinders were of 90-ft in diameter and 37-ft in height and that at least four of them were supplied to the Admiralty for the Turnchapel site in 1908. Tanks of this type, dating to the early 20th century, appear to have been constructed with both domed and conical roofs. The Turnchapel tanks were of the domed variety. Figure_69.tiff

The photos in Figures 68a-c might be useful. These were taken from the south west corner of the Turnchapel Station site, corresponding roughly to position N on the ‘site tour’ plan of Figure 52. They show another angle on the iconic rock that was located at the western end of Turnchapel Station and which towered more than 40-ft over the railway line. Although rather overgrown, one of the two windlass platform locations on the bank next to Turnchapel Station and close to the rock can also be made out. A signal post was located close beside the rock, as seen in Mike Roach’s photo of Figure 62b, and the rock appears in several photos of Turnchapel Station throughout its history, notably in a wartime image (AWM-SUK10477) from the Australian War Memorial collection taken on 28-Nov-1940 (see next post). To me, at least, the ‘Turnchapel Station rock’ has become a focal point for Plymouth’s WW2 struggle and stood memorial to those in Hooe who lost their lives that night on Wednesday 27th November, 1940 and to the two young firemen who died in the early hours of the following Friday when one of the tanks erupted. I was therefore delighted to see that the developers retained the rock as a feature in the new housing development, albeit in a very much diminished form (Figures 68d-f). Did they realise what that rock stood for and the events that had gone on around it I wonder? The raid on 27-Nov-1940 started at 6:30 pm and lasted until 2:30 am, with flights of bombers sweeping in every few minutes at the peak point. It is often regarded as the first really big raid on Plymouth and presaged the wholesale destruction of Plymouth City Centre in the blitz of the following spring. André Savignon, a French internee for the duration, wrote of it as follows: “Without developing into systematic major attacks, the raids continued at a quickening tempo and became more sustained and vicious. It was then that I first clearly discerned in the shadows the features of a new member of the cast who had crept in among us and whose presence we were all pretending to ignore: his name was Fear. “On 27th November, at six in the evening, a raid began just as we left the General Post Office, (I had wired the B.B.C … next day I was to broadcast from London). We were forced back indoors by a crowd that bustled in off the street. During the first quiet interval, we started for the Barbican. We were nearing the junction of Southside Street and the quay [Figure 68h] — a spot that gives a wide view of the port — when there was a formidable explosion and flame blotted out the vista at the end of the street. “I said: ‘That’s hit Turnchapel petrol stores.’ “It had, and they went flaming for a week. “That was our first really heavy raid.” –– André Savignon, With Plymouth Through Fire, 1968, publisher S.E. Ouston Figure_68h.tiff

Thanks chaps – and you’ve scored a ‘hole in one’ with the unit of measure analysis, Kevin! These days I keep a tape measure with me to spare my poor long-suffering family! Figure 62b is now inserted into post #71 above (copy also below). This includes an annotated copy of Mike Roach’s photograph of the western end of Turnchapel Station –– many thanks to Mike and the Cornwall Railway Society for the kind permission to use the photograph. Mike’s photo is one of the best available resources for track detail at that end of the station, including the single catch and sand drag in the passing loop and platform lines. Two other highly recommended reference photographs that add track detail for the Quarry/Air Ministry sidings turnout and spur were taken by Maurice Dart, also in Sep-1961, and are published in Branch Lines Around Plymouth by Victor Mitchell and Keith Smith (photographs 96 and 98). Several additional Sep-1961 photos from Mike, available on the Cornwall Railway Society website, provide excellent track detail at the bridge end of Turnchapel Station. These can be found distributed between the Devon Galleries / Turnchapel and Yealmpton section of the CRS website and the Railtours section of the website. Mike’s photos provide a near complete record of the pointwork and timbering at the bridge end of the Station, the only gap being the timbering detail between the end of the bridge itself and the switch a few paces towards the Station. I don't think I’ve seen any photographs that quite cover this region. I know next to nothing about track alas –– so will have to leave any commentary on track detail to others! Coming back to Mike’s photograph of Figure 62b, an important feature is the large rock that was located at the west end of Turnchapel Station adjacent to the signal post. I’ll add a few additional photographs of this rock for reference purposes in a follow up post before moving on to some details of the oil tanks that stood adjacent to the Station until Nov-1940.

We have now arrived outside the southwest corner of the former naval fuel oil compound, photograph view point M on Figure 52, at the position occupied by the pre-WW1 pump house. The pump house (cf. Figure 49 inset in post #56), its surrounding fence and the pipelines communicating with the depot via the connecting culvert through the bund would all have been significant trackside features at this site in the period from 1908 to Mar-1941. The picture in Figure 67a was taken in July 2012 with the oil depot behind us and looking westwards. The line to Turnchapel Wharf ran to the left of the fence seen here and onwards at the foot of the quarry face. A gate can be seen installed across the path of the rail line, marking off a section that eventually passed into private ownership. The WW2 pump house (discussed in post #71) is hidden behind the overgrown patch marked and the concrete in the foreground is the site where the pre-WW1 pump house linked to the bunded oil fuel depot once stood. Figure 67b shows the view from roughly the same position as Figure 67a but now looking in the opposite direction, eastwards towards the oil fuel depot itself, which is marked by the decaying mesh fence around the bund top. Notable features here are the large rock that stood immediately beside the rail track on the southwest corner of the compound and the concrete pipeline culvert through which the oil pipelines passed from the depot to the pump house. Figure 67c shows a couple of lower resolution pictures from a similar position to Figure 67b, but taken in Mar-2012 (with less growth obscuring the pipeline culvert). Additional reference photographs of the culvert at higher resolution but with more growth are given in Figures 67d – 67g. Some approximate dimensions have been added on the images. The position of the pipeline culvert and its extension from the bund are very well plotted in the surveyors’ survey sheets submitted with the 11/01250/FUL planning documents. Figure_67c Turnchapel Station Admiralty OFD tour.tiff

Figure 66 (Photograph view point L on Figure 52): A similar shot to the last, but looking slightly to the right. The Turnchapel Station platform was located on the other side of the southern concrete slope to the right of the picture. Notice the large breach in the concrete slope (wall of lower height) behind the brown camper van. This corresponds to Note [V] on Figure 23b and is where the compound bank was cut through as an access point after the Station was cleared. Whilst the short breach in the northwest corner of the compound appeared in 1964 OS surveys, this larger breach together with the installation of the large single gas oil storage tank appears to have occurred a little later –– these changes are recorded in 1967 OS surveys. A second set of steps is also recorded on the inside western slope of the compound in the 1967 OS survey, sited between the positions of the destroyed Admiralty Tanks ‘A’ and ‘C’. If we’d stood in the position from which the Figure 66 photograph was taken on the night of 27-Nov-1940, we’d have been looking straight into the towering wall of Tank ‘C’; clusters of men would have been gathered around the top of that right hand bank (cf Figure 50) in the days that followed in a desperate attempt to cool the tanks and prevent the fire, which started on the far side of the compound, from spreading.

Figure 65 (Photograph view point K on Figure 52): Still at the top of the western bank but looking straight across at the eastern slope. The roofs just showing above it are in the housing development at the former Bayly’s site on the far side of The Cut into Hooe Lake. A large raised circular concrete plinth just discernable in the floor of the compound (with some of the caravans are standing on it) was a post-war addition and the foundation for a single large tank that occupied the during commercial petrochemical storage use from the mid 1960s.

Figure 64 (Photograph view point J on Figure 52): We’re now standing at the top of the western bank, looking into the old Admiralty compound. In these latter years of its existence the compound was used as a boat and caravan park. The 1950s mesh fence in the foreground is what we could see at distance round the top of the compound in the NRM Sellick photograph of Figure 23, now clearly on its last legs. Notice 2 pairs of holes at the top of the northern concrete slope to the right of the steps within the compound itself. These mark the positions of the two windlass platforms, one of which was shown in Figure 57a/b. The windlass cables presumably ran through the holes to the top of the tanks.

Figure 63 (Photograph view point I on Figure 52): Also taken from the top of the bridge and looking in the same general direction as the last two shots, but this time in the summer of 2012 with a bit more colour. Here we’re looking up from the tramway bed to focus on the cliff face above where the railway line ran to provide some detail for anyone wanting to take on the challenge of a bit of scenic cliff building. The tramway cleft has since been filled and the whole area in the foreground of this photograph levelled to take the housing development that now stands at this site. The bridge viewed in Figure 60 has therefore been blocked up and effectively serves as a retaining wall for the raised ground and housing development behind.

Figure 62a (Photograph view point I on Figure 52): Again standing on top of the bridge but with a bit more zoom to focus on ‘second’ pump house. Both Figures 61 and 62a were taken on a rather cold and bleached December day in 2012. As the pump house (probably constructed in WW2) was a prominent trackside feature on the line through to Turnchapel Wharf, it’s perhaps worth adding some extra detail about it here. The building survived until relatively recently, within a private garden, but was eventually demolished as part of the new housing development at Barton Road. Google Earth imagery shows that it was cleared by 8-Aug-2015. It was of red brick with a concrete slab roof covered with a membrane (see thumbnails in Figure 62a) and, as such, of general visual appearance similar to the Air Ministry sidings pump house surveyed above and featured in post #49. The 11/01250/FUL housing development survey sheets mark the building out at close to 20-ft x 30-ft, a good correspondence with measurements across the roof based on Google Earth satellite imagery. Whereas the Air Ministry sidings pump house appears to have been constructed with English Bond brickwork, close analysis of the Figure 62a pump house suggests a Flemish Bond wall construction. Across the shorter dimension it is just possible to track a single course comprising 18 stretcher and 17 header orientated bricks. With standard brick dimensions (stretcher/8.25-in, header/4.00-in) and average seams of 0.33-in, that gives a width of exactly 19-ft to the building; the slab roof overhang may have been about 6-in all round. A light blue painted double door was situated in the west hand end facing the Boringdon Road tunnel, as shown in the Figure 62a thumbnail images, set about 4-ft 3-in from the left hand side and with an estimated width of around 5-ft 4-in. An accurate estimate of the longer wall dimension is not possible from the limited available photographic records, but the overall building dimensions of 20-ft x 30-ft inferred from the 11/01250/FUL development survey are a reasonable guide. A useful photograph that captures the pump house featured in Figure 62a was taken by M. Dart and appears in Branch Lines Around Plymouth by Victor Mitchell and Keith Smith (photograph 98, no date specified but probably 30-Sep-1961). This was taken from a position a few paces along the spur to the Air Ministry sidings and looking down the track towards the Boringdon Road tunnel to Turnchapel Wharf (providing a rare view of the tunnel entrance at distance in the background). The Dart photo gives a good view of the pump house side. It shows that a wire mesh fence surrounded the building, with five fence panels (probably of around 10-ft width each) making up the longer side running parallel with the rail line. Point rodding ran between the fence and the rail line to toe of the sidings turnout, with the fence extending a little beyond this in the Turnchapel Wharf direction. The fence in the Dart photo looks to have been very similar in structure to that added around the top of the Admiralty bunded compound immediately adjacent to Turnchapel Station in the 1950s (complete with outward facing brackets topped with barbed wire). Photographic detail of the fence at the top of the Admiralty depot follows in later discussion posts. A set of pipeline valves was located between the fence and the southern wall of the pump house (i.e. directly adjacent to the railway line). There was a narrow unroofed brick wall enclosure attached to the building on the opposite to the railway line. This can just be made out in Figure 62a, the height of this wall slightly lower than that of the building itself. The pump house, fenced compound and valves would all have been characteristic lineside features of the line adjacent to the turnout to the Air Ministry sidings. A view of the pump house from its eastern end can be seen in Mike Roach’s photograph of Sep-1961 posted on the Cornwall Railway Society’s website (link below). An annotated version of Mike’s image is shown in Figure 62b (used by kind permission). http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/uploads/7/6/8/3/7683812/687545_orig.jpg Taken from a position on the passing loop near the western end of Turnchapel Station, this is also a great photograph for trackwork detail. On the left of the picture (a) can be seen the end of the precast concrete wall around the Air Ministry sidings (cf NRM Sellick photo in Figure 23) together with a metal gate (b) that closed across the track at the compound’s entrance. The style of gate (b) was very similar to the modern variant shown at the foot of Figure 62b. A second wooden bar gate at (c) marked the boundary with the track under British Transport Commission jurisdiction. The spur turnout toe (d) appears to have been positioned near to the western end of the pump house building; the guard rail running towards the station commenced just on the station side of the fenced compound around it. A single catch (e) and double catch with sand drag (f) were located in the passing loop and platform line respectively. Due to the incline down to Turnchapel Wharf, no wagons were permitted to stand on the far side of the catch points. Although the Air Ministry sidings were not constructed until 1939, earlier OS maps show that the spur into the quarry from point (d) had been already been added by 1933, perhaps superceding the old 30-in gauge quarry tramway that had crossed the line close to this point (cf maps in Figures 49 and 50 based on the 1911 ADM 140/1484 plan). In Branch Lines Around Plymouth Victor Mitchell and Keith Smith indicate that this spur was used from 1927 by Moore’s, who worked the quarry. The Air Ministry sidings may well have been installed by modification of this pre-existing spur therefore. SR working regulations dated 26-Mar-1934 (copy in Anthony Kingdom’s Turnchapel Branch) stated that catch points were situated in the spur at 42 yards from the point of connection with the line to Turnchapel Wharf. The rail company’s engines were not to proceed beyond the position of the catch points. BR western region working regulations for post-war use of the Air Ministry sidings (dated 1960; copy in Anthony Kingdom’s Turnchapel Branch) stated the following about operational procedures for the sidings: “These sidings which are under the supervision of the Yard Master at Plymouth Friary, are situated on the down side, and are connected with the single line leading to the Admiralty Wharves. The siding connection is worked from the Signal Box. “The gradient of the platform line, loop and single line is 1 in 80 falling from the signal box to the Admiralty Wharves and attention is directed to the requirements of Rule 151. Wagons left standing on the loop or platform line must be placed on the signal box side of the catch points in those lines. Wagons must not be allowed to stand on the single line between the catch points and the Admiralty Wharves. “Catch points are provided in the siding connection at the clearance point with the single line. “A gate [Figure 62b (c)], the key of which is kept in the Signal Box, is provided at the Commission's boundary. “A gate [Figure 62b (b)], the key of which is kept by the Oil Depot representative, is also provided at the entrance to the sidings and before vehicles are worked to or from the sidings, the Shunter or person in charge must arrange for the gate to be opened by the Oil Depot representative. After completion of the work the Shunter or person in charge must advise the Oil Depot representative that the gate can be closed and locked. “The sidings are worked by shunting engine. “The Commission's engine must not proceed into the sidings beyond the engine restriction board situated at a point 15 yards inside the gate at the entrance to the sidings.” The position of the gate [Figure 62b (b)] that led into the Air Ministry sidings was conserved in the land boundaries through the post-war evolution of ownership on the site, and was visible (as shown in the Bing maps aerial shot of Figure 62c) until the eventual clearance of the site for the recent housing development from 2013. For that reason, the site of the gates is accurately charted in the site surveys submitted with the 11/01250/FUL planning application referred to in previous posts. Figure_62c Turnchapel Station site aerial.tiff

Figure 61 (Photograph view point I on Figure 52): We’re now standing on top of the bridge shown in the last figure and looking along the old tramway bed towards the quarry cliff face. The bunded naval oil storage compound itself is out of sight to the left. The railway line from Turnchapel Station to Turnchapel Wharf would have run approximately at right angles from left to right at the end of the former quarry tramway bed, just at the foot of the cliff. Just visible at the end of the tramway bed is an overgrown building. This was the ‘second’ pump house marked, on Figure 49 and Figure 52, that was connected to Tanks ‘1’-‘3’ of Figure 1 and likely to be a WW2 addition. The fencing and British Gas notices in the Figure 61 photograph show that this section was enclosed as part of the post-war commercial occupation of the former naval compound, which was acquired from the MoD by South West Gas together with the Turnchapel Station site and land occupied by the Air Ministry sidings after closure of the Turnchapel Branch in the 1960s [Crispin Gill, Plymouth River, 1997, Devon Books; ISBN 0861149114]. Between 1967 and 1985 the site was used to store light distillate oil for production of domestic gas. The oil was delivered in 10,000 ton tankers across the water at Cattedown Wharfs (where deeper water mooring was possible). It was then pumped through a pipeline laid under the bed of the Cattewater into a single very large tank that was constructed within the former naval oil compound on the site previously occupied by the six Admiralty tanks. From there the oil was piped for conversion into gas at a plant in the Breakwater Quarry (a little further up the Plym River, nearer to Laira Bridge). Additionally, the three underground oil tanks located within Hooe Lake Quarry (Figure 1, Tanks ‘1’-‘3’), which were connected to the pump house building in this photograph, were leased by the Admiralty to Continental Oil after the mid 1960s. Planning correspondence dated 22-Feb-1965 (PWDRO record PCC/60/1/19151) states that Continental Oil were preparing to lease the tanks for storage of petrol (2×1,000,000 gallons) and DERV (1×1,000,000 gallons). These fuels were to be delivered in 2,000 ton tankers discharging at the Admiralty Turnchapel Wharfs and pumped via the ‘existing pipe lines’, presumably corresponding to the green dashed line marked in Figure 49 beside the former railway line. Continental Oil (UK) Ltd were to “use and pay for Admiralty labour on a casual basis when ships are discharging into the depot”.

Figure 60 (Photograph view point H on Figure 52): This was taken from the former trackbed of the 30-in gauge quarry tramway as it emerged from the quarry beneath the bridge shown in the picture. Undercliff Road runs over the top of the bridge. Figure_60 Turnchapel Station Admiralty OFD tour.tiff

Figure 59 (Photograph view point G on Figure 52): We have now arrived at the site of the steps that were the original access point to the Admiralty depot marked in the northwest corner of the 1911 Admiralty plan. At this point, right beside the steps, the bund has been cut through to provide a vehicle access point to the compound. This breach was made during post-military, commercial use of the site as for petrochemical storage from the mid-1960s and appears on OS 1:1250 scale maps incorporating 1964 survey data. The breach was subsequently stopped up, hence the block wall visible behind the mesh gates. The steps up the bank itself may well have been the original steps, dating to construction of the bund in the early 1900s. Overlay of the 2011 and 1911 site plans (11/01250/FUL and ADM 140/1484) shows a perfect correspondence in the position of the steps. The only difference is that there was a short flight at the bottom in the original construction that bent 90° to the right (as viewed in Figure 59) and these few steps have been remodeled to the left in the post-war modification to provide the clearance behind the mesh gate. The hand rails up the steps and in places around the top of the bund were also replacements for the originals. The remodeled steps at the foot (here hidden by undergrowth behind the yellow text) have been closed off by mesh fence added at a later point again (perhaps after use of the site for commercial petrochemical storage ceased). (Son No 1 clearly at the end of his tether by now and close to mutiny.)

Figure 58a (Photograph view point F1 on Figure 52): Taken further along Undercliff Road again. The road rises quite sharply from position-E- to position-F so that just out of sight around the corner in this picture it comes level with the retaining wall top and the wall ceases there. (Son No 1 is clearly not enjoying the experience.) Figure 58b (Photograph view point F2 on Figure 52): Taken at essentially the same place as Figure 58a, but just a few paces further along where Undercliff Road has risen to meet the top of the retaining wall.

Figure 57a (Photograph view point E1 on Figure 52): Taken further along Undercliff Road. Looking upwards, one of the concrete platforms can be seen on which a pair of tank windlasses would have been mounted. This one may have served Tank ‘F’, the cables running between Tanks ‘B’ and ‘E’. Just visible to the right of the platform is the remains of a gate. With reference to Figure 52, this is located at the head of the steps that led down from the bund top into the compound. (The photo also features son No 1, who has not succumbed to the lure of the rivet and does not share his dad’s enthusiasm for history –– hence the expression of boredom!) Figure 57b (Photograph view point E2 on Figure 52): Taken at essentially the same place as Figure 57a, but just a few paces further along Undercliff Road to provide a reverse angle view.

Figure 56 (Photograph-D on Figure 52): Shows another view of the retaining wall as it curves around into Undercliff Road at the junction with Barton Road. The drop between the retaining wall top and road surface reaches its maximum near here.

Figure 55 (Photograph view point C on Figure 52): Shows a view of the retaining wall as it curves around from Barton Road into Undercliff Road. The original imposing 7-ft iron fence topped the wall all the way around this curve.

Figure 54 (Photograph view point B on Figure 52): Shows a view of the straight section of the retaining wall along Barton Road. The green mesh fence may have been added during the commercial petrochemical use of the depot from the mid-1960s onwards (possibly added nearer to the 1980s). The original 7-ft iron spear fence that was present from 1911 until WW2 ran along the top of the retaining wall shown here. Looking up at the top of the bank, another wire mesh fence can be seen with brackets angled outwards that carried barbed wire. This was added around the top of the concrete bund itself and is to be seen in the Figure 23 NRM Sellick photograph that predated the 1957/58 installation of the bridge trestles. However, the mesh fence at the top of the bund is not present in a 1950 photograph of Turnchapel Station (J. J. Smith, no month given), where only the bund handrail is to be seen along the top of the Station bank [Branch Lines Around Plymouth by Victor Mitchell and Keith Smith (photograph 95)]. Thus, at the time of the Smith photograph in 1950, the original 7-ft spear fence had gone but the mesh fence at the top of the bund had not yet been installed. The original spear fence may conceivably have been salvaged during WW2 itself as part of the war effort following destruction of the naval oil storage tanks in the 27-Nov-1940 bombing. We know from a newspaper account [Western Morning News; Saturday, June 3, 1950 (quoted in post #47 above)] that the post-war clear up of the oil storage compound was underway in June 1950. Thus, perhaps the mesh fence at the top of the bund was added at the end of that clean up process. Small details perhaps, but possibly of interest to anyone looking for historical modelling accuracy.