R A Watson

If the blue grey Mk1 coach refered to is the one on the dock in photo No 9 I believe you wil find it is one of the Excursion stock either 1285 or 1295, Dia C74, suffering from 1970's film colour instability. Only one of these exists now after vandals set fire to them several years ago. For those who are not familiar with the original Buckfastleigh the photographer is standing in the current cafeteria area, when I was regularly working up there this area was home to the Royal Navy's strategic coal stock from Devonport Dockyard after the Dart Valey bought it. Wally

In the late 80's and early 90's I regularly delivered car parts to "Batteries and Brakes" a motor factor as well as St Andrews Rd Garage, so those pictures brought back many memories. B & B were originally in what appeared to be a former wooden chapel building, accesed by a pedestrian bridge over the stream, to the right hand side of the yard entrance, almost opposite the pub, and was worthy of a model in it's own right. When they vacated there they moved into the old workshop building, I only went in there a few times but remember vividly the rails set in the floor. Wally

The unknown post or sign is a milepost wth the numbers dropped off, they were only screwed on with small screws. Wally

The attached photos were taken 1969/70 when the Dart Valley had possesion, but before they did any work at Staverton, therefore showing the layout in the final B R days. They illustrate the start of the movement of our L M S Stove R (known to us as the "Stover" after the nearby former P O W camp situated on the road to Newton Abbott) from Buckfastleigh to Bridgnorth. Unfortunately not all of the equipment had been removed before the van was moved down the branch, hence the evening "jolly" with the ex Western National (Bristol K5G, LTA813, fleet No 994) bus to collect said goods. You will notice that the siding extends all the way to the Cider store and holds several interesting vehicles. The photo was taken from the Staverton Joiners access road on which the bus is standing. Photos by the late R C (Sam) Samborne. H T H Wally

Does it suck or blow? looks to me it will push the exhaust from the generator into the tunnel rather defeating the purpose of the machine. Wally

The translucence panels on the various roofs were just fibre glass panels made without any colouring pigment being put in the resin. Normally only light weight glass mat was used to giver more translucency. It was not recommended to climb onto the roof during maintainance for obvious reasons! Wally