Captain Kernow

OK, so then it was back to Dawlish, and here are some views of a nice, tidy railway along Marine Parade. The darker, shiny areas of ballast are where it's been glued, either yesterday or today (they were ballast glueing up in Dawlish station when I was there - photos to follow): And on for a quick look at Dawlish station, which is virtually completed now, with its three coats of paint: And here they are, in the actual process of spraying the glue onto the ballast. It is a type of liquid resin, that dries between 6 to 12 hours or thereabouts, depending on atmospheric conditions (my thanks to fellow RMWebber Trackrat for that, with whom I had a nice chat at the station this afternoon!): And onwards towards 'the hole', which is what most people still call the main wash-out site, which I suppose really should now be called 'the big buried lump of concrete with track on top of it'... More repairs to the wall on the way: At the main site, the local NR track renewals gang was on hand, doing some ballast brushing and tiding up, with a tamper working gradually towards the site on the down line from the Rockstone direction. More ballast was waiting in autohoppers at Dawlish Warren for the Up line: Rail detail (cut end was from one of the temporary rails, now replaced with proper CWR), and a set of clamps: More photos in next post.

Some more views of the general scene at the main slip site: And now, the buzzy flying video thingey up at the top of the cliffs: Orange-suited gentlemen on ropes checking the slope out: Anyway, back to the wall - more completed parapet wall: The view from Sprey Point: More photos in next post.

OK, with all these webcams now showing such good footage, I'm starting to feel a little superfluous! Anyway, I made another series of site visits today, starting with a walk out from Teignmouth to the landslip site between Sprey Point and Smugglers Cove: Hoping to cadge a lift off this fellow, but he had to go back to Teignmouth for fuel... Onwards to the main slip site: As I approached the main site, the sea again started to turn red: Just short of the main slip site, work was continuing with repairs to the parapet wall: The lads here have shifted a monumental amount of spoil since last week, documented very well by the video that has been posted elsewhere on this thread. By the time I got there today, sufficient had been brought down that the hoses had been stood down. They seemed confident that the next milestone - namely the relaying of the slurry-contaminated track - would start on time this Friday afternoon. The digger driver in the plant on the mound in some of these next photos apparently has a lot of experience working in quarries, and was described as being very efficient! This special crawler, actually known as a 'spider' and tethered up at the top, gave the appearance from down below of 'tettering on the brink', whereas in fact, it was all perfectly safe! The pile of red earth is still there, but the tides are definitely shifting it pretty well... More earthmoving: More photos in next post.

Patience! Very soon!

Baaaaa!!

Thank you for that, most touching! As it happens, my I request a slight amendment to the award - namely a 50 year free subscription to all burger vans throughout the country for all of the Orange Army, plus free (or reduced rate) holding pens for our sheep, when we wish to use the burger vans (this may entail the construction or re-building of certain sheep facilities in a number of Devon villages), plus free and early access to the Warley and Ally Pally shows in perpetuity! Oh, and free parking for all Big Red/Yellow Spidery/Tracky Things on every weekend in March for the next 100 years. That should do it! OK, so if we reserve you a minute pasty at Taunton next April, that'll be OK, will it?! I mean - they call 1 inch long Mars Bars as 'Fun Size'.... to me a fun size Mars Bar will be at leat 2 feet in length!

Oi - show some respect! Or I'll be gluing your Taunton pasty to the counter!!

I believe it's closely related to good old epoxy...

I believe these are some of the track panels now being laid in: As regards the 'High Street' environment, I understand both sides of the argument, but for the moment, I think you have to consider that this is far from being a conventional railway possession, both in terms of configuration and in terms of the circumstances behind it. Additional safeguards and procedures were put in place last week when the first 'proper' rail movements commenced (tamper and ballast train).

Wonderful photos, Dave, thanks very much for posting these. How refreshing to see some new, previously-unseen images of the S&D!

Well, 'it can now be revealed'...! - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/83750-rmweb-members-day-at-taunton-2014-full-line-up-announced/ I'm really looking forward to seeing it, small is indeed beautiful!

Hope you enjoy it, Andrew. I do miss not going to Ally Pally!

Gorgeous scene, Al!

That's a beautiful rendition of the Clarke building, Al, it really 'hits the spot'. It's also great to see models from 'one's youth' still seeing service. I scratchbuilt a model of Dunster station building in 1975, and although I still have it, it's never seen use on any layout!

That's right, although I heard from another (non-railway) local source of a reference on a local Facebook page to it going back at the higher level, which is completely against everything that I have heard via official channels. It was originally one James Powell, owner of the former Sea Lawn House (on the site of Sea Lawn Terrace) that got the South Devon Railway to construct the walkway at the lower level from the outset.

You can if you want to, all you lot have to do is say the word!!

Is that a menu request for Taunton on 27th April, then?!

Don't forget that the masonry facing of the outer wall has still to be rebuilt, so the tops of the 'L' sections are not going to have to face the sea on their own in future.

I can confirm that they will be cut up on site and the material in them disposed of.

You did indeed, Rick, and I promised to do something about it...! Accordingly I carefully packed the miniature flag of Swagonia in an envelope in my rucksack, but keep forgetting to take it with me each time I go out on the wall - perhaps next time?!

Thank you, but I am going to officially decline any promotion for now...! Not sure what the infill is behind the tall concrete 'L' sections, but it will be sufficient to support the road, which is being reinstated. We are in regular dialogue with the local residents there, so I'm not really able to elaborate on that. Glad to see the ballast going in; can't be there every day, got other stuff to think about too (am being asked about contingency plans for the next Swindon to Kemble blockade, for example, which need dealing with...) Tired now, had a great day out with Re6/6 today, train trip up to Salisbury to meet a mutual friend, need to recharge batteries, having just sadly dealt with a days worth of work e-mails... , so nite nite!

It'll certainly need heavy duty cleaning, it may have to reopen with a speed restriction and get sorted asap thereafter.