Captain Kernow

I've given my Sentinel - with the pre-production Ultrascale P4 wheelsets in - some 'running in', but hard-wiring the power direct to the pick-ups and running it for half an hour or so in each direction, with the loco upside down. I've now had a bit of a play with it on 'Callow Lane', and it's even more sweet-running than it was before. I'm going to recommend to Ultrascale that their P4 wheelsets, certainly, are 'fit for purpose'. All in all, it's just a lovely little loco and extremely good value as well.

My fault, Kris - I forgot to zip it up! (but I did tie it and used the clippy thing...!!)

I think all of Sea Lawn Terrace and a small part of Riviera Terrace can at the moment. I believe that almost 2000t is needed to infill the hole. Concrete will feature strongly in the new construction, using the existing foundations, which were not damaged. The section of track that has been sprayed will indeed be entombed, giving Tony Robinson's descendants something to mull over in a few hundred years time, no doubt!

Could be a bit of both, but given the focus on making those containers really secure, I'd say more of the latter.

It's not a huge section of damage fortunately, it's about one third of the way towards the Warren, from Rockstone footbridge. We're taking steps to ensure that it doesn't get any bigger tomorrow night, either... There was no track undermining at that point, the inner wall (which is normally buried but the top 4' or so now exposed) hasn't yet been breached.

There are more welds, Vincent, and the containers are being roped into place with steel cable as well. No, 'Geronimo's' is open for business as usual, I'm happy to say!

Another site visit today... Spells of bright sunshine were occasionally interrupted by squally showers of rain and/or hail. As I drove down the B3192 into Teignmouth, en-route to site, I spotted what appeared to be a container ship out in the bay, which seemed to be a bit 'down in the bows'... When I looked at it again later, from the Sea Wall, I thought that maybe it was just the way it was loaded (still worried it might have my AC Cars railbus and Garratt on board..!). Next stop - Teignmouth station - to use the Gentlemen's Facilities, of course! Quite by chance, this road/rail landrover (working for the local S&T) was just about to leave the Up platform, en-route to one of the worksites: Due to the sheer amount of traffic and deliveries affecting the normal station car park, which is now the Works Compound, the council had agreed to close Marine Parade off to normal traffic, so that we could park there, so that's where I headed. Work was being carried out restoring the ballast and GRP protective panels to the running lines alongside Marine Parade. With so much focus on the main wash-out site, it's important not to forget that there was a huge amount of other, lesser (and not so lesser) damage all the way along the length of the wall, at both the Dawlish and Teignmouth ends, and that this also needs to be fixed, most of it before trains can run again: A walk from Marine Parade to the main Works Compound access took me past this huge mound of sand and other debris under the metal girders of Dawlish Viaduct: Up on the platforms, work was taking place on the damaged Down platform: After a quick meeting, I then walked through the Works Compound to access the track further along, and came across what can only be described as a most pleasant surprise! (it wasn't here the last time I visited!). Others clearly felt the same way as I did! The current view at the London-end of the platforms: Walking on towards the site of the main wash-out: The scaffolding bridge is almost complete, enabling construction staff to quickly and safely get from one side of the void to the other. I believe it will also carry cables: View down onto the top of some of the earlier spraycrete: Walking further on towards Rockstone footbridge: Here's the plaque to Bernard Staite (formerly of SLOA), that we put up for his family a few years ago: There is concern about further damage, that has happened since the most recent storm this week, to the walkway and outer wall, so the plan is to get some reinforcement materials on it before the next storm tomorrow: Interestingly, when it came to walking beyond the main wash-out site, it was suggested that I would need a life jacket, so in response to those reprobates on here who have asked me for a 'selfie' - this is the only one you're likely to get!! And so, the walk back to the burger van: On the way out, I noticed that a replacement 'waiting room' had been provided for rail passengers, waiting for the rail-replacement bus service - rather ingenious, I thought:

I don't know about the rest of you, but it's got to the stage now where some of us are absurdly grateful for a day with only moderate winds and the odd shower of rain!!

Drat! You've uncovered my real interest in the happenings at Dawlish! A reliable source told me that the Heljan AC Cars railbus and the Garratt were arriving by sea..... unfortunately I couldn't get there in time, before the first load of spoil and ballast was dumped inside...!

Well spotted re the quote (with apologies to H.G. Wells - or was it Jeff Wayne - can't remember..!)

No, it was a coastal tramp steamer, the M.V. Ferret....

No, not today, Gary, there were minds immeasurably superior to mine present today...

OK, here are some photos I took on Sunday at Dawlish (I kept away deliberately today...!): I later checked on Cowley Bridge Jct, but there wasn't anything to worry about there: Although there was a lot of water in the River Exe, it wasn't as much as last year... As regards the flooding on the Somerset Levels between Cogload Jct and Bridgwater, I'm going to take the liberty of starting a new thead for that. The photos I took on a walk out there yesterday were rather dramatic... The link for that new thread is here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/82233-flooding-of-the-railway-on-the-somerset-levels/ After leaving Cowley Bridge Jct, I went up to Hele & Bradninch in the Whiteball blockade - photos of that here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81107-major-engineering-works-between-taunton-and-exeter/page-4&do=findComment&comment=1342587 Edit - addition of link to new thread on flooding on Somerset Levels

Do make sure that the bricks you use aren't half-baked, Rod!

I will be looking further into that, but for the moment, we are using Dawlish Warren as an access point for machinery, and there isn't really the room to cross-over a train and get the R/R machines etc. on and off. Any curtailment of the R/R etc. activity there would probably delay the restoration of Dawlish, so a balance has to be struck.

I can tell you now, and will post some photos later, that they were rubbing the handles of the dumpy bags on the edges of the holes in the tops of the containers. When the handles broke, the ballast (and bag) fell into the container. So no, there was definitely no person inside the container!!

You daft bu*gers, you actually made me laugh out loud!!

Thanks Debs - I shall do a bit of 'digging' later on to find out a bit more... The BBC item is worded - A possible alternative railway route to the storm-stricken Dawlish line has been identified by senior rail planners, BBC News can reveal. What with the photo of the overgrown Shillamill Tunnel, it brings to mind intrepid NR jungle explorers in khaki shorts and pith helmets, battling their way through a long-forgotten land and discovering this old route that no one previously knew about!!

The Whitebal blockade was handed back just over 3 hours early this morning, at 0151 hrs, with the Athelney route open. 2M01, the 0600 Exeter to Taunton local service ran through OK and got to Taunton on time - followed by 1A75 0636 Exeter to Paddington HST.

I haven't had time to read from pages 26 - 31 since I came back in this evening, as it's been pretty busy work-wise, but 11 containers are now in place in front of the Dawlish sea wall breach, enabling the teams there to get on with the repairs in earnest. Apparently the local residents in Sea Lawn Terrace had been getting hoards of 'rubber neckers' invading their road, and were getting pretty disgruntled, so with their agreement, we have arranged for private security staff to guard the entrances, footpaths etc. and only let residents and other authorised persons in. The residents are really pleased with this arrangement now! It got so bad at one point that 'scuffles' were reported. Also, our route proving loco successfully ran from Taunton to Exeter Riverside and back, twice, today, to ensure the rail heads were polished (it worked pretty well, in fact). Coupled with the fact that we look set to reopen the Athelney line tomorrow, possibly with temporary block working initially (aka 'ticket working), following a herculean effort by colleagues on Saturday night and today, the situation is looking a tiny bit brighter at the moment. Sorry, no photos tonight, as I can't currently upload them from my work laptop for some (probably) soft-ware related reason, and it's too late to turn my home PC on now, so I'll try to do that tomorrow (and perhaps read the missing pages of discussion!). Nite nite!

I enquired with Ultrascale last week, whether the wheelsets they were showing on their website were now in production, as I wanted to get a set for myself and also for Re6/6. I was pleasantly surprised when David Rogers wrote back, asking if I'd trial one of the 18/83 (F) sets. These arrived during the week and I fitted them tonight - a very quick and straightforward job. Here's the loco running on 'Callow Lane':

I think the pay-back period would be far too long to satisfy even the most liberal of business cases. I know for a fact, from work sources, that a substantial amount would have to be spent on Meldon and Tavy viaducts, to bring them up to modern standards, and to run over them at a decent speed, to say nothing of the other missing structures on the closed section, purchasing the trackbed and old station areas that have been sold off and in the case of Tavistock itself, re-developed. Only if the entire Dawlish - Teignmouth coast, to a width of (say) 100 yards disappeared into the sea, never to return, do I think that the inland route would attract a positive business case...!

But unfortunately the revenues won't stack up to pay for the Southern route, if it's to be a purely local line for 51 weeks of the year and a diversionary route for only 1 week each year. Tavistock will happen, I think, but again, subsidies are involved. Also, it is significant that no serious move has yet been made to reinstate regular weekday services from Exeter to Okehampton.

Exactly. The foundation strengthening has been doing what it was designed to do, for the last 10+ years, and that is protecting the wall. If that work hadn't been done, I suspect that we would have lost a significant portion of the entire wall on both the Dawlish and Teignmouth sections...