Captain Kernow

A couple of photos circulating of Dawlish earlier today... First two containers in position: Initial shotcreting:

Yes, I think I recognise one or two of those photos...

I think the whole point about reversals is that this is not a desirable state of affairs for a regular, WTT service, when the railway is in a 'steady state'. That argument, therefore, assumes that the Okehampton route would be the main route from Exeter to Plymouth (and Cornwall). If, however, the Okehampton line was reopened mainly as a local route only, but acting as a diversionary route when Dawlish is blocked, then I don't think anyone would disagree that reversals would be an accepted fact of life 'for the duration'. But, I just can't see Government (national or local) putting the money into the Okehampton route, unless the Okehampton route became the 'main line' - and this would imply that all options at Dawlish were considered non-viable.

The current situation is that you can get as far as Bridgwater (from Bristol direction) by train. The line to Castle Cary is still open from Westbury, as is the line down via Yeovil Pen Mill to Weymouth. The Southern main line is blocked at Crewkerne, so (assumption here - it's not on my 'patch') trains will terminate at Yeovil Jct. Newton Abbot to Penzance is open, and hopefully we'll get trains back to Teignmouth soon. From Monday, the railway between Taunton and Exeter should return to operational status. We're running a route-proving light loco tomorrow from Taunton to Exeter and back, hopefully a couple of times. As Mr Stationmaster said, the flooding on the Somerset Levels is very, very bad, worse than usual by a considerable margin. I've never known the line between Cogload and Bridgwater to flood like that, ever.

Yes, good link that, Lifeboatman, I spotted it yesterday, but lamentably failed to post it on here!! I think that there is a higher chance now than ever before, that serious political will could get behind a long-term solution to the vulnerabilities of the Sea Wall at Dawlish, with commensurate finance to back it up, but it will be very interesting to see what form that eventually takes, once all the studies and debates are concluded. I certainly favour retention of the Sea Wall route as the main route to Plymouth & Cornwall, with a robust and scientifically-designed modern wall to protect the railway and the town of Dawlish as it's central feature. My gut feel is that the inland diversion (ie. the GW 1930s plan or similar via the Haldon Hills) may just be a 'bridge too far' for the government, but that's only my personal view, not anything based on what I might have heard professionally. However, a new line, if political and financial support is forthcoming, would undoubtedly be ideal, as it could be routed so as to continue to serve Dawlish and Teignmouth, albeit with the stations located further from the town centres etc. Money would still need to be spent on a viable sea defence for the town of Dawlish, however. Re-opening the 'Southern' route throughout purely as a local line only, and acting as a diversionary route only on a small number of days per year, still strikes me as a bit of an indulgence. As Mike Stationmaster and others have pointed out, the amount of money required to make the structures alone capable of carrying modern trains at sensible speeds is enormous, to say nothing of the smaller structural work, new track and signalling etc. Any local service would probably require a permanent subsidy too (as someone else has also pointed out). The infrastructure work required to enable the Okehampton route to be used on the small number of diversionary days would mean (in my mind) that you might as well make this the main route to Plymouth and Cornwall - and that defeats the object of continuing to serve South Devon (where most of the people are) with a good main line service. If the governmental studies announced this week prove that a new, robust sea wall can protect the railway (and Dawlish) sufficiently, and not compromise the tourist trade, protect the beach etc., then I think it's a no-brainer. If we take it as a given (for the moment) that Tavistock will get it's rail link back to Plymouth anyway, and that Okehampton may get a better service, in time, to Exeter anyway (both subsidised, probably), then I'm just not sure that spending the money on the 'missing link' would be the best option.

As far as I know, having looked at log reports this morning, the endangered house at Riviera Terrace is still there. The team continued working last night until conditions deteriorated, and the machines were temporarily withdrawn until the high tide had subsided. There is now a cunning plan for a 'temporary breakwater' to be placed immediately adjacent to the base of the main wall/it's foundations. This will consist of metal shipping containers filled with sand, boulders and other debris. They will NOT form a permanent feature of the area (!!), but will be there to protect the workforce as it progresses the repair works. The first containers may indeed get hoisted into position today or over the weekend. The project team running the repairs is certainly getting into its stride and is being managed by the top earthworks and structural engineers that we have on the Western.

I'm really too knackered to respond to this now, but your statements don't really add up on a number of levels, sorry. We don't do 'back of a fag packet' in NR. Projects like this have to be properly planned, funded, subject to appropriate corporate governance and other legal requirements. To suggest that we could design, plan, consult and build the new sea wall, all 3+ miles of it during the next 9 months simply beggars belief. As for forward planning - this is something that I have been much involved in with this wall over the years. What (exactly) would you have us do differently? (There, I've gone and responded after all...!)

Thanks Vincent - the actual solution was pretty straightforward in the end, as it turned out, but I can mention the above (much will depend on what is - or isn't - type-approved for use on NR).

This photo has been circulated, taken by someone in the works team at Dawlish, showing the earthworks done to shore up the vulnerable properties above, and the temporary placement of old track panels, to help guard against rough seas tonight:

In fact, trains were being cautioned on Monday morning under our standing instructions for bad weather, when the supervisor in charge decided that conditions were so bad, and that there was already so much debris on the track, that all services should be suspended. We had started to look at repairs with a view to reopening a couple of days later, depending on the weather, but then the storm of Tuesday night caused the actual wash-out. The unit that was trapped in Teignmouth was working a shuttle from Newton Abbot that night, when the breach at Sea Lawn Terrace caused the signalling to be lost (cables severed), so there was no signalled route for it back to Newton Abbot at the time.

Some of my photos on the Whiteball blockade thread, in the 'Railways of Devon' sub-forum show this.

Not been to site today - wall-to-wall phone conferences, with the problems on the Somerset Levels between Cogload Jct and Bridgwater taking on quite a significance. The signalling up there is not currently functional, due to location cabinets getting flooded, but we are working trains by temporary block working over both lines currently. However, I've never, ever known the water on that part of the Levels to get so high as to threaten the Bristol - Taunton main line, in over 30 years of my railway career. The lads at Dawlish are getting on with it, though, and are getting ready to spray concrete on the foundations of the threatened house and elsewhere. I saw a photo on the BBC website, which shows the track cut up into sections and laid at the base of the break in the wall, to help break the waves up a bit. Everyone is on alert for the weather coming in tonight - high tide there is circa 2330 hrs, with the wind in the south initially, veering south west. Another focus at the moment is getting the Whiteball blockade ready for handing back on Monday morning, we are hoping to route-prove with a light loco through the possession on Sunday.

A two-car FGW unit was trapped in the Up platform at Teignmouth for a day or so. We worked that back to Newton Abbot under supervision yesterday, for use on the Pilotman shuttle to Paignton (before the signalling controls were re-routed).

The signalling was re-routed yesterday, tested and proved, and trains have started running between Plymouth and Newton Abbot as of this morning. We ran a shuttle from Paignton to Newton Abbot with pilotworking initially, but since the signalling there has been restored, that is obviously being signalled normally as well. The engineers are also looking at extending the operational signalled area back to Teignmouth, when technically feasible.

Not heard the argument about the weight of the houses, but I very much doubt that this would have affected the outer wall. The existence of the lower walkway, though, at the point of failure would appear to be significant. For me, the authoritative work is 'Exeter to Newton Abbot - a Railway History', by Peter Kay, published by 'Platform 5' in 1993, and page 100 of this book tells us that the lower walkway was installed at the request of Mr James Powell of Sea Lawn House, so that passers by would not be able to look into his house. The house was later demolished and Sea Lawn terrace built in its place. So it's an old, historical reason and nothing to do with the wishes of the owners of the new houses. Further to another post, I'm not aware of any significant damage to other portions of the wall, ie. between the tunnels and west of Parsons Tunnel, along to Teignmouth.

Images from this afternoon... The R/R machine with the cutting attachment waiting for the order to cut, unfortunately it developed a fault and was fixed while I was off skulking on the station, doing a phone conference... Off up to Rockstone it went, waiting for it's fitter to arrive: The guys with the oxy gear had to wait: The car park at Dawlish has now been given over 100% as a works compound, for the duration: Another R/R machine waiting it's turn: Back at the main site, the rails on the Exeter side had now been cut: Now the oxy team could get to work on the teignmouth side: The moment of severance! Retrieving belongings for the family in the endangered house:

OK, some photos from yesterday and today. No captions, the images really speak for themselves, and most will have seen media reports etc. as well. Yesterday: And finally, yes, this was also taken at Dawlish, yesterday...!

Got back home a while ago, having spent the afternoon at Dawlish again. I didn't see them cutting the rail at the Exeter-end (it was literally a huge Xuron cutter mounted on a R/R machine!), as I'd bug*ered off for a telephone conference and a free cup of tea! However, by the time I walked back from Dawlish station (my lift returned to site on earlier, urgent business), they were just starting to oxy the rails at the Teignmouth-end and yes, they really did make a loud bang when they broke! There was some concern about oxying them at both ends, hence the use of the R/R machine with a cab with reinforced glass... The track will now get removed in short order and the civil engineering can begin in earnest. The lady from the endangered house turned up when I got back to site and some of our guys went down into the pit and retrieved some of the family's belongings, including the kids bikes. Then I and a couple of colleagues (including one very senior person), accompanied her into the house itself (via the back) and helped her get other stuff, clothes etc. She was very philosophical, and it really brought it home to me just how these events affect real people like you and me, as well as bits of our favourite railway infrastructure. There's currently no guarantee that the parts of the house that we were walking through will still be there on Saturday morning...

Those groupings look rather familiar, Mr H - surely we weren't within spitting distance of each other yesterday and didn't realise it?!

No, there is at least one more that I know of.

I have interpreted quite a lot of posts in this thread so far, as actively speaking up for the reopening of the Southern route... However, I know for a fact that Meldon Viaduct isn't the only potentially expensive bit of civil engineering involved (quite apart from the circa 19 miles between Meldon and Tavistock). Don't forget that the GW route is 90 mph as far as circa Dawlish Warren, and only gets really slow (55 - 60) west of Newton Abbot. I'm not convinced that the Okehampton line is much different, although an extract from a Sectional Appendix pre-1968 would be very interesting to see. Based on what I know - again - it could well be possible to provide robust protection without significantly altering the character of the Sea Front in those locations. Nothing could happen, in any case, without extensive consultation etc.

It wouldn't have to be much further out than the current wall. The key advantage would be that it would be built from modern, reinforced materials, and designed with the past 170 years of history and experience in mind. I know for a fact that there are technical options being seriously considered by qualified engineers (and I'm merely an Operator, not an Engineer!). The point about the beach levels is important, and would be carefully considered during any public consultation.

Great idea, leave it to me!

Er, no, that's not me, I don't inhabit that one...!