Rivercider

Just as Newton Abbot was a railway town so the railway also helped make Torquay and Paignton. When the railway reached Newton Abbot in 1846 Torquay and Paignton were little more than fishing villages. Once locomotive maintenance and servicing facilities were established at a location they tended to stay there, Swindon as another example, roughly half way between London and Bristol was where the locomotives were changed, so a shed was built there, there were only 2.495 people living there in 1841, cheers

I think it is fair to say that after the early 1960s the class 22s mostly carried out local work only. The Old Oak locos mostly did ECS and local freight work in the London Division. The Bath Road locos did local freight trips around Bristol/Avonmouth, and Gloucester. The Newton Abbot locos worked local freight trips around Newton Abbot, and in the Exeter Area. The Laira locos did local clay trips and branch freight in Cornwall, with some summer saturday passenger work. They would not normally have done long distance main line work. There were not many regular freight trips between Bristol and Taunton and in any case much of the long distance freight traffic passed at night during darkness, so they were probably not much seen around Weston, cheers

Looking at the 1979 Shunter Duties book there were a number of class 08 duties for the Old Oak Common based class 08 fleet, those of course these duties decreased during the 1980s. Old Oak Area 1 AB Park Royal Freight Depot 1 AB Old Oak HST pilot 2 AB Old Oak Carriage siding pilots 1 AB Old Oak Carriage sidings. works at Paddington parcels pilot evenoings/nights 2/3 Acton Yard Southall Area 1 West Drayton CCD, also trips to Colnbrook 1 Southall Yard. also trips to Hayes and Harlington parcels/freight, and trips to Brentford Town freight depot Slough Area 1 Slough Yard, also works parcels depot. My 1979 Ian Allan Locoshed book gives the following class 08s allocated to Old Oak 08109, 08480, 08483, 08630, 08678, 08785, 08787, 08793, 08794, 08797, 08798, 08936, 08947, 08948, 08949 cheers

I have a 1976 Conditional WTT, and can see 8O84 11.12 SX Acton - Tolworth I can not see an incoming working from Tolworth, so assuming a Southern loco diagram would it have been 8V18 09.00 Wimbledon - Acton (09.54) coal empties? cheers

Yes, you are welcome to post them Nidge. I think the pilot may have been 08794 as I noted it when passing Acton on the way into London, and I guess there would have been only one pilot there by then? cheers

On the same November day that I made brief visits to Theale and Newbury I then went to Acton, and from Acton Main Line found my way to the over bridge at the west end of Acton Yard, here are a couple of misty view. First a general view of the west end of Acton Yard. The locos visible are 25243, 08???, 31206 and 33???. 2/11/83 In the late 1980s most of the sidings were lifted leaving only a few long roads adjacent to the main lines, a Foster Yeoman stone terminal subsequently opened on part of the site A closer view showing some of the yard offices, a number of roads on the left are already out of use. The locos are 08??? 25243 and 31206, 2/11/83 edit - these pictures ilustrate the importance of inter-regional freight services in the London area, 25243 was a London Midland loco allocated to Cricklewood 31206 was an Eastern loco allocated to Immingham The 33 was a Southern allocated loco. cheers

I have a few more photos of freight traffic on the London Division taken in the 1980s from two visits to Acton, I have no photos of the other various yards and terminals that were active between Reading and London. Going from memory and looking at my Baker Rail Atlas there were quite a number of freight locations. Maidenhead had a car terminal which I think handled commercial vehicles. At Taplow I think the small coal yard was one of the last in the area to receive coal in 16t minerals, did it last until the 1980s? At Slough Estates was an oil terminal, and I think scrap and a stone terminal. At Langley was the Total oil terminal. West Drayton had a coal concentration depot, and stone terminal, as well as the freight branch to Thorney Mill (stone and scrap) and Colnbrook (oil, steel and stone?) Hayes and Harlington had a freight terminal which received various traffic including ferry vans, and a Tarmac stone terminal. At Southall was a yard with a pilot. The yard here handled some of the ARC stone trains from the Mendips, there was also the branch to Brentford for the London Waste trains loading for Appleford. There were sidings at West Ealing which I think were sometimes used by the Control to recess trains awitng crew, as well as the Plasser depot. Off of the main line was Park Royal with a stone terminal and the Guinness Brewery with two former BR class 08s 08022 Lion, and 08060 Unicorn which sent traffic by Speedlink. Acton Yard was the main Western Region yard in the London area, in the early 1980s it was still handling vacuum braked trains to a variety of locations. With the introduction of the Speedlink Network WIllesden Yard then handled much of the traffic and Acton was heavily rationalised and thereafter the principle work was handling the Mendip stone traffic, loaded trains would arrive with two or three portions which would then go forward separately to their destinations, the empty sets would be combined at Acton to return to the Mendips as a longer train. No doubt I will have missed something from that list! Was the stone terminal at Westbourne Park operating in the 1980s for instance? cheers

I have only visited Reading on a very few occasions though I have passed through there many times over the last 45 years. A couple of the visits I made were with my father. He visited Reading quite regularly as his job as the WR Civil Engineers Wagon Supervisor often took him to the Divisional Civil Engineers Office at Reading and also to various yards in the area. On a couple of these trips in the late 1970s I took a handful of photos. In the 1970s and 1980s Reading West Junction Yard as well as handing some remaining revenue earning freight traffic was the main location for engineers trains in the Division both for midweek trains and weekend engineering blockades. Reading Cripple Sidings just to the west of the station on the up side of the line was also an important wagon repair point. edit The1979 Shunter Duties book showed two class 08 duties at Reading 1 AB Reading Station pilot, also works to Low Level NCL Yard 1 Reading West Junction Yard, also shunted the Cripple Sidings Reading Permanent Way Depot in the Depot triangle and located next to the Bristol main line also received engineering materials in a variety of wagons, one of the WR engineers PWM shunters number PWM 653 was the regular loco here. PWM 653 rests between duties at the Permanent Way Depot, 25/11/78 On various other threads we have been treated to a number of interesting photos taken at Reading, not least the pictures of Westerns, but among my few efforts is a single shot of a class 47 hauled freight train 47278, another silver roofed Stratford example, heads through the station towards London with a train of tanks, 28/11/78 cheers

I have a green one for when I am operatiing 1970s, and a TOPS numbered blue one for the 1980s, each used alternately. In the 1970s or 1980s a modest yard or set of sorting sidings might only need one yard pilot, but a couple more might be justfied if they were used to work local trips to local yards/ private sidings/collieries nearby. Of course this would mean you would need less mainline locos! When at exhibitions and I see depot layouts I often think that Ed Burkhardt or Philip Mengel would go ballistic if they could see all those locos standing around! cheers

Thanks Nidge, it is the only time I have ever been there, I did have a slight doubt in my mind as I posted, cheers

After another extended interlude I have found and scanned another couple of photos. I have very few more photos to add, but here are a couple from the Berks and Hants route on a dull day. Mike (the Stationmaster) has already helpfully listed the freight locations along the B&H. Theale is the location of the major freight terminals along the route. 47134 heads east through Theale with what I believe to be coal empties from Padworth with both vacuum and air braked hoppers in the train, 2/11/83 Aso near to Padworth at Aldermaston was a civil engineers spoil tip receiving spent ballast from the London Division. I also called briefly at Newbury on that dull November day. Stratfords silver roofed 47114 heads west with what I think are bitumen tanks, would they be for Exeter City Basin, Frome, or Cranmore I wonder?, 2/11/83 edit thanks Nidge for pointing me in the right direction. cheers

Has something changed since October 2014? There is a Dartmoor National Parks Authority masterplan for the redevelopment of the Chuley Road site in Ashburton, this plan appears to show the station as a market or some other community event space. http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/502353/141031_Revised-Chuley-Road-Masterplan_LR-Final.pdf Either way there seems to be money to be spent on the area, for new housing and flood prevention among other things. cheers

I think it is fixed to the blocks not the loco, it must be indicating no.6 road Here is a photo looking off the bridge the other way with 1071 standing outside the shed. On the shed are similar signs indicating numbers 2, 4 and 5 roads. Road numbers 1, 3 and 6 are short single ended roads https://www.flickr.com/photos/deadmans_handle/4367087606/in/photolist-7xtJkG-bEbUt3-dQqKb1-duXM4u-634je3-bp4JZZ-dD1Rf3-7DQDAP-d2PZ9m-5ZZK3g-fBYXBh-7DUtjy-7DQDmF-cKv9RQ-dborMs-mpcRpz-dYZnNg-7DUsZU-dm33TP-dwpPPY-j3Hjow-oS6c3t-bERBV6-oXTzeE-bEAyCr-cBazKC-j4CSkQ-j4CSfu-bx9xBe-brT9tj-qdotpT-by61Vx-cCTyH1-bwv46T-bw7dtt-cBazJs-ppPiKk-bjAy5S-j9VUE7-bENeBv-brT9tq-brTx6C-e3b2wB-6146SU-62Z7Qn-7LRkwr-d9Z97H-5ZZHfc-brzUei-brzV4n cheers

Off to the right are the sidings at Ashton Meadows, and the Bristol Harbour Railway cheers

A quick look on Flickr finds this shot of the fuel tanks at Gateshead https://www.flickr.com/photos/26871365@N04/7366569140/in/photolist-jwkPQc-8rBZDc-dpqJkX-pzi7Lp-e8ywER-nUTFWq-ngB79f-nzVgQ8-ng2DFD-okruFj-nSWtDC-nUYL8H-oGCfut-nWLemT-7XTSET-nUFE2e-nuLCeJ-ngEXux-o7peZ4-aKfDgT-jzLsG2-dCVv5V-fytEJk-jT7jQZ-jzPh9b-oZFnCT-8bzfvo-dxtyki-eQtpZE-eQh1L4-eQtquu-8iMZ4v-cdXAmL-ibnvh3-bX8qjL-jDG5bK-dJeruG-ah28Av-p31she-8fgXFY-jDwt6F-a9B7Tn-c9W6gL-phTt8B-jDvHSZ-jDvDWT-jDwGBP-jDxGEd-nje57w-qnuHeS cheers

The tender may have had a TOPS number, but may well have not regularly got reported to TOPS. In the 1970s before the introduction of POIS to monitor coaching stock there were no train lists for passenger trains. If the tender got marshalled in a freight train, and it was not listed on TOPS, the TOPS clerk may well have added an '18 comment card' to show the vehicle in the train, with its tonneage, the guard would then have to manually adjust the trainlist. cheers.

They hung on later than that in a few places, on the WR they were sometimes used on engineering trains of track sections up to about 1980 as none of the WR allocation of ganes, salmons, or sturgeons were vacuum braked, 31159 departs Bristol East Depot with recovered track sections for Taunton Fairwater Pre-assembley Depot, 17/7/79 cheers

I remember visiting Ashburton in around 1969/70 and walking around the deserted station, and would love to see the line restored. I like my preserved railway journeys to take me somewhere and extending would in my mind greatly improve an already good trip. It will be possible to work out roughly how much it will cost, but much more difficult I imagine to work out how much benefit it will bring to the SDR and wider community. For example would the pubs hotels and restaurants of Ashburton gain more in additional revenue than the businesses of Buckfastleigh stand to lose? When I travel the line, from the Totnes end. I normally get no further than looking around the station at Buckfastleigh and maybe a cup of tea, only on one occasion have I been into Buckfastleigh for a drink and something to eat there. If there is enough goodwill locally I can see that somewhere in the future it may happen, but I agree this certainly will be neither quick nor cheap. cheers

Yes both platforms have been extended over the years. I was looking for another view to confirm, but many are taken from the other end of the station, or off the bridge. Here is another Western photo, taken I think from the Down Reception to the right of the D1029 shot but looking the same way, I think we can see the same crane, building, trees and fence line from the other view though, https://www.flickr.com/photos/trevor-plackett/5839701191/ and better yet, here is one of Andy Kirkhams photos from almost the exact spot, this time it is D1014 https://www.flickr.com/photos/52554553@N06/10421949163/ cheers

Yes I agree D1029 is Westbury, the cranes in the background are in Farrs cheers

Larkins book 'Wagons of the final years of British Railways' 1962-1968 (2008), page 7 lists a number of wagons which received roller bearings from Palvans for the Stoke-on-Trent service they were 10' wheelbase vacuum braked vehicles and they include all wooden bodied wagons prefixed B, E, M, S and W, and wagons with corrugated steel ends prefixed B and M. cheers

Seen from the slopes of North Hill in Malvern A First Great Western Adelante set bound for Paddington has departed Great Malvern at 15.32 heads towards Worcester, 16/2/2015

Very nice. I had to look twice at the fourth picture, 40122 stood in front of the tank, to check it was not real, cheers

I have just spent an hour or so catching up with this thread, lovely photos as always Dave. The additional comments and anecdotes have added to an enjoyable afternoon, so thanks also to everyone who has added their little bit cheers

Moretonhampstead was mentioned back on page two, me and Mrs Rivercider have just returned from a four night stay there. On the last morning we walked part of the Wray valley trail starting near Moretonhampstead station. This view taken over the fence shows the engine shed. Just south of the station the Wray Valley Way takes up the former trackbed,. Near where the home signal would have stood. This appears to be a concrete base, there is a concrete beam with attached steel rods lying on top of it, And having now looked online I think this is the old concrete signal post. This is another view of the concrete signal post A little further south a culvert runs under thew trackbed, with a fence post made of bridge rail, the rail is stamped with what looks like 'PANTEG STEELWORKS&ENG' cheers