Rivercider

How about getting the ball into the opposition penalty on a number of occasions, and area three times forcing the defender to commit a foul (only two penalties given though) cheers

For a while during WWII Barnes Wallis worked at HMS Birnbeck in the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development. From our flat a 5 minute walk will take me to Weston-super-Mare seafront, from where I can see Birnbeck Island where the so-called wheezers and dodgers worked on some of the secret weapons. Some of the trial bomb drops took place in Sand Bay to the north, the large rise and fall of tide here meant that munitions could be retrieved at low tide for examination. Also visible from the seafront is Brean Down, in the fort at the end of the headland a rocket track was installed for weapons testing. The remains of the rocket track at Brean Down, with one of the two searchlight positions which worked in conjunction with the two 6" guns installed here in WWII, 19/4/2021 Edit - and here is a view of Birnbeck Island, (Birnbeck Pier is the only pier in the UK which connects to an Island, and has been sadly neglected by the current owners) Birnbeck Pier and Island 19/7/2016. cheers

It would partly depend on which year the finances are being compared. My impression was that on merger in 1923 the finances of the SR were not great, mostly due to the LC&DR/SER/SE&CR component. However I understood that although the merging of the LSWR, LBSCR and SECR was not seamless a strong Southern identity emerged. Being in a less industrialised part of the country the Southern was less affected by the depression, and combined with the ongoing electrification programme I thought that by some measures the Southern was possibly in the strongest financial position by 1938, cheers

I know little enough about the LNER (it being the furthest away of the Big 4 from where I live) but I assume that Thompson must have been additionally constrained by WWII. With additional wartime traffic levels the operating departments of all Big 4 companies must have been looking for new locomotives, while at the same time keeping in traffic locos of other older designs that would otherwise have been scrapped. I know that on the SR a number of withdrawn former LSWR locos were reprieved early in WWII to cater for the increased traffic, and to cover the loan of 4-6-0s to other regions including 10 N15s to the LNER in 1942, cheers

That is a shame. I have quite a lot of books, and his was a little different, the personal professional insight was very interesting, cheers

I wonder how many of us have formed an allegiance from a very early age? My vote was SR, GWR, LMS, LNER. I was born in Exeter into a railway family so quickly appreciated the GWR/SR rivalry. My dad was a railway enthusiast, when I was little he took me around Exmouth Junction, and I have memories of SR steam, but not of WR steam as diesel hydraulics had already taken over. However childhood visits to the embryonic Dart Valley Railway at Buckfastleigh, and countless GWR BLTs in Railway Modeller meant the GWR was an early frontrunner in my affections. Later once I became a 5th generation railwayman I learned more about the four generations of LSWR/Southern men (and woman) before me. The LMS gets third place due to the S&D connection in the west, I have visited a few locations, though I have never ridden over any part of it before closure. The LNER is a long way away, cheers cheers

I have looked in other books. I can see no freight train photos in:- Main Lines to the West - The Branch Lines by Nicholas and Reeve. Irwell Press Southern Branch Lines - by C Gammell OPC Southern Steam in the South and West - by Arlett and Lockett OPC. Also The Lyme Regis Branch - by P Paye Oakwood Press Further edit From Salisbury to Exeter the Branch Lines by D Phillips OPC also has no freight photos, apart from the early photo of a road van on the front of a passenger service in the early 'Terrier' years. It does include a photo of 41297 and brake van on clearance trials at Combpyne in 1960, and a photo of ex LSWR 20t goods brake S54977 in 1955. This book mentions that freight consisted mainly of coal, fertiliser, building materials including bagged cement, and general merchandise in vans or sheeted opens. I would agree that the relative absence of freight train photos is because they ran early in the day. There are photos of freight in the yard at Lyme Regis 16t minerals being common. A lot of photos of the branch feature the double heading, which only occurred on a dozen or so days each year, so we get a false or biased view of the operation of the line, cheers

The book 'South West Railwayman' by Donald King has quite a lot devoted to reminiscences of the line, and some pictures, one is of freight. On page 45 Ivatt 2-6-2T 41307 is seen at Combpyne, formed as far as I can see as:- loco, 12t van, 16t steel min, 12t SR van, 16t min, 16t min, LMS brake van, cheers

I have not knowingly seen HBAs or HEAs on power station workings, but had an idea they were used elsewhere. A search on Flickr found quite a few photos of HBA/HEA trains to and from Blyth PS taken by Dave Jolly. I have seen his photos before, and from his Flickr contributions gather that railfreight was one of his interests, cheers

I have defended Pacers before elsewhere, and I will defend them again here. They did what they were designed to do, and often did it well. I commuted to, or through, Bristol for 30 years and travelled on a wide variety of stock. When we had 143s at Bristol there were many times I was pleased to see my train home formed of a pair of them. Much better to sit in a 143 than stand in (or be unable to get on to) a single 150 or 158. Once refurbished and with 2 + 2 seating the ride in a 143 was good on anything other than poorly maintained jointed track. For a while 142s with 2 + 3 seating and refurbished 143s (2 + 2) worked side by side at Exeter so it was easy to tell the improvement of one over the other. Regarding the Vivarail situation, it all seems a bit sad, and I feel for the employees. Failing Grayling indeed! cheers

The question as to why the Waterloo - Exeter route was nicknamed 'the mule' (which I hate) has cropped up before. It seems to have originated as a 'bashers' term in the 1980s by class 50 enthusiasts riding the route. In my 30 year railway career I never heard it referred to like that by another railwayman, and other RMweb members, who are more experienced former railwaymen than me, also wrote that they had never ever heard the term. As regards the track, it must have been in pretty good nick up until the regional change from SR to WR as in latter steam days some very fast runs were recorded on the downhill sections, in Devon particularly. Presumably when the route was singled west of Wilton Junction the better of the two running lines would have been retained on each section? A quick browse through a couple of my books I see that there was a lot of jointed flat bottom track in use in the latter steam era, though mostly jointed bullhead in the Exeter area in the 1960s, cheers

Once the traincrew depot and diesel depot at Newton Abbot closed in 1981 the traincrew mostly worked down from Exeter. The weekday freight trip that served the Heathfield branch was crewed from Exeter. Though I believe St Blazey or Plymouth crews may have also been involved with export clay traffic from Heathfield to Fowey in clayhoods. On 9th July 1985 47097 heads west through Exeter St Davids with a service for Heathfield. Two empty PBA clay tigers for English China Clay at Heathfield have been attached in front of loaded tanks from Waterston to Heathfield. 9/7/85 cheers

Some narrow gauge equipment at Christow, 57/2017 Also nearby in the trees there is a footbridge over the Teign, some old narrow gauge track has been re-used, 5/7/2017 cheers

On a more recent visit to Christow there was building work taking place on the station buildings, now a private dwelling. Christow station looking north towards Exeter 5/7/2017 The down platform at Christow looking north, 5/7/2017 The station front at Christow 5/7/2017 cheers

A few more photos of the site at Christow taken back in 2011. Looking south towards the station 14/10/2011 Another view looking south 14/10/2011 The rebuilt cattle dock can be seen in the right background. 14/10/2011 The concrete storage bins for the stone from Scatter Rock quarry can be seen in the background. 14/10/2011 cheers

I have visited the site at Christow station a couple of times. I also met and had a chat to Colin the passionate owner of the site. He once worked in the Exeter Area Freight Centre and knew my dad quite well as he often called into the office there. Here are some photos from October 2011. The former Exmouth Junction coal concentration depot shunter was also present. D2269 Perseus at Christow 14/10/2011. The Facebook group 'Teign Valley Railway' has some more information about the line, Colin is a member of the group. cheers

Lawrence Pomroy's book The Heathfield to Exeter (Teign Valley) Railway, he mentions the eariest trains were worked by 'a single engine with side tanks worked several six-wheeled coaches five times a day'. Later 517 class 0-4-2Ts were used, in 1901 the shed at Ashton was recorded as having No. 540 allocated. Speculating this was the engine that worked the first train. cheers cheers

The Wray Valley trail skirts around the west side of the former station site at Moretonhampstead, with views of the former loco shed. Thompsons Haulage who have occupied the site for decades seemed to be pulling out last time I was there. The loco shed viewed from the public footpath on the west side of the site. 5/2/2015 The loco shed viewed from the gateway of Thompsons Haulage, looking south 19/5/2021 The former goods shed is now shorn of the more recent additions - is it listed and to be kept while the site is re-developed? Moretonhampstead goods shed 19/5/2021 cheers

Nearer to Moretonhampstead along the track bed is another replacement footbridge. Looking north towards Moretonhampstead 19/11/2019 Alongside the footpath just south of Moretonhampstead is a long concrete beam, which I believe to be a former signal post. Not knowing the signalling here it might be the down distant or perhaps the up starter? Metal fixings on the concrete post beside the footpath, 19/11/2019 cheers

On my numerous visits to see my late Uncle who lived in Moretonhampstead I sometimes walked part of the north end of the Wray Valley trail, which mostly follows the track bed of the Moretonhampstead branch. A couple of new footbridges have been erected to join up sections of the former track bed, the A382 road is not great for driving, and certainly not a good idea to cycle or walk along. Footbridge near Steward Cottages and the Pepperdon Hall Lane junction 7/10/2016 This was the same bridge abutment before work began, 5/2/2015 Up on the embankment above the abutment is some old GWR fencing, re-using broad gauge rail. This old rail was marked Panteg Steelworks & Eng, 5/2/2015. cheers

Were rabbits a big thing from here? I know that the traffic in rabbits was significant on the GWR Taunton to Barnstaple line, and also very important on the North Cornwall line from Okehampton to Wadebridge and Padstow. My great uncle Bill who worked on his fathers farm near Christow says they (with the local community in support) shot 2000 rabbits in the first summer (1934 I think) they worked the farm, cheers

When the Teign Valley line opened in 1882 it was laid to standard gauge, there was no physical connection with the broad gauge Moretonhampstead branch at Heathfield until 1892 when the broad gauge was changed to standard, I believe in the early years the Teign Valley line was unkindly (but accurately) described as running from a heath to a field! cheers Edit - I now see 7802 has beaten me to it! cheers

This must have been soon after the wires had been switched on as far as Ipswich. The 14.10 semi-fast service from Liverpool Street is terminating at Ipswich formed by 312798. Meanwhile 86259 has just re-engined the 14.20 Norwich to Liverpool Street, 11/7/85, cheers

A couple more photos from our walk to Lustleigh, we found the site of the former station, which is not accessible to the public, The Brookfield Road railway bridge over the line just north of Lustleigh station, 12/10/2017 Lustleigh station glimpsed through the trees from the Brookfield Road bridge, 12/10/2017, cheers

On another visit to the area me and Mrs Rivercider walked from the Parke Estate up along the Wrey Valley trail as far as Lustleigh, and back. The Trail follows the track bed for much of the way, but not through Lustleigh itself, where I believe the landowner(s) of the track bed are not happy for the former railway route to be used by the public. Underbridge - may be the same as posted above, 12/10/2017 These double arches seem to be a feature of the Moretonhampstead branch, I saw two or three of them on my walks, this is between Bovey Tracey, Parke Estate and Lustleigh , 12/10/2017 Another taller double arch in the Lustleigh area, 12/10/2017. Edit - I now think this might be the three arch Knowle Viaduct with the left hand arch obscured by trees. cheers