Devon lines old pictures

[longylong]

Hi all.

I'm new here as my son who is 3 years old has an obsession with all things trains so I quite often find myself taking an interest in the history of lines so there are a few areas I am after some pictures of just out of interest.

Firstly as I spent most of my 20s in Newton abbot at the Rafters/enigma night club and more recently at bear feet play centre I was surprised to see in a Devon life magazine that the whole yard there used to be a railway yard. I've since been unable to find the picture nor been able to find anymore online but would love to see a few snaps of the yard in its day before the lines were lifted.

I now live in Ivybridge and have read about the line from Totnes to Ivybridge which used to include stations or halts at Wrangaton including a sidings to the business park which still stands and used to be some kind of weapons manufacturer yard, also a half that was at bittaford just before the viaduct and lastly a sidings just before Ivy station where the building with tall stone chimney is.

Any pictures or even info would be great.

Thanks

 

[Ash Bridge]

Hi all.

I'm new here as my son who is 3 years old has an obsession with all things trains so I quite often find myself taking an interest in the history of lines so there are a few areas I am after some pictures of just out of interest.

Firstly as I spent most of my 20s in Newton abbot at the Rafters/enigma night club and more recently at bear feet play centre I was surprised to see in a Devon life magazine that the whole yard there used to be a railway yard. I've since been unable to find the picture nor been able to find anymore online but would love to see a few snaps of the yard in its day before the lines were lifted.

I now live in Ivybridge and have read about the line from Totnes to Ivybridge which used to include stations or halts at Wrangaton including a sidings to the business park which still stands and used to be some kind of weapons manufacturer yard, also a half that was at bittaford just before the viaduct and lastly a sidings just before Ivy station where the building with tall stone chimney is.

Any pictures or even info would be great.

Thanks

I have several slides dating from the 1970s through to the early 1990s unfortunately they have not yet been scanned with the exception of this one, dated September 1973 on which most of the yard and depot are hidden behind the class 47 locomotive.

 

[longylong]

Thanks for that. I hope one day to be able to see your other slides.

Thanks again

 

[PaxVobiscum]

Had a wee look on the map site I use:

Can't see the railway yard on the OS 25 inch (1905)...
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=50.5351&lon=-3.6017&layers=168&b=1

or the OS 6 inch (1906)...
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=50.5351&lon=-3.6017&layers=6&b=1

...I'm afraid, which would show it in detail, but it is on the 1945 OS 1:25,000
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=50.5354&lon=-3.6019&layers=10&b=1

By moving the blue slider you can fade between the old map and a current satellite image.

I'm to mean to pay the subscription to any of the old map sites to get more recent large scale maps but you might be able to find another free one of this area somewhere.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I don't know the area but looking at a map it looks like the Bear Feet play centre is built on the old Newton Abbot goods yard, not the old depot and siding land next to the station, and there is a photo of what could be it on Flickr.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/markireland55/11654502614/

 

[longylong]

Thanks Bertie that's the area I was talking about. So interesting to see it like that against how it is now.

The picture I was talking about isn't in the Flickr link as it's a black and white pic taken from up on the hill the other side of the yard but your pics are still very interesting.

Thanks again

 

[longylong]

Thanks for the info. It would make sense now for the yard to have existed in the mid 90s as I know people who's parents used to work down there.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I’m glad I could be of help.

Scanning and loading photographs can be quite laborious and there aren’t a huge number pre-1970s on the internet but there might be many floating about that haven’t made it. Depending on how interested you are it might be worth contacting these people http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/. They cover Devon as well as Cornwall and their members might have old slides or prints or be able to suggest books which cover the lines you are interested in.

 

[longylong]

I’m glad I could be of help.

Scanning and loading photographs can be quite laborious and there aren’t a huge number pre-1970s on the internet but there might be many floating about that haven’t made it. Depending on how interested you are it might be worth contacting these people http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/. They cover Devon as well as Cornwall and their members might have old slides or prints or be able to suggest books which cover the lines you are interested in.

I've spent lots of time looking through their website they have so many pics it's easy to lose yourself.

I also found a site called western thunder but you can't enlarge any pictures for some reason which is a shame.

I'm still struggling to get any info on the old weaponery yard at Wrangaton sidings

 

[richw]

If your passing Newton Abbot with a little time Trago have loads of local railway history books. Mrs goes shopping I stand and read the books!

 

[Cowley]

Although to my shame I've never actually been there, Newton Abbot library has a railway studies section. It might well be worth a look if you haven't been there already?
I remember the depot at Newton Abbot but it was pretty much just a load decaying buildings by the time I started taking a proper interest. I also remember the station being rationalised in the 80s.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Although to my shame I've never actually been there, Newton Abbot library has a railway studies section. It might well be worth a look if you haven't been there already?
I remember the depot at Newton Abbot but it was pretty much just a load decaying buildings by the time I started taking a proper interest. I also remember the station being rationalised in the 80s.

I had a quick rummage through my slide collection last night and found several from September 1973, unfortunately they are of the station and depot area which of course is not the yard that the OP was asking about, anyway if of interest here's a few to look at.

 

[Cowley]

Brilliant photos Mr Bridge. I'm quite surprised to see a 33/1 down there in those days. Behind it I think you can see one of the David and Charles carriages in yellow. They were a fixture for a long time.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Brilliant photos Mr Bridge. I'm quite surprised to see a 33/1 down there in those days. Behind it I think you can see one of the David and Charles carriages in yellow. They were a fixture for a long time.

Yes, I couldn't work out what that was doing there at the time, just wondering if it could have worked an excursion down from the southern region and had visited Newton Abbot depot for refuelling or something? 6548 was up at St Davids when we arrived back there reversing onto the stock for a Waterloo service. Regarding those D&C coaches, that yellow one was a Gresley teak bodied example wasn't it, must have remained there until well into the 1990s?

 

[Cowley]

Yes, I couldn't work out what that was doing there at the time, just wondering if it could have worked an excursion down from the southern region and had visited Newton Abbot depot for refuelling or something? 6548 was up at St Davids when we arrived back there reversing onto the stock for a Waterloo service. Regarding those D&C coaches, that yellow one was a Gresley teak bodied example wasn't it, must have remained there until well into the 1990s?

Yes, I was talking to Richmondcommu about that last year, I think it's the one that's recently been restored at the Severn Valley (24506). As an aside (starting to drift off topic again oops), my mum knew David of David and Charles quite well and she had a look around the old carriages a couple of times but I didn't get the chance unfortunately.
Before and after photos below (not mine)

 

[Ash Bridge]

Yes, I was talking to Richmondcommu about that last year, I think it's the one that's recently been restored at the Severn Valley (24506). As an aside (starting to drift off topic again oops), my mum knew David of David and Charles quite well and she had a look around the old carriages a couple of times but I didn't get the chance unfortunately.
Before and after photos below (not mine)

Wow, spot the difference! superb restoration there, what did D&C use them for and did they retain their original fittings?

 

[30907]

Brilliant photos Mr Bridge. I'm quite surprised to see a 33/1 down there in those days.

Weren't the Waterloo-Exeter sets still berthed there overnight? Shown thus in 1969-70 WTT.
And by 1973 the 33s had replaced the Warships IIRC.

Sorry, just realised you specifically meant a 33/1. There were 20, and only 6 or 7 required on TC stock duties daily.

 

[Cowley]

Wow, spot the difference! superb restoration there, what did D&C use them for and did they retain their original fittings?

I can't actually remember now. I think the two GWR ones (Hawksworths?) ended up at the SDR and I think they were mainly used as storage but also provided a visible reminder that David and Charles had their offices there. Looking at the SVR carriages website it seems that the pigeon van did have some of its original fittings but has had an enormous amount of work done to it including a new underframe and roof.

 

[Cowley]

Weren't the Waterloo-Exeter sets still berthed there overnight? Shown thus in 1969-70 WTT.
And by 1973 the 33s had replaced the Warships IIRC.

Sorry, just realised you specifically meant a 33/1. There were 20, and only 6 or 7 required on TC stock duties daily.

Would 33/1s and TCs have been used on Waterloo - Salisbury turns by then do you know?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

If your passing Newton Abbot with a little time Trago have loads of local railway history books. Mrs goes shopping I stand and read the books!

And they've also got a nice model railway layout there as well (if it's still there - been over 10 years since I last visited Trago Mills there)

 

[Ash Bridge]

Would 33/1s and TCs have been used on Waterloo - Salisbury turns by then do you know?

This was the 33 I mentioned on the Exeter-Waterloo service on the same day, not sure if TC sets and standard loco hauled sets operated jointly by then, as 30907 mentioned the Warships had long gone by then on these services, 1971 at a guess.

 

[30907]

Would 33/1s and TCs have been used on Waterloo - Salisbury turns by then do you know?

In the 1972-73 WTT the 1810 down was 8TC, which returned as 0645 to Basingstoke then ECS to Clapham Yard (it soon became an additional commuter train, fast from Farnborough). That dates from 1967, the hourly service dates from the late 70s IIRC.

So it's quite likely more than one 33/1 stabled overnight at Salisbury.

(BTW there was also a Basingstoke-Salisbury and return commuter train which IIRC was a 3-set, and the Yeovil papers; all the rest was WR stock)

 

[Cowley]

Interesting stuff. The 33s often did the 1725 Exeter to Paignton in the 1980s, it was usually a 33/0 from Eastleigh on that service.

 

[longylong]

I had a quick rummage through my slide collection last night and found several from September 1973, unfortunately they are of the station and depot area which of course is not the yard that the OP was asking about, anyway if of interest here's a few to look at.

Great pics thanks.

How did the platform layout at the station go as I see in one of the pics it has platforms 4&6 side by side?

I remember one of the first times I caught a train from Newton I nearly missed it as I ignorantly assumed platform 1 was the first platform you arrive on and not the one furthest away

 

[longylong]

May have answered my own question upon finding some more pics.

Platforms 1 2 and 3 have always been the same,

4 is still visible in some parts just outside the ticket office but the car park has been built up level with the platform edge but it still visible at the end of platform 3.

5 was a dead end platform for teignmouth valley trains

6 was another dead end platform at the Paignton side of the station opposite platform 4 but is now the car park?

Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[richw]

And they've also got a nice model railway layout there as well (if it's still there - been over 10 years since I last visited Trago Mills there)

It is, I took my dementia suffering father in law to see it a week or so ago. Great layout, and I thought good value at £1 each for entry.