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Wartime Bomb causing Disruption at Exeter 27 February

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Gloster

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The German's got very nasty with booby trapped fuzes which can still be functional today so they do have to be exceedingly careful with Luftwaffe bombs. Although being German they had a habit of being German and labelling everything very clearly which can help.

I can’t see there being a lot of volunteers eager to peer closely at the writing on the various parts of the bomb. Particularly if they have to clean the rust off first. Still, it could have been a Swedish bomb with instructions provided by IKEA.
 
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geoffk

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There seems to be some confusion regarding what "The Mule" is. This is the former LSWR route from Waterloo to Exeter, part of which is being used by GWR diversions which divert from Exeter St Davids via Central, Honiton, Yeovil Jcn, Yeovil Pen Mill and regaining their booked route at Castle Cary.
I wondered what the Mule was. I'm due to move to Exeter, in fact I expected to have moved in January (!) and my intended house near Polsloe Bridge is not too near the site of the bomb. It's nearer the GW line than I thought.
 

louis97

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Yeovil Jn not a 10 car platform then?

Would have it been possible for 1C84 and 1A88 to swap over at Yeovil Jn and return in the directions from which they came. Passengers etc swapping trains?
Nope, although its more the room available to stand clear of the single lines. In the end 1C84 went back to Pen Mill and seems to have terminated there.

I guess whilst that could theoretically be possible, they'll definitely be a lot to consider whilst doing that.
 

pompeyfan

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I would guess COVID put the stop to using the Yeovil junction cover driver to shunt the 1Axx towards Sherborne to clear the Yeovil - Chard single line and then setting back?
 

TheEdge

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I can’t see there being a lot of volunteers eager to peer closely at the writing on the various parts of the bomb. Particularly if they have to clean the rust off first. Still, it could have been a Swedish bomb with instructions provided by IKEA.

They do exist, they're the bomb disposal officers who've probably spent the last day very carefully cleaning rust and mud off the fuze and have come to the conclusion this bomb is either too unstable to make safe, has a booby trapped fuze on it or can't confirm it doesn't have a booby trap.
 

greaterwest

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I would guess COVID put the stop to using the Yeovil junction cover driver to shunt the 1Axx towards Sherborne to clear the Yeovil - Chard single line and then setting back?
Are 80x permitted to go towards Sherborne?
 

saintsfan

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I would guess COVID put the stop to using the Yeovil junction cover driver to shunt the 1Axx towards Sherborne to clear the Yeovil - Chard single line and then setting back?

There's currently no AM or PM cover turn at Yeovil at the weekends due to COVID delaying new drivers!
 

AndrewE

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There seems to be some confusion regarding what "The Mule" is. This is the former LSWR route from Waterloo to Exeter, part of which is being used by GWR diversions which divert from Exeter St Davids via Central, Honiton, Yeovil Jcn, Yeovil Pen Mill and regaining their booked route at Castle Cary.
Any particular reason for the name? It doesn't seem to be from any abbreviation of routing point names.
 

Cowley

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BOOM!! :lol:

That was loud enough to shake the windows even from here...

FB2D49A8-D3E2-4DDB-85DB-904CF11C2F85.jpeg
 

pompeyfan

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I was speculating that a Yeovil cover driver could pilot the train forward just clear of station limits to allow the down train to be signalled from the pen mill single to the Axminster single, both drivers change ends and return to the platform etc. I wasn’t aware there was no afternoon cover at Yeovil.
 

AndrewE

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I wonder if it was the explosive in the bomb going off, or was it the bomb being blown apart (and not going off?)
 

Cowley

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Congratulations from Torbay, how is Mrs Cowley? o_O

If I was on twitter I'd claim compensation for the ice cream being blown off my cone
:lol:

This gives a pretty good idea of things...

 
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Bald Rick

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Reminds me of one of my favourite ever messages from Control.

In the run up to the London Olympics there was much construction work done by the Olympics Delivery Authority in the Stratford / Bow area. One afternoon, their contractors found a 1000kg UXB, courtesy of the Luftwaffe, and the usual arrangements were made. Unfortunately both the GEML and LTS were in the exclusion zone so all lines stopped. As always in these situations the nearest available MOM (Mobile Operations Manager) was dispatched to site to act as the Railway Incident Officer, in this case the Barking man IIRC. He was able to be inside the outer cordon, and at (or near) the command post.

A couple of hours into proceedings and control messaged out:

‘Barking MOM reports that the RE Bomb Disposal Officer has just run past him shouting “it’s started ticking”’

I have this vision of the MOM standing fast, dutifully filing his report to control, before casually withdrawing to a place of safety. Knowing the chap concerned, I can believe it.
 

Scotrail314209

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I noticed in that clip, some windows instantly turned to white on some of the buildings, would that have been the glass giving out?
 

Snow1964

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I noticed in that clip, some windows instantly turned to white on some of the buildings, would that have been the glass giving out?

Probably, very similar to the bomb in Kingston upon Thames in May 2019. That took 2 days, and trucks of sand were given a police escort to the site

There were broken windows with that as well, and lots of things covered in sand in area afterwards


 
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CrispyUK

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I noticed in that clip, some windows instantly turned to white on some of the buildings, would that have been the glass giving out?
Looks like lights coming on to me and given the positioning, probably communal stairwell lights in the uni halls where the explosion has activated their sensors.

You can see a set of them turn off, on the lower levels of the building pretty much in the middle of the video frame, just after the 1:00 minute mark.
 

richw

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I noticed in that clip, some windows instantly turned to white on some of the buildings, would that have been the glass giving out?
As the bomb was an act of war, I can see most house insurance companies using that excuse to get out of paying out too. Act of war has been an exemption on every insurance policy I’ve ever taken
 

TheEdge

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As the bomb was an act of war, I can see most house insurance companies using that excuse to get out of paying out too. Act of war has been an exemption on every insurance policy I’ve ever taken

Would it count as an act of war? The dropping of the bomb was obviously an act of war but that act did no damage. Any damage was caused by emergency services dealing the situation 80 years later.

I wonder if it was the explosive in the bomb going off, or was it the bomb being blown apart (and not going off?)

From the videos I've seen that looks like a full detonation of the bomb but very much tempered by the pile of sand its been buried under.
 
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JN114

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Hope @Cowley was ok!!!!!!! Saw the footage of the bomb being blown up.

Did they say what size of bomb it was?

Reported to be a “Sprengbombe Cylindrisch 1000” high explosive Weapon, overall weight in excess of 1000kg (2200lb) of which up to 620kg is the high explosive material; typically Amatol and TNT in a 6:4 mix.
 

Cowley

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Hope @Cowley was ok!!!!!!! Saw the footage of the bomb being blown up.

Did they say what size of bomb it was?

All good :).
I just had to drop one of the girls off to work and the cordon was still in place, I’ve also just realised that I know a family that live in the estate in the background of the photo here, going to try and get hold of them later and see if there was any damage to the houses.

0E4C180C-4DF2-49D1-8C48-386F33806A7D.jpeg
 
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