Railways2

The Darlaston Family Web Pages

This Web Page is Railways2.

detail changes to this page: 13^th July 2008

N.B.: Photographs may take a while to download!

All photographs © Robert Darlaston

Welcome to my Railway Pages

Page 2: Mid-Wales and the West of England

Contents of this page:

1: A Mid-Wales Journey in July 1962 (Newport – Talyllyn Junction – Three Cocks Junction – Moat Lane Junction – Aberystwyth

Carmarthen – Swansea – Neath - Brecon - Hereford)

2: West of England Wanderings, photographed 1957 - 1962 including the Somerset and Dorset Joint line; Tiverton Junction – Hemyock branch; Morebath Junction and the Exe Valley, Exeter – Kingswear; Looe, Helston and Launceston branches; Wenford branch; Halwill Junction to Barnstaple via Petrockstow and Watergate;

My other railway pages can be accessed by clicking on the links below:

Railways.htm (Photographs taken in the 1950s, train spotting at Birmingham Snow Hill in 1953, and scenes in the West Midlands and South Wales 1953 – 1962)

Railways3.htm (the Scottish Highlands, 1959 and 1961; also the Isle of Man in 1965)

Railways4.htm (Birmingham area LMR; glimpses of Boston, Peterborough, and Lincoln; GWR lines in North Wales; a few shots on the Southern: all 1961-1963)

Railways5.htm (the decline of steam, including the Southampton line, Birmingham GW, North Wales, Stroud Valley and Manchester Victoria: 1964 -1968)

Railways50yr.htm (a selection of photos taken about fifty years ago, mostly in the West Midlands and Wales, with a few from the South and West of England).

If our Home Page is not listed to the left of this page, it may be accessed here: www.robertdarlaston.co.uk

A Mid-Wales Journey in July 1962

Newport – Talyllyn Junction – Three Cocks Junction –Moat Lane Junction,

then Neath – Brecon -Hereford

Four railways converged on Brecon: the lines from Newport in the south-east, from Hereford in the east, from Moat Lane Junction (on the Cambrian main line to Aberystwyth) in the north, and from Neath in the south-west. They offered slow but delightful journeys through picturesque but sparsely populated country and all four were listed for closure in 1962. I made a pilgrimage to all four over two days, 13^th and 14^th July 1962, when most of the pictures below were taken.

I travelled by the 8.10 Cardiff train from Birmingham Snow Hill as far as Newport where I changed to the 11.15 to Brecon. After climbing through the mining valleys, passing Bedwas, Bargoed and Dowlais, the line traversed spectacular scenery to cross the Brecon Beacons, before dropping down to the Usk Valley at Talyllyn Junction. There I took the Mid-Wales line train which had left Brecon at 1.20, closely following the upper reaches of the Wye through Builth before calling at Llanidloes en route to Moat Lane Junction. Here I changed to the Cambrian Coast Express. That train had left Paddington at 11.10, when I had been at Newport, and I travelled through to Aberystwyth. After a night there, I travelled on the remote line through Tregaron and Pencader to Carmarthen and eventually via Swansea to Neath. Here I changed to the Riverside station for the 4.10 to Brecon, again crossing the Brecon Beacons, this time above Craig-y-Nos. Brecon station was busy at 6.0 pm on a Saturday as I changed to the Hereford train before the final leg of my journey back to Birmingham Snow Hill, reached at 10.10 pm.

2280 at Newport with 11.15 to Brecon 2280 pauses by a B&MR somersault signal at Bedwas

August 1960: 12.10 pm Brecon – Newport train on the climb from Talybont to Torpantau

46503 waits at Talyllyn Jc with the 1.20 Brecon – Moat Lane Junction

1962: Three Cocks Junction with a train of tank wagons from Teeside to Dowlais.

46511 approaches Llanstephan (Radnor) Halt with the 1.20 Brecon – Moat Lane Junction in August 1962

Afon Marteg seen from the train, looking towards Builth 7800 arrives at Moat Lane with an Aberystwyth – Oswestry train

Neath Riverside: a main line train passes by 3687 at Colbren Jc with 4.10 Neath Riverside – Brecon train

Brecon station: trains to Neath (left), Newport, and Hereford (in bay)

3706 at Brecon with a train for Neath Riverside: Brecon Beacons in the background

2: West of England Wanderings, photographed 1957 - 62

including

the Somerset and Dorset Joint line; Tiverton Junction – Hemyock branch; Morebath Junction and the Exe Valley; Exeter – Kingswear;

Looe, Helston and Launceston branches; Wenford Bridge branch; Halwill Junction to Barnstaple via Petrockstow and Watergate.

West Country Travel souvenirs!

The Somerset and Dorset Joint line

This was a delightful cross-country route linking Bath with Bournemouth and with a branch from Highbridge joining at Evercreech Junction. At Templecombe the S&D crossed the LSWR main line from Waterloo to the west. My first journey on the line was a circular tour from Birmingham on 13^th May 1961. I left Snow Hill at 9.40 on the Cornishman, hauled by 7026 Tenby Castle,and changed at Bristol to a local train for Highbridge behind a GWR Hall.. There I joined the 2.20 pm for Templecombe via Glastonbury behind former Midland Railway 0-6-0 no 43682. I returned on a local as far as Cole, resuming my journey on the 3.40 pm Bournemouth West to Bristol which I left at Mangotsfield, catching the 7.25 pm Bristol – Newcastle Mail back to Birmingham New Street, reached at 9.40. The S&D sadly closed in 1966.

43682 pauses at Evercreech Junction with the 2.20 pm Highbridge to Templecombe.

34098 Templecombe arriving at the station of that name with the 3.5 pm Salisbury – Exeter local

The rural Somerset and Dorset line at its best: a 75xxx loco near Cole with the 3.20 Bath – Templecombe train.

Bath Green Park with a train newly arrived from Bournemouth West

Branch lines around Tiverton:

About midway between Taunton and Exeter the Great Western main line to Plymouth and Penzance passes through Tiverton Junction whence short branch lines ran (until closure in the 1960s) to Tiverton itself and to Hemyock. The latter was arguably the most rural by-way on British Rail. It twisted for seven miles through deep countryside to the village of Hemyock where a dairy supplied the milk traffic which then justified the line’s existence. The line was subject to a maximum speed of 15 mph which meant that trains were too slow to operate the dynamo to charge batteries, so the carriages remained gas-lit.

Tiverton Junction, looking north towards Taunton. No 1451 pulls away on to the Hemyock branch with the 1.40 train on 7^th September 1961, comprising an ex-Barry Railway gas-lit carriage.

1470 waits at Hemyock with the 2.45 back to Tiverton Junction. The dairy is in the background.

The gas light in the timber ceiling of the ex-Barry Railway carriage.

Two views from the Hemyock train, hauled by No 1466, showing the winding nature of the line.

In the first picture, the line curves to the right then swings sharply left on the shallow embankment which appears as a dark line to the right of the locomotive.

In the second picture, taken near Uffculme, No 1466 has seven tanks of milk bound for London, in addition to its usual single carriage.

A typical wayside Great Western halt: a 63xx locomotive leaves Morebath Junction Halt with a Barnstaple Junction – Taunton train on 12^th May 1962. The Exe Valley line diverged to the right and steam can be seen from a freight train waiting at the junction.

Another 14xx locomotive propels the Dulverton – Exeter St David’s auto train down the Exe Valley. Away from the confines of lines such as the Hemyock branch, these locomotives were capable of a surprising turn of speed, sometimes reaching 65 mph or more.

Locomotives at Exeter St David’s:

GWR rebuilt Star No 4037 The South Wales Borderers, originally built in 1910 and withdrawn in September 1962, two weeks after the photograph was taken. Its career of 52 years continuous service is probably unmatched by any other British express passenger locomotive. In that time, 4037 covered a total of 2,429,722 miles, again, almost certainly a record for a British locomotive.

31914, a Southern Railway W class 2-6-4T locomotive used for banking freight trains up the steeply graded line from St David’s to Exeter Central. These locomotives were built in 1931-2 and incorporated side tanks and certain other components from the River class 2-6-4Ts which were withdrawn after they had proved prone to derailment at speed.

The Great Western in South Devon:

5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe on the sea wall between Teignmouth and Dawlish with an up empty stock train from Plymouth

1463 at Churston with the auto train from Brixham on 5^th September 1958

7809 Childrey Manor, assisted by 4176, at Britannia Crossing with the 10.20 from Kingswear (in the background) to Liverpool Lime Street on 4^th September 1958.

(The line from Kingswear as far as Paignton is now a preserved steam railway)

4096 Highclere Castle approaches Kingswear with the down Torbay Express, 12 noon from Paddington on 3^rd September 1958.

Three Great Western branches in Cornwall:

The Looe branch remains open and is still a charming ride, but both the Launceston and Helston lines closed in the “Beeching” era.

5518 heads for Looe with the 12 noon from Liskeard on 14^th June 1961

Moorswater viaduct, carrying the main line to Penzance, can just be discerned in the distance.

5544 at Launceston with the 6.20 pm from Plymouth on 11^th May 1962.

This was the former London & South Western Railway station on the Halwill Junction – Wadebridge line. The GWR originally had a separate station, out of the picture to the left.

Helston, Britain’s most southerly station, with 5545 on the 4.10 pm to Gwinear Road.

Having headed west on the Great Western, we return east on the Southern:

The Wenford Bridge branch freight train behind LSWR 2-4-0T 30587 on 6^th June 1962.

Another shot of 30587 on the Wenford Bridge branch from Bodmin. 30587 and her two sister engines were built in 1874 and by 1962 were amongst the oldest locomotives still working on B.R. Two of the three, including 30587, have survived to be preserved.

31835 at Halwill Junction with the 8.41 Exeter Central – Plymouth. The buffer stops in the foreground are for the Torrington line bay platform: one of the sleepiest BR lines with only two trains a day (and not many more passengers).

An Ivatt class 2 2-6-2T pauses briefly at Petrockstow with the 10.38 Halwill Junction – Torrington train

Watergate Halt on the Torrington – Halwill Junction line:

No passengers to board or alight, so the guard waves ‘right away’ to the driver of Ivatt 2-6-2T 41310 on the 4.0 from Torrington on 3^rd September 1962.

A few moments later: 41310 crosses the B3227 as it pulls away from Watergate Halt

31874 near Mortehoe with a freight bound for Ilfracombe

Finally, a shot of 34019 Bideford crossing the Taw viaduct at Barnstaple with an Ilfracombe – Exeter Central train.