The Flying Visit

Bit of a railway theme this week starting with a couple of lovely shots of The Flying Scotsman from Mark Bailey:

I popped out yesterday evening to capture it heading back, firstly approaching Keyham station at 1859, and then at Cot Hill at 1933.  The lighting conditions were tricky, shooting into a low sun and with lots of shadow.  For the latter shot I've produced a monochrome image to show the head of steam to maximum effect.

© Mark Bailey

Then we round off with another excellent video from SteamClips

"We pick up the action as 60103 tackles Tigley and Rattery Banks in close –up due to the poor visibility. The local farmer has set up a grandstand with a trailer, a lovely gesture for the assembled crowd at this popular spot. On then to even larger crowds gathered at Saltash Station where Network Rail staff are in attendance to keep everyone “safe”. Thoughtfully local control allowed the Plymouth bound service train, which would have blocked the “up” platform, to run ahead of schedule and leave the view clear for everyone, another nice touch! In improving visibility “Scotsman” crosses Brunel’s famous bridge over the Tamar and on in to Cornwall as we film amid an excited throng. However if we are talking: “crowds”, the St Blazey Roundhouse and Turntable was definitely the place to be as all of Cornwall, it seemed, came out to see the much anticipated restored “Grade 2 listed” turntable in action again and what better steam locomotive to inaugurate it than the nation's favourite ? The whole event became a jamboree with cheers, applause, local dignitaries, restoration teams receiving much official acclaim and the second camera remotely controlled on a 10 foot pole recording the only uninterrupted view from the public side of the fence!! I have to admit that 60103 looked absolutely splendid mounted on the newly painted turntable. For the final shots of the day we chose the climb through Bodmin Parkway, taking a chance with the stopping “down” service train and the Glynn valley where the line is rapidly disappearing behind the growing forestry as a strong gusty breeze blows but I think we just about got away with it! "

If you are into steam then do pop along to The SteamClips YouTube channel with lots of excellent videos...

Timetables and a Train

It has been a very quiet week…Click on the licence number for the full route history for each route with timetables and maps available for your viewing pleasure.

Timetables changing this week

Nicholas Eastwood (Royal Buses)

Daily service timetable from 30th April to 14 May 2023

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1086607.019	44	St Ives, Royal Square	Trevalgan Touring Park	30-Apr-2023	Timetable variation

Stagecoach Devon Ltd

This looks like a correction to me as the previous timetable introduced in April added an hour to the journey time on most departures. This new timetable seems to remove all that extra time!

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1020951.281	FALCON	Plymouth Bus Station	Bristol, Cabot Circus	01-May-2023	Punctuality Changes to Improve reliability

Torbay Community Development Trust

This one has not appeared in these pages before – they only appear in N&P and not my daily download!

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
B1627	61	Torquay, Old Paignton Road	Torquay, Castle Circus	01-May-2023	TO AMEND TIMETABLE

Click on the licence number for the full route history for each route with timetables and maps available for your viewing pleasure.

Hopefully will have more time for a few most posts this coming week…

In the meantime there was a special visitor to Devon & Cornwall today….

Steaming through the westcountry

Every year the Railway Touring Company operate a railtour around the UK commencing in London, travelling to Cornwall in the far West and to the North of Scotland, before returning to London.  The Great Britain IX tour in 2016 journeyed for 9 days being primarily steam-hauled throughout which is quite an achievement on the modern rail network.  The Westcountry legs of the journey from London Victoria to Plymouth on Tue 26 Apr and from Penzance to Bristol on Wed 27 Apr were hauled by LMS Royal Scot Class 6100 'Royal Scot’ - albeit with a diesel on the rear due to the failure of the second steam locomotive originally planned.  In fact the scheduled locomotives changed several times in the months leading up to the tour.

The first picture shows the westbound train near South Brent and the second picture the eastbound train making a spirited ascent of the 1 in 42 Hemerdon bank near Plympton, Plymouth.

Both © Barry Jones

 

Thanks to Barry for the excellent shots!

Full Steam, to Bodmin

Not had much rail news here recently so I thought this might be of interest to many of you...
AFTER months of behind the scenes hard work and storm damage delays, the Bodmin And Wenford Railway and First Great Western in association with the Plymouth based Devon And Cornwall Rail Partnership were able to announce their ground breaking inclusive ticketing deal. Believed to be the first such arrangement between a heritage railway and a national railway company, passengers can now travel from any station in Cornwall and Plymouth through to Bodmin General and Boscarne Junction and return for just £12 (Seniors £11, Children £6).
In effect travel on the mainline is free. From any station in Devon (as far apart as Barnstaple and Exmouth, Tiverton and Paignton) the fare is a very good value £20 (Seniors £19, Children £10).
THIS IS THE WESTCOUNTRY Photo by Dennyboy (creative commons)

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Full Steam Ahead

Thanks to Dave Godley I can give you advance notice of a steam train into Plymouth this coming weekend Saturday 22nd October

The Devonian provides an opportunity for a very special day out travelling by train from Dorset and Hampshire to Devon. The special train will be hauled from Westbury to Plymouth and back to Westbury by two steam locomotives, Britannia Class No.70013 Oliver Cromwell and Castle class No. 5029 Nunney Castle.

Plymouth
13:29 (Arrive)
16:29 (Depart)

More details on the trip can be found here

70013 Oliver Cromwell is a British Railways standard class 7 (also known as the Britannia class) preserved steam locomotive. The locomotive is notable as one of the four steam locomotives which worked the last steam railtour on British Railways (BR) in 1968 before the introduction of a steam ban.

Creative Commons licensed flickr photo shared by Smudge9000
5029 Nunney Castle is a preserved GWR 4073 Class steam locomotive, built at Swindon in May 1934.

Creative Commons licensed flickr photo shared by Crowcombe Al

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Related Links

• Laira 1965 Plymothian Transit 31 January 2011
• Steaming in Plymouth Plymothian Transit 27 September 2010
• Oliver Cromwell Plymothian Transit 8 April 2009
• Full steam for Saltash Plymothian Transit 20 January 2009

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The Great Britain

A real treat today with this wonderful shot of The Great Britain IV Excursion arriving at Plymouth on the 23rd April. ©Laura:0)
Thanks to Laura for permission to use her photo. Click the link below to see more of her photos including a few from the Plym Valley Railway.

If you are interested the Royal Duchy excursion is passing through Plymouth station on 30th April at 14:42pm click here for more information.

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• Laura:0) Photostream Flickr

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Steaming in Plymouth

I missed it myself but there was steam action in Plymouth this weekend. I present a couple of videos of the event from YouTube:
Ashthemainman2010
THE TAMAR DEVONIAN Saturday 25 September 2010 GWR King Class 4-6-0 no 6024 King Edward I LNER A1 Class 4-6-2 no 60163 Tornado.

Danphi11ips
60163 and 6024 pass Powderham and arrive, depart and run around Plymouth "The Tamar Devonian" 25/09/10 2 x class 66 included
There are plenty more on You Tube so take some time to explore!

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Oliver Cromwell

" the imposing 70013 Oliver Cromwell was completed in 1951 ” dbg Elsewhere... Swimming Others... TGP goes to the museum Toms odd bits

©Smudge 9000 (Flickr under Creative Commons) The Great Britain II tour arrived at Plymouth station hauled by the stunning Oliver Cromwell and Nunney Castle engines. Lucky passengers on board the scenic Penzance-Bristol trip had the chance to sample dazzling views over St Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, before crossing Brunel's impressive Royal Albert Bridge, with its superb views over the Tamar estuary. A British Railways Standard Class 7, the imposing 70013 Oliver Cromwell was completed in 1951 and was one of just four locomotives to work the last steam rail tour before the 1968 steam ban. This is Plymouth Not seen any local pictures of this event yet, but did find this stunning shot of the train by Smudge 9000. As always I encourage you to view more of his photos here

Full Steam for Saltash

I have spent most of what little spare time I have had this evening searching for and downloading videos from YouTube for my son Zak to watch on his PSP. I must admit I actually enjoyed just spending time watching videos rather than any proper work! One that just had to be shared tonight from ‘Phoben' Brilliant!

Half price for steam train 'feast

 
(Photo from Ahisgett (Flickr  under Creative commons) More photos and video here)

HALF-PRICE fares are being offered on the award-winning South Devon Railway on the weekend of Saturday November 1 and Sunday November 2. It marks the end of the railway's 17th successful summer season of running steam trains

More details here on their own web site.

The Duke

Thanks to Tom Pearce for supplying these excellent photos of 71000 Duke of Gloucester during its visit this last weekend. Sadly I missed it this time round.

it was around  40 min late and according to the train manager  was causing lots of problems with the trains that were behind it according to the man I was standing next to the train stalled (i do not know how )around Newton Abbott and had to be rescued by a shunter.

 

Thanks again Tom!

Steam train in Plymouth

Sunday 4 May 2008
BR Class 8P 4-6-2 no 71000 Duke of Gloucester
TIMES

Steam hauled: Bristol-Plymouth-Bristol

 

Plymouth Friary arrive 15:06 Depart 15:21

Plymouth Station arrive 15:33

Plymouth Station depart17:42

Thanks to Dave Godley for pointing to this one

Full timetable here

Princess Elizabeth

I couldnt wait to take my son into town to see this one. It was his first steam train close up and he loved it! 6201 makes an impressive sight sitting on Plymouth Station.
An interesting shot below - 2 icons of British Railways - One has worn rather better than the other!

Princess Elizabeth

If you pop down to Plymouth Station this coming Saturday you could be in for a treat...

The Railway Touring Company’s steam excursion from London to Plymouth featuring Princess Royal Class locomotive 46201 Princess Elizabeth from Bristol to Plymouth and back.

It is due to arrive at 13:30 and depart at 16:30. These times are liable to change of course.
Full details are here and its probably worth checking before making a trip to see it - this trip was actually postponed at short notice from July.

Fowey Steam Pony

Just catching up with events over the passed few days which may be of interest to the Plymothian Transit readers.

11:50 - 30 May 2006
The Fowey Pony steamed into Plymouth yesterday on a whistle stop tour of Devon and Cornwall. The BR Standard Four steam locomotive, number 76079, got train spotters excited as it chugged into Plymouth Station in the afternoon and then left for Fowey in Cornwall. Andy State, director of the company behind the tour, Pastime Rail, said: "The locomotive went from Plymouth, over the River Tamar and took the highly scenic Fowey branch yesterday. It's all part of a programme to bring steam trains to parts of Devon and Cornwall which haven't seen them for a long time."

It sounds like a great trip and I wished I had known about it at the time as I know my young son would have loved to have seen it. Whilst searching for info about this trip I cam across UKSteam.Info which gives all known details of steam train trips on mainline tracks so maybe now I will find out in advance!

A search on Fotopic gives plenty of photos of the train as various locations so for your viewing pleasure try these links

Forder, Hemerdon Bank,
Excellent shot of the train at Crewe back in May.