Preview

On 4th December 1976 an ambitious railtour was run to cover West Cornwall branches and was given the title ‘Western China Clay’ for obvious reasons. In order to cover Falmouth, Carne Point and Newquay in one day, departure from Paddington was 00.35am, with a booked 45-minute rest stop at Bristol Temple Meads. During this stop, in the fog at 03.00am standing at an adjacent platform, was a very down-at-heel Western Class 52 1010 ‘Western Campaigner’ and I thought that the combination of the loco’s condition, the time of night and weather together with its swirling exhaust and the small amount of available light encapsulated British Rail’s attitude to hydraulic diesels at the time � 1010 was HFR (Home For Repair) on the 4V03 21�20pm Birmingham Curzon Street-Plymouth parcels, which it worked from Bristol� She had failed at Bristol after working 1V90 13�21pm Liverpool- Plymouth from Gloucester to Bristol on the 3rd� She then underwent maintenance to an engine fault on Bath Road before going home on the 4V03. After arrival at Plymouth she went to Laira until the 8th December for engine repairs.

Bristol’s Temple Meads station was originally a terminus designed by Brunel when the railway was completed from London in the 1840s� The main curving station we know today came much later. This shot is of a WR Cross Country Class 119 DMU (set B571 - 51052, 59292,51080) in the bay platform situated on part of the trackbed of the original terminus which would have been behind it� The train is a service for the Severn Beach branch�

In addition to loose-coupled freight trains, the Class 2, short loco-hauled passenger train is now a sight consigned to history� Waiting for departure time at Bristol Temple Meads is one of these trains, believed to be the 15.42pm to Westbury. Hymek D7009 awaits departure on a Saturday afternoon in 1972 and draws a collection of spotters queuing to ‘cab’ the loco whilst they still can.

At Westbury station on the WR’s Berks and Hants line, Hymek Type 3 Class 35 D7009 thrums away to itself having just arrived with the 15.42pm ex Bristol on a Saturday afternoon in 1972� Stabled in the right background, awaiting the resumption of freight services on Monday morning are several Brush Type 4 Class 47s with extensive yards on both sides of the running lines� The line to Salisbury curves away to the left in the far background, whilst ahead takes trains to the main Berks and Hants cut-off line heading west. Despite the title of the line, it never actually goes into Hampshire at all, being an early 20th century GWR marketing man’s idea of a ‘romantic’ name.

The Swindon-built Cross Country Class 120 DMUs were designed with distinctive two-window front-ends that, whether deliberate or not, incorporated a retro, GWR railcar look� This (Set 530 - 51578, 59580, 51587) one is waiting time at Bristol Temple Meads before heading south to Weston-super-Mare on a Saturday afternoon. In the right background, parcels GUVs and CCTs are waiting in the part of the station that was given the fictional title of Mallingford at the end of the 1953 comedy film ‘Titfield Thunderbolt’, starring John Gregson and Stanley Holloway, after the train had won its race with the motor-coach.

A Crompton Class 33 Type 3 6516 (later 33104) of the Southern Region has arrived at Exeter St Davids, journey’s end for this train from London Waterloo that has travelled via Salisbury and the erstwhile LSWR main-line. It seems it needs two platform staff to officiate over the uncoupling of the locomotive, after which it will run around its train of Mark 1 stock, ready for a return to London. When the SR line ran through to Plymouth via Okehampton it was always said that at St Davids there could be two trains, SR and WR, to that town in adjacent platforms but each facing in opposite directions�

A dank day at Exeter St. Davids stabling point sees two locomotives possibly discussing their ever-shortening future existence � The opposite ends of two Western Class 52s pose with D1041 ‘Western Prince’ on the right displaying its very Great Western Region cast number plate and making it clear just how handsome the Westerns were � The locomotive on the left is D1012 ‘Western Firebrand’. Early 1960s industrial design at its best perhaps, especially when you note the detail, such as the way the steps, doors, doorhandles and vertical grabhandles were integrated into the body sides� No wonder so many have been preserved� Of these two, D1041 now resides at the East Lancs Railway.

A Crompton Type 3 Class 33, having arrived at Exeter from Waterloo, has stabled its train of Mark 1 coaches in the sidings for servicing before its return journey� The SR loco makes a fine juxtaposition with the GW drop-arm semaphore signal and all the railway ‘furniture’, clutter and Victoriana such as the steam-age water-crane �

A regional boundary change took place in 1967 and west of Salisbury the SR lost its line to Exeter to the WR. From pathetic beginnings of three-car suburban DMUs with no toilets replacing some Pacific-hauled passenger trains on the route, the service became one of the most varied on BR over time. Class 42/3 Warships powered most services for many years, before giving way to Crompton Class 33s as in the picture, although the stock was supplied by the WR� Later, these trains enjoyed Class 50 haulage under the umbrella of Network South East, before inevitably succumbing to DMUs in the shape of Class 158/9s.

Exeter loco stabling point on a damp Monday morning (we think 26th March 1973) sees the two Western Class 52s (including D1041) seen earlier in typical later-life uncared-for external condition, along with an equally unkempt Class 08 D3797 (later 08630) sharing space with two Sulzer Type 2 Class 25s and a Class 08 waiting for their next duties� Remarkably, there are also a Brush Type 4 Class 47, a Class 35 Hymek, another 08 pilot and a Peak Class 45� One wonders what could have been the traffic requirements for all these locomotives.

Hastings diesel multiple unit number 1015 cautiously runs down the steep gradient between Exeter Central and St Davids as it arrives at journey’s end. This was a regular working for one of these units (or a sister Class 203) between 1972 and 1977, being the Saturday Brighton-Southampton-Exeter service and return� The set is still in its full glory of having all six vehicles intact, including the FK, which has separate doors to each first-class compartment. As can be clearly seen, it is no surprise that the Southern had powerful banking engines stationed here in steam days to assist up trains around the tight corner and up the steep rise to Central station�

Exeter St Davids station in 1972 and this is not a special, but a regular working. Hastings Class 202 DEMU 1015 stands, waiting to start its return run, in one of the platforms, having arrived as seen earlier as the regular Saturdays only Brighton – Exeter service.This train was what was left of the original Plymouth Friary to Brighton daily service that ran via Launceston and Okehampton�

Exeter St Davids in the early 1970s and a wet Saturday morning witnesses a Southern Region Crompton Class 33 Type 3 adjacent to Peak Class 45 number 72 (later 45050)� The former has arrived from London Waterloo via Salisbury and the South Western main line and has just run around its train and reattached ready for the return run to the metropolis� The Peak is at the head of the 1V72 Bradford to Penzance North and West express, or Cross Country as it is now described, having reached Exeter via the Midland’s Derby to Bristol main line and the Lickey Incline.