Preview

A total contrast in DMU front ends. On the right is a Gloucester-built Cross Country 3 car Class 119 unit (Set P583 - 51069, 59428, 51097) of the WR, adjacent to the unmistakeable shape of a narrow Class 202 Hastings line SR unit, which is absorbing the interest of young spotters� It is as if the Brute is keeping it caged until the GW can get rid of it back to its home territory� The WR train has arrived as a service from Barnstaple, which was substantially part of the SR main-line to and from Plymouth until Dr Beeching had his way, and in the eyes of many should be reinstated as such.

In the early 1970s Western D1028 ‘Western Hussar’ strikes out south from Exeter St Davids with a West of England express which consists of the usual rake of Mark 2 stock and a Full Brake (BG)� The bracket-signal gantry is remarkable and sadly no longer with us� In the far distance on the right can just be made out the point where the freight spur line to Exeter City Basin diverges. At this time this was still a thriving and busy freight terminal – albeit of the type of which British Rail was very anxious to rid itself�

For a period, in the early 1970s, the withdrawn D63XX loco duties in the West Country were largely taken over by Class 25 Sulzer Type 2s. Here numbers 7575 (later 25225) and 7624 (later 25274) wait one Sunday morning to go off-shed at Laira for work. Their reign in Devon and Cornwall was short. I am not certain how it was possible to control a diesel locomotive at 2mph� Most likely no-one ever checked�

The motive-power depot at Laira, Plymouth on a cold, wet, Saturday morning on 24th March 1973� Two Western Class 52 diesel hydraulics are stabled awaiting their next turns of duty whilst, in the far background, a Class 31 Brush Type 2 is a harbinger of what is yet to come on the WR� After a plea on social media we believe that the front Western is D1062 ‘Western Courier’ which had undergone some fitter’s attention. The Class 31 in the background may be 5827, in green livery, which was allocated to Laira for crew training purposes around this time, and may have been the first Class 31 to reach Cornwall in June of the same year.

An interesting assortment of vehicles and locomotives is at rest at the rear of Laira MPD on Saturday March 24th 1973. Clustered around the lifting gear are a Class 03 204hp shunter number D2128 (later 03128), which would probably have been used on the tight curves of the various port and harbour lines around Plymouth Dockyard and Friary ex-LSW station. In the background are a Class 08 350hp shunter (possibly D4129) and a Sulzer Type 2 Class 25.

Sitting outside Laira Motive Power Depot’s maintenance shed on March 24th 1973 is Peak Class 45 number 137 named ‘The Cheshire Regiment’. When the digital age caught up with it, it was renumbered 45014 under TOPS� For many years these locos were dependable and successful motive power for the majority of West and North passenger workings, but sadly long life was not to be for 137 as it was involved in a fatal collision with Class 31 31436 at Chinley on 9th March 1986 and scrapped forthwith. 45014 had been taking 47334 to Buxton MPD to work stone traffic the following day, when a complete power failure caused signal failures in the Chinley area.When emergency power was restored some track circuits failed to operate correctly and 31436 hauling 1M42 from Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly was routed wrong line at Chinley East Junction and hit the stationary 45 and 47 at 30mph� Both 45014 and 31436 were scrapped and tragically the Class 31 driver was killed�

Early on a cold April Saturday morning in 1974 at Plymouth North Road station the first semi-fast of the day prepares to set off for Penzance conveying passengers from the night’s sleeper from Paddington who didn’t want to be decanted at stops like Liskeard before it was light, as it was possible to sleep a little longer in the car that was detached here. By this time the numbers of Western Class 52s were dwindling rapidly, but this one (D1025

‘Western Guardsman’) being inspected by my father seemed to be very sound with its steam-heat boiler in full working order – essential as it was before 07.00am and a raw day was in prospect. This ex GWR station, completely rebuilt in the 1960s, was called North Road to distinguish it from the Southern’s Friary terminus, but since the closure of the latter the suffix was dropped, leaving it simply as Plymouth�

It is low tide at Saltash as the first passenger train of the day from Penzance, on a Sunday morning in 1973, proceeds cautiously towards journey’s end at Plymouth over Brunel’s magnificent Saltash Bridge. Consisting of one of the earlier Swindon-built Cross Country Class 119 DMU sets, the train faces the rare sight of a Ford Zodiac Mark 4 Estate Car by Abbot’s of Farnham�

Withdrawals of the Western class 52 diesel hydraulics were well under way by the time this shot was taken, as we now view the rear of the train seen in the previous photograph as it snakes out of St Budeaux Ferry Road with the Penzance to Kensington milk train� It has just passed over the Saltash Tamar bridge and will soon be clattering over the junction with the erstwhile Southern ‘Withered Arm’ line that used to run to Exeter St Davids via Okehampton, but by this time had long been cut back to Bere Alston. Note the short goods line to Keyham on the right, one of many in the Plymouth area when the Royal Navy Dockyards were rail-served.

Some idea of the curvature and gradient profile of the Great Western main line west of Plymouth can be formed from this shot of a Class 50 approaching Liskeard with the 12�25pm 1A45 Penzance to London Paddington express� Note how the buffer stop at the end of the level engineer’s siding is virtually at the same height as the locomotive’s roof�

In the late 1960s the passenger service on the Falmouth branch was cut back to terminate at this basic station in the town and the crew are changing ends ready to head back to Truro. At the time this shot was taken it was called Falmouth, in 1975 it was renamed The Dell and then, in 1989, it was renamed again to Falmouth Town when the line was reopened, beyond this picture, to its original terminus and probably because no-one could fathom where its former name actually represented� Despite the infrastructure being ‘new’, the reason it doesn’t look that way is because the WR Civil Engineers constructed it of salvaged materials from previously closed stations. The Laira based Class 119 DMU is set LA509 (51079, 59437, 51107) and dates the photo as 1974/5, before the set was transferred to Reading.

Next stop Hayle � The morning stopper from Penzance to Plymouth draws to a halt and picks up custom at St Erth� In a world of Gloucester and Swindon-built rolling stock, unusually it is formed of a Metropolitan Cammell three car DMU instead of the usual Cross Country set. The Class 101 DMU (Set P800 - 51445, 59549, 51515) was transferred from Hamilton (Scotland) to Laira on 25th May 1974, and the set is seen here some time in the Autumn/Spring of 1974/5.

A shunt move is being undertaken at St Erth and a brake van has been left on the up main line behind the Class 50, which is probably moving towards the up yard adjacent to the St Ives branch platform� It is early on a Saturday morning and from the total lack of custom on the platforms it is a timetabled move between passenger trains�