South Devon Railway 1960s weekend 25/05/15
Posted on: 12/06/15
Updated on: 12/06/15
The South Devon Railway turned the clock back to the 1960s over the May bank holiday weekend in their usual delightful style. The event seemed to be a great success, with good numbers of visitors, a well-thought out timetable and a good variety of locomotives.
Watch the video on YouTube (15 minutes)
Still photos (11 photos)
Updated on: 12/06/15
The South Devon Railway turned the clock back to the 1960s over the May bank holiday weekend in their usual delightful style. The event seemed to be a great success, with good numbers of visitors, a well-thought out timetable and a good variety of locomotives.
Watch the video on YouTube (15 minutes)
Still photos (11 photos)
Locomotives
It was good to see sole-surviving 'Collett Goods' No:3205 in action again and she performed very well. Also in operation was pannier No:6412. This loco returned to steam this year and was formerly based on the West Somerset Railway. It's now back 'home' on the Buckfastleigh line, where she was originally preserved and took the re-opening train. Over the weekend the 0-6-0PT was doing the kind of work it was designed for, shuttling to and fro with an auto-trailer. Riding in one of these is always a great experience and really adds to the SDR's branch line atmosphere. Appropriately for a 1960s themed event, the auto-train's replacement, a diesel railcar, was also running. These also offer a unique experience and provide a very different view of the line. Finally, another pannier tank, L92 was in steam over the weekend. Although a London Transport liveried loco looks a bit out of place in Devon, L92 was in the right livery for the 1960s. The pannier was sold to London Transport in 1958 and remained in service until 1969.
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Above: 'change over years' - the diesel railcar and No:3205 both await their next duties at Buckfastleigh.
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The London Transport pannier tanks were mostly used to haul engineers trains, so it was rather appropriate that on the day I visited, L92 got a turn on the goods train. The other locomotive in service was BR green liveried Class 25 D7612, which provided some lovely scenes reminiscent of the 'change over years' between steam and diesel traction.
Timetable
The well thought out timetable saw two trains running the full length of the line with the auto train and diesel railcar filling in with shuttle services from either end of the line to Staverton, where there was also a real ale festival. The timetable required a lot of shunting around at Staverton to enable the intensive service. Seeing trains shunting off into the loop to allow another train in made me think of the shunting required on small model railway layouts! Whoever said being involved in preserved railways was just like playing with trains!
Left: No:6412 waits with the auto-train at Totnes Littlehempstead.
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Conclusion
This was a lovely event, with a good timetable, great locomotives and friendly volunteers. Best of all, it was very good value for money as standard fares applied. Highly recommended! I have said this here before about other SDR events, but it is a great reminder that Britain's railway history is about more than just the 'Flying Scotsman' and other glamorous expresses!
I hope the video captures something of the lovely atmosphere of the event and you enjoy it as much as I did filming and producing it!
Watch the video on YouTube (15 minutes)
Still photos (11 photos)
I hope the video captures something of the lovely atmosphere of the event and you enjoy it as much as I did filming and producing it!
Watch the video on YouTube (15 minutes)
Still photos (11 photos)