Great Western Coffee Shop

I live in Kingskerswell just down from Aller Junction. Today at lunch time I saw a double headed diesel train going towards Paignton/Dartmouth with a mixture of different liveried coaches. I was aware of this special.
However 15 minutes ago I saw heading towards Newton Abbot, a doubled headed diesel train with 11 coaches all in chocolate and cream and looking magnificent in the poor weather. Does anybody know who ran this train and where I could obtain further information about it?

check out taunton trains dot com

It's the Northern Belle, operated by DRS (direct rail services).

Thanks for the information. Taunton photo was excellent. Must start saving my pennies, quite fancy a trip on the Northern Belle now having visited the website.

Steam tour currently en route to Kingswear via Westbury. No diesel assistance apparently.
RTT times:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U53260/2015/10/24//advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U53261/2015/10/24//advanced

Interesting to look at RTT which describes it as diesel hauled, top speed 95 mph, and unadvertised.  I think three pinches of salt are required!

RTT doesn't have "steam" in it's vocabulary! Also the first part of the outward leg (Slough - to Westbury) was diesel-hauled (95mph limit), whereas Britannia is limited to 75mph.

I wasn't at the Station to see it, but heard from my house in Thatcham the definite sound of a steam whistle about 45 mins ago..

Looking at the timings on the RTT links below, it must be something else?

I was on this train. It was definitely Steam hauled all the way from Westbury to Kingswear and back..
The Slough to Westbury section was diesel.. It left Reading at 7.19 and I think the Steam engine went earlier from Southall to Westbury to wait for us there..

The steam railway and it's associated ferries expect to start running on the 7 July 2020 with reduced capacity on the trains but more services running. They usually run more in the summer anyway. They have a lot of paid staff.

This is good news for Torbay after the closure of Living Coasts. Paignton Zoo opens to the general public on 8 July. Kent's Cavern 11 July, Model village and Bygones 4 July.

The steam trains have been running today. Testing I suppose? Their website says they are opening Monday.

Today's Telegraph:

(https://i.ibb.co/Sd7qYVq/DSR.png) (https://ibb.co/k96YbqY)

Paignton is packed and the Steam railway is doing a roaring trade as is the putting green.

https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/full-steam-ahead-as-paignton-kingswear-railway-announces-start-date/

The railway and associated ferry due to restart again on Tuesday 13 April 2021.

A train was running a week ago on a test run and more are planned. This railway did not get any grants, that I could see, like the South Devon Railway. Perhaps, again I suppose, they have staff furloughed.

Nice one in the Telegraph (again) on Monday.

(https://i.postimg.cc/XJVMRmZH/Screenshot-2021-03-19-223340.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/v1SS9Ptf)

Monday 2nd August about the difficulities of the Covid restrictions on the company,
The programme is available for approx 18:00pm on tuesday.

railway
celebrating Fostering in the region
film footage on wednesdays BBC spotlight local news approx 18:48pm

New for this year is Saphos Tours using locomotives from the West Someset Railway from Taunton to Kingswear.
11 June 2022 was Britannia. Tour from Solihull. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAD43L_sutk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAD43L_sutk)
18 June 2022 was Braunton. Tour from Slough.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nji9Kxh_6q8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nji9Kxh_6q8)
At least four more in July.

spotlight local news at 18:30pm friday night,availble to view for 24 hours only

And in a more permanent form on the BBC Website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65633040

They don't have that many volunteers, but a lot of paid employees, albeit part time. Maybe the way to run a heritage line.

I have a friend who works in a kiosk at Dartmouth and it suits him fine as he was also doing shifts at the local SPAR shop.

It’s a lovely line, but with the closure of Churston station and the inflexibility of ticketing it has become a pure tourist ride.

I really hope other heritage railways don’t have to follow their example.

Really wishing it was simply a part of the national network, with a sort of 'Oxford Parkway' station and bus links serving Brixham and some sort of 'Only in Dartmouth would this happen' bus link taking people to the ferry.

Mark

Can we update the subject line to refer to Dartmouth Railway please?....

Yes.

Agree entirely. Being fussy, it's not in my view even a particularly good heritage railway, mostly using former 1960s DMU trailer cars painted in a pseudo-heritage style. I see Greenway Halt is also no longer served; I've used that previously to visit Agatha Christie's house which made for a great day out.

On the other hand they're making a go of it so perhaps I should just accept that their approach works for some people.

I'm not the "Mr Jones" quoted, but, having had experience in this area, I can confirm how barmy the idea really is.  Didn't seem to quite so complicated with compliance issues back in the 1970s, though.

I was a Dart Valley Ry volunteer, and had a few free rides with 4555 and some auto trailers as timing runs before the tourist railway operation started in 1973.  And I was selling tickets at Goodrington Sands Halt on the first day of operation.  It was actually busy.  The ticket office had obviously not been unlocked and used for several years, and the racks were full of tickets to several destinations on the national network

Goodrington Sands, Churston and Greenway Halt are all closed throughout the 2023 timetable, at https://www.dartmouthrailriver.co.uk/docs/train-timetable.pdf which states "there are no intermediate stops".  Sure, that approach probably works for enough people for the operation to be a good business, and if that's the intent of the owners I suppose that is their call. I continue to question with a handful of "heritage" lines whether it would be practical for the line to serve as both a tourist and a public transport provider, and this is one of that handful.

The 120 bus provides the service Paignton to Kingwear in 22 minutes with a morning and return service to South Devon College.

https://bustimes.org/services/120-paignton-bus-station-kingswear-banjo (https://bustimes.org/services/120-paignton-bus-station-kingswear-banjo)

The main disadvantage is the uphill walk from the ferry to the banjo. Top of a double decker and the route is quite hairy.