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with all the charter companys around these days i wonder if it could be possible to charter a dmu for the week to trial a service from okehampton to exeter central ( i would say axminster but not enough line capacity.

if it was well advertised i think people would use it and if it could show a profit in a week i think this would make a great case...

anyone else agree?

Well to start, name me a charter company with DMUs available.

Then, start dealing with Network Rail, the Rail Regulator, whoever owns the branch line etc.

It can be done as the Minehead Butlins trains showed last year, but it ain't easy, especially with no DMU stock available.

http://www.trainhire.co.uk/

there are more i cant find the link now but it had a list of available units and they deal with network rail and sort that out for you (its all included in the price)

http://www.angeltrains.co.uk/datasheets/Detail.aspx?ID=28

here we go

or if it was ran as a heritatige/commuter service this unit is railtrack registered what would it take to bring it upto modern safty standards to be used on the network? http://www.carservicesukltd.com/forhire.htm

ok mk1 stock would be very difficult to get going but not impossible the hurdles are starting to mount

I'm sorry, this is pie in the sky.

The Angel Trains units are not available for spot hire, they are in daily use.

The only Mk 1 MU stock in daily use operate on 3 routes which are completely self contained routes on which other trains do not operate, hence the exemption as they do not meet modern crashworthy standards. (Cardiff Bay, Aylesbury-Princes Risb'o and Lymington Branch)

If there were any available DMU's knocking around FGW would have snapped them up for reasons which are well documented on this forum.

doh....well there are locos and mk3's around

That becomes feasible, though whether economical could be of debate given the need to top and tail.

Having said all that, I do think it is a shame that several years after the Sunday services started ( I travelled on the very first day, more by accident than by design), the opportunity to restore a more meaningful service has not been taken. So I share your enthusiasm for the concept, whilst maybe being a bit more realistic as to the hurdles that would need to be overcome. 

or one loco and a Driving Van Trailer (as used with the class 91's) that would cut costs

the Porterbrook Leasing Company has a few

I can think of many better uses for a set of loco hauled coaches than for a potter up to Okehampton which is likely to be fairly empty considering the station is not in the centre of town.

the unit could be extended to newton abbot to help boost those services

Completely avoiding the centre of Exeter at the same time then!

i dont belive there is a lack of services from central to st davids.... additional stops at st thomas would be an advantage, and a bus service from okehampton town to the station could be included in the ticket price

So now we've got the costs of operating the buses to include, and we've got opposition from FGW and XC who don't want revenue abstracted from the route between Exeter and Newton Abbott (which would include a portion of every ticket sold which involves travel between Newton Abbott and Exeter and is not restricted to a particular train - ie an ORCATS raid.)   

for example if there was a service leaving at 730 from okehampton it would arrive in exeter at around 808 leaving a ten min wait for the connecting sevice threw to exmouth would also give passengers from barnstable another easy connection to newton abbott

well if it worked fgw being the main franchise would benifit from revinue from the service wouldnt they with the bonus of no maintanance costs or staffing, for example any profits from people using the service from crediton onwards should go to fgw they would not object to services that do not interfeer with there own and that they profit from

Would it be possible - on an experimental basis, of course - to attach a single car unit to run as far as Yeoford and then be detached/attached to the Barnstaple-Exeter/Exmouth services?

No.

Very informative. Thanks.

If you're going to allocate a single unit to the branch then it might as well run all the way to Exeter on it's own given you've got to crew it separately anyway.

First problem is that the junction is at Crediton, not Yeoford. I suspect the signalling there would need amending to allow the calling on of units when the platform is already occupied. So capital cost involved for an experiment.

Splitting and joining takes time, at least 5 minutes, thus increasing journey times on the Barnie line. (You have to let passengers off, reclose the doors, pull forward, connect up, do various tests, reopen doors etc). It introduces performance risk on a single track branch, and on paths through Exeter and onto Exmouth.

Thus, it's a non-starter. 

Thanks, John R - for your patience as well as the answer. I understand now why the idea is a non-starter as a way to reintroduce a daily service from Okehampton, be it experimental or not. Is the junction on the Exeter or the Yeoford side of Crediton? If a second platform can be recommissioned, maybe the new owners of the Dartmoor railway could try to run a connecting service as an experiment - or maybe there are obvious obstacles to that, too.  ???
 
 

The junction is at coleford, barnstaple side of crediton, but the crossover is at crediton about 4 (ish) miles away. So it would need new points, and crossover near yeoford to enable a shuttle, if you had it attached to another unit. (not to mention two sets of traincrew)

The new owners may be the best bet, as they seem quite enthusiastic, particularly about their other operation in the North East.

Here's hoping that an initiative does surface as if we can get successful Tavistock/Plymouth + Exeter/Okehampton ventures up and running,  there would be a greater likelihood of reconnecting the missing link, thereby providing Devon with an orbital railway for commuters and a secondary route to London Waterloo. 

 i think he means no units available but im glad that someone is trying to be positive thankyou andy

Right:

Get some loco and coaches from Long M.

Use these to replace several 158 diagrams.

Give the 158s to SWT.

SWT can extend to Oakhamton.

Omg I like it!

why is that? i used to catch the swt ones to paignton for a decent journey

Because Exeter - Waterloo will be hourly.

Because the DaFT decreed that the service would not be part of the franchise specification once the Waterloo service went hourly as the units would be required for that.

oh ok that makes sence

Dream ON

Yes Okehampton Should be back on the Railway map, but it's not going to happen.

FGW could do it but they are loosing money hand over fist, with far too many managers, with bad train crew rostering, the massive use of contractors, (who are there to make as much as they can out of FGW), etc

SWT could run a very limited service Early and late to/from Okie on the back of the first and last trains of the Day from Exeter S D to Waterloo.

The owners of Dartmoor Rail could if they can get around Hugh Loops run a service to Yeoford (Rebuilt Downside platform) and make connections to the Barny Exeter trains But 90% of would be passengers would be lost because of changing trains Better for Dartmoor Rail to build platforms at Coleford Junction.

The best hope for regular trains to Okie would be Open Access but that would need services run from Okie to London, or Birmingham, Manchester etc, where most revenue would come from the Rail Settlement Plan ie pick the pocket  of FGW by running trains to London ;D

Yes I know there are NO spare paths for trains to/from London, but then there were no spare paths to/from London KX for Grand Central. Somehow they run!

i know the dpl is going in at axminster but more sections of double track would increase capacity so so much, maybee bringing in an open access company could create more funding for this and there are so many other issues sad thing is all of these ideas would work and be profitable if it wasnt for stupid conditions of franchises

Why Open Access?

Why can't SWT run it as I described above?

that is actually a really easy way of doing it and the way it should happen

They'd probably be loosing money by running empty stock to Okehampton which could be rammed full elsewhere on their network.

Ok, peak trains.

And with proper Park and Ride etc. I don't see why a two hourly (for example) service would be empty.

The stock would be better utilised extended to Paignton or Plymouth!

fgw should have locos and coaches from exmouth to paignton the trains are always packed this would free up lots of units!

And how much longer are the journey times bearing in mind off peak they make 15 stops!

:o

I suppose the stock would be better used for Plymouth services, but the occasional train would be well utilised (i.e. peak).

is it really slower for a loco with 4 coaches so quite light to accelerate and slower for passengers to get off (6 doors on a double pacer 8 on 4 coaches,....?)

Doors left open...?

any other bad points? yes that is a problem but is it a huge one?

The Dartmoor Railway is now up and running once again and intends to reinstate the second platform at Yeoford to allow a service to be run from Okehampton connecting with Barnstaple-Exeter services. The new service is planned to start at the end of May this year!

http://www.dartmoor-railway.co.uk/timetables.html
 

Thanks, Andy! ;)

Just for completeness, there is another topic where this news is being posted, at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2338.msg39637#msg39637

No problem with the overlap - I just want to make sure everyone's aware of what's happening!  ;) :D ;D

I presume someone will be doing something about access to the Okehampton platform at Yeoford before then?  ???

I imagine that in the short term a path from the platform to the lane that forks onto the road over the line and then the path down to the Exeter platform?

I guess ECT had plans for this before they pulled out. Iowa Pacific Holdings are a huge company in the US, way bigger than FGW, and so IF they wanted to they could easily purchase new rolling stock for a service into Exeter.

I'm impressed with the Dartmoor Railway it's back up and Running to Meldon and with Plans to run to Yeoford. Good Stuff

But unless somebody has been Very, Very Busy talking to Network Rail and others I just can't see Yeoford Downside  Platform being back in use this year, which is a Shame as it wil be the first time in what 11 or 12 years that Summer Sunday Train travel Hasn't been possible fron Exeter to Okehampton.