Great Western Coffee Shop

may be of interest to people living in devonshire http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8370000/8370729.stm

Thanks for that, relex109: fair brought a tear to my eye, that did, with all those lovely little station names!

I was born in Devon - in 1959 - after it was all closed.  ::)

some on the line which is still inplace runs behind the industrial estate at heathfield, i think the only use this route could ever have is as a diversionary route or to increase capacity as it runs threw nothing basically

Ha...interesting the diesel crank waving his arm around in the first few seconds :o

Good find relex, the line currently ends very near to the Trago Mills site under the A38. There is a real blast from the past in the form of a gated level crossing on the lane from Kingsteignton to the road towards Trago, not sure on what condition it's in however, not been down there for many many years. Would be interested to know the last train down the branch, as the freight service no longer runs afaik.

According to BBC Devon the Campaign To Protect Rural England (CPRE) have started a feasibility study to examine the possibility of reopening the Teign Valley line between Exeter & Newton Abbot.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8370000/8370729.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8370000/8370729.stm)

Not surprisingly the main justification appears to be concerns over the long term health of the main line via Dawlish. I couldn't find anything on the official CPRE site.

Given the level of post-closure development at the Exeter end of the route I suspect this proposal would turn out to be prohibitively expensive.

Thanks very much for your post, Bob_Blakey!

As it followed very neatly on from a discussion in our 'frequent posters' area, I've taken the liberty of merging these topics here, under your heading.

In 'frequent posters', we were just discussing the BBC video itself - but I do think the whole subject can be widened here, in 'campaigns for new and improved services'?

And at the Chudleigh end too, the A38 is built on the old trackbed.

Heathfield Park & Ride for Newton Abbot could be feasible though, as DM says, the infrastructure is still in place.

I tryed to get a campaign to open this route earlier in the year.

Several others as well

It's worth remembering that it was built as a winding single track branch line and was never intended to be a main line. There are also two single bore tunnels, Culver (261 yards) and Perridge (829 yards), either side of Longdown. Perridge suffered a roof collapse in 1986 and is locked up, although I think Culver is still open if you want to walk through.

This site has a fair bit of info:
http://www.teignrail.co.uk/

Frankly though I think there's more chance of a high-speed line through the Haldons and Dartmoor from Exeter to Pl*mouth being built than this line reopening.  :-\

Gawd,i didn't think this was Exeweb! Was there a report in the local press recently about some chap in the area who is fighting a proposal to block up one of the tunnels on this line with a million tons of concrete,or was that somewhere else? About 2 months ago,i think.If a different line is required to the Dawlish section,surely the old Southern line must be the best bet,as the infrastructure is basically there and it covers two fair sized centres of population [Tavistock,which is now bigger than Totnes,and Okehampton],which are to expand greatly over the next few years? Makes sense to me,especially as it looks like Tavvy could soon be back on the railway map anyway.

COYG

Personally I think having a back up route via the Teign Valley would be best. The Dawlish line very rarely has problems and the route from Exeter to Plymouth via Newton Abbot and torbay covers far larger population centres. Cutting the area off from mainline trains would destroy the area.

Someone, who use to work on the railway mention that in WW2  they were thing of dual the line

it runs through my mates' back garden, where alphington halt used to be!

I guess that would be no good

I might be wrong; I am sure in dartmouth there is a plaque of a prosped plan rail route which went though Holden Hill, which joined the main line at South Brent

I didn't see the report in the paper, but the chap you speak of is probably Colin Burges, creator of teignrail.co.uk

I've been down to Christow station to chat to Colin, and what he had to say was very interesting indeed!

I actually live in Alphington where the line used to run through and then out of Exeter on towards Ide. I've spent the last 6 months collecting as much info as possible on the line, trauling the internet, reading books, visiting the remains of the infrastructure along the line, taking photos and documenting it. It's such a beautiful route and it would be fantastic to see it up and running again!

Welcome to the forum, danregs

Thanks! :)

For those interested the 1935/36 Great Western Railway plans for a new route from Exminster to Newton Abbot bypassing Teignmouth and Dawlish are held at the Devon Record Office Archives at Sowton in Exeter under the following references.
Unfortunately the 2nd World War stopped these schemes progressing.
 
                     

                         Great Western Railway (Additional Powers)  QS/DP/860  1935
Contents:
1) Railway No 1 (Newton Abbot and Dawlish): via parishes of Kingsteignton, Bishopsteignton, Urban Districts of Teignmouth and Dawlish; length 8 ^ miles; commencing and terminating at junctions with South Devon Railway.
2)Bridge, River Diversions and Lands at Exeter: parish of Upton Pyne and Borough of Exeter.

Included are sections of intended works and published map showing 1).
Scale: 25" to the mile
Surveyor: R. Carpmael (Engineer)
Plans (pen, ink) and book of reference
 
                                         Great Western Railway.  QS/DP/868 1936                                     
Contents:
1) Railway No 2. (Dawlish and Exminster): via Urban District of Dawlish, parishes of Mamhead, Kenton, Powderham, Exminster; length 7^ miles; commencing at junction with railway No 1 (see QS/DP/860), terminating at junction with South Devon Railway; includes sections of railway and road diversions en route.
2) Lands at Totnes (and at Denham in County of Buckingham).
Scale: 25" to the mile
Surveyor: R. Carpmael (Engineer)
Plan (pen, ink) and book of reference
These documents are held at Devon Record Office


   The Great Western Railway had also surveyed a new route onward from Newton Abbot bypassing Totnes as well as Dainton and Rattery Banks and re-joining the existing railway near Marley Tunnel to be engineered to a minimum 1 mile radius curvature for high speed.
  How times have changed

Thanks very interesting article

Guy

How much longer is it going to be before people realise the Teign Valley line needs to be reopened?!...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8555272.stm

I have only just dropped a complaint into the post box relating this issue. It's not an issue with the sea wall, it's simply a terrible design of train.

Perhaps Cross Country's fleet of HSTs, which seem to be presently surplus to requirements, could be moved to Exeter / Plymouth / Penzance to provide their services in the event of non-Voyager friendly weather affecting the line along the sea wall?

This forum actually has some pictures of Perridge Tunnel on the TVR, which suffered a roof collapse in the 1980s and is 829 yards long:

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=39664

You can clearly see the tunnel was built for a single line only. Whilst I agree there needs to be a long-term alternative to the sea wall route, I can't see how a winding single track branch line with 2 single line tunnels is going to improve services beyond Exeter.

A photo of the blockage is a few posts down. There's also a photo of Culver Tunnel, 261 yards, which is in somewhat better condition.