Great Western Coffee Shop

The current 0728 St Ives to St Erth will run 10 minutes earlier from 13 December. Does anyone no why as if it still departed at 0728 it would still make the connections for Penzance and Paddington.

The 0700 St Ives to St Erth goes completely, but this was a remnant of the days when Cross Country still had a train from St Erth at 0736. It hasn't connected with anything for a number of years.   

Has it got anything to do with the sleeper coming through earlier ?

St Ives branch has done many odd things in the past like timetabling to just miss St Erth connections but when speed was not a particular issue drives usually made sure people got where they were intending to go.
The stopping patterns can be a bit frustrating and I've seen folk stuck on the train as it shuttles up and down trying to get off only too see their station pass by.

Good to see the line doing so well now - revenue collection is as good as you'll see anywhere - nice to see groupsave offered (occasionally) on what is quite an expensive trip. (worth it for the view)

Seeing the volume of people coming into St Ives by train I wonder if an earlier start on summer sundays would would work - nothing before midday.

 

 

Summer sundays always begin at 9a.m. form the Penzance end? Its winter when they go back to midday..!

Not surprising I missed that as I work sundays  :'(

 

I'd put money on XC not crossing the Albert Bridge next year.

Not about the sleeper. That will depart St Erth 0746 from the December timetable change, except Mondays when it departs 0844 and an XC service departs at 0746 instead. The current 0728 from St Ives is timetabled to arrive St Erth at 0741 and is often 2 minutes early, so there would be no problem making that connection if it continued at this time after the timetable change.

With Cornwall Council possibly withdrawing Sunday Bus Services (see

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11581472 )

perhaps First Great Western will see a business opportunity for running St Ives branch Sunday mornings all year round. Apart from National Express Coaches, the branch line may become the only public transport St Ives has on a Sunday (unless McNulty cuts that too).

I would expect they would reduce bus frequency on inter - urban routes like St Ives - PNZ on Sundays (every 2hrs in winter ?) rather than scrap the whole route, does Cornwall Council contract specific journeys  with bus companies or use some other "block" type payments ?

I'll take that bet. CrossCountry have a Franchise Service Level Commitment to adhere to. There's been no discussion, as far as I'm aware, with the DfT, for a change to the Franchise Agreement for the May or December 2011 timetables. XC would have to get a hurry on to request such changes. I'm not sure the DfT would accede to a request for XC to remove Cornwall from its timetable.

FGW have already taken on the 17:55 service down from Plymouth that XC used to run, last winter the 08:30 from PNZ often failed to appear citing crew problems.

Puzzles me how XC ever got the franchise as I quite liked the Virgin setup - all a bit whackey.
 

DfT wrote the current XC timetable AFAICT. The move to a standardised hourly timetable (eg all Bournemouth services going to Man Picc) with all nearly all the odd calls at the extremities cancelled was basically specified by the ITT.

Paul

The 06.37 Penzance - St Ives and 07.00 St Ives - St Erth are most likely withdrawn owing to lack of use :-\

0637 is replaced by an 0655 Penzance to St Ives. Bizarrely this is timetabled to arrive St Ives 0717 and gives a one minute turnround to form the 0718 to St Erth! Can't help thinking that if it was still the 0728 to St Erth this might be a bit more resiliant.

Devon have withdrawn all sunday buses to Kingsbridge apart from two a day to/from Totnes and Exeter. The more regular Sunday buses between Kingsbridge and Plymouth/Dartmouth have been totally withdrawn. Bet they wished the Kingsbridge branch line was still open.

The currently hourly Penzance to St Ives Sunday bus service is actually pretty well used!

The Council's Cabinet agreed today to the budget cuts for subsidised evening and Sunday services. They say it will affect 27 routes, but don't say which.  There are around 40 sunday bus routes in Cornwall at present so not all may be affected.

I have received a response from FGW re: this timetable change.   FGW want to withdraw the current first train from St Ives - the 0700 - as little used (it no longer connects with any mainline services at St Erth following XC withdrawal). However, their Franchise agreement with Dept for Transport   requires the first train to arrive at St Erth at or before 0730, hence the retiming of the 0728 to depart 0718. The change to an earlier departure also provides for a Train Crew personal needs break.

FGW say they could run this train later, but would need to get agreement with DfT first.  This would not be possible in time for the 13 December timetable change.

So in summary, DfT micro-management fails to meet passenger needs in Cornwall once again. 

For those who don't want to get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning, First Devon and Cornwall buses run a service 17 from St Ives bus station at 0725 arriving St Erth station at 0737.  However it will cost more as there are no inter-available or PlusBus tickets in the St Ives/Hayle area.

Also Cornwall Council has backtracked on cutting evening and Sunday services, for the timebeing, but at the expense of Senior Citizens not being able to use their free bus pass before 0930 Mondays to Fridays. 
 

From FGW Live Updates:


Replacement what, I wonder!?

yesterday (20th) noticed the st ives to st erth line was cancelled due to poor weather conditions, anyone know what these poor weather conditions were, as i was in St Ives, carbis bay area all day, and no snow, rain or anything, we just had a dry clear sky all day?

I went to St Ives on Friday and took some photos from the train - if you've never been on this line, I think you might want to give it a go after having a look at these

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63812699@N08/sets/72157626898790928/

Beautiful day, busy trains (2 x 150) and a very full Lelant Saltings Car Park.  All good stuff.

Super photos, Richard, thank you (and thank you Barbara Castle for saving the line back in the 1960s). Glad to read that the line is being well used at the start of the summer season.

Yeah, but no thanks Barbera for the other thousands of miles closed by her!

Barbara Castle - 70mph speed limit, seat belts, breathalysers and the continuation of 'Beeching' cuts.

That last one a U-turn on a 1964 pre-election Labour Party commitment to halt the railway closures. All told, she oversaw some 2000 miles of passenger line closures.

Whilst Dr Beeching was commissioned by the Conservatives to write the report, it was Labour Transport Ministers who signed off on most of the closures from 1964-1970.

It was Barbara Castle who signed the death warrant for the S&D. Sure it was blatantly run down by BR but it's her signature that finished it.

Ooops - didn't mean to start a political row or even make a political point. Shame on every government - blue and red - in the period up to 74 (let's not forget the early 70s closures of Ilfracombe, Kingswear, Okehampton and Minehead, amongst others) for their short-sighted and systematic destruction of the railways. I am nevertheless grateful that St Ives was reprieved and that's all I wanted to express.

I'd say it's not a particularly red/blue thing as implementing Beeching was something the Civil Service had bought into and both they and BR HQ worked hard to keep politicians of both main parties on board.  Back then, the Beeching plan was seen as necessary by many, as incredible as that seems today.  On publication, it was largely welcomed in the press!

Re Barbara Castle, as well as saving the St Ives, Looe and several other lines (and, yes, closing others), she was behind the 1968 Transport Act which introduced subsidies for unremunerative rail services.  If this hadn't happened, it is doubtful that we would have any branch lines in Cornwall today, especially as Western Region policy through the mid 60s and to at least the mid 70s was to focus on being a long distance main line railway.

People should not underestimate how much of a push there was to implement the Beeching Plan in full and add in lines never mentioned in Beeching's list, such as the Falmouth and Newquay lines.  The push came particularly from BR HQ. 

"I tried to run a railway" by Gerard Fiennes, once GM of the Western Region, gives a good flavour of this.  (Among many other gems, it also includes a comment from a member of staff to Fiennes about never blowing whistles at people from Newbury!).  Easy to pick up on eBay and well worth getting hold of.

Pleased you like the photos, Andy.

Gerard Francis Gisborne Twistleton-Wykeham Fiennes' book may well be easy to pick up but I have to question it being "well worth" it - the cheapest copy on Amazon at the moment is ^85! Shame, as it sounds like something I'd enjoy. Thanks for the heads up, Richard.

Fiennes (one of the genuine greats in the history of railway operators IMHO) was fired by Barbara Castle for publishing that book, incidentally!

Another one well worth reading is "Fiennes on Rails". It's in a different format from "I tried to run a railway" (which is eessentially auotbiographical), being more of a collection of short stories and anecdotes. He has a real knack for telling a story. Sadly I think this is also out of print, although you may be able to find old copies on eBay - I picked up both books there (admittedly several years ago) and certainly didn't pay anything like GBP 85.00

Edited to add...

Ecky thump! Just had a quick look on Ebay and there's one copy at $155 and another at $82. Looks like demand may have shot up... Another place to try might be Robert Humm (http://www.roberthumm.co.uk/), a big second-hand bookshop specializing in railway items, but I guess it wouldn't be cheap from them either. Glad i got hold of a copy when I did.

Thanks Phil.  No, it's not worth ^85!  I picked up the Ministry of Transport's library copy (complete with highlighting!) for ^6 on eBay a few years ago.

It's the sort of book you should be able to pick up at a good secondhand bookshop or at a heritage railway, if they sell secondhand books/mags.  It's not rare (well, it didn't used to be, anyway!).  

Are we sure it's not Coffeeshop members trying to outbid eachother?  ;D

I don't think Barbara Castle was involved in his sacking - I'm pretty sure it was the BR Chairman of the time, Sir Stanley Raymond.

Evidently it was the publishing of extracts in Modern Railways in 1966 that did for him - the same issue that Roger Ford's first feature appeared in
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ca14/ALYCIDON%20RAIL/Informed%20Sources%20Primer.htm

That's ok Andy. Living in Bath the S&D is much missed in these parts and that name does rile me a bit. And yes governments of red and blue have not served the railways well over the years. It is good that many lines that were down for closure managed to survive with many flourishing like the St Ives line which just goes to prove how totally short sighted many closures were as those who are now sitting in traffic as I write this where there was once a railway line will testify. Over simplifying things by saying that yes, but the loss of railway lines and tram networks has been a major contributer to the country's traffic problems.

It's ^29  here.  (http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=4964368283&searchurl=an%3Dfiennes%26sortby%3D3%26tn%3Di%2Btried%2Bto%2Brun%2Ba%2Brailway)

Off topic much?  ;)

In the circumstances, I'm content for it to remain so.  :D

I have just read on the BBC Travel news that additional services being provided between St. Ives and Lelant Sdgs due to volume of passengers.   Additional trains could not be pathed run because of the Single Line and would require additional crews whci would be hard to come by.    Does it mean that there is a strengthening Unit out ?

Either that or "supplementary road transport" - ie a bus.

St Ives was as busy as on a high season day today but the branch is low(ish) season 1x150.

They were announcing this on pirate fm around 1730, and i tried to work out how it was possible. "Pirate FM described it as a non stop shuttle train"
The only way i could even see it possible if it "followed" just behind the normal service, but without signalling wouldnt be allowed, Or is there a gap in service it could fill in?

I should imagine the unit is going St Erth to St ives.  Then straight back to Lelant Saltings and back to St ives.  Then St ives to St Erth and repeat.

Early on today it was definitely in the guise of a 30 seat coach!!

So that's additional road services on the St Ives and the Falmouth lines because there's insufficient capacity. Where have all the 150's that we had during the summer gone  ???

Probably back to the Bristol area to cover peak commuter duties now the school holidays are over and everyone is back at work.

They suspended Works Exams or various other tasks such as mods during the High Summer

Bank Holiday travel problems - from FGW JourneyCheck:

Whoop whoop - Summers here - 2 x 150 on the St Ives branch.
More capacity than XC supply to go to the Midlands.

From This is Cornwall (http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/story-17331094-detail/story.html?):

Whist reading my latest Modern Railways of March 1977 I read that Bristol Division was proposing a Park and Ride at Lelant. There was to be a passing loop at Porth Kidney and TCB signalling.

It was the costings that interested me: Total cost ^174K, Passing loop ^25K, TCB ^116K.
50p was estimated for the ticket cost for parking and return for all car passengers.
Modern Railways was 35p compared with ^4.30 today.
Brilliant it all came about and so successful.
How does all this compare with today? I thought a Mars bar was used to compare the inflation rate?

Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for the site.

There's not a huge amount of signalling infrastructure between St Erth and St Ives.  Does "...a fault with the signalling system" simply mean that they've lost the token/train staff?  With a bit of getting-ones-hands-dirty to clip and scotch the points, can't the train be locked-in onto the branch from the bay platform at St Erth?

It's possible it was lost but it is more likely to be a fault with the token box, or the release mechanism for it in the signalbox.  Looks like it happened after a trip through from St. Ives to Penzance so the token would have been surrendered when it went back out on to the main line.

There isn't one.  Its a Train Staff usually kept in a locked draw when not in use.

Good old Cornwall.  Someone drag it into the 21st century (or even the 20th...)   ;)

Well hopefully it won't be too long as the tender for the first stage of Cornwall and Plymouth resignalling is due out soon ;)

Last time a Train Staff got lost in Cornwall it ended up being found in a loco cab at Crewe ::) :P :D

1: Thanks to the mods for splitting this one off. I felt a bit wrong posting on the original thread which had the "3 for the price of 1" post, where one of these was St Ives.
2: My surprise (or not; nothing surprises me any more about the excuses NOT to run trains any more) about the cancellation of services on this line was that it ought not to be too tricky for a MOM to clip and scotch some points, then authorize the empty unit past certain signals at danger to get it onto the branch, then to clip and scotch the points the other way, then appoint someone (possibly even himself) as PILOT (Person In Lieu Of Token), so that the train can shuttle up and down between St Erth bay platform and St Ives.  Loss of revenue and reputation avoided.

Problem with the split railway are any TOC staff trained to clip and scotch points and wind points as I was when at Sutton? Presumably you have to get a Network Rail manager from somewhere or could the St Erth Signalman do it?

Branch formed by 2 instead of 4 Cars today.

When I was down that way at the end of May, the volume of passengers on the Branch was again unbelievable. Crowd control/holding pens in place at Lelant Saltings to limit passenger flow onto platform. 4 coach (2x150) rammed on the trips I saw. I spoke to some GWR staff at St Ives who were counting incoming pax no's, and it was well over 300 off one service.

GWR must make an absolute mint on this Branch (during the holiday season!). 

Is there scope to increase capacity on the line?

Don't think there has ever been a passing loop on line, but if one can be built, where could it go?

Could trains be extended beyond 4 car?

Some trips on Branch cancelled this afternoon due driver shortage.

Guards who sign Exeter St Davids - Barnstaple are.

All day on St Ives ...


Some Weymouth services too ...

Does anyone know whether the loadings on the line have reduced sufficiently to feel comfortable travelling on it now? I fancy a lunch in a hotel there soon, but will hold off until a pleasant trip is assured. There's usually a drop immediately after the Bank Holiday, I wonder if that's happened yet.

Bus duplicate is booked until end of September as an alternative from St Erth

I'd add that I can't imagine that there will be any move to reduce the trains back from four coaches to two any time soon.  Given this, I'd say if you aim for the front coach at St Erth and again the front coach when returning from St Ives, all should be fine.  Most people will be in the rear two coaches given, of course, that they are closest to the station entrance/exit.

If the weather looks decent I'll do the trip on Wednesday and report back that night, thanks for guidance.

As suggested above I have visited St. Ives this afternoon using the P&R as my startpoint after an unexpected personal issue earlier.

Observations....

1. Issues with some of the payment machines at St. Erth annoyed. The APCOA app steadfastly refusing to update card information on the go. Tickets for travel and CP issued by GWR staff stood below the ramp.
2. St. Erth Station - I'm perfectly reasonable imo but the marshalling staff continue to exhibit Jobsworth tendancies. I'm sorry if this annoys some but they really could do with some tact and persuasion skills. They're far too abrupt in my view and today was no different, they seem to want to be seen rather than melt into the crowd and only act if really necessary. Once again apologies but this irks. Roll on the winter and their disappearance. Not withstanding this reminders about face coverings seemed to work.
3. St. Erth - St. Ives - No issues reasonably spreadout in the 'St. Ives end unit' less so in the other one. Boarding however failed to recognise Social distancing at all. No revenue protection operation, assume that the wisdom was that the GWR staff had captured enough at St. Erth to make a trip through unnecessary.
4. St. Ives Station Arrival - Both entrances/exits in operation which was good, disembarking another challenge for Social Distancing, as was crowding towards the units by intending returning pax.
5. St. Ives Station Departure - Ticket check on entrance to station. As before both entrances available, which at this time of year from early afternoon is usually unheard of. This prompted a much more spreadout pattern of intending departing passengers. Much better behaviour with the unload and load operations people clearly exhibiting SDing.
6. St. Ives - St. Erth - Some barmy gathering of passengers around the doors leaving seats further into the carriages unfilled. Revenue Protection walkthrough after Carbis Bay. All Pax enquired of but without actual physical document/app check.
7. St. Erth Station Arrival -Disembarking sensibly done too, with much fewer pax at St. Erth travelling to St. Ives in the afternoon.

That sums it up.

I was in St Ives for the first 2 weeks of August. I'm used to going there in holiday seasons and it being busy, but it was really busy.

Observing various webcams around the town over the last few days it appears to be nearly as busy as we approach mid-Sept, so not surprised the trains are still busy aswell.

A good thing for the town and the local economy  :)  (as long as people are sensible). When we were there most of the hospitality venues we visited were observing the rules and managing things well. The caravan site we use, especially well (which was one of the main reasons why we were happy to go).

West Dorset has had its busiest summer for years!

Our place in North Devon has been booked solid since 4 July.

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/st-ives (https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/st-ives)

The linked article above talks about 5 weeks of track renewal work. Does anyone know how much of the branch is being re-layed?

In four week I would have thought they could relay a great deal. Although I have to say when I went down a few weeks ago there was very little sign of rough riding. But there are a lot of rather ancient looking wood sleepers in places

One and a half miles, I believe.  A third of the branch.

from the FAQs -

Where is the work taking place?
Network Rail will be working between Carbis Bay and St Ives to renew the track along that section of line.

A little more detail from Rail Advent (https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2020/12/cornwall-set-to-have-3m-track-upgrade-on-the-st-ives-bay-line.html?amp&fbclid=IwAR2lV0m_kbgSeVWA9h1slPjM-ttsrnBFZSerpKcmQpJjGmRgwNySQBXAzzE)

The Logistics of this operation must be frightful. I presume almost all of the Car Park at the Station is being used at St Ives. Transporting heavy machinery to all sites of the work will be quite a task. 

You will be surprised how little equipment is used that requires the use of car park type space.  The biggest demand will be the parking for the workforce and welfare facilities, I expect the project team will have planned for this.

Rail, sleepers, ballast is delivered and recovered by rail

You can see the first couple of sleepers have been delivered in the photo above.   ;D

1.5 miles is 20 x 250m lengths of rail. 400 tonnes of ballast is presumably about 20 wagon loads? Concrete sleepers are about 200 - 220 Kg, so about 800 to 900 tonnes, a lot less if wood is used. So in total, five or six trains, at a rough guess. Perhaps a real expert could fill in the details, but what would be a massive logistical exercise for road vehicles is all in a day's work on a railway. Still impressive, though.

Expect the majority of the sleepers top be steel

The CRS website news today has images that confirm steel sleepers. No doubt there will be updates on there as work proceeds.

So that's 12 standard container loads, max, if British Steel  (https://britishsteel.co.uk/what-we-do/rail/steel-sleepers/)aren't exaggerating.

They will arrive by rail and one of these track laying consists used https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/stafford-rail-development-sets-track-laying-record-as-it-enters-final-stages-1

Is it me? 
The clear track adjacent to the track laying equipment (Stafford picture https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/stafford-rail-development-sets-track-laying-record-as-it-enters-final-stages-1) looks very 'kinked'.
Guess there is a technical term for it.

That's not track - it's two rails sitting on the ballast waiting for another of those clever machines to put sleepers under it and clip it down. Rail is quite floppy on its own - at least when seen foreshortened like that.

I found a quite recent video of the overall track laying process involving the Balfour Beatty new track construction train, (NTC).  It?s installing track on steel sleepers in this example, at Shildon, the machine can be seen at around 15 mins into the video.

https://youtu.be/vUd2kc-JsB8

It seems to me this machine is possibly more relevant to installing brand new track, or for single track replacement, but on double track a lot of replacement will still get done one side at a time by conventional road rail equipment working from the existing parallel track?

Paul

Heck of a lot of Steel sleepers in and along the line from Carbis Bay to St Ives.

I don't Understand the Quote from Rail Advent that this is the biggest investment in Track renewals in Cornwall since the 1950s, this relaying will extend the Continuously Welded Rail (CWR) laid from St Erth towards St Ives  that was installed about 4 years ago.
Would think the whole branch will be Continuously Welded Rail  (CWR) after work is completed, so if 1 1/2 miles is being done then 3 miles has ALREADY been relaid with Continuously Welded Rail  (CWR.)


Edit: VickiS - clarifying acronym

Seeing that machine, I wonder why it's going to take a week to relay St Ives!

not a week but five weeks.

Depends on what else is being done.  Earthworks, culvert work, repairs to structures, what is referred to as a deep dig (ie going back to or near to the original formation and putting new layers of stone back)

One thing these machines can't yet do is bring their own rails with them - these have to be brought in and placed in position first. That's not so bad for replacement, where the existing track can be used, and the rails kicked off the side of a train. For installation from scratch, or from track so bad it can't be used for a goods train, it must be quite a challenge. I think it means bringing in quite short lengths and welding on site, and in any case the whole length has to be temporarily joined across the gaps that will be finally welded only when tensioning is done.

Maybe the next development step of the machnes will be for that gantry that scoots back and forth the whole length of the train, carrying sleepers up to the front, to pull rails forwards from an even longer train-load of supplies. The gantry runs on rails attached to the sides of the wagons, which are continuous across the gaps between them while allowing for curves. I'm sure some kind of channel equipped with rollers can be included for rail handling too. Note that (at least in Balfour Beatty's one) there's a driver inside the gantry - I'm sure that's a more popular gig than the "seat" down at track level for the operator who appears to be supervising the clipping down of the rails.

i'm hearing some good news that reviewed serviceable removed rail and sleepers are destined for the Helston Railway.

Presumably the fact that steel sleepers are being laid in an area with salty sea air has been considered?

They will last longer than the timber ones with cast iron chars, concrete is excessive for what is effectively a light railway

It's done like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrmZIgVoQw4&t=111s

1m33 in, and onwards.

On the Borders railway, they used a quite different (Dutch) machine, which effectively pulled long welded rail strings off the front of a rail delivery train, and pushed them ahead of itself, but it relied on the sleepers already being accurately positioned for hundreds of yards ahead in the direction of movement.  They also had a small tracked guidance machine right at the front, and temporary rollers.

A short Rail Engineer video, it?s the very last part:  https://youtu.be/VHWuTvpcco4
Much longer video: https://youtu.be/bSmkO0un5Go

It seems to me on single track you either have to lay the rails ahead of the sleeper delivery train, or lay the sleepers ahead of a rail delivery train, but it would be pretty much impossible to do both at once using a single machine travelling on rails...

Paul

I was going to say that (including the video) shows what I was proposing would be quite feasible. Couple that rail-handling machine and wagons to the back of the sleeper wagons, feed rails along/over/through those, and use similar small tracked vehicles and rollers to pull the rails out in front. Depending on gauge issues you might need to lose the bottom layer of sleepers to feed the rails through (on rollers and guided), but it all looks doable.

But I find that Plasser&Theurer have got there first (https://www.plassertheurer.com/en/media-library/latest-newsletter/track-laying-for-indias-largest-railway-construction-project/assembly-line-track-laying-using-the-svm-1000-i.html) (as well as a Chinese company (http://www.hcrailway.com/product/railway.php) and perhaps Harsco). Their biggest beast, the SVM 1000, can be configured in several ways, for replacement or for laying from scratch. They put a layer of rails under the sleepers on their adapted wagons (supporting the shuttle-gantry), though other descriptions have separate wagons for rails. I can't find a clear set of words or a video of it operating in this mode, but I suspect it does the pulling-out of rails and the picking them up and laying the sleepers as two separate steps. I also suspect they have never tried to down-size these machines of theirs for British gauge - not a trivial task.

That leaves one more operation that might be better done by train as it involves delivering something very heavy - laying the ballast. I can't see that being done by the same omnipotent machine, but I think it should be possible to lay track on bare soil and put the ballast underneath it afterwards with a separate big machine (possibly in two or more passes). I can imagine that it might take longer to get it tamped and stable afterwards, and the ground preparation would need to be adapted.

However, you need to be careful you are not going to a lot a effort and expense to mechanise something better (and cheaper) done by a bunch of blokes of above-average BMI with much simpler machines and tools. Plus, of course, laying brand-new track isn't that common.

In the light of the last few posts - what prospects of someone developing something better than the much-heralded machine that failed to deliver the goods on the Great Western Mail Line (GWML) electrification to deliver Over-Head Lines (OHL) quicker and cheaper?



Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

The "clever" people who dreamt up the Over-Head Lines (OHL) factory train have mostly left the industry, we now have engineer in the industry with recent experience who have learnt the lessons of GWEP especially from a number of former British Rail (BR) engineers who were involved in East Coast Main Line (ECML) etc that were brought in as consultants.



Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

So how practically will the work be done at St Ives, when the line ends at the buffers at the station. An explanation would be welcome.

Probably not acceptable to Network Rail:
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/army-has-relaid-bridge-level-crossing-and-450m-track-wensleydale-railway-just-three-weeks-3002103 (https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/army-has-relaid-bridge-level-crossing-and-450m-track-wensleydale-railway-just-three-weeks-3002103)
From another article it appears the Army's interest is that this is the railway that brings tanks into Catterick Garrison.
What I was looking for was the fabulous picture of an RE track laying machine on the Longmoor Military Railway, not to modern H&S standards but a typical Army pragmatic solution.

The sleeper laying train will work as close to the line end as it can, also when the Maidenhead - Bourne End was relayed last year the platform areas have concrete sleepers which were laid by RRV (Road Rail Vehicles) effectively track panel by track panel (60 ft ish)

There is plenty of video of the Plasser machine in action, including this piece (https://youtu.be/XwiNaHmOscU) in Sweden.


It seemed to me at the time that the fault lay not with the Over-Head Lines (OHL) train but with whoever thought it was appropriate for the particular job in hand. I may well have this wrong and look forward to correction, but I recall that it worked according to what it said on the tin. There were lots of issues with stuff that had been buried along the lineside without being recorded, such as a massive internet outage when it punched a gantry base through a fibre optic cable, and signal cables being cut. Some of the tracks weren't in the same position as when someone last updated records, and we were left with exploratory digging having to be done by men with shovels. On a lovely virgin railway, with all the add-ons routed neatly through proper conduits, it might well have accomplished the claimed 1.6 Km per overnight shift, but the real world proved to be a more challenging environment. I would hope that we got our money back, but somehow, I doubt it..


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq9H0q7XEAEXp8I.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq9H0rDW4AAaj7h.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErCNgKfXIAcJ9j1.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErCNgKfXcAEKF0P.jpg)

from Network Rail Western on Twitter.

Lovely photos, but torture we can't go to see for ourselves!

Indeed so, I can just about see our favourite St Ives restaurant (Porthminster Beach Cafe) in the final shot!

Looks like the work is progressing well.

A video featuring some of the work

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0BhoUNPEEknzQuDAJANef7mWOsv0MfovsMwO66iqQao1dgLew7rpAmbYA&v=S6T5jjivQ88&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0BhoUNPEEknzQuDAJANef7mWOsv0MfovsMwO66iqQao1dgLew7rpAmbYA&v=S6T5jjivQ88&feature=youtu.be)

Thanks for posting, looks like quite a bit of new track is down already, including some with concrete sleepers.

Also interesting to see the latest large residence ("Skyfall") taking further shape on what I call "millionaires row" between St Ives and Carbis Bay, since I was last there back in August.

Interesting to see also what is being dug up on Porthminster Beach?

I note that although the whole line is seaward facing, that the apparent concrete sleepers shown in the video, appear to be on the most exposed stretch of the track being relaid. Reference to this aspect of the job was made earlier in this thread.

EDIT ...

More from Network Rail Western on Twitter

(https://i.imgur.com/RjkDMIo.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/N02VFvT.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/Mu72AvQ.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/zpxeOsx.jpg)

Drone Footage from Network Rail Western.

https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1348662466486685698

More today from Network Rail Western (NRW) on Twitter

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Erh2J69XYAARUzW.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Erh2J7dXUAEf_8a.jpg)



Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

Option for a 2 foot gauge line?

Atmospheric railway pipe...

For some reason I am not seeing the images referenced today by RailCornwall.  I am using MS Edge and am logged in; images are showing fine in other posts.

If I reply using the quote button I can see the image URLs and if I copy them into the address bar I can open and see the images.

I had the same problem with his posting on 6 January but the posting on 7 January displays with no problems.

Any ideas please?

Those are ?guard rail? cast in chairs, usually seen on bridges and viaducts where there?s an obvious derailment risk.  Is it because of proximity to the sea, or maybe there?s a cliff rock fall derailment risk? 

Paul

I'm using the Edge, version 87.0.664.75 64-bit, and it works fine. There aren't many options for compatibility, as there are in IE and Chrome. Maybe check for an update? Or try playing U2 at the same time, but otherwise I'm out of ideas.

Not sure it is for check rails, thing the rails in the 4ft are to help maintain track alinement due to the curve.  Check rails are usually in the same chair as the running rails

These 'non standard' new concrete sleepers with fixings for glanding rails ( with no evident flat bottom rails waiting in the adjacent cesses to be installed ) could well have been used because they were surplus to another track renewal job or another job elsewhere on Network Rail (NR) was cancelled or deferred. Possibly Network Rail (NR) will comment.

It woud have been interesting and very good Personal Record (PR) if Network Rail (NR) had said what age the track was that they were replacing to inform Joe Public just what a long service life railway track materials can have.
It is quite likely that the chaired concrete sleepers (that hold BH rail) were made between 1948 and 1955 AND it is understood they are to have a second life on the planned  extension of the Helston Railway! Compare that with the short life of materials being expensively used by Contractors to temporarily repair the thousands of potholes in Devon's roads.


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

With me it works in Edge and Chrome but not Firefox. ???

I'd assume that at least some of the track being replaced dates from the post 1960's rationalisation of the line and the subsequent cut back of the facilities at the Station to the bare bones single platform. Indeed if not earlier.

There will still be a section by the golf course to be renewed when the current work is complete.

I read in a staff briefing that some of the track dates back to the 1940s.

I intentionally didn?t mention check rails though, because they have a separate function to guard rails, the former are positioned to work against the back of the wheel flange, eg within points and crossings.
I guess we?ll see what they fit shortly, but presumably they?re being used because there?s no equivalent steel sleeper.

I am guessing the use of concrete sleepers in the location might be due to lateral forces, which the mass of concrete will help mitigate

According to Network Rail, answering Peter in their Twitter feed: (https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1348993929560133634)


Bloomin' internet - ruins debate.

But it doesn't stop all kinds of ill-informed speculation proliferating!

Not on here - speculation is usually very well informed.

I must say I cant understand how this is being promoted as "the biggest investment in track renewals in Cornwall since the 1950's". The mainline has of course had Continuously Welded Rail (CWR) , and more recently there has been the re-doubliing of the track between St Austell and Truro. Does anyone know the basis of the investment claim?Or is it a misquote just relating to investment in the St Ives branch??


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronym

Couple more from NRW

(https://i.imgur.com/NaIVuZC.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/T84gfTg.jpg)

Re the two photos above.

What a Nightmare for the tamper operator.  :o :o

Coming back to how old the rails were, whilst not the St Ives Branch, back in 2002, must have been no earlier than that as I was with a new workmate who started in 2002, we were at Newquay (Cornwall) station, and looking at the Bullhead rail chairs many were GWR dated 1920's and 30's there were also LSW chairs dated around the same dates, even a couple of LMS chairs but around ten chairs were dated 96 and 98 which I guess meant 1896 and 1898.

Another from NRW

(https://i.imgur.com/8KVIFwU.jpg)

More from NRW ....

(https://i.imgur.com/f52bF2N.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/JVBjoRS.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/BaKisFX.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/wLtHa5j.jpg)

On their Twitter feed Network Rail Western have denied that this work is taking place so that "Amtrak Joe" can have a ride on the new rails when he visits in June.

Apparently it's a coincidence of timing!

For once, I believe Twitter. This has been planned for a long time. So has the summit, probably, but behind many layers of closed doors.

I think if Boris wants to give Joe a treat he should arrange a trip up the line in a "heritage" DMU so he can travel in the front  passenger seats with the blinds up and enjoy seeing the route on the journey

Or an autocoach with a GWR Pannier tank behind it.

Or the Steam Railmotor.

A trip on a nice GWR 150 would be treat enough......genuinely

Hope it happens.  It just might.

Just like to say, thank you for all those excellent photos.

That is almost worth a poll !!

Given the opportunity, what should Boris use to late world leaders on a trip to St Ives?

Heritage DMU, Autocoach and Panier, Steam Rail Motor, or 150 ?

Clueless as to how to set up a poll, so will park that idea !!

Clues given at http://www.passenger.chat/24565 ... it IS worth a poll - so please unpark the idea and make sure I've not overlooked anything.   Other members welcome to post polls too!

Must have been thinking of Trump...   ;D

Thinking about this, if the G7 actually agrees on something significant, people may be arguing 50 years hence about whether something is a breach of the "Carbis Bay Agreement".

Just so long as the leaders are not still bickering about the "2021 G7 car/bus bay agreement".

Just read about Boris talking to Joe Biden about railways in the times. I am afraid most of the article is behind a paywall.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/johnson-biden-phone-call-love-of-railways-puts-us-relations-on-right-track-ghm6bk3tw (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/johnson-biden-phone-call-love-of-railways-puts-us-relations-on-right-track-ghm6bk3tw)

It does say part-way through:

The rest is largely boring politics, but it does make the prospect of a Presidential rail trip whilst over here seem a little more likely.

Some more pictures, from National Rail's Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1353996894448603137):

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EspLin4XcAIM8T9?format=jpg&name=large)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EspLin0XAAImozs?format=jpg&name=large)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EspLipKXMAAIpNC?format=jpg&name=large)

The accompanying text says@

I know what it says .... but I still half expect Countess or Southern Maid to appear around the corner!

May someone enlighten me as to what the four green wires are that are plugged into the 'rails' with a blue connector?

Pandrol fastclips?  Preinstalled on sleepers - modern replacement for Pandrol P clips, I think they?re designed for use with automated track laying machines.

Sorry about the size, BTW. They aren't my photos, and I couldn't think of a quick way to unembiggen them.

You put width=800 after "img" in [img] (or 600 as it's portrait shjape). See Graham's post above for an example.

I am obliged to my learned friend, they are now unembiggened.

.. or would be with the width put in the right place, thus - [img width=600].

Don't know what happened there, but never trust a preview. New glasses too. I went for 800 in the end.

At a time when we are all stuck at home, it was particularly nice to watch this video of a full one way trip from St Erth to St Ives filmed on 28 January last year on a 158 (could well have been the first visit of a 158 to the line in recent times). 

https://bit.ly/3r8Eji6

Line reopened this morning as scheduled, NRW however still pedalling the biggest track investment in 60 years mantra though which is unfortunate.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.  All good publicity for the railway and great to see everything go to plan with the line reopening today.  I've enjoyed seeing NR's tweets with photos and videos from the worksite.

BBC spotlight had a small news item on the re-opening.
Stated it cost 3 million pounds for the one and half mile improvement??????????????????????

Sounds about right

Are the 158s in Devon/Cornwall based at Bristol St.Phillips marsh? The video was nice to see, wish I could ride it in real life though!

Whilst I like the Class 158 & 159s,

I'd prefer to enjoy a Video of a Class 158 going Plymouth to Exeter or Versa Vice, via Tavistock  ;D ;D

Enjoy the real thing even more  :D :D

Mostly Exeter, I think.

The last time anything of this scale was done on the St Ives branch was when one of the rails was moved towards the other one by two feet, three and three quarter inches. 
At least this time it's both rails that have been replaced.
[mode: sarcasm=off]

I'd be thi9nking if this relaying job was "on the back of the G7" the middle section of track around the golf links would have also be relaid.

I agree. It would also imply a leveleof "joined up government" which is sadly almost always absent in this country. Foreign Office talk to Transport? I doubt it.

I am sure that the track renewal was scheduled some time before the G7. It could be that the venue was chosen because the line had been relaid. :)

From Cornwall Live (https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/network-rail-apologises-cornwall-residents-5295600)


Oh dear.   I have some sympathy for Network Rail in having to keep lines safe, clear and maintainable resulting, at times, in the need for unwelcome management of natural green growth along the way.    But, sadly, there seem to be all to many stories where they end up having to apologise - not the first time, is it? 

At times I wonder if it's far more convenient for Network Rail to just go ahead and do something and just say "very sorry" afterwards that go through proper procedures, or maintain something that's of use or beauty, but is expensive to maintain and / or operationally inconvenient.

Or even when they allegedly do follow "proper procedures", but ignore the consultation responses. Like with certain footbridges, for example...

The problem with ash trees is ash tree dieback.  There are requirements to clear infected (and nearby) trees.  I am surprised this was not mentioned but it would have spoilt a good story.  The estimate is that now it is established the UK will loose 80% of the ash trees.

Many people assume all trees are protected. In fact relatively few are and land owners are free to fell any others without consultation.

Actually, that's not correct. There's no carte blanche for tree felling, instead there's a requirement for a felling licence from the Forestry Commission with some (admittedly quite wide ranging) exemptions, but a number of additional controls on top - see  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/876641/Tree_Felling_-_Getting_Permission_-_office_print_version.pdf

Yes quite wide ranging:

I'm surprised GWR haven't complained to Torbay Council about their plans to plant 150 Giant Redwood trees alongside the railway and proposed Edginswell Station.

Service Suspended Leaf on the line!

https://www.torbay.gov.uk/news/pr8294/

Do redwood trees even have leaves, or are they pine needles?   For sure, pine needles carpet forest floors, but are they slippery and as much of a problem on railway tracks as leaves?

The industry Bible ("Managing Low Adhesion") says surprisingly little about trees with needles rather than leaves. Just one use of "conifer", to be exact:

It also has tables listing suitable species to plant, all of them broad-leaved (though not too broad). They just seem to assume everyone knows conifers are not a problem.

And yes, redwoods are conifers.

Bearing in mind that most conifers are resinous, I would have thought that they were also likely to be problematic.

Mustn't let facts get in the way of a good story.

My sympathies are with network rail.
"The railway" is widely ridiculed when extensive delays result in the leaf fall season, with calls for "something to be done" And no that network rail are doing something, look at the fuss.

I referred to ash die-back here: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=231.msg304816#msg304816

It's a safety issue: the upper branches die first, which causes heavy lumps of wood to drop on people from a great height.

Visited St Ives today, took these pics of the new track, and have tried to resize them before posting. (Can a mod check that this has been done correctly).

(https://i.imgur.com/AQ52Hji.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yXlCX6V.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mAP1qNk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/IswdzWx.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pvI8XTo.jpg)

Just wanna say, Thank you.

Looks pretty good to me, RailCornwall - thanks!

There are a number of ways of posting pictures. Anything that results in a clear picture for us to see, of an appropriate size and not breaching copyright, is the right way. In this instance, I rather like the content too, entirely appropriate to the thread.

No. 4 is, I presume, the terminus speed limiting TPWS and associated Diddy box.

CRS website reporting that the materiel recovered from St Ives for the Helston Railway is largely, apart from some of the furnishings, to be used for scrap purposes. It is unsuitable for reuse in service. 

I hope it’s OK to post this here?

My new book “The St Ives Branch Line: A History” will be published by Pen & Sword Books this summer.

Contains a full history of the St Ives branch from the nineteenth century to the G7 Summit.  Includes around 120 photos, mostly in colour, of the line through the ages.  60,000 words plus a foreword by broadcaster Tim Dunn.

Available to pre-order now from some of these sellers: https://linktr.ee/Stivesbranch

Welcome to the forum, Richard.   Yep, sure, post away about the book - technically an advert, I suppose, but I expect people will be happy to be informed and pointed in the direction of sources.   While you're here, do tell us a little bit about yourself and / or add to other conversations on the Coffee Shop - if you can word-smith 60k words for Pen & Sword, I'm sure you can generate a few more for me & members.  I look forward! -- Graham

Thanks, Graham! I don’t know that there’s much to say about me.  I grew up on the Southern Region and now live in London so I’m not really a Great Westerner.  My connection to the West Country is that my wife is from Plymouth (she’s half-Cornish, half-Devonian) and with her I’ve visited the area a lot - including lots of holidays in St Ives.

This is my fourth book.  I’ve previously written two about the Isle of Wight’s railways and one about the Bluebell Line, so this is my first time writing about GWR territory.  I hope people enjoy it!

Monday 6 to Sunday 13 March replacement buses will run between Truro and Penzance as well as on the St Ives branch.

Where the main line remains open, amended train services will operate through Cornwall towards Plymouth with roughly one train per hour in each direction.

GWR is asking those intending to travel during this period to plan ahead and check journey times before travelling.

GWR Regional Station Manager, West, Mark Chorley, said:

“We have been working hard to make sure that people can be confident to travel safely, and that includes running as many trains and carriages as we can to make extra room, and replacement buses where trains cannot operate.

“This work is important to ensure we can continue to improve the service we offer to passengers. The platform extensions will enable us to run longer trains in the future on the St Ives line, providing more capacity for busy summer days.”

from

https://news.gwr.com/news/rail-improvement-and-platform-extension-work-to-take-place-in-west-cornwall

Questions have to be (i) Which Station Platforms? and (ii) Are GWR planning longer than 4 car services on the line?

Presumably Lelant Saltings won't need doing, or St Ives itself. That only lives Lelant and Carbis Bay (which are both shorter IIRC)?

3 coach 158959 worked St Ives Mon/Tues last week. The work is probably for when the 150s are phased out.

When the 150s are phased out what will replace them?
When are GWR planning on phasing the 150s out?

Don't know

Not in the short term - short term plans are to replace some of the Castle sets with IETs

Which is no time soon and the 150s certainly won't be replaced by 158s.  158s are too slow for people to get off and on hence you'll rarely see one on an Exmouth - Paignton, St Ives, Falmouth  etc when it is at all busy.   A failure yes, no failure another kettle of fish altogether.

I think the 150s will be with us in Devon & Cornwall for a bit  yet.

It all depends on the 19 769s which seems to be having a lot of failures.
Exeter has 7 3 car 158s.
Yesterday was a good day for Exeter.
17 out of the 20  150s were in service. 10 doubled up on Paignton-Exmouth plus 2 166s for the seven diagrams.
7 were on the branches. 8 will be required from May with Okehampton.
Barnstaple had three 3 car 158s in service. Might need an extra one for the extended Axminster in May.

If the 19 769s do come into service it will displace the 165s at Reading and from what I read a couple of years ago they will replace the 150s. 166s will remain at Bristol.
15 165s could replace the 20 150s and GWR can claim more seats, less maintenance.
Exeter depot has been reconfigured to service 3 car trains and can exchange bogies in the lifting road although I don't think that has been done yet.

Looking at todays allocation;
Still 10 150s doing Paignton- Exmouth but a 166 is replaced by 158.


The Cornwall trains seem to be stabled at Long Rock or Laira although there seems to be trips in the week to get back to Exeter

Do we know for certain which platform(s) are being extended during the current blockade? Is it just St Erth?

A Network Rail tweet says it’s St Erth and Lelant to allow “five car 150s”.

There are only 6 (out of more that 130?) 3 car sets - the rest are 2 cars ...

St Erth bay is 108m  and Lelant 82m. 4 car 150 about 92m, 3 car 165 about 72m as is 158 which was down there for two days the other week.

A new station like Marsh Barton is 124m.

No more 150s are likely to come down here especially the 150001-06 having got rid of the two GWR had.

Ps 2 car 158762 operating Falmouth today

Just seen twitter and Lelant being extended 6m at each end.

Network Rail press release: https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/thousands-of-extra-seats-to-st-ives-following-west-cornwall-rail-upgrades (https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/thousands-of-extra-seats-to-st-ives-following-west-cornwall-rail-upgrades)

GWR looking at possibly splitting a 2 car set to make 2 x 3 car sets (as was done with some 158s). 

In previous years the second Class 150 used on the St Ives branch during the summer months has remained in Cornwall during the winter months as a spare unit. This still happening?

The 150s cycle through the Cornish branches eventually ending back at Exeter.

Long Rock sends one unit to St Ives. two units to Falmouth which split to make up the two train service.

On a good day Exeter has 17/20 150s working. That is one unit working St Ives. 10 working Paignton-Exmouth. Two Falmouth. One unit working Gunnislake, Looe, Newquay, Okehampton.

Two 166s are also sent down from Bristol. Instead occasionally a 2 car 158 or 165 is sent.

From May they will need 2 for Okehampton.

Exeter does have 7 158s which supplement/replace the 150s as well as doing Barnstaple. Exeter does badly need the turbos from May if they are not to short form trains in the summer.

Having been driving past Truro daily the last three days, I've noticed a two car (150?) parked in the Truro siding all day it seems.
It's possible it had done a run in between my frequent passing but unlikely from the positioning.
Was the Falmouth branch down to one unit for 3 days?

Monday had 150244 and 216 operating as usual. Tuesday  150244 failed 15.13 at truro and 150232 carried on an hourly service. Wednesday seemed to be a points failure in the evening.

I'm 'fairly' sure the spare unit was in the sidings all day yesterday as well.

Saw the modest extension to the bay platform at St Erth on Friday.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/serplat.jpg)

Have now caught up with the works at Lelant.

The platform has been extended by 13 metres - unusually by carrying out work at both ends.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/lel3.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/lel5.jpg)

However, and perhaps not surprisingly given the cost, the opportunity wasn't taken to raise the platform height.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/lel4.jpg)

As a result of the extension the foot crossing has been moved slightly closer to St Ives

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/lel2.jpg)

...but possibly only for use at low tide!

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/lel1.jpg)

Um, it used to descend onto a slipway or pier there. I can't recall if stairs were involved.

Mark

How thoughtful of Network Rail - a special exit for all those smugglers you keep being told about when you visit Cornwall! ;D

For info, the Pen & Sword website has a sale on at the moment, with 30% off on all their titles, which means you can pre-order the St Ives book for only £17.50, plus postage: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-St-Ives-Branch-Line-A-History-Hardback/p/21452

A bit of a riff on St Erth station, in its new role as park and ride.

'Reasons' yesterday gave me the opportunity to change from the branch onto the 18:00 London train at St Erth at the end of yesterday afternoon, and the junction station's new role as park and ride certainly needs quite a lot of admin, even with the modest sized ( and moderately rammed) 2 carriage St Ives train.

The overall impression was that the branch is thoroughly capacity constrained - not sure how this is working for long distance rail passengers as they'll be at risk of being displaced by the park and ride people.

First up, St Ives... there wasn't much opportunity to buy a ticket *from* St Ives as the ticket machine was flakey, a queue attempting to purchase, and in any case the machine didn't seem to know about railcards. Once on the train, there was no space for the train crew to come through and check tickets.

Once at St Erth, the accesses between the bay platform and the up main platform being for the most part closed off with tape, either single use or barrier tape, the returning park and ride people were channeled through the station building and, for the people heading for the down-side car park, back on to the platform and over the bridge - at the entrance to which there was a sign that said hopefully "No queueing on the bridge" - not sure how that was meant to work.

The very few people heading for the long distance connecting train were able to head in the same direction and discover the remaining exit(s?) to the up line platform of their own acccord. When the park and ride people had passed, the entire end of the station behind the buffer stops was taped off to send any one else up the ramp. (The cafe there appears to have been a victim of covid, which is a pity as it would now have far more passing trade perhaps with their landlord requiring a greatly increased rent)

All this needed the prescence of I think at least 2 staff to manage things.

The levels may well favour a step-free underpass, someone has probably considered one and then baulked at the cost of such structures in the UK.

A notice states that for anyone unable to use the overbridge, GWR will provide a complimentary taxi, presumably between up and down platforms.

So, St Erth is much busier - though possibly, the fare box has suffered a hit as a result, and also, two carriages on the branch in July doesn't match the numbers presenting.

After the ride on the branch, I do now know the words to the following nursery rhyme:

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream.'

Mark

It's surprising GWR cannot make up a four coach train although they have yesterday and today.
For the last week or so 4 166s have been operating Paignton Exmouth and only 6 150s to do the rest of the service. 9 150s do Gunnislake and the Cornwall branches leaving 5 spare.

As for tickets maybe the staff on the platform could issue tickets. They supplement Paignton's ticket windows with a ticket seller in the booking hall on Saturdays.

Finally it’s arrived!  ‘The St Ives Branch Line: A History’ is available to order NOW from Pen & Sword and will be available very soon from all good booksellers.
 
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-St-Ives-Branch-Line-A-History-Hardback/p/21452

Mine arrived earlier in the week.  Very high quality production and an excellent read.

Just in case anyone would like a signed copy of this book - there’s currently a very limited number of signed copies for sale in both The St Ives Bookseller, St Ives, and The Edge of the World Bookshop, Penzance.

Article on said car blocking the line at Carbis Bay
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/driver-crashes-car-down-embankment-8059826

It is close to a 30 foot drop and is going to need a rail-mounted crane to rescue it.

One can only hope that the driver or owner of the vehicle can be identified and then presented with an invoice covering the entire cost of recovery and the NR / GWR financial loss.

Surely a lot quicker to just cut it up on site and return to owner. Should teach them a lesson! 

You presume that it was the owner who put it there! The car might have been stolen.

Cut it up but don’t charge them a fee for doing so!

Leave them a roll of gaffer tape to put it back together.

The local press strikes again.  surely it should be 'undertaking'?

It is correct if the car in question has police markings on it and is one of "theirs" ...

I wonder if consideration was given to the Long Rock cl 08 Pilot loco being sent (with a chain) to site to pull the car clear of the line so trains could have run today?

I think they wouldn’t risk the potential damage it might do to the infrastructure. 

(assuming of course the 08 is cleared for the branch)

As I said before. Just cut it up. It’s a serious suggestion.

The cost of recovery and the loss of a days revenue will far exceed the value of the car. It shouldn’t take too long to ascertain wether the car is stolen or not.

I seem to recall that GWR don't do consequential loss claims....or is that just for its customers?  ;)

Went through from the downhill side. Weird.

Mark

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/gallery/car-crashed-onto-railway-line-8060916

VED and MOT to December '23, and MOT history clean. Slightly wittily-spaced number plate for those that find that stuff funny.

Mark

I'm concerned that the vehicle may have damaged the bullhead rail post that once supported the bridge's weight limit sign as it's a good 'railway furniture survival'.

Mark

(https://i.postimg.cc/9QXPB753/carbis-bay-post-and-rail-line.jpg)

No - it seems, not; it went through the fence further along the track (see last picture in that report, on second page).

That article has a quote and a photo showing it went down the slope....


(https://i2-prod.devonlive.com/incoming/article8060906.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/1_A-car-was-driven-onto-the-railway-line-at-Carbis-Bay-and-abandoned-on-the-tracks.jpg)

Yup, I'd initially thought the driver would have come from something called Boskerris Road above the line, overshot the junction and through the fence there but... they appear to have come *up* the road from the bay, ignored the bend at the bridge, straight on, through the fence there and down the embankment.

The photo also shows little to no marks on the road so no slamming on of the brakes - and also possibly airborne as the fence was far more of a casualty than the edge of the cutting which has only minor damage. Oh and for good measure what may have been a fence post has impacted the bonnet and restyled the Mercedes front end as a BMW.

Another unexpected detail, the airbags do not appear to have been triggered. Or perhaps that vehicle has a mode that deploys them as parachutes or cushions for landing.

Mark

Imagine the response if it had happened during an event at Carbis Bay last year.

If anyone interested hasn't already got a copy of this great book, the publishers are having a Spring sale and it's currently available for £21.00 (+£4.50 p & p or free postage if you find another book of theirs you want and your order comes to over £40)

 https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-St-Ives-Branch-Line-A-History-Hardback/p/21452  (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-St-Ives-Branch-Line-A-History-Hardback/p/21452)

Delays to services between St Erth and St Ives
Due to a fault with the signalling system between St Erth and St Ives trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
We apologise for the disruption to your journey today.
Further Information

If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:15/01/2024 14:05

New book from the same author - Richard Long -


The 232-page hardback is priced at £25 and is available through Pen & Sword Books (ISBN 9781399045179).

Not noted this before.
08:38 St Erth to St Ives due 08:49
Facilities on the 08:38 St Erth to St Ives due 08:49.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
Additional Information
Reservations will not be displayed on this service, and you should use any available seat according to the class of travel indicated on your ticket. If no seats are available, we would be grateful if you could make sure that those who need them most are able to use them.
***
Alternatively, you can travel on either of the two GWR services that are immediately before or after this one. Your ticket will be valid for travel on these GWR services at no additional cost. You can see how many coaches our services have with the 'Live Times' feature on the GWR app, or speak to staff for further information.

(Continues throughout the day).

I'm surprised (but pleased) to discover that the St Ives branch warrants a 4-car train at this time of year. I'd not have expected a 2-car to get so overcrowded that anyone would prefer to catch the train before or after (which will surely be the same 2-car unit anyway, won't it?). I assume the additional information section is sloppy cut-and-paste, with its references to reservations and classes of travel.

September and October is very popular with the older generation coming on breaks to Cornwall.
There is normally around 10 days quiet end of August between the bank holidays and the pensioners arriving

I'll be there as soon as I can!  ;D

There were just so many separate topics here, all relating to this particular branch line, that I have now taken the opportunity to merge them into this one specific topic.

The original headings in each post have been retained, as far as possible.

I hope this will help all of our members and readers, in terms of clarity and continuity, for future reference.

CfN.  :)