At least the Liskeard Box will still stay. Apart from being a lovely building, it also has an interesting bit of history . A young Harold Wilson was signed up with Labour Party membership in the Liskeard Signal Box as the duty signalman was also secretary of the local Labour Party. I think this deserves a Blue Plaque!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0grvrrp

Cornwall signalling uograde is nearly finished. Control from Exeter is schedules to go live from February according to this  good BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) interview.

It is reported that in the very olden days, Lord Morley, a director of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), and living in Plymouth, would speak to the driver before joining the train at Plymouth (North Road)  and  say " There is a guinea here for you my man if we arrive in Paddingotn on time".
I have no means of verifying this tale, but I rather like it.

Serious lack of joined -up customer service and information yesterday.

Case 1. Travellng from Bristol Parkway to Temple Meads for onwards journey to Plymouth, XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) assured passengers there would be busses between Taunton and Exeter due to flooding. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) TM siting next to me assured me there were  definately NO busses and XC was in error.No idea what would be provided, if anything, at Taunton!   Do GWR and XC speak to eachother??

Case 2. Decided getTing stranded at Taunton not a good idea, so decided to get to EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) via Salisbury. Bristol to Salisbury train ran 17 minute late , and was scheduled to arrive at Salisbury at 1547, same time as the two-hourly Salisbury to Exeter service was schdule to leave. Asked the GWR TM on the Bristol-Salisbury to ask for the Salisbury-Exeter to be held for 5 minutes so I could make the connection. Just arriving at Salisbury to see the Salisbury-Exeter pulling out of adjacent platform. Do GWR and SWT^▸ (South West Trains) speak to eachother??

Having said this, I found all railway staff yesterday to be personally helpful and genuinely trying to do their best but with very little centrally provided information or coordination.

The sea condition at Dawlish yesterday was not "huge waves". It was mostly sea spray blowing over the train. Exactly the sort of conditions I thought it was promised that the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - the now official name for the replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) could cope with. But clearly they can't.

As yesterdays chaos in Devon showed yesterday, the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets are the only ones capable of going through Dawlish when its stormy. Once its all IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - the now official name for the replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) nothing will run.

Terrible journey yesterday from Liskeard to Exeter and back. Morning IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - the now official name for the replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) PZ-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) got to Plymouth and terminated. All passengers transferred onto a 4 coach Castle, which ran to Exeter, with a delay outside Teignmouth due to a failed IET there. PAD passengers then transferred on to another IET at EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains). Meanwhile a Woking-Kingswear steam special hauled by Royal Scot ran though to Kigswear wihout any problem!
 
Return in the afternoon utter chaos. No trains between EXD and PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains) between 1300 and 1630 due to another failed IET on down line at Teignmouth. Recovery loco sent and broke down on up line completely blocking the mainline. Platform 4 at EXD choked with hundreds of displaced passengers. I gave up and got a bus back to Plymouth! Not a good day. anther example of how useless the IETs are. At least a few Castles kept the show on the road ( a bit). Once they have gone what happens?

Oh dear, that would never have been  allowed in the olden days when that  train was the Golden Hind!

A pretty terrible evening for Paddington-Penzance service. 1803 was running two hours late, with later services all backed up behind it. Looks as if there was a major delay between Castle Cary and Taunton. Possibly a Glastonbury effect?

There is a way to use the sleeper to go to Plymouth AND have a reasonable getting up time. Stay on the sleeper until Redruth ( arr 0720) and then  get a single ticket back to Plymouth (arr 0908) !

I agree. I really dont see why the sleeper cant stay on the platform until 7.30. It always used to when there was a separate Plymouth portion.

Thats an interesting point. A few years ago my train was seriously delayed because a cow had got on to the line through a broken fence that Network Rail had failed to maintain. I was refused delay compensation despite pointing out that it was the negligence of Network Rail that had caused the delay, not the cow or its owner. I felt like contesting this, but couldn't face the hassle...

I like Traksy. The map gives a veery clear picture of the line ahead, and useful to see why your train is slowing down   due to trains ahead.

I still have my old Dads two volume "Railway Wonders of the World" books.Inspirational stuff from the 1930s.Sadly many of those wonders are long gone, but my list of current and surviving British wonders would certainly include:
Forth Bridge
Royal Albert Bridge Saltash;
Box Tunnel
St Pancras Station
The Elizabeth Line central section
The Post Office Underground Railway Mount Pleasant
Ribbleshead Viaduct

I suspect the two main improved passenger flows will be Truro -St Austell, which should have a very good, and genuinely walk-up service when you add in n the current half hourly service, and more long-distance connections through to Newquay at Par. The infrequency of the current Newquay -Par  deters a fair few from travelling on up country. I still think rerouting the Newquay brach via Burngullow  has to be the longer term preference.