Barnstaple for Christmas?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Journey Check:

Line problem: between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple. Owing to flooding between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled at short notice. Disruption is expected until 09:00 29/12.

Today's 22nd December ... are they really suggesting it will be a week before services are back to normal, or is that a typo?

FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s disruption page says

Services between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple are suspended in both directions, with no replacement road transport available.

[ellendune]

If its Flooding at Cowley Bridge Junction again that is probably about right.  They can do nothing to get the line open again until the water goes down except stand and watch an get materials together for the rebuild.  Then they have to put the embankment back which will allow them to do a limited service on the main line and then finally they have to rebuild the signalling again before they reopen the branch.

Some serious resilience measures are required here. 

[TerminalJunkie]

Today's 22nd December ... are they really suggesting it will be a week before services are back to normal, or is that a typo?

Sounds about right.

The really annoying thing is that if you only look at the Live Departures Boards you could be fooled into thinking the trains are still running...
http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/fgw/summary.aspx?T=BNP^▸ (Barnstaple)

[TerminalJunkie]

And, just up the road, this was taken at the old level crossing at Braunton Station.

[Southern Stag]

Last time when Cowley Bridge flooded the reason the Barnstaple line was closed for so long was because of the destruction of the signalling equipment on the mainline. That meant the points allowing access to the Barnstaple line were clipped only allowing trains to run along the mainline with temporary block working set up. Once the Barnstaple track was repaired a shuttle service was ran from Crediton to Barnstaple with units running from Exeter to Crediton at the start and end of service with the point manually changed to allow access. If the signalling equipment is less damaged than before the line might not be closed for so long.

[phile]

Today's 22nd December ... are they really suggesting it will be a week before services are back to normal, or is that a typo?

Sounds about right.

The really annoying thing is that if you only look at the Live Departures Boards you could be fooled into thinking the trains are still running...
http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/fgw/summary.aspx?T=BNP^▸ (Barnstaple)

Live Departure Boards should be shut down locally during major disruption as they just spout oit rubbish when comparing with what is acrually taking place.   The incorrect info merely confuses passengers.    Info should be provided by a human being ot a facility for text on a screen.

[TerminalJunkie]

spout oit rubbish
acrually

Info should be provided by a human being ot a facility for text on a screen.

Yeah, because information supplied by humans is always perfect, isn't it? 

[macbrains]

In the last flooding chaos, station announcements and departure boards at Cheltenham kept announcing trains that had long been cancelled, confusing the hell out of intending passengers.  I (politely!) asked station staff why this was and they said they couldn't do anything about it!

rgds
macbrains

[Chris from Nailsea]

A video news report, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Devon floods woman rescued after clinging to tree

In Umberleigh, near Barnstaple in north Devon, a woman was swept away from her car in the early hours of Sunday after becoming stuck in fast-flowing flood water.

A police helicopter found her clinging to branches of a tree - where she had been for 50 minutes - on the banks of the swollen River Taw.

She was rescued by a RNLI lifeboat, and treated for exposure to the water.

Her husband told the BBC that he "never thought I would see her again".

John Henderson reports.

Also from the BBC:

Floods: Woman saved from Devon river

A woman was "lucky" to survive after she was swept from a stricken car as floods wreaked havoc in the south-west of England.

Vanessa Glover managed to cling to an over-hanging branch as the River Taw burst its banks at Umberleigh in Devon.

Meanwhile more than 20 people had to flee homes near Exeter as flood waters rose and a severe flood warning remains in place in Cornwall.

Travel disruption also continues as a rail junction in Devon is blocked.

Although flood waters were starting to recede during the day, forecasters warned that more rain could bring fresh hazards on Sunday night and into Christmas Eve.

For hundreds of people across Devon and Cornwall, a mopping up exercise was beginning as residents returned to homes which were damaged by rising waters.


Plastic dams were set up to protect the railway line at Exeter

But for Mrs Glover the floods came close to ending in tragedy. She and her husband Paul and seven-year-old son Silas became stranded as the River Taw began to rise around their Ford Ranger pick-up in the early hours of Sunday. Mr Glover and Silas managed to scramble out of the cab into the back of the truck but as Mrs Glover was attempting to follow them, she lost her footing and was swept away.

Mr Glover said: "I never thought I'd see her again. I looked around and she was gone." She managed to grab branches and hold on against the rushing water for 50 minutes. A police helicopter using thermal imaging equipment found her about 200 metres away.

Robin Goodlad, from the RNLI, who helped in the rescue, said: "She's extremely lucky. How she managed to hold on in that flow for that amount of time, I have no idea."  Mrs Glover was treated for exposure and her son and husband were rescued from the pick-up by firefighters.

Elsewhere in Devon, 25 people were led to safety by emergency services in Stoke Canon, Exeter, after the River Exe burst its banks.

In Cornwall, a severe flood warning remains in place at Helston, where on Saturday the River Cober flowed into streets and homes.

Meanwhile rail problems were set to continue as part of a junction near Cowley Bridge in Devon has crumbled away under the force of flooding. The line is the link between London Paddington and Penzance but engineers said the problem could last for five days. Plastic dams were used to prevent water from reaching a nearby signals box which, if flooded, could have led to several weeks of repairs.

Flooding at Cowley Bridge means trains are unable to run between Tiverton and Exeter.

[LiskeardRich]

TV news reports said they expect at least 7 days before able to reopen at Cowley Bridge. Has the railway flooded regularly at Cowley Bridge previously, as I dont recall seeing much about it before this year.

[TonyK]

The Illustrated London News on 27 January 1866 carried pictures, sketched by locals, of the flooding at Cowley Bridge. Apart from being broad gauge, it looks pretty much like it does today.

You can see it at http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/19thcentury/flooding1866.jpg

It's been a fairly regular occurence, although not on such a scale.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for your contributions to this topic! 

My only comment is on the question of whether something happens 'regularly' or 'frequently': if it happens every one hundred years it is 'regularly', or every time there is heavy rain in the South West of England it is 'frequently'! 

[SandTEngineer]

Cowley Bridge 1960
http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_events/pics/floodcowley.jpg

[IndustryInsider]

Looks strikingly similar, except I expect all the signals worked OK after the water receded!

[SandTEngineer]

...and in 2000 (half way down the page here...http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/64969-heavy-rain-in-devon-flooding-on-the-railways/page-2?