No services between Taunton and Exeter 27/2/21- WW2 bomb

[whole diary]

[LiskeardRich]

Coming up on Twitter all services cancelled between Exeter and Taunton until close of play on 26th February due to the discovery of a WW2 bomb near to the line in Exeter.

[LiskeardRich]

Line closure is from 9am tomorrow until 9am Sunday at present related to this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-56212295

About 200 University of Exeter students have been evacuated from a halls of residence after a large unexploded World War Two bomb was found.
Police were called to Glenthorne Road, Exeter, at about 09:20 GMT and have declared a major incident.
A 100m (328ft) cordon is in place and about 100 nearby properties have been evacuated, officers confirmed.
Royal Navy bomb disposal specialists are on the scene, which is not expected to be resolved until Saturday.
The bomb is estimated to be about 2.5m (8ft) long and 70cm (27in) across.

[AMLAG]

There seems no mention of any alterations to North Devon line trains; possibly they are running via the Exeter Riverside Yard through Goods lines to Cowley Bdge Jn using the long line of redundant and stored EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom)))/DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) coal hoppes for protection ?!

[LiskeardRich]

Here is the exclusion zone so Barnstaple is a non runner too i imagine

[grahame]

People are being advised to avoid the area and residents within the cordon will be asked to leave their homes by 09:00 and stay away until work is completed.

Ah - a long walk for exercise, phone up the doctor and see if you can get an appointment, or do your essential shopping ( but not for frozen food? )

Exeter City Council said no evacuation centres had been set up and other people affected have been encouraged to stay with relatives.

Ah - right ...

[LiskeardRich]

Devon and Cornwall police posted on Facebook that anyone who resides within the exclusion zone is exempt from lockdown rules. Apparently such  public safety overrules lockdown.

[bobm]

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) seem confused as to the location.

What's going on

Due to a wartime bomb near the railway between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction fewer trains are able to run on all lines. Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

What we're doing about it

We have been informed that due to a wartime bomb near the railway there will be some alterations to services in the Exeter area.   

[grahame]

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) seem confused as to the location.

It reads that way.  I suspect that SWR are facing the sending of lots of other trains via Yeovil Junction, and a lack of access to their usual turn back siding just to the north of Exeter St Davids so their terminating trains can't easily be turned around away from two very busy platforms; not sure how you would summarise that in a few words.

Due to a wartime bomb near the railway between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
to become
Due to a wartime bomb near the railway, we have to run fewer trains than normal between Exeter St Davids and Yeovil Junction

Just about to be shutting down (?) when I did the following screen grabs about 15 minutes ago ...


Watch via https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/exeter#T_EXETRSD


Watch via http://www.mrug.org.uk/exd.html

[plymothian]

There seems no mention of any alterations to North Devon line trains; possibly they are running via the Exeter Riverside Yard through Goods lines to Cowley Bdge Jn using the long line of redundant and stored EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom)))/DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) coal hoppes for protection ?!

The line is closed between Exeter SD and Crediton, along with the mainline; the early morning services got through and there is a shuttle running Crediton - Barnstaple with a RRB^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) between Crediton - Exeter.
However as the A377 - the natural road between Barnstaple and Exeter - runs through the exclusion zone, I'm not sure what route they're going to take either north to Tiverton and back down the M5 or risk the backroads south to Pathfinder on the A30.

All other services are running Penzance/Plymouth - Exeter SD and Paddington/Scotland/North England/Wales - Taunton/Tiverton Pkwy with RRB between Taunton/Tiverton and Exeter.

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are running Waterloo - Yeovil Jnc, with RRB Yeovil - Exeter plus ticket acceptance on Stagecoach service 4 Honiton - Exeter.

Exmouth - Paignton unaffected.

This is assuming the exclusion zone stays at the current limit, if it needs to be widened once the bomb is examined, St Davids station will come under the new exclusion zone.

[phile]

There seems no mention of any alterations to North Devon line trains; possibly they are running via the Exeter Riverside Yard through Goods lines to Cowley Bdge Jn using the long line of redundant and stored EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom)))/DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) coal hoppes for protection ?!

The line is closed between Exeter SD and Crediton, along with the mainline; the early morning services got through and there is a shuttle running Crediton - Barnstaple with a RRB^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) between Crediton - Exeter.
However as the A377 - the natural road between Barnstaple and Exeter - runs through the exclusion zone, I'm not sure what route they're going to take either north to Tiverton and back down the M5 or risk the backroads south to Pathfinder on the A30.

All other services are running Penzance/Plymouth - Exeter SD and Paddington/Scotland/North England/Wales - Taunton/Tiverton Pkwy with RRB between Taunton/Tiverton and Exeter.

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are running Waterloo - Yeovil Jnc, with RRB Yeovil - Exeter plus ticket acceptance on Stagecoach service 4 Honiton - Exeter.

Exmouth - Paignton unaffected.

This is assuming the exclusion zone stays at the current limit, if it needs to be widened once the bomb is examined, St Davids station will come under the new exclusion zone.

There are some GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services running via the Mule

[johnneyw]

Don't I just know about it!  I've just been replacement bussed to Exeter from Tiverton Parkway and am on the train waiting to depart for Totnes but my ongoing bus connections are now we'll out of the window.
Wasn't much at Temple Meads to explain what was going on until I asked someone on the platform 3 ticket desk.

[bradshaw]

There seems to have been an operational incident on the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) line involving a diverted trains

From SWR journey check

Earlier today, there was an incident involving diverted trains between Sherborne and Axminster. This is caused trains to be at a stand for approximately 80 minutes. The line has now reopened. 

[PhilWakely]

There seems to have been an operational incident on the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) line involving a diverted trains

From SWR journey check

Earlier today, there was an incident involving diverted trains between Sherborne and Axminster. This is caused trains to be at a stand approximately 80 minutes. The line has now reopened. 

1A88 diverted 1215 PNZ PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) left EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) 1521 but stuck at Yeovil Junction due to being too long for platform 1;
1C84 stuck on Pen Mill curve since 1545 or so.....
1A88 unable to shunt into Sherborne section so all on stop.

All on the move again now with 1C84 terminated at Pen Mill and returning to Westbury ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock). 1A88 released and now 120 late; 1C86 now at Yeovil Junction, 66 late and waiting for 1L64 to come off the single line.

[bradshaw]

On Traksy it seems to be going via Taunton as 5C84

[broadgage]

The bomb has now been exploded in situ, after building an enclosure of sand so as to minimise blast damage.