St Erth to St Ives line - ongoing discussion, including a book about the line (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

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.

[RailCornwall]

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).

[infoman]

Just wanna say, Thank you.

[TonyK]

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).

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.

[Oxonhutch]

No. 4 is, I presume, the terminus speed limiting TPWS^▸ (Train Protection and Warning System) and associated Diddy box.

[RailCornwall]

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. 

[RichardLong]

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

[grahame]

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

[RichardLong]

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^▸ (Great Western Railway) territory.  I hope people enjoy it!

[RailCornwall]

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^▸ (Great Western Railway) 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?

[Thatcham Crossing]

Presumably Lelant Saltings won't need doing, or St Ives itself. That only lives Lelant and Carbis Bay (which are both shorter IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly'))?

[REVUpminster]

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

[GWR 158]

When the 150s are phased out what will replace them?
When are GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) planning on phasing the 150s out?

[grahame]

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^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))

[RichardB]

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

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.