Campaign for Tavistock reopening

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Connections at Bere Alston (brrr in the winter!) for Tavistock from Gunnislake will need careful planning

[grahame]

So - should this go ahead, how will services work? a la Georgemas Junction or splitting trains at Bere Alston or...reversing at Gunnislake to Bere & then onto Tavistock? If I was in a RUG^» (Rail User Group - about) at Gunnislake, I might have a concern or two.

The strong message from the Cornish side is that they want to retain their through Plymouth trains so the plan is for the Gunnislake service to be similar to now with an hourly Plymouth - Tavistock service overlaid on top.

Something like this? 
F - Ferry Road Stations (same place as Victoria Road really!)



Edit - I have tweaked the trains slightly and corrected a couple of typos

[Teignrail]

Bunkers Hill "B"  https://www.teignrail.co.uk/political-campaigning.php#bunkers

[grahame]

Bunkers Hill "B"  https://www.teignrail.co.uk/political-campaigning.php#bunkers

Indeed - the scheme for re-opening to Tavistock is that from Plymouth and not as I understand it as part of, or with forward consideration, for a re-instated alternative line from Exeter to Plymouth.   The path of the old railway though Tavistock has a number of obstacles that have come in since the line was closed 55 years ago, and the current rebuild proposal has the re-installed line stopping short of them.  Furthermore, as I read it the re-installed line would require heavy earth moving to provide a flat station rather than one on a gradient, resulting in a lowering of the trackbed that would add a further obstacle to having trains continue to(wards) Okehampton in the future.

[bradshaw]

Have you come across this?

https://northernrouteworkinggroup.wordpress.com/

[ChrisB]

Nothing posted since 2021.....

[RichardB]

Local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) Geoffrey Cox has posted the letter he and Jamie Hulland of Devon County Council have received from Rail Minister Huw Merriman confirming that the Government will fund reopening to Tavistock to delivery (ie completion) subject to future updates to the project business case.

Given the Government list generally seems now only to be "illustrative", we're lucky that Tavistock is being taken forward so positively.

I don't know the amount of money involved - think it could be £120m or so - which, while a lot generally, is not a massive sum to the Government so given the go ahead, whatever happens at the election when it comes, it looks very hopeful now that we will all one day be able to go over Shillamill Viaduct in a train (again - for those of you who did pre 1968).

Here's the post  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=756903739573670&set=pcb.756904029573641

[Pb_devon]

Thanks Richard for this.
However those of us that don’t do FB cannot see the full letter. Would it be possible for you to copy it in full here?
Cheers,
Paul

[RichardB]

Thanks Richard for this.
However those of us that don’t do FB cannot see the full letter. Would it be possible for you to copy it in full here?
Cheers,
Paul

Here it is, Paul.

[Teignrail]

The fun that can be had with a simple, immediately recognizable prop.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/373973826510518/permalink/1460053614569195/?mibextid=oMANbw

[Andy]

If, as seems to be the case, the Portishead reopening gets underway, does Tavistock-Bere Alston move up to #1 in the charts for a new/reinstated railway in Great Westernland?


 

[eightonedee]

But behind the Fawley branch in the greater south/south west region? This has a catchment area population considerably greater than Tavistock.

[Andy]

But behind the Fawley branch in the greater south/south west region? This has a catchment area population considerably greater than Tavistock.

I recently read somewhere that an open access operation (?Grand Union Trains) was expressing interest in a service from London Waterloo along the Fawley branch.  Surely, as reopenings happen (Borders, Okehampton, Ashington...) and are proven every time to exceed expectations in terms of passenger numbers, the case for investing in such sound proposals as Fawley and Tavistock must be getting stronger.

 

[grahame]

But behind the Fawley branch in the greater south/south west region? This has a catchment area population considerably greater than Tavistock.

I recently read somewhere that an open access operation (?Grand Union Trains) was expressing interest in a service from London Waterloo along the Fawley branch.  Surely, as reopenings happen (Borders, Okehampton, Ashington...) and are proven every time to exceed expectations in terms of passenger numbers, the case for investing in such sound proposals as Fawley and Tavistock must be getting stronger.

Yes - that's the case in terms of recent re-openings,  partly because they're consulted on and studied by industry consultants from left, right, east, west, above and below.    That has not always been the case  - both the re-opening of Sinfin and the first re-opening of Corby (these days, 68,000 population) failed to make the mark; people explain both away as "special cases" but then we want to ensure that there are no more special cases!