| On Sunday 19th July, being in the area, I decided to take a brief trip to the private railway operator at Okehampton, the Dartmoor Railway. One of the main reasons for doing this jaunt is the FGW-operated summer Sundays 2-hourly shuttle from St James Park, a suburban halt near Exmouth Junction in Exeter, to Okehampton, a service which I believe is unique in that it takes a franchised train operator (FGW) over non-Network Rail tracks regularly. The service meets the Dartmoor Railway trains side-by-side in Okehampton station, a well-restored example of a Southern Railway country junction station.
Unfortunately, my train from Taunton to connect at Exeter was 30-odd minutes late, meaning I missed the 11:12 departure out to Okehampton and had to wait for the 13:12, making the trip briefer than intended. The service is operated by ex-Northern Pacer DMUs, which makes for a lively run at line-speed, 60mph?, down the tree-lined tunnel that is most of the usually freight-only branch from Coleford Junction to Okehampton, owned by Aggregate Industries from the junction. The connecting Dartmoor Railway service onwards to Meldon is at the minute formed of 2-car Southern Region DEMU 1132, and isn't really much to get excited about on its short level run but it was good to be re-acquainted with the unit. The railway operation has been under management changes, and indeed had closed for a year, and is now owned by an American outfit, British American Railways, who have also taken on the troubled Weardale railway as part of the same deal. Much stock has recently been removed from the site, many of which was Fragonset-owned before its collapse in 2006, and the operation is now at a basic level. The remaining stock, which includes another non-operational DEMU 205028, a Weymouth line 4TC 417, ex-Lymington 3CEP 1198 and recent arrival 47701 'Waverley' is stored around the quarry loading area. The line runs alongside a footpath/cycle-track, which carries on along the redundant trackbed towards Tavistock over Meldon viaduct, it would have been nice to had a walk over the viaduct but it wasn't really the weather for this. |
'Thumper' 1132, Okehampton 640x426 09D1520.JPG 2009-07-19 15:01:42 |
TS 60677 from 205032, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1519.JPG 2009-07-19 14:31:30 |
3CEP 1198 & engineering stock, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1518.JPG 2009-07-19 14:31:03 |
47701 'Waverley', Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1517.JPG 2009-07-19 14:30:54 |
4TC 417 & 47701 'Waverley', Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1516.JPG 2009-07-19 14:30:29 |
'Thumper' 1132, Meldon platform 640x426 09D1515.JPG 2009-07-19 14:23:45 |
47701 'Waverley', Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1514.JPG 2009-07-19 14:19:40 |
4TC 417, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1513.JPG 2009-07-19 14:19:33 |
47701 'Waverley', Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1512.JPG 2009-07-19 14:19:25 |
TS 60677 from 205032, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1511.JPG 2009-07-19 14:19:11 |
Boiler van 96300, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1510.JPG 2009-07-19 14:19:07 |
DTS 60827, from 205028, Meldon Quarry sidings 640x426 09D1509.JPG 2009-07-19 14:18:59 |
'Thumper' 1132, Okehampton 640x426 09D1508.JPG 2009-07-19 14:08:43 |
142030 & 'Thumper' 1132, Okehampton 640x426 09D1507.JPG 2009-07-19 13:58:24 |
142030 & 'Thumper' 1132, Okehampton 640x426 09D1506.JPG 2009-07-19 13:57:34 |
