The slow, deliberate destruction of a piece of railway history.

[Ashley 288]

not very good is it,they've let it go rusty, have heard on the grapevine James May is building one out of meccano and lego !rotfl! Actually it's great that some are preserving what was once a great engineering achievement, hope they are getting some financial help? or is that reserved for some obscure ethnic gay folk dancers or similar? thanks for posting

[firbeck 860]

Don't worry about 80080 Radfordred, it was an early survivor and restoration project, it was first steamed after restoration in 1983, it's merely having one of it's regular 'services'.

This class of steam loco was not very common in the Nottingham area, they finished their days being shedded at Eastleigh in Southampton to work the last ever steam branch in the UK, Brockenhurst to Lymington.

In 1967, with only a few weeks of steam to go in the south, in a planned moment of madness, my mate Melv and I cycled down to the New Forest from Nottingham to witness their last rites, a few pictures I took of the class at Eastleigh shed and Lymington, Easter 1967:

Beefsteak

The railway that you speak of was called 'The Withered Arm', such famous trains as the Atlantic Coast Express used to run along the route to Padstow, Bude, Ilfracombe from Waterloo. The next time you are in Cornwall, go to Launceston, the trackbed along from the old station is now used by a narrow gauge railway, it's great, it's child orientated and your kids will love it, a friendly animal farm at the end of it (hmmmm) and a really fascinating museum.

The line is now truncated at the impressive Meldon viaduct, the station at Okehampton was one of those amazing derelict survivors but has now been fully restored to it's former glory with a cafe and all the rest of the paraphenalia, but tastefully done. The local authority used to finance a service from there, but the wierdos that we call a government put a stop to it, so I don't know what the situation is at the moment, but quite a place to visit, I can't believe it's been abandoned again after all the efforts by the local community to keep it going.

[Beefsteak 305]

A few of the Launceston narrow gauge and museum

I've got a couple more of the platform and other Locos but they aren't on Photobucket yet, I'll sort them and post them ASAP.

[firbeck 860]

Great place, glad you've already discovered it, I bet your kids loved it, we did, but unbelievably, the powers that be are talking about reopening the railway from Okehampton onwards as the GWR route along the coast is too susceptable to coastal damage, the clock turns full circle, Beeching had a lot to answer for in the end.

You must go and have a look at Okehampton station, it's fantastic.

[Beefsteak 305]

A couple more as promised.

[firbeck 860]

From my 'Complete Guide by Wignall', here are maps of Devon and Cornwall Railways up to 1981.

Black marked railways are pre Beeching closures, green are Beeching closures, red are those alledgedly still in business, sorry about the quality, but copy, fiddle about and you'll get the gist of it:

I have this picture that I took while on holiday, taken at Exeter St Davids in August 1964, you can see why I wasn't on the beach. According to my notes on the back of the picture it's a Plymouth train, via Okehampton, hauled by BoB Pacific 34066 Spitfire, I recall when I went for a trip on the Launceston Railway, trying to imagine trains such as this pounding along the same route to Padstow:

Incidentally, a couple of pictures of Okehampton, in the 70's and now, wonderful what a bit of community work can do eh.

[firbeck 860]

While looking for my pic of 34066, I came across another couple of shots of the last steam branch featuring class 8xxxx 4mt tanks aka 80080:

I have many more but I won't bore you with them.

Fynger

The old wagons at Bramcote Hills Park were defo used as changing rooms, the lawnmowers and general garden equipment were kept in the grand entrance in the old hall. We found a way of getting in there via the wine cellars during the 60's, it was a very spooky place, but to see this beautiful mansion used as a council store was beyond belief, I recall the ornate staircase and the light falling down from the Georgian lantern light situated above it, the grand drawing room with the ragged remains of the curtains blowing in the wind.

They probably would have made a fortune converting it into luxury flats these days, but there you go, it still goes on, the destruction of these sort of places, they could find a use for them if they could be bothered.

Whether these are the same tram bodies that I mentioned earlier that used to be at Colwick, I don't know, but it would appear that Crich have in store original Nottingham Trams 92, 121 and 166, what state they are in and where they came from, I can't find out, does anyone know.