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Main line to the west out for weeks as tracks washed away at Dawlish

I would like to know exactly how much of a difference that will make if we get another winter like the last one.
 
toggle said:
I would like to know exactly how much of a difference that will make if we get another winter like the last one.
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Well there's a long stretch of that line that's exposed to the sea, and the one place on that stretch where the sea wall is lower than usual is the place where the line was washed away. It seems pretty fair to assume that raising the sea wall there might help protect the line in future.

According to Brunel's design, the wall should have been built higher there in the first place.
 
SpookyFrank said:
Well there's a long stretch of that line that's exposed to the sea, and the one place on that stretch where the sea wall is lower than usual is the place where the line was washed away. It seems pretty fair to assume that raising the sea wall there might help protect the line in future.

According to Brunel's design, the wall should have been built higher there in the first place.
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I know.

I'm thinking of how much this will reduce damage to the track and the number of times they need to close the line, because there's no way they will still be running trains in the kind of storms we saw in the winter. Also, the line at penzance was closed for a few weeks (i think) because of damage. if that is higher, then there will still be closureds due to damage. so how much disruption to travel will this work reduce, compared to how much major work along there will cause.



mainly, cause if my plans come to fruition, I'll be needing to travel along there more often next year.
 
There's basically no alternative though. In the long term they'll probably need to put in a whole new sea wall, probably a recurved concrete one, but that won't happen until the existing wall has failed several more times.

It's one of the most glorious train lines in the country, if not the world. Even if there were an alternative route to Plymouth and Cornwall, it would be a tragedy to lose it.
 
Chz said:
I know it's not proper steam and all that but... No, Deltics. Just for the sound, if nothing else.
As an engineer once said to me, "like a leather bag full of spanners being shaken about. awesome."
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I remember the first time I encountered a Deltic up close, at Kings X. The main impression I had, standing next to this thing, idling away, was how busy it sounded :)

I don't think that I saw one going at full chat until years afterwards - as a South Londoner, I was somewhat doomed to only ever see them at rest!
 
SpookyFrank said:
There's basically no alternative though. In the long term they'll probably need to put in a whole new sea wall, probably a recurved concrete one, but that won't happen until the existing wall has failed several more times.

It's one of the most glorious train lines in the country, if not the world. Even if there were an alternative route to Plymouth and Cornwall, it would be a tragedy to lose it.
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oh, I aggree it's fantastic, i aggree it needs to be kept open.

I'd still like to see the dartmoor line opened as well. if that was opened, then it would be described with similar lyricism.

but i'm also looking at the feasability of being able to travel between cornwall and east devon in the meantime. and i can't afford to drive and coaches make me go green and start retching like a cat with a hairball after about 15 mins. cause tbh, i'm more concerned about the train getting me where i want to go than the view out of the window
 
toggle said:
mainly, cause if my plans come to fruition, I'll be needing to travel along there more often next year.
Click to expand...

I used to live in Plymouth and I was back and forth up that train line every couple of weeks. It was about the only thing I liked about the place, that and staring out to sea from Mount Batten.
 
There's also a very good jazz club down by the old harbour, in the great big brick arch of an old warehouse loading bay :)
 
Chz said:
I know it's not proper steam and all that but... No, Deltics. Just for the sound, if nothing else.
As an engineer once said to me, "like a leather bag full of spanners being shaken about. awesome."
Click to expand...

Deltics do sound awesome ... just not quite as good as a big steam engine at full chat. :cool:





Mind you, the Deltics' successors didn't sound too bad either...



SpookyFrank said:
Plymouth is far from the worst place in the world.

Ever been to Peterborough?
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I've only been to Plymouth once or twice recently, but I quite like it. Peterborough is my home town so can't possibly qualify as the worst place ever (although every time I've been there as an adult I've thought it was a dump) and in any case, there's always Barnsley.
 
SikhWarrioR said:
Typical inadequite swindon toy
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Ooh no, not that. I read some old GWR bloke's memoirs a while back in which he recounted how American soldiers, railwaymen in peacetime, helped out in the goods yards in south Wales during World War II. They called the panniers 'matchboxes' and generally laughed at them, until one made a rather hefty bet that a pannier wouldn't be able to start some ludicrously heavy train, and then watched amazed as it got going without difficulty. The GWR and BR built 850-odd of them for good reason, and when I drove 9681 on the Dean Forest a few years ago the driver described it as 'a brilliant little engine. It's easy to handle, it’ll do anything we ask of it and it never, ever goes wrong.’

give me a East African Railways class 59 or a Rhodesian Railways class 20 or a South african railways class 25 or a GMAM anyday real locomotives
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Oh yes, a class 25 condenser - brilliant bit of engineering. :cool:

[/QUOTE]
 
Roadkill said:
Ooh no, not that. I read some old GWR bloke's memoirs a while back in which he recounted how American soldiers, railwaymen in peacetime, helped out in the goods yards in south Wales during World War II. They called the panniers 'matchboxes' and generally laughed at them, until one made a rather hefty bet that a pannier wouldn't be able to start some ludicrously heavy train, and then watched amazed as it got going without difficulty. The GWR and BR built 850-odd of them for good reason, and when I drove 9681 on the Dean Forest a few years ago the driver described it as 'a brilliant little engine. It's easy to handle, it’ll do anything we ask of it and it never, ever goes wrong.’



Oh yes, a class 25 condenser - brilliant bit of engineering. :cool:

Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]


Of British Steam my Favorites has to be the last and best [and never given a real chance] the mighty Riddles 9F On the subject of SAR class 25 the GTI "Red Devil" version seriously impresses me. My employer LUL clearly saw something good in GWR panniers as we bought about a dozen of them and ran them until early 70's
 
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