MY LIFE IN TRAINS
Lineside and Station Sequences
Part Twenty Four
Torrington - 5 September 1960
Plymouth – 7 September 1960
Teignmouth – 9 September 1960
My next trip took me to Exeter, and then on an SR train to Barnstaple for a visit to Barnstaple Junction shed, which you will see in my Sheds and Works series later. I then caught an M7 powered train to Torrington, and gazed at the line that went further south to Halwill Junction – I didn’t have time to travel on it, and I never did! Returning from Torrington to Barnstaple, and then on to Exeter, I stayed on the SR train to Exeter Central and went to Exmouth Junction shed.
Two days later saw me in Plymouth, for Laira and Friary sheds, which you will see later, with a few photos of trains on the main line. A few photos in Teignmouth and the holiday was over.
All Photographs by Alan Lewis Chambers ©
13:40 Torrington, with the line I never took to Halwill Junction curving away into the distance.
13:52 Torrington Station on 5 September 1960 - LSWR M7 0-4-4T No 30023 waits in the platform with the local to Barnstaple
while LMSR Ivatt 2-6-2T No 41297 shunts in the distance.
14:00 LSWR M7 0-4-4T No 30023 ready to leave Torrington on 5 September 1960 with the branch train to Barnstaple.
14:01 LSWR M7 0-4-4T No 30023 ready to leave Torrington on 5 September 1960 with the branch train to Barnstaple - with me about to get on board.
13:09 BR Warship No D810 'Cockade' heads out of Plymouth past Laira shed on 7 September 1960.
13:14 Pioneer GWR 6400 Class 0-6-0PT No 6400 heads a one coach train towards Plymouth past Laira shed on 7 September 1960.
13:18 GWR Castle 4-6-0 No 5096 'Bridgewater Castle' powers an up express past Plymouth Laira shed on 7 September 1960.
On 9 September 1960 this was the 'shunter' on Teignmouth Quay. Pete Arnold tells me that 'The Elephant' is a 5-Ton Sentinel "Super" Tractor,
works no. 5644 built in Sept 1924 with duplex cylinders, and is preserved.
Another view on 9 September 1960 of the 'shunter' on Teignmouth Quay - 'The Elephant', a 5-Ton Sentinel "Super" Tractor.
Heading west on the sea wall at Teignmouth on 29 August 1960 is an unidentified BR Warship - could it be D805 'Benbow'?
I believe the 'decoration' around the canopy of the Elephant was made by bottle tops. I think the main freight trafficat Teignmouth Docks was inwards coal for Newton Abbot power station, and outwards ball clay from Teigngrace or Heathfield. The docks is still quite busy today, a variety of inbound traffic but export is almost exclusively ball clay.